2006 Frozen Four

[jkrdevil]

BC just beat North Dakota 6-5 in the first game of the Frozen Four. BC got out to a 3-0 lead. North Dakota then closed it to 3-2 then blew it and BC scored twice late in the second to make it 5-3. BC added a 6th goal in the third and UND made it 6-4 with only a few minutes to go. The made it a one goal game with 12 seconds to go. Game was much more onesided then score indicates.

Maine at Wisconsin tonight on ESPN2. Championship game Saturday night on ESPN.

[Cujo]

I have to say, eventhough it's not the National Hockey League, it was great to hear Gary Throne call a hockey game once again. Barry Mullet-rose is starting to bug me, but having Thonre back in the booth makes up for it

And doies anyone know how much longer OLN holds the cable rights to the NHL? I really hope when their contract is up, the NHL can return to ESPN. They did it so much better.

[jkrdevil]

I have to say, eventhough it's not the National Hockey League, it was great to hear Gary Throne call a hockey game once again. Barry Mullet-rose is starting to bug me, but having Thonre back in the booth makes up for it

And doies anyone know how much longer OLN holds the cable rights to the NHL? I really hope when their contract is up, the NHL can return to ESPN. They did it so much better.

It goed through next year. There is an option though to extend it. I don't know if it's OLN or the NHL's. If it's OLN it will be longer becasue the NHL is the top programming on OLN.

As far as covering the game OLN does a better job. They have hockey people calling the games. Full post game shows and they tlak about the NHL during the intermissions. The only problem is availability. I don't get it at college but at home I do.

[Cujo]

I have to say, eventhough it's not the National Hockey League, it was great to hear Gary Throne call a hockey game once again.  Barry Mullet-rose is starting to bug me, but having Thonre back in the booth makes up for it

And doies anyone know how much longer OLN holds the cable rights to the NHL?  I really hope when their contract is up, the NHL can return to ESPN.  They did it so much better.

It goed through next year. There is an option though to extend it. I don't know if it's OLN or the NHL's. If it's OLN it will be longer becasue the NHL is the top programming on OLN.

As far as covering the game OLN does a better job. They have hockey people calling the games. Full post game shows and they tlak about the NHL during the intermissions. The only problem is availability. I don't get it at college but at home I do.

Well of course you don't have a problem with programming since they show teams from your area. For those of us out west, the programming is dreadful. I cannot stand OLN's coverage. In-game, the camara is on super-zoom so you sometimes can't see all of the action and the announcers put me to sleep. The studio show is a morgue. Games also start very early in the west (5-6PM) and it seems like every game features the Rangers or Flyers, teams most of us don't really care for out here.

What I miss about ESPN's coverage (besides Gary Throne and Steve Levy doing play-by-play) is that they would have games on ESPN2 later in the evening and they would actually feature Western Conference not located in the central time zone.

Since OLN refuses to show teams out west, maybe the NHL should consider doing what the NFL does with the AFC/NFC packages, and have OLN keep the Eastern Conference and ESPN have cover the West.

[jkrdevil]

I have to say, eventhough it's not the National Hockey League, it was great to hear Gary Throne call a hockey game once again.  Barry Mullet-rose is starting to bug me, but having Thonre back in the booth makes up for it

And doies anyone know how much longer OLN holds the cable rights to the NHL?  I really hope when their contract is up, the NHL can return to ESPN.  They did it so much better.

It goed through next year. There is an option though to extend it. I don't know if it's OLN or the NHL's. If it's OLN it will be longer becasue the NHL is the top programming on OLN.

As far as covering the game OLN does a better job. They have hockey people calling the games. Full post game shows and they tlak about the NHL during the intermissions. The only problem is availability. I don't get it at college but at home I do.

