NHL Toronto: Following The Team From Europe And The Leafs Win Game 2

[hammertime]

Things sure have changed for me here in Europe! When I got here 22 years ago it was almost impossible to get any information on my beloved Leafs. But now?

I've written the following short article.

https://steemit.com/nhl/@nhltoronto...the-team-from-europe-and-the-leafs-win-game-2

Click to read more...

 

[936LeafsOilers997]

Things sure have changed for me here in Europe! When I got here 22 years ago it was almost impossible to get any information on my beloved Leafs. But now?

I've written the following short article.

https://steemit.com/nhl/@nhltoronto...the-team-from-europe-and-the-leafs-win-game-2

I used to follow the NHL by watching WorldSport on CNN in the morning, back in 1995 or something. They showed like 10 seconds of some games and the results.

In 1996 internet became accessable for me and I also could check the standings. I never could check the games, so anything seemed possible. A result only said like 3-2 and you would think, ohhh so close. In reality it might be not that close at all.

After 2004 or something, watching streams became an option to me, but the quality was often poor.

The last couple of years, through gamecenter and this forum, it really opened my eyes. I watch a lot of games and I am very happy this is possible, especially compared to 1995...

 

[hammertime]

Hey wow thanks for chiming in. I remember those CNN text scores and 10 second clips. All it did was get me annoyed! So much easier now!

 

[936LeafsOilers997]

Hey wow thanks for chiming in. I remember those CNN text scores and 10 second clips. All it did was get me annoyed! So much easier now!

Where did you move? Switzerland? They have a pretty decent ice hockey culture over there, don't they?? I should have guessed they aired some NHL games back in the days....

 

[Westlander]

Nice article!

I've been in the Netherlands since 2002, back then I would sometimes get up in the middle of the night to listen to the radio broadcast of a playoff game. The ones I remember were Leafs-Isles game 7 in 2002, Leafs-Sens games 6 and 7 2002 and Leafs-Sens game 7 in 2004. TSN would also have some grainy highlights on their website that I could watch the next day and then they didn't have any of the region restriction nonsense that they have now.

From 2006 my cable provider had the North American Sports Network which had the HNIC double header every Saturday (usually the Leafs for the early game) which I would tape and watch on Sunday. NASN became ESPN America which also had NHL coverage, but the channel was terminated altogether a few years ago, presumably due to lack of interest. Luckily by the time, the NHL online streaming services were available and that's what I've been using ever since. It works well, for some weekday games I get up before work and watch the game from the night before. I just have to avoid seeing the scores anywhere.

 

[936LeafsOilers997]

Nice article!

I've been in the Netherlands since 2002, back then I would sometimes get up in the middle of the night to listen to the radio broadcast of a playoff game. The ones I remember were Leafs-Isles game 7 in 2002, Leafs-Sens games 6 and 7 2002 and Leafs-Sens game 7 in 2004. TSN would also have some grainy highlights on their website that I could watch the next day and then they didn't have any of the region restriction nonsense that they have now.

From 2006 my cable provider had the North American Sports Network which had the HNIC double header every Saturday (usually the Leafs for the early game) which I would tape and watch on Sunday. NASN became ESPN America which also had NHL coverage, but the channel was terminated altogether a few years ago, presumably due to lack of interest. Luckily by the time, the NHL online streaming services were available and that's what I've been using ever since. It works well, for some weekday games I get up before work and watch the game from the night before. I just have to avoid seeing the scores anywhere.

Using NHL gamecenter on your phone, you always notice the length of a game, especially in the playoffs.

In the regular season between 2 hour 30 and 2 hour 40 it is a regular win/lose.

Over 2 hour 40 it is most often overtime (or a really long coaches challenge)....

In the playoffs, it is even more obvious.

For example last night I became tired after the 2nd period, it was 2.30 at night at that time, so I fell asleep. In the morning I noticed the game was about 4 hours 33 minutes long. I could figure there was a least one overtime involved hehe...

 

[hammertime]

Yes I'm in Switzerland now. Good hockey culture to be sure but never NHL on TV and not even the World Juniors on TV when they hosted it. Things are great now though!

 

[taurine330]

Ever since I can remember from the nineties we used to get some games on TV. We at least got all the finals. I remember watching all the finals since like 96 or 97. I remember watching the Leafs ECF games in 99 on TV. The finals were pretty amazing as well. Some double/triple OT games finishing around 9 am.

Back in secondary school I used to get up to listen the leafs playoff games on internet radio. Also, followed some sort of play-by-play from some website. This was in the early 2000s. But then things really changed when I was in high school. We got streaming of the games since like 2004. The quality was quite bad but the feeling was amazing. I didn't have to listen to radio anymore. I could actually watch the games.

This is actually what I was thinking last night. How thankful I am to be able to watch every Leaf game live that I want; HD quality from YouTube.

 

[Westlander]

Using NHL gamecenter on your phone, you always notice the length of a game, especially in the playoffs.

In the regular season between 2 hour 30 and 2 hour 40 it is a regular win/lose.

Over 2 hour 40 it is most often overtime (or a really long coaches challenge)....

In the playoffs, it is even more obvious.

For example last night I became tired after the 2nd period, it was 2.30 at night at that time, so I fell asleep. In the morning I noticed the game was about 4 hours 33 minutes long. I could figure there was a least one overtime involved hehe...

Yes, that's a problem, I watch it on Apple TV mostly and it's the same thing. The only solution is to have the time and patience to watch the entire replay without fast forwarding through the commercial breaks or between periods, that way you don't see the counter. I was able to do that for Game 1, but earlier today I was short of time for Game 2 and had to skip ahead, so once Washington tied it in the third I just hit FFWD up until 10 min or so before the broadcast ended.

The worst experience for this was the Game 7 Boston meltdown. The Leafs went up 4-1 but I could see there was too much time left in the broadcast for it to end in regulation. What a sickening feeling...

 

[SweLeafsFan]

Yes that is annoying, wish they could change it somehow so we didn't get spoiled.

Most recently in game 2 I figured from the length that it would most likely go to 2nd OT and I was right. So when we had that 3-2 lead late in the 3rd the only thing I was wishing for was not a weak goal in the last minute to tie the game.