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Daily Archives: October 7, 2006

Hockey night on Cable?

Hockey Night in CanadaA couple of months back (when we were in the middle of all the wedding craziness) a story came out about Bell Globemedia pondering a large bid for the Hockey Night in Canada franchise. I found a piece on VancouverCanucksOpEd.com that I found tonight researching another article that talks about this story and a few fans’ reaction to it.

OK, none of us is too impressed with the thought of HNIC becoming a property of the Toronto Sports Network, but what if it were to go somewhere else, like SportsNet?

With their actual national coverage in all regions, this would make a great home for HNIC and take the multi-million dollar burden of producing hockey broadcasts off the taxpayer. Add to that some of the quality issues CBC is having with its broadcasts (namely reliable play-by-play teams during the playoffs) and the whole Ron McLean business and I think it might be time to consider a new home for HNIC.

Off to a good start… a very good start

Vancouver Canucks LogoSo here we are the day after Game #2 of the 2006/07 NHL season and our Vancouver Canucks have managed a couple of very solid games the past couple of nights. After spoiling the home openers at Joe Louis and Nationwide arenas, the boys from GM Place are sitting pretty atop the Western Conference, in fact as of last night they’re tied for first overall with their expansion cousins the Buffalo Sabres. But two games in what does this really mean?

The obvious answer is: not much, except that this is a very good start. Are the Canucks destined to play for the Cup against the Sabres? No. Are they even destined to make the playoffs? No. So why are fans so willing so stake a review of the entire season on only 120 minutes (give or take) of game play?

Callersto Dan Russell’s Sportstalk show on CKNW last night seemed willing to guarantee a great season based on a couple of fairly solid road games. But there are still many unanswered questions.

  1. Will Roberto Luongo (aka Yo! Luongo) be the saviour he’s touted to be?
  2. Can the Swedish Touch line be the powerhouse it needs to be?
  3. Will the lack of a dedicated second scoring line be a problem, or will they get balanced scoring?One person who’s in at least partial agreement with this is Rod over at Metroblogging Vancouver. Let’s all sit back, and enjoy the first quarter of the season. We can make our analyses in December after they’ve played a few more games that matter… not the least of which is our own bloody home opener.