Being back at school means one thing. It has become a lot more difficult to watch hockey. There are about forty people on my floor, and most of the time they can be found in the lounge where the TV is located. Being a poor student, I cannot afford cable in my room, so I have turned to the internet in order to watch games. Aside from the fact that the play seems to skip on occasion, it is a pretty good deal (and I don’t need to listen to the people on my floor playing Magic while my eyes are glued to the screen which is possibly the most annoying thing I could ever have to listen to while attempting to watch a game). Now, I can see all games instead of just the ones on CBC, TSN, or SportsNet. What’s even more interesting, is being able to watch these games on the American networks.
When the Winter Classic was on, so was a Leafs game. Due to the fact that there was so much hype, and that I was watching 24/7, AND had a new affinity for the Pittsburgh Penguins, AND a new loathing for the Washington Capitals, I thought I would turn it on.
It was off again after about two minutes.
My biggest problem was with the NBC sportscasters; well that and the fact that the camera angles were giving me a headache. It was as if they knew right off the bat that the majority of people who were going to be watching this game had no idea what was going on. This was perhaps their first time watching someone shoot a puck. Now, this makes me sound like a bit of a snob, and God knows I should not be one when I have only just started paying more attention to the sport, ANNND considering I have never actually even played on a regular sized rink; but as soon as they had to explain what the big capital “C” was on Crosby and Ovechkin’s jerseys I decided to go back to the Leafs game, (and they wound up kicking the shit out of Ottawa, so I was happy with my decision) I would have to watch the condensed version of the game on 24/7.
I never really understood what the big difference was between the United States and Canada when it came to hockey. I know that it isn’t as popular down there, and you can buy a decent ticket at many games for about a sixteenth of what you would pay at the ACC. This isn’t true in all cities in the states with a hockey team, but it seems to be the case in many of them.
After watching the San Jose game last night on a channel that was clearly local in California, I many not know all the differences, but I can probably name off a couple.
First, they are completely and obsessed with shots, and goals. Aren’t we all? This was taken to a new level last night. While you hear Joe Bowen constantly yell out “shot on net” during his commentary, he frequently talks about other aspects of play as well. These American guys on CSN California really only seemed fixated on goals, and goals alone. They stated that they had “grown accustom to low scoring games” recently. I don’t know about you, but six goals in a game seems like a decent number to me.
Second, they are complete and total pussies. When there was any kind of fighting at all, the CSN announcers would hum and haw to each other about how Ron Wilson and Brian Burke want a team that is “truculent.” They used this term more then once, and while at the time I did not know exactly what it meant, I knew it had something to do with the aggression that Toronto was showing. I looked it up this morning, and discovered that it means “fierce; cruel; and savagely brutal.” Savagely brutal? There was little to no fighting in the game last night, other then a couple shoving matches; and yes, the Leafs have been known to fight, and get other teams riled up, but I would never call their play “savagely brutal” (except for when they seem to lose horrendously on regular occasion). Also, the headlines about Colton Orr in the American online newspapers today, all seem very surprised that Orr was not going to face a suspension for his knee hit on Logan Couture; while the Canadian newspapers mostly just talked about Toronto’s usual mid season push toward the play offs. The only newspaper that even mentioned the hit by Orr was the Toronto Star, and it just talked about how Clowe wanted someone to beat the shit out of Orr for what he did to Couture.
Third, the intermissions were downright boring. All they talked about were the players personal lives, what they were going to be doing on their weekends off, the HBO series, and not much of it was relevant to what was going on out on the ice. A few stats were thrown in there, but most of them were completely irrelevant.
Fourth, the penalties. Toronto took many penalties in the game last night; and every time, they slowed down the replay to show exactly why Toronto was in fact getting a penalty. When the table were turned, and San Jose received one, the replay was not slowed down, and the commentators would once again hum and haw to themselves about how they “didn’t see what was wrong there.”
It was almost like listening to the commentators speak a completely different language. This is where the major difference lies in Canadian hockey, and hockey in the States. We seem to celebrate all aspects of the game; be it aggression, defense, goals, shots, speed, play making etc. The guys at CSN seemed to be very focused on only two aspects, speed and scoring. They constantly talked about how the Leafs “were coming with speed” and some nonsense about Kessel “using a lot of ice.” The only similarities that I could find between the Canadian sports cast and the American one, were that they both seemed to be impressed by Reimer, and by how many penalty minutes Colton Orr has been able to rack up.
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