News Article: Rogers must be watching - Ron Maclean replaces Strombo + big changes (Healy is gone!)

[Channelcat]

Exactly! What the heck is that?! Next it's going to be the Tornado camera or camera shake when it gets loud! It's Hockey for crying out loud. What do you honestly have to do to hockey to hype it up?

How to Hockey...

1) Have good Camera angles
2) Have good Cameramen
3) Have informed Host (Ron)
4) Make sure the person(s) calling the game does it with feeling and passion! Scout for new talent (You're running thin!)
5) No flashy walls, just elegant well placed and useful displays
6) Out of town scores! They are still great to see!
7) More clips from around the league focusing on rivals! We love and hate to see this stuff! It brings emotions back to the table.
9) Shot speed mentions
10) Player speed mentions
11) Constructive criticism, less bashing and negative connotations overall!

Give me money for saving your show and fire your consultants and over producers! Go figure the answers to your problems are readily available free in the public domain.

PS. Just because your camera can fly around the arena, it doesn't mean it's a good angle for watching hockey. You could experiment with a wider viewing area so you capture more of the actual play with these new resolutions but that should be tested with... THE MARLIES!

Completely agree. Basically do the opposite of what they were doing. Btw their draft coverage was atrocious. No mention of best players available... Just gawd awful all around

 

[Suntouchable13]

Can they also cut that cheesy World Cup of Hockey commercial, please?

 

[Apotheosis]

Man, this summer couldn't get any better so far.

 

[The Nic]

I hope he gets a job again, co-blogging with Howard Berger in the absolute outer reaches of hockey irrelevance.

You mean Buffalo?

 

[The Nic]

Glenn Healy, P.J. Stock, Billy Jaffe, Chantal Desjardins, Corey Hirsch and Leah Hextall were let go yesterday.

Damien Cox was moved to being McCown's full-time co-host on Prime Time Sports.

And, of course, George Stroumboulopoulos was replaced with Ron MacLean and won't be back.

Given the comments about Strombo leaving to explore new creative opportunities, it's possible that he wasn't fired at all. They may have offered him the chance to stay on in a reduced role but the decided to leave instead.

There were some behind the scenes people let go as well.

Before he left... I wanted to ask Strombo if his suits came in adult sizes...

 

[Leaf Lander]

Glenn Healy, P.J. Stock, Billy Jaffe, Chantal Desjardins, Corey Hirsch and Leah Hextall were let go yesterday.

Damien Cox was moved to being McCown's full-time co-host on Prime Time Sports.

And, of course, George Stroumboulopoulos was replaced with Ron MacLean and won't be back.

Given the comments about Strombo leaving to explore new creative opportunities, it's possible that he wasn't fired at all. They may have offered him the chance to stay on in a reduced role but the decided to leave instead.

There were some behind the scenes people let go as well.

Its too bad. ll miss leah and pj

 

[MsMeow]

If only Sportsnet would poach Simmons from TSN and put him on PTS with McCown and Cox, it would make TSN so much better. I don't listen to PTS anymore since Overdrive is so much fun, but I would love to see them get rid of Simmons.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

How the hell has Romanuk survived so far?

 

[nussell]

How the hell has Romanuk survived so far?

Agree. I hate him in the worst way.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Agree. I hate him in the worst way.

Lol is there a way to hate someone in the best way?

 

[The Beyonder]

Healy is gone?!?!?!?! HNIC will be far more watchable. What an insufferable blowhard Healy was, one of the worst commentators in hockey and they had him nationally. About damn time they canned him.

 

[Huz416]

Thank God we won't have to see Healy and Cox do regional Leaf games, but we're still stuck with Millard and Kypreos.

