Before I get going… the Peterson For Parkinson’s event has been postponed due to the inclement weather. The new date for the event is March 30th… tickets will be honored on the new date.
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Apparently ESPN is tired of being disrespected. Welcome to the club…
Interesting news broke on Saturday about FIFA awarding the 2026 World Cup broadcast rights to Fox, extending their agreement without an open bid. Seems the 400 pound gorilla is losing some weight.
Now I am not here to celebrate… well… maybe a little, but it seems about time that ESPN gets a little comeuppance. They have thrown their weight around way too often and now that seems to be coming back on them a bit… just not enough to change their behavior.
Just a few short hours later, after coming back from Saturday night’s Preds game, after getting my nightly dose of NHL Tonight, I did something I rarely do… I turned on SportsCenter. After all, there wasn’t a big schedule of anything going on in sports… I knew NBA All-Star Saturday would get a significant chunk of time, but without anything else, I figured it would be a good time to see if they would cover any of the night in the NHL… after all, they did get the rights for the World Cup of Hockey and would want to show a little commitment, right?
Oh the irony… care to guess the extent of their NHL coverage on a night where nothing else was going on in the wide wide world of sports? C’mon… take a guess…
Nothing.
No, I’m serious not a single freaking hockey highlight. Not one… nada, nunca, bupkas… Nothing! Ten games… some with real playoff implications along with the blood feud between the Habs and Leafs.
They had highlights of college basketball, the NBA festivities, and cricket highlights. That’s not a typo… cricket highlights!!! (holds head to keep it from exploding) I should’ve known better… back to ignoring SportsCenter as it just doesn’t give the coverage to all sports… hmmm… wonder if they will begin to understand the enmity hockey fans feel toward them now…
Doubt it.
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Random Notes
- Standings update after play on 2/15 – The Predators lead St. Louis by four points in the President’s Trophy race and lead Anaheim by five. St. Louis and Nashville have a game in hand on the Ducks.
- The Western Wild Card… Winnipeg (58 games played) continues to hold the first wild card with 68 points. The Calgary Flames (56) hold the second wild card with 65 points, leading Minnesota (55) by two points, Los Angeles (55) by three and Dallas (56) by five. The Wild and Kings both have a game in hand on Calgary.
- Last night’s GnashVegas event was a great time. General consensus was excitement at the new additions, they players were very pleased, a little sad at Olli Jokinen’s exit, but happy with the reinforcements on the way.
- Not sure when Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli will arrive and hoping the weather doesn’t impact their travel.
- I know that David Poile has intimated he is done… but y’know… I got the feeling if he has the opportunity to pick up a forward with an attitude (the recently injured Chris Neil perhaps??) that just seems to be the last need for this team… as a few folks mentioned last night in GnashVegas…
- Chris Neil does have a fractured thumb, but is scheduled to be back by the middle of March, plenty of time to get ready for the playoffs.
- The contract extension signing of Marc Methot this morning further shortens the blueline availability on the coming trade deadline, making the Preds trade look even better.
- So… Ryan Getzlaf is whining about Alex Ovechkin diving?? Snicker…
- Eight games in the NHL tonight – Rangers @ Islanders, Hurricanes @ Senators, Canadiens @ Red Wings, Oilers @ Jets, Coyotes @ Avalanche, Bruins @ Flames, Wild @ Canucks, Lightning @ Kings.
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