2010 Winter Olympics - Vancouver, Canada (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Having not been around in 1980, this probably was the best hockey game I've ever seen. Two teams full of top athletes playing their absolute hardest. USA was completely saved by Ryan Miller the first period and a half, but I thought the rest of the game featured a lot of great, aggressive give and take on both sides of the ice.

Having just checked my recording of the main NBC feed, it looks like Bob Costas cut into bobsled after the fifth American goal to carry the final minute of the game live. I can understand why the network didn't want to eat up its primetime coverage with hockey -- only three opportunities for commercial breaks, plus three roughly half hour blocks that can't be intercut with anything else -- but once it was obvious that something special was happening with this game, I think NBC should have carried at least the final period on the main feed. Seeing Al Michael's highlights in HD really drove home how much the quality differential is.

 

[Jay H]

Caught the tail-end of the US-Canada hockey match, I was very happy of the outcome a very exciting finish for sure. I'm not a big hockey fan but I have a lot of Canadian hiker-friends that I now get to playfully rub it in their faces...
The game was on MSNBC for me on the east coast, in HD on my digital cable feed. I don't know if it was live or not but I think it ended sometime around 8ishpm eastern daylight time... because I know at 8pm I started to watch The Amazing Race..

Jay

 

[Sumnernor]

I am glad to see excitement about the hockey. As mentioned earlier, in May when the Stanley Cup playoffs are going on, is the Ice Hocked World Championships. It is too bad that these are NOT televised in the US - most likely they can be seen in Canada. Last year they took place in Canada. There are some NHL players in the tournament from teams not in/no longer playing in the Stanley Club. The best countries are US, Canada, Sweden, Finnland, Russia, CZE, Slovakia. The biggest rivalry is between RUS and CZE - more so than NYY-Red Sox. It is a shame that you don't get the same quality of players currently playing in Vancouver.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

As seen yesterday, the Russians and the Czechs really, really don't like each other. I wish Ilya Kovalchuck showed that much emotion in a regular season game, he'd go a long way towards eliminating the stereotype that certain Eastern European players lack heart (*cough* Kovalev *cough*).

 

[TonyD]

Originally Posted by Jay H

The game was on MSNBC for me on the east coast, in HD on my digital cable feed. I don't know if it was live or not but I think it ended sometime around 8ishpm eastern daylight time... because I know at 8pm I started to watch The Amazing Race..

Jay

the game ended at 10 p eastern and was on live.
Nbc broke in and showed the last 35 seconds live, pointless by that time to do that.

 

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by TonyD




the game ended at 10 p eastern and was on live.
Nbc broke in and showed the last 35 seconds live, pointless by that time to do that.

Crazy things can happen when one team has an empty net. I know college and pro are different, but Miami University (one of the best college teams in the past few years) once scored 2 goals less than 20-30 seconds apart in the final minute to win the game.

 

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by Joe_H ">[/url]

Great hockey game tonight, though I'm wondering why it was relegated to MSNBC (and yes, still just partially bitter that that's the one I don't get in HD).

 

[Jay H]

Originally Posted by TonyD




the game ended at 10 p eastern and was on live.
Nbc broke in and showed the last 35 seconds live, pointless by that time to do that.

Ah, Ok, might of been afterwards, I know I switched to TAR and a little bit of Ax Men, before seeing the end of the game..

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Originally Posted by ThomasC




Ratings/women.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/NBC-explains-its-ice-dancing-over-U-S-Canada-ho?urn=nhl,219149

Exactly. Hockey has never drawn good TV ratings in the U.S. It's a shame.

The game was very entertaining last night, so it is a shame that more people were not able to see it. However, at this point I doubt it would make much difference in future ratings for hockey.

A few idiots, though, were calling this the "2nd Miracle on Ice". That has to be the most ludicrous statement I've heard in awhile. The 1980 US hockey victory over the Soviets was a bunch of college kids beating a team of 30 year old professionals, who were probably the best pro hockey team in the world at that time. Last night was a bunch of NHL players from one country beating NHL players from another, in a game that meant very little towards determining who will win the gold medal. And that does not even take into account what was going on politically in the world in 1980.

 

[Ockeghem]

Some of the reasons stated in this thread are why I no longer watch network television, with the exception of sporting events. Much of it has to do with screen clutter and commercials. Whenever there is a commercial, I use the recall button to bring me to the alternate sports channel that I am watching at the time. I must say that I'm quite pleased that the Olympics is being shown on two or (depending on the day) three channels this time around.