Well of course you don't have a problem with programming is as you live back east. For those of us out west, the programming is dreadful. I cannot stand OLN's coverage. In-game, the camara is on super-zoom so you sometimes can't see all of the action and the announcers put me to sleep. The studio show is a morgue. Games also start very early in the west (5-6PM) and it seems like every game features the Rangers or Flyers, teams most of us don't really care for out here.

What I miss about ESPN's coverage (besides Gary Throne and Steve Levy doing play-by-play) is that they would have games on ESPN2 later in the evening and they would actually feature Western Conference not located in the central time zone.

Since OLN refuses to show teams out west, maybe the NHL should consider doing what the NFL does with the AFC/NFC packages, and have OLN keep the Eastern Conference and ESPN have cover the West.

I'll admit early in the season there were production problems but the last few games I've seen (which were awhile ago I admit) were getting better. ANd from what I have heard it is real good now.

As for you're complaint about the teams they show. When ESPN had the coverage about all they showed were literally Red Wings and Avalanche games. Yes there are more eastern teams shown but you have to remember that is where the majority of the countries population is. This year was the first year next year I'm sure there will be more double headers.

ESPN sucked. They had poor announcers, they only showed Red WIngs and Avalanche games. They constantly moved the games around to where you only knew it was on if you were flipping through the channels. The only promotion they had were a 10 second spot as sportscenter was coming off that said the NHL was next. During the intermission they never talked about what was going on in the league they did basketball or baseball highlights. THe NHL was hardly mentioned on sportscenter. ESPN did nothing to promote the sport which in return give them higher ratings. Once they got the NBA they intentionally neglected the NHL. I don't think they ewver thought another channel would come in a buy the rights.

With OLN and NBC the broadcast are about hockey and they talk about hockey. They brought in knowledge people who broadcast hockey only. Yes, availabilty is a problem with OLN and promotion could be better outside those channels (and that is the NHL's fault). However you can't say that ESPN's coverage was better.

[Cujo]

I have to say, eventhough it's not the National Hockey League, it was great to hear Gary Throne call a hockey game once again.  Barry Mullet-rose is starting to bug me, but having Thonre back in the booth makes up for it

And doies anyone know how much longer OLN holds the cable rights to the NHL?  I really hope when their contract is up, the NHL can return to ESPN.  They did it so much better.

It goed through next year. There is an option though to extend it. I don't know if it's OLN or the NHL's. If it's OLN it will be longer becasue the NHL is the top programming on OLN.

As far as covering the game OLN does a better job. They have hockey people calling the games. Full post game shows and they tlak about the NHL during the intermissions. The only problem is availability. I don't get it at college but at home I do.

Well of course you don't have a problem with programming is as you live back east. For those of us out west, the programming is dreadful. I cannot stand OLN's coverage. In-game, the camara is on super-zoom so you sometimes can't see all of the action and the announcers put me to sleep. The studio show is a morgue. Games also start very early in the west (5-6PM) and it seems like every game features the Rangers or Flyers, teams most of us don't really care for out here.

What I miss about ESPN's coverage (besides Gary Throne and Steve Levy doing play-by-play) is that they would have games on ESPN2 later in the evening and they would actually feature Western Conference not located in the central time zone.

Since OLN refuses to show teams out west, maybe the NHL should consider doing what the NFL does with the AFC/NFC packages, and have OLN keep the Eastern Conference and ESPN have cover the West.

I'll admit early in the season there were production problems but the last few games I've seen (which were awhile ago I admit) were getting better. ANd from what I have heard it is real good now.

As for you're complaint about the teams they show. When ESPN had the coverage about all they showed were literally Red Wings and Avalanche games. Yes there are more eastern teams shown but you have to remember that is where the majority of the countries population is. This year was the first year next year I'm sure there will be more double headers.

