TSN put together their Top 10 Mike Lange calls.  It’s a nice compilation, although TSN could have waited until Lange made the call before displaying it on-screen. (via NY Times)

Little OT worries

Tomorrow is not just game 5 between Detroit and Dallas, but the Preakness Stakes as well.  NBC ran into issues last season when Buffalo and Ottawa went into overtime and wasn’t sure what to do with the hockey broadcast as the Preakness broadcast was starting.

If the scenario presents itself again tomorrow, the NHL game will move to Versus.

Titled: NHL Star Called Up To Big Leagues To Play For NFL Team

The Onion takes a swipe at everyone, of course, but definitely has a lot of fun at the NHL’s expense.  A sample:
NHL Offers Will Ferrell $350 To Do Movie About Hockey
Atlanta Fans Smile Politely Through Entire NHL All-Star Game
Nation Gears Up For Hockey’s First Season Following Lockout
Carolina Residents Confused, Terrified As Victorious Hurricane Players Riot In Streets
Hockey’s New Rules
The rest of The Onion’s hockey section.

Hat tip to Tom for alerting us all via Twitter.

Some non-news from TMZ.  The post a paparazzi vid of celebs walking in and out of wherever celebs walk in and out of. Chris Brown is the lead, then Rihanna, then… Sean Avery?  Yup, Sean Avery.

I don’t understand the point of these vids.  I mean, I know why they do it, just hoping someone will do something outlandish and it gets bought up, but in general, yeah, it’s pointless.

I post it here to point out where Avery’s status is outside of the hockey world.  While he’s generally dubbed a “hockey star” in any sort of caption, he’s also usually attached to a tabloid-friendly female (or at least rumored to be chasing/dating/doing something with her).

Outside of LA, NY and maybe Miami, Avery can’t really maintain this status he has.  I’d be shocked to see him move to any other city this offseason and risk his current nightlife.

Hulu takes the wraps off of its free video streaming service on March 12, when the service exits its five-month-long private beta phase and becomes accessible to all users. The site has attracted much attention since its introduction, and rightly so: As a joint venture from News Corp. and NBC Universal, the site is backed by some of the biggest content producers around. The latest additions include Warner Brothers, Lionsgate, the NBA, and NHL.

Hulu, which is open to the public now, is Fox (News Corp) and NBC’s competitor to Youtube.  The big corps want more control of their own content.

Or, to put it another way: why should Youtube get tons of traffic from Dick in a Box?

As you can see, the quality is very good.  Please note that I had to shrink the clip to get it to fit the width of this site (which I’ll be literally expanding soon).  So the embedded clip above went from 510px wide to 428px wide.  It scales well.  Hopefully the NHL clips on Hulu will have the same quality.

Hulu has full-length movies as well, like The Usual Suspects.  Sweet.

As many as 25-30 could go on free, non-cable TV. WGN-Ch. 9, which carried Hawks games in the 1960s and early ‘70s, and WPWR-Ch. 50 are two possible landing spots.

The NHL Network will simulcast XM’s NHL Live, making the hockey talk radio show the first satellite radio program to be telecast live and high-definition by a TV network.

NHL Network’s HD simulcast of the two-hour weekday show debuts Monday, March 17 at noon (ET).

I don’t have the NHL Network in HD (yet?), but I’m office-bound anyway.  So I say enjoy it to those on sick days or those who have TVs in their offices.

I know the NHL is partnered with XM, but I wouldn’t mind catching Sirius’ Hockey Night In Canada to catch whatever Jeff Marek is up to.

Some podcasts/video podcasts would be fun too.

I must have missed something, I thought.  Some star must have chosen Russia over playing in the NHL (my NHL is sans periods).

I was setup with quotes like this one:

“Less and less players are going to the N.H.L. and more and more are coming back here,” Yashin said in an interview in English after the game. “From my perspective, there is a competition between Russian clubs and the N.H.L. for the best product on the ice.”

Ok, I must have missed a few players.

I was waiting for names.  Just… want… one.

Former N.H.L. stars like Darius Kasparaitis and lesser-known N.H.L. veterans like Oleg Tverdovsky and Oleg Petrov have also settled in the league.

Names!  But just like Yashin, these names weren’t of willing jumpers, but those disinterested in playing in the North American minor league system.

In the end, I never saw the name I was looking for.  It was part “no NHL team wants me"-bitterness and part “the Russian League will soon pay players"-hype.

I’m not sure what to make of a Russian or European NHL competitor.  It could be great (round the clock hockey!), but it could be messy (what league?  what city?  who’s really tops?).  If nothing else, we all get to brush up on our geography.

The Times article set me up for something it didn’t deliver: an NHL star lured back to the Motherland.  It could happen in the future, but it certainly hasn’t yet.

I’m currently watching three streams: TSN via NHL.com, Sportsnet and The Score.

It’s hard listening to three at once, but you can always hear one thing clearly: Darren Pang laughing.

Edit: I’ve said this for years, I don’t understand why every trade deadline is a Tuesday, which typically has heavy schedule.  There are 8 games tonight, meaning 16 of 30 teams have games, and will possibly be missing players tonight.  It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Update 310pm: So, uh, who do you think got the better of the Hossa trade?