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.

Since it’s a hot topic this week, I might as well throw my 2 cents in.

I do like fighting in hockey, but I like what I call “emotional” fighting, meaning that the fight breaks out in the middle of the play. 1 guy checks another a little too hard & they drop the gloves or a bigger guy comes in & they go at it. That’s fine by me.

What I really hate is what I call “fighting for the sake of fighting”. It’s when the 2 “goons” line up before a face off, decide that they’re going to fight & when the puck drops, they drop the gloves & go at it. To me, that seems to serve no purpose at all. In this growing scenario, the fighters are not playing the roll of “enforcer”, which is what their roll should be. More proof of this is when the other team does not have a fighter, so the other team sits theirs.

What happened to the guys that could actually play as well as fight? The 1st name that comes to mind is Probert. He could skate & play at a decent level & he could fight with the best of them.

I know Buffalo the best. Peters seems to be a great guy & he can fight, but he’s useless for the rest of the game. Hell, he’s often called of the ice mid-shift so that someone that can actually play is on the ice. Mair, on the other hand, is a decent player - he can skate, he can pass, he can shoot & he can fight. He’s an enforcer & that’s what every team needs.

Think about it: When was the last time you saw a “fighter” in the lineup during the playoffs? It does happen from time to time, but for the most part, they’re a healthy scratch. No team wins the Stanley Cup because their guys can fight. They win games because they can play hockey. If your fighter can score, that’s all the better. But you’re not gonna see any coach put their fighter in the lineup during the playoffs just so he can play 2 shifts in the 1st period & sit on the bench while other guys double shift for the rest of the game.

It’s a shame that most of the sports coverage in the news in regards to the NHL is when their’s a fight.

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!

Apparently, Versus has a High Def channel. How one goes about watching it is beyond me.

I have Time Warner Cable & they don’t carry it (but I have requested it)

I looked at DirectTV & Dish Network and neither of them have it.

So I decided to go to the source & ask. I’ve emailed Versus as well as called them (203-406-2500) but I’ve got no reply to either.

The NHL Playoffs are approaching really fast & without the Versus HD channel, I’m gonna be stuck watching most of the games in SD and after watching all of the games on INHD last year (Versus simulcast their games on the now defunct INHD2 channel last season) that’s really gonna suck.

Hockey is the best sport on the planet - period.

I really wish I could invite all the non-hockey fans in the world over to my house to watch a couple games. I have a friend in Australia that’s visited here a couple of times. We took him to a game & he was hooked. Each time he comes over, I try to take him to as many games as possible (we even went up to Ottawa last time to see a game) He used to be able to catch a couple games each week on ESPN, but they dropped the NHL a couple years ago.

Versus does a decent job with their NHL coverage with 2 or 3 games each week & a ton of playoff games. NBC just sucks.

It really is a great game - if you’ve never paid much attention to it, try & catch a game or 2, as the playoffs are about 3 weeks away.