ESPN sucked. They had poor announcers, they only showed Red WIngs and Avalanche games. They constantly moved the games around to where you only knew it was on if you were flipping through the channels. The only promotion they had were a 10 second spot as sportscenter was coming off that said the NHL was next. During the intermission they never talked about what was going on in the league they did basketball or baseball highlights. THe NHL was hardly mentioned on sportscenter. ESPN did nothing to promote the sport which in return give them higher ratings. Once they got the NBA they intentionally neglected the NHL. I don't think they ewver thought another channel would come in a buy the rights.

With OLN and NBC the broadcast are about hockey and they talk about hockey. They brought in knowledge people who broadcast hockey only. Yes, availabilty is a problem with OLN and promotion could be better outside those channels (and that is the NHL's fault). However you can't say that ESPN's coverage was better.

I'm sorry but that is not true about ESPN not showing other sports' highlights during intermissions or them not promoting the league. During the month of April, it seemed like there would be an NHL game on every night of the week either on ESPN or ESPN2 when OLN only has it only two nights a week and hardly ever had double-headers. What better way to promote hockey than to actually show it!

The announcing on ESPN dominates anyond currently covering OLN games. As far as I'm concerned, Gary Throne and Steve Levy run 1-2 as far as TV announcers go. Nobody on OLN can touch them. On top of that, every time Levy did a playoff game, you were almost guaranteed playoff overtime.

And as far as ESPN showing Avs/Wings games all the time, I never minded. It was a great rivalry in the day, and still is to an extent today. It's gotta be better than the uaranteed hated rivalry OLN came up with between the Flyers and Rangers or the weekly OLN game featuring the last place Penguins.

But this is all my opinion as a westerner. I really think if OLN covered teams in the west and had games on more often, then myself and everyone else probably wouldn't be as turned off by OLN.

[jkrdevil]

I have to say, eventhough it's not the National Hockey League, it was great to hear Gary Throne call a hockey game once again.  Barry Mullet-rose is starting to bug me, but having Thonre back in the booth makes up for it

And doies anyone know how much longer OLN holds the cable rights to the NHL?  I really hope when their contract is up, the NHL can return to ESPN.  They did it so much better.

It goed through next year. There is an option though to extend it. I don't know if it's OLN or the NHL's. If it's OLN it will be longer becasue the NHL is the top programming on OLN.

As far as covering the game OLN does a better job. They have hockey people calling the games. Full post game shows and they tlak about the NHL during the intermissions. The only problem is availability. I don't get it at college but at home I do.

Well of course you don't have a problem with programming is as you live back east. For those of us out west, the programming is dreadful. I cannot stand OLN's coverage. In-game, the camara is on super-zoom so you sometimes can't see all of the action and the announcers put me to sleep. The studio show is a morgue. Games also start very early in the west (5-6PM) and it seems like every game features the Rangers or Flyers, teams most of us don't really care for out here.

What I miss about ESPN's coverage (besides Gary Throne and Steve Levy doing play-by-play) is that they would have games on ESPN2 later in the evening and they would actually feature Western Conference not located in the central time zone.

Since OLN refuses to show teams out west, maybe the NHL should consider doing what the NFL does with the AFC/NFC packages, and have OLN keep the Eastern Conference and ESPN have cover the West.

I'll admit early in the season there were production problems but the last few games I've seen (which were awhile ago I admit) were getting better. ANd from what I have heard it is real good now.

As for you're complaint about the teams they show. When ESPN had the coverage about all they showed were literally Red Wings and Avalanche games. Yes there are more eastern teams shown but you have to remember that is where the majority of the countries population is. This year was the first year next year I'm sure there will be more double headers.

ESPN sucked. They had poor announcers, they only showed Red WIngs and Avalanche games. They constantly moved the games around to where you only knew it was on if you were flipping through the channels. The only promotion they had were a 10 second spot as sportscenter was coming off that said the NHL was next. During the intermission they never talked about what was going on in the league they did basketball or baseball highlights. THe NHL was hardly mentioned on sportscenter. ESPN did nothing to promote the sport which in return give them higher ratings. Once they got the NBA they intentionally neglected the NHL. I don't think they ewver thought another channel would come in a buy the rights.