 

[hfman]

Thank God we won't have to see Healy and Cox do regional Leaf games, but we're still stuck with Millard and Kypreos.

regional games are fine with these guys, it's how it used to be. It had a "b"-game feel to it. the cheaper it felt, the more important and grand Saturday games felt. a perfect formula. Weeknight games were like a primer. kind of like if you're getting together with buddies on Friday and Saturday night- Friday, you kind of take it easy, have a few laughs, and the best is yet to come for Saturday night. Friday is the "entrée", and Saturday is the full course meal and dessert ( and drinks after a course ) Happy to see they're going back this format hopefully.

Now they just have to make Saturday nights stand out from the rest of the weeknight games so we can distinguish between the two. Just like it used to be, and what was working. A cheaper feel for weeknight games with the bright lights studio and everything, and then dim everything out for the big show on Saturday. Just watch all the hockey broadcasts from three years ago and further back to see the format that was working and what all Canadians became accustomed to.

 

[SEER]

Can't believe I never heard about this...! Healy is gone, too..?!
(knew about Strombo, though)

 

[hfman]

HNIC has to feel like a Saturday night. The past 2 years there's been no difference between the appearance of a Wednesday night game and a Saturday night game - they both look the same with mostly the same guys, same studio, same set - that special feeling on Saturday nights has been gone since this whole fiasco started 2 years ago.



They need to do something to change what Saturday nights look like - dim the lighting, so it's a darker set, kind of like an extension of the viewer's living room (just like what HNIC was doing 3 years ago). Save the flashly bright lights and studio for the weekday games. Or even keep the same set, but just darken it. Turn out those lights on the top. Get rid of that stupid bright blue floor. The darker atmosphere made the viewer feel comfotable and cozy, like a pub or something - there was often a fireplace in the corner from what I remember.

They need to return to that format so we can get Saturday nights back again.

 

[hfman]

going to be interesting to see what changes they've made for this October. It's coming soon. I'd like to know but haven't found any info on it just yet...

 

[Kelly]

How the hell has Romanuk survived so far?

I would bet he screwed up more players names then he got correct last year, guy was a mess.

 

[mcleex]

I'll take every single one of those guys back in exchange for getting rid of Romanuk

 

[The Iceman]

In order of YEAH for leaving
Hextall...Just a propped up mannequin with no value add
Billy J...who is this "expert"
Stock...couldn't get enough of his own voice
Healy...At least found him entertaining

Lets hope a little more Don and Ron time. it always seemed that they were rushed off camera.

 

[JohnnyO]

Wow, I completely missed that Healy was gone. Couldn't stand him.

 

[CanadasTeam]

How the hell has Romanuk survived so far?

He even outlasted Mike Johnson.. does anybody actually like this guy?

I'd sign a #fireRomanuk petition in a heartbeat.

 

[William Hylander]

Let's see Don and Strombo in Coaches Corner!

The hipster and the old man, I could write a TV show about them both.

 

[Clark4Ever]

Most of us saw this coming when the changes to the HNIC format were announced a couple of years ago. Yet there's always a few suits that think they know better.

 

[Wendel17]

He even outlasted Mike Johnson.. does anybody actually like this guy?

I'd sign a #fireRomanuk petition in a heartbeat.

Surprised Mike Johnson was let go. I thought he did his job reasonably well.

Romanuk is far from perfect, but at least he doesn't hate or show bias like Hughson. I'd take Romanuk over Hughson any day and would love if Hughson went back to SNP permanently to call his beloved Canucks.

 

[Wendel17]

Most of us saw this coming when the changes to the HNIC format were announced a couple of years ago. Yet there's always a few suits that think they know better.

I remember tweeting Scott Moore on opening night two years ago asking why the games were not being broadcast under the HNIC banner. I got no response (surprise!).

It's obvious Rogers was trying to make the transition from HNIC/CBC to Rogers as the defacto home for hockey in the eyes of Canadians. They may one day be successful, however Canadian hockey fans have so far rejected them.

Scott Moore is another person that probably needs to move on and do something different because HNIC and Rogers hockey are a train wreck under his leadership.