YIPEE! The Stanley Cup Playoffs start tonight!

Of course, I’m torn as to what channel to watch it on.

Both CBC (complete Round 1 Schedule is here) and Versus (complete Round 1 Schedule is here) have Pittsburgh vs Ottawa and Dallas vs Vancouver. I want to watch the games in High Def, which means I’ll want to have CBC on. But I also want to support hockey here in America, which means I should watch the games on Versus.

I think the solution to this is to turn all my cable boxes to Versus & then just watch the games via the antenna on CBC

I am really starting to hate NBC.

In the Jury out on Sabres, NBC deal column by Alan Pergament in Saturday’s edition of The Buffalo News, it was mentioned that once again, NBC Sports will only be airing 9 regular season games for the 2007-08 NHL season. 6-1/2 months of games & the one major network that broadcasts the NHL will be showing us less than 1% of the games.

They did say that they would be adopting a flex schedule (like they have with the NFL) and I agree that that is a step in the right direction. It also means that the Buffalo area will be seeing less of the Rangers & Islanders, because based on the 9 “regional” games I saw this year, NBC thinks that New York City is near Buffalo & that the NY teams are in our division.

NBC will be airing 2 games a week during the playoffs and they will be airing games 3 thru 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, which is kinda big for them seeing as I can’t remember the last time I saw an NHL game on NBC during the week. I also noticed on the NBC Sports website that they will be moving their 30 minute pre-game show from the internet to the television for their 1st playoff broadcast April 14th. I really hope that the local stations don’t loose too much money by airing the pre-game show instead of an Infomercial.

Now some of you will say that Versus is a national channel, and I agree. But it’s not NBC. It’s not even close to ESPN. And, as you know, I can’t find it in High Def. They have the main TV contract for the NHL, but they only air 2 games a week - and those are on Monday’s & Tuesday’s! Apparently, Bull Riding is a higher priority since it has the usual Saturday night prime time slot.

I’d like to thank my parents for raising me close enough to Canada so that I can watch the High Def broadcast of CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada. NBC & Versus should really watch how they cover the NHL (as well as the Olympics) because they both have a lot to learn.

I completely forgot to post these when I made the HDTV Introduction Post.

Here’s a list of handy links for those of you that like to watch NHL games in HD:

NBC’s NHL Broadcast Schedule (all 9 weeks of it)
HDNet NHL Schedule
Versus NHL Game Schedule (assuming you can get Versus in HD)
CBC Hockey Night In Canada Schedule (Canada)
TSN’s NHL Schedule (Canada)

If you know of any other channels that carry NHL games in HD (even if they’re your local channels) then please post them so I can update the list.

I can’t believe I’m about to type this up, but I’m really rooting for Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary & Vancouver to make the NHL Playoffs. Why? Because that means I’ll get to watch some of the NHL Playoffs in HD on CBC via my antenna. (since I’m convinced that Versus HD doesn’t actually exist)

I even have a best case scenario:
Toronto & Montreal each actually make the playoffs (right now, they are both 1 point out) Hopefully, the Sabres are 1st, Toronto is 8th, Ottawa gets 4th or 5th & Montreal gets 6th or 7th. Buffalo would play Toronto and I get to see all the away games in HD since the CBC channel I pick up is out of Toronto. We beat Toronto and Ottawa & Montreal each win their series. With any luck, we’d play Montreal, beat them, have Ottawa win & then face Ottawa for the conference finals. Calgary or Vancouver (I could care less) make it to the finals. BINGO! All of the Buffalo games are in HD & we’d have beaten 4 Canadian teams

Even if that scenario didn’t play out (and odds are against me) it’d be nice to watch any of the playoffs games in HD on CBC, so GO CANADA!

I live in the Buffalo, NY area. One of the perks of this has always been that we get a couple of Canadian TV channels - both thru the cable company & via an antenna. CBC broadcasts their HD feed from the top of the CNN Tower, so we get crystal clear reception over then antenna. I love hockey & Hockey Night In Canada is always on (unless there’s a Sabres game) So, you put my love for hockey together with my love for HDTV & you get my love for CBC.

And, as much as I hate to say it, their coverage of the Olympics is 10x’s better than NBC.