With OLN and NBC the broadcast are about hockey and they talk about hockey. They brought in knowledge people who broadcast hockey only. Yes, availabilty is a problem with OLN and promotion could be better outside those channels (and that is the NHL's fault). However you can't say that ESPN's coverage was better.

I'm sorry but that is not true about ESPN not showing other sports' highlights during intermissions or them not promoting the league. During the month of April, it seemed like there would be an NHL game on every night of the week either on ESPN or ESPN2 when OLN only has it only two nights a week and hardly ever had double-headers. What better way to promote hockey than to actually show it!

The announcing on ESPN dominates anyond currently covering OLN games. As far as I'm concerned, Gary Throne and Steve Levy run 1-2 as far as TV announcers go. Nobody on OLN can touch them. On top of that, every time Levy did a playoff game, you were almost guaranteed playoff overtime.

And as far as ESPN showing Avs/Wings games all the time, I never minded. It was a great rivalry in the day, and still is to an extent today. It's gotta be better than the uaranteed hated rivalry OLN came up with between the Flyers and Rangers or the weekly OLN game featuring the last place Penguins.

But this is all my opinion as a westerner. I really think if OLN covered teams in the west and had games on more often, then myself and everyone else probably wouldn't be as turned off by OLN.

I am mostly talking about the regular season. And I didn't mean all they showed were Avs Vs. Wings I mean all they showed were Red Wings games or Avalanche games. They would show Red Wings Versus the Blue Jackets or Predetors (when both of those teams were at the bottom of the standings).

As far for showing the games there are more games on OLN than what was in the last ESPN contract which were 40 games all on ESPN2. OLN is showing 58 games. Every night of the playoffs they will have a double header.

Yes bulk of the annoucners are the same but they are in better roles. Neil Smith is better in the studio than a color man because he is a former General Manager. Bill Clemet is a good studio host, he can add to the topic in a way the extra sportscenter anchor couldn't.

The top play by play team is the best. Emrick is much better than Thorne. The first thing a announcer has to ahve is accuracy. Thorne constantly messes up names and say guys are on the wrong team. In the 2003 Cup Finals we kept saying number 28 of Anahiem was Rafalski when Rafalski was actually #28 on the Devils. He did it in the first game there was a play with the North Dakota Goalie Parise he said the right name but then the play went to the other end and he also called the BC goalie Parise. In a 10 second spand he called both goaltenders the same name. It is not one time it is a constant problem with him. Thorne also just shouts, Emrick doesn't. Emrick flows with the game at exciting points his voice does raise but he doesn't yell. There is a reason why Emrick has won all kind of awards for his broadcasting and contributions to the game of hockey and Thorne hasn't. As far as Leavy he just sucked. He was very choppy and another example of a random sportscenter anchor filling in.

There is no better color man in the US than Davidson. To bad he might leave the booth next to become the Blues president.

I agree game selection for OLN hasn't been great and it is in part of not knowing who would be good this year and limited game selection. But it is better than ESPN.

[jkrdevil]

Wisconsin Moves on!!! 5-2 less than a minute left.

BC VS Wisconsin Saturday night at 7

[Cujo]

I have to say, eventhough it's not the National Hockey League, it was great to hear Gary Throne call a hockey game once again.  Barry Mullet-rose is starting to bug me, but having Thonre back in the booth makes up for it

And doies anyone know how much longer OLN holds the cable rights to the NHL?  I really hope when their contract is up, the NHL can return to ESPN.  They did it so much better.

It goed through next year. There is an option though to extend it. I don't know if it's OLN or the NHL's. If it's OLN it will be longer becasue the NHL is the top programming on OLN.

As far as covering the game OLN does a better job. They have hockey people calling the games. Full post game shows and they tlak about the NHL during the intermissions. The only problem is availability. I don't get it at college but at home I do.

