VERSUS To Air Four NHL Pre-Season Games

[Rink Rage]

In what may be a first for the United States, NHL pre-season games are coming to network television.
VERSUS, which will become NBC Sports Network on January 2nd, will air four pre-season games starting on September 21st (Toronto vs. Philadelphia), something that I cannot remember any other network doing in the history of hockey on television. The only example of this I can find goes way back to SportsChannel America televising Washington Capitals and Calgary Flames games during a tour of Europe prior to the 1989 season. Prior to this year, only NHL Network aired broadcasts of pre-season games to the rest of the country.
All four of VERSUS’ telecasts will likely be simulcasts of Comcast’s regional sports networks. Three of them are Flyers games, already scheduled to be telecast in the Philadelphia market, which makes it appear that the games will be blacked out in the participating markets if they’re already being televised there. For example, the Rangers-Flyers game on September 26th is already being broadcast to both New York and Philadelphia.
It is not yet known if VERSUS will be using their own studio show for the telecasts, a practice that occurred throughout the 2010-11 season and through every playoff year when VERSUS had used simulcasts.
Around North America, it appears viewers in both countries will be getting a lot of pre-season action. CBC will air five games, including two doubleheaders, and the annual Kraft Hockeyville featuring Winnipeg and Ottawa. TSN will air four games, showcasing five (Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal) of the seven Canadian teams. NHL Network will likely pick up some games of its own to broadcast to viewers in the United States, but none have been announced so far.
2011 NHL Pre-Season National TV Schedule
Sept. 21, 7:00 p.m. – Toronto vs. Philadelphia (VERSUS)
Sept. 22, 9:00 p.m. – Vancouver vs. Edmonton (TSN)
Sept. 24, 7:00 p.m. – Buffalo vs. Toronto (CBC)
Sept. 24, 10:00 p.m. – Anaheim vs. Vancouver (CBC)
Sept. 26, 4:00 p.m. – Winnipeg vs. Ottawa (CBC)
Sept. 26, 7:00 p.m. – NY Rangers vs. Philadelphia (VERSUS)
Sept. 27, 9:00 p.m. – NY Islanders vs. Calgary (TSN)
Sept. 28, 8:30 p.m. – Detroit vs. Chicago (VERSUS)
Sept. 28, 8:30 p.m. – Carolina vs. Winnipeg (TSN)
Sept. 29, 7:00 p.m. – New Jersey vs. Philadelphia (VERSUS)
Sept. 29, 7:00 p.m. – Tampa Bay vs. Montreal (TSN)
Oct. 1, 7:00 p.m. – Detroit vs. Toronto (CBC)
Oct. 1, 10:00 p.m. – Edmonton vs. Vancouver (CBC)

http://puckthemedia.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/versus-to-air-four-nhl-pre-season-games/

Click to read more...

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

Yawn. Going to see those teams plenty of times in the regular season. No desire to see them in the preseason.

 

[Moo]

If the NHL Network does not do this already, it should steal a page from the NFL Network's book and show many preseason games, even if tape-delayed. We can see more games and more teams this way than just piggybacking off of other networks' live broadcasts.

 

[LadyStanley]

Not all teams "tape" their games (much less have the regular season game pxp, analysis).

Sharks (as it stands now), will have radio coverage (only) of their last two preseason games, and nothing the first four.

Unless a sponsor and/or Comcast comes up with $$ to do this, I don't expect anything to happen. (Local station happily playing MLB on Sharks TV station.)

 

[Overkamp]

So, three of the four games televised will include the Flyers?

Yawn.

 

[Overkamp]

You can yawn all you want but this is cool stuff.

I remember when the NHL came back from the lockout, it was very hard to follow hockey.

ESPN never showed highlights, you got TWO VS games per week, no post game show, nothing.

Today, we have NHL Network, we have an NBC game in November, and now pre-season for us dying to see hockey.
Cool stuff.

VS is doing their part.
Now if only NHL Network could show more history of the game "pioneers" instead of playoff replays.......

I'm not yawning about seeing hockey as soon as possible. I'm yawning about the fact that Comcast, who owns the Flyers and VS is showing their own team three of the four telecasts.

 

[LadyStanley]

I'm not yawning about seeing hockey as soon as possible. I'm yawning about the fact that Comcast, who owns the Flyers and VS is showing their own team three of the four telecasts.

Perhaps because they are actually broadcasting them.

AFAIK, none of the California NHL teams have any of their PS games broadcast.

What about Chicago, Detroit? Islanders, Rangers, Devils? Bruins?

 

[Greyhounds]

Perhaps because they are actually broadcasting them.

AFAIK, none of the California NHL teams have any of their PS games broadcast.

What about Chicago, Detroit? Islanders, Rangers, Devils? Bruins?

I think the Bruins had one pre-season game each of last 2 seasons on NESN.

This pre-season stuff is slowly catching on. I'm not surprised that teams thought there would be little interest in this stuff. This is the time when teams look at guys, most of whom won't be good enough to stick. From pre-season games that I went to in person, many years ago, it wasn't the most exciting hockey. Surprisingly though, many of the games in recent years have been pretty entertaining.

I think we'll see a growing trend in this direction. I look forward to the VS games, regardless of whether it's Flyers or anybody else.

...and the game or 2 on NESN

 

[Ernie]

So, three of the four games televised will include the Flyers?

Yawn.

yeah. Remind me again, who owns the Flyers?

 

[Rink Rage]

So, three of the four games televised will include the Flyers?

Yawn.

Who cares?

The fact that they're even showing any preseason games to begin I find to be a pretty big deal, and pretty awesome.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

It's Preseason, boring. No matter the sports I just can't get up for em. The games don't count for anything.

I agree about the lameness of the NHL Network though.