Hockey’s offseason always feels the most hopeless. You go from having 4-6 games of playoff hockey every night, to 1-2, to one, to one every other night, then... nothing for nearly four months. No offseason feels longer (and longer still with the potential of a lockout, please please no) just because no other sport goes from showing off such an intensity and skill to just completely leaving the limelight.
NHL TV Partners Will Be All Over The 2012 Stanley Cup Finals
Part of the reason the Stanley Cup Finals still feel like there’s always something going on, even when realistically we’ve waited nearly five days for one game, and will wait another two for the next one, is because of the coverage. The NHL has always made sure, since at least when the NHL Network was brought into our lives in 2008, to have a lot of stuff going on around its’ championship series. I give the NHL Network criticism for not filling up the hours as efficiently as they should, but they -- and a few other networks -- will be taking care of business for this year’s Finals.
Here’s a network-by-network rundown of what you’ll see over the next two weeks.
NBC and NBC Sports Network
Now that hockey’s broadcast and cable partners are under one roof, you tend to lump their coverage together, because the two are definitely meant to play off of each other. That continues in full force this year, as NBCSN will be on site with one-hour pre-game shows before all seven potential games of the Kings-Devils series, regardless of what network the game will be on. There will also be a half-hour post-game show for every game of the series, so once the game ends on NBC, flip over to NBC Sports Network. They’ll also have additional info on the nightly NBC Sports Talk at 6, and from their various web properties and regional sports networks.
The talent should surprise no one who has watched even a few hockey games on the networks this year. Mike “Doc” Emrick (who will be calling NBC’s Olympic coverage of water polo in London this summer) will call the play-by-play for his 14th Stanley Cup Finals. That’s easily a record for American television. Emrick, much like how his calls tend to escalate as the action gets more pulse-pounding, gets better and better as we head toward June.
Pierre McGuire (inside the glass) is back for his seventh straight Stanley Cup Finals on television, while Eddie Olczyk (color analyst) will call his sixth consecutive championship. Liam McHugh will be the studio host for the entire series on NBC and NBC Sports Network (no Dan Patrick this time around), and Mike Milbury and Keith Jones (who, along with Emrick, is the only person left on NBCSN from the OLN days in 2005, shockingly enough) will contribute their usual arguments. Jeremy Roenick and Darren Pang will also be around to conduct on-ice segments, further breaking down plays. Meanwhile, NBC Sports mainstays and Baseketball co-stars Bob Costas and Al Michaels will deliver special opening segments to Games 1 and 3, respectively.
NHL Network
Fans expect NHL Network to be all over the Stanley Cup Finals, and that will be the case again this year. NHL Live, the two-hour call-in show will kick things off at 5 p.m. ET with EJ Hradek, Deb Placey and a rotating cast of hosts and analysts talking NHL, including Mike Johnson providing inside analysis on the Devils, and a grab bag of analysts contributing reports on the Kings.
From there, NHL Tonight is live from the site of the games (Their studio is perched at Newark’s Championship Plaza outside the Prudential Center for Games 1 & 2) at 7 p.m. ET. Kathryn Tappen hosts, with Kevin Weekes and Barry Melrose alongside. A lot will be made of Melrose being back in Los Angeles when the series heads for California for Games 3 & 4. Steve Mears, Joe Micheletti, Darren Pang and Doug Weight will also contribute to the show. NHL Tonight returns live right after the game as well.
For those looking for something beyond the Finals, NHL Network will air a special called Inside the Cup this Sunday, June 3rd at 8 p.m. ET. It’ll take you behind the scenes of the entire 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Sort of like 24/7, in that it will feature players on-ice mic’d up. Though I doubt it will be that uncensored. Wouldn’t it be great, however, if we could hear what Adam Henrique thought upon getting that spear in his special area during Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final?
CBC
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation airs its’ astonishing 57th consecutive presentation of the Stanley Cup Finals for the True North in 2012. They take care of every game up in Canada. The half-hour pre-game show, Scotiabank Hockey Tonight, will air prior to Games 1 and 2 and five through seven, if necessary.
Jim Hughson (play-by-play) will call his fourth Stanley Cup Finals on television, with a long way to go to catch Bob Cole at 28. Craig Simpson (color) is also in it for the fourth consecutive year, and Glenn Healy (inside the glass) will be there for a third time. The best television hockey reporters in the business, Elliotte Friedman and Scott Oake, will be at ice level. Ron MacLean hosts yet again, with analysis from the likes of Kelly Hrudey, PJ Stock, the Hotstove roundtable, and of course... Donald S. Cherry, whose wardrobe will probably fit in with the locals of Newark and Los Angeles better than any other cities in America.
For those in Canada who’d care to see NHL Network’s Inside the Cup special, CBC has picked up the rights. It’ll air an hour later, on Sunday, June 3rd at 9 p.m. ET.
TSN
TSN is often an afterthought, as they don’t air many games, but all of their usual studio folks are on site at the Stanley Cup Finals. James Duthie, Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger, Ray Ferraro and Aaron Ward should provide some of the best hockey talk on television. That’s Hockey and That’s Hockey 2Nite continue throughout the Finals.
ESPN
ESPN is also often forgotten due to a lack of live game rights, but they will have a presence at the Stanley Cup Finals as well. Steve Levy and Barry Melrose will be on site as usual for SportsCenter and ESPNews, and don’t forget, ESPN.com is a haven for solid hockey writing.
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