Well of course you don't have a problem with programming is as you live back east. For those of us out west, the programming is dreadful. I cannot stand OLN's coverage. In-game, the camara is on super-zoom so you sometimes can't see all of the action and the announcers put me to sleep. The studio show is a morgue. Games also start very early in the west (5-6PM) and it seems like every game features the Rangers or Flyers, teams most of us don't really care for out here.

What I miss about ESPN's coverage (besides Gary Throne and Steve Levy doing play-by-play) is that they would have games on ESPN2 later in the evening and they would actually feature Western Conference not located in the central time zone.

Since OLN refuses to show teams out west, maybe the NHL should consider doing what the NFL does with the AFC/NFC packages, and have OLN keep the Eastern Conference and ESPN have cover the West.

I'll admit early in the season there were production problems but the last few games I've seen (which were awhile ago I admit) were getting better. ANd from what I have heard it is real good now.

As for you're complaint about the teams they show. When ESPN had the coverage about all they showed were literally Red Wings and Avalanche games. Yes there are more eastern teams shown but you have to remember that is where the majority of the countries population is. This year was the first year next year I'm sure there will be more double headers.

ESPN sucked. They had poor announcers, they only showed Red WIngs and Avalanche games. They constantly moved the games around to where you only knew it was on if you were flipping through the channels. The only promotion they had were a 10 second spot as sportscenter was coming off that said the NHL was next. During the intermission they never talked about what was going on in the league they did basketball or baseball highlights. THe NHL was hardly mentioned on sportscenter. ESPN did nothing to promote the sport which in return give them higher ratings. Once they got the NBA they intentionally neglected the NHL. I don't think they ewver thought another channel would come in a buy the rights.

With OLN and NBC the broadcast are about hockey and they talk about hockey. They brought in knowledge people who broadcast hockey only. Yes, availabilty is a problem with OLN and promotion could be better outside those channels (and that is the NHL's fault). However you can't say that ESPN's coverage was better.

I'm sorry but that is not true about ESPN not showing other sports' highlights during intermissions or them not promoting the league. During the month of April, it seemed like there would be an NHL game on every night of the week either on ESPN or ESPN2 when OLN only has it only two nights a week and hardly ever had double-headers. What better way to promote hockey than to actually show it!

The announcing on ESPN dominates anyond currently covering OLN games. As far as I'm concerned, Gary Throne and Steve Levy run 1-2 as far as TV announcers go. Nobody on OLN can touch them. On top of that, every time Levy did a playoff game, you were almost guaranteed playoff overtime.

And as far as ESPN showing Avs/Wings games all the time, I never minded. It was a great rivalry in the day, and still is to an extent today. It's gotta be better than the uaranteed hated rivalry OLN came up with between the Flyers and Rangers or the weekly OLN game featuring the last place Penguins.

But this is all my opinion as a westerner. I really think if OLN covered teams in the west and had games on more often, then myself and everyone else probably wouldn't be as turned off by OLN.

I am mostly talking about the regular season. And I didn't mean all they showed were Avs Vs. Wings I mean all they showed were Red Wings games or Avalanche games. They would show Red Wings Versus the Blue Jackets or Predetors (when both of those teams were at the bottom of the standings).

As far for showing the games there are more games on OLN than what was in the last ESPN contract which were 40 games all on ESPN2. OLN is showing 58 games. Every night of the playoffs they will have a double header.

Yes bulk of the annoucners are the same but they are in better roles. Neil Smith is better in the studio than a color man because he is a former General Manager. Bill Clemet is a good studio host, he can add to the topic in a way the extra sportscenter anchor couldn't.