That was quite a hockey game between Canada and the U.S. yesterday. I don't expect too much from the Americans, and the game was really only for seeding, but it was still quite impressive for the States. I also thought that the matchup between the Czech Republic and Russia was superb.

As for the Miracle on Ice, that was a special time, and one of the most exciting things I've ever witnessed in any sport. I thoroughly enjoyed the special on it yesterday, and seeing the recollections and insights from three members of that team was special.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_Ice#Soviet_reaction

 

[Jimi C]

The Russia vs Canada game is going to be crazy. Things are really looking up for team USA. They are in a great position to at least get a Bronze medal now. Having one of those teams eliminated before the medal rounds is excellent. I only was able to listen to last nights game on the radio since I was at work, but it was still exciting. Makes me laugh that people are complaining that they couldn't watch it in HD.

Scott - How did you witness the miracle game? I know it wasn't televised in the US.

 

[Walter C]

I was only 4 years old when the Miracle on Ice happened, but interesting to hear my mom tell me how huge this was. And she is not a sports fan, and not even from the US.

I only caught the Russia-Czech Republic game, and it's entertaining to see these former Iron Curtain rivals go at each other.

Missed the US-Canada game, except the part that NBC showed. I wished they didn't because I was going to watch the game online after the prime time coverage, or today.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Originally Posted by Jimi C

Scott - How did you witness the miracle game? I know it wasn't televised in the US.

Yes it was. In fact, Al Michael's commentary for ABC is probably one of the most famous moments in sports broadcasting. Americans along the border were able to watch it live on CBC and the rest of the country caught it on ABC via tape delay later that evening. (Sound familiar?)

 

[Ockeghem]

Jimi,

Yes, how I'd love to see Team Canada defeat Russia.

I didn't witness the game. I was speaking of witnessing (as in being part of) the entire experience, the newsreels, highlights, reports, frenzy, and numerous articles that were written at the time (and shortly after) that it was taking place.

 

[Ockeghem]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt


Yes it was. In fact, Al Michael's commentary for ABC is probably one of the most famous moments in sports broadcasting. Americans along the border were able to watch it live on CBC and the rest of the country caught it on ABC via tape delay later that evening. (Sound familiar?)

Adam,

I saw excerpts from the game, but as it was the Olympics, it didn't occur to me how much of the game I actually saw, or whether it was live or tape delay, at the time. But I do know I was caught up in all of the excitement -- it seemed to happen so very fast, even over the period of days during which it was all taking place.

 

[Walter C]

Originally Posted by Jimi C

The Russia vs Canada game is going to be crazy.

Which will only happen if Canada can beat Germany in the elimination game on Tuesday.

 

[Ockeghem]

^^^

The had better defeat Germany, or the Olympics may come to a crashing halt before all of the other events have been completed.

 

[DaveF]

Given the grumbling about coverage (e.g. Ice Dancing vs Hockey), I'm proposing some new Winter Olympic Sports to appease all ages and sexes:

Bob Dancing : Imagine Ice Dancing at 90mph down the bobsled run!
Dance Sledding: The reverse: taking out dancers, bumper-cars style.
Luge Curling: Fat men hurling skinny guys down a hillside

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I still get chills every time I see the highlights from that 1980 US victory over the Soviets. As Adam stated, the game was shown by ABC on tape delay that Friday night. I do not remember CBC showing the game live, though. Here locally in Detroit, there was an uproar when local news anchor Bill Bonds gave away the final score during a station break before the game was telecast. Remember, this was in the days before the Internet, so it was easy to keep from knowing a score of a game like this.

Personally, I was in high school and attending our school's basketball game when the hockey game ended. The score was announced in the high school gym, and the entire crowd started chanting U-S-A, U-S-A. My friends and I rushed to the home of one of the group so we could all watch the tape delay -- our girl friends were not happy, since they wanted to go out after the basketball game.

 

[Ockeghem]

"My friends and I rushed to the home of one of the group so we could all watch the tape delay -- our girl friends were not happy, since they wanted to go out after the basketball game."

Scott,

Going to watch a tape delay of one of the greatest, if not the greatest, sporting events ever to occur on U. S. soil IS going out after a basketball game. I would hope that those girlfriends would have realized this.