The top play by play team is the best. Emrick is much better than Thorne. The first thing a announcer has to ahve is accuracy. Thorne constantly messes up names and say guys are on the wrong team. In the 2003 Cup Finals we kept saying number 28 of Anahiem was Rafalski when Rafalski was actually #28 on the Devils. He did it in the first game there was a play with the North Dakota Goalie Parise he said the right name but then the play went to the other end and he also called the BC goalie Parise. In a 10 second spand he called both goaltenders the same name. It is not one time it is a constant problem with him. Thorne also just shouts, Emrick doesn't. Emrick flows with the game at exciting points his voice does raise but he doesn't yell. There is a reason why Emrick has won all kind of awards for his broadcasting and contributions to the game of hockey and Thorne hasn't. As far as Leavy he just sucked. He was very choppy and another example of a random sportscenter anchor filling in.

There is no better color man in the US than Davidson. To bad he might leave the booth next to become the Blues president.

I agree game selection for OLN hasn't been great and it is in part of not knowing who would be good this year and limited game selection. But it is better than ESPN.

I suppose we will have to agree do disagree on this one. But here's a lil something to look at though:

http://boards.sportslogos.net/index.php?showtopic=31061

I don't think I'm the only one here that misses ESPN's NHL coverage. The numbers don't lie.

[-Helix-]

OLN's poor game choices and lack of airing time may be bad, but nowhere near as bad as ESPN.

Atleast OLN has variety (Yes, even western teams sometimes. But considering most of the western teams are boring as crap, you can't blame them. My only beef is showing St. Louis waaaay too much. Atleast those last place eastern teams like Pittsburgh and Washington are still exciting to watch.) whereas ESPN would show an over-done rivalry that died years ago between Colorado and Detroit.

It's just like what they do with baseball. Only atleast the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry is still a big one. They competely ignore the rest of the league.

I got tired of Melrose having to do baseball highlights during the intermissions too. And I specifically remember Thursday being "hockey night" on ESPN. That's 1, count them, ONE day. OLN shows two games a week, sometimes more.

Not to mention OLN's playoff coverage will be MUCH better. Double headers each night with hockey-related programming the rest of the time? I'll take that over any crap ESPN ever showed. The same ESPN that continues to deny the existence of the sport and treated it like crap, adding to the American ignorance and negitivity towards the game.

I believe this is the first I've watched ESPN since college football season. A horrible channel I try my hardest to stay away from.

That said, GO EAGLES!

[OnWis97]

At the risk of staying on topic:

I admit I did not see any of the first game (stupid job). But early in the UW/Maine game, I was thinking "the winner of this game will beat BC." I just think the defense was so strong with those teams.

Wisconsin should be able to beat BC on Saturday, and NOT because it's in Milwaukee. Because of one man. Brian Elliot. Before tonight he had not given up a goal in 200+ minutes. The first goal tonight was fluky. The second goal could have been stopped, but it was a really nice pass/shot. When he's on, which he is, he's the best in the country.

I think the rest of the team played with enough intensity (too much at times--7 Maine powerplays) that if they keep it up they should be able to get the two goals they'll need to beat BC.

The wild card is that Wisconsin has a history of losing to BC in the postseason. In 2000, they went into the tourney #1 and lost to BC in the first round. That should not matter--the UW players may not even be aware of it, but it's funny how things like this work out sometimes...

Nevertheless. Brian Elliot will be a brick wall.

Wisconsin 3

BC 1

[dwertman]

Badgers will complete sweep of NCAA Hockey Tourneys...

[dwertman]

1-1 early in 2nd.....Badgers are on fire

[dwertman]

2-1 Badgers.................10 mins remain

[Cujo]

Unless BC scores here, we only have one more minute of Gary Thorne.

Noooooooooooooo!

[dwertman]

Can i start singing On Wisconsin now

Awesome game......Elliot is simply amazing

Gotta love it

[NJTank]

Well you had to see this coming

Badgers Celebrate

[jkrdevil]

Off the post with 1 sec to go. Great Game!!!!

[EatSleepJeep]

Incredible match. Couldn't believe that last shot.