NHL on ESPN is back!
Step 1, accomplished.
It's a seven year deal and includes streaming rights for Disney Plus.
Step 2 is to bring back the opening theme and Gary Thorne for play by play.
https://twitter.com/reporterchris/status/1369408346365759489?s=19
Does that mean they'll acknowledge hockey's existence beyond the playoffs? Bringing back Thorne and Clement would be nice.
Clement Clement Hands of Cement
Love Gary Thorne
The Russian 5 had a great bit about McCarty's goal against philly. This also makes me miss Dave Strader.
This clip is almost 12 years old and it's NOT from an NHL game, but of all of Gary Thorne's memorable hockey calls, this one has to rank up among his most exciting. (Start watching at about 6:22 of the clip.) You might say that it was UNBELIEVABLE!
I was never a fan of Rico's Miami teams...but I don't think I will ever witness a more crushing loss in my life. Up 2 goals and :60 from a national championship and you end up losing. Brutal
I watched that game from a bar in Cincinnati - quite a few Miami fans. They had it won --- and they'll never forget losing it.
That last goal literally went into the net in slow motion, the worst of all possible deaths.
As a long-time Red Sox fan, after watching that 2009 NCAA hockey championship game, I remember thinking that there just might be something about that Dirty Water "down by the banks of the River Charles" in Boston that brings about miraculous comebacks (like in the American League baseball playoffs in 2004 when the Red Sox came back to take four straight games from the Yankees after having been close to being swept in four.)
A friend of mine is a BU alum and a college hockey fan. He sent me a copy of a book that was written about that BU team from 2008-2009. It's called Burn the Boats: A Seven-Championship Season for Boston University Hockey.* That BU team added seven championship trophies to their display case – the Ice Breaker Tournament, the Denver Cup Tournament, the Beanpot Tournament, the Hockey East regular season championship, the Hockey East Tournament, the NCAA Northeast Regional and the NCAA championship.
* Queme los Barcos ("Burn the Ships" in Spanish) also was used by the Michigan basketball team at the end of that season when they made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998. LINK
Isn’t that the MGoPodcast hockey theme?
Yay -- I can't wait for ESPN's shitty coverage, dumbass empty commentary, shitty play-by-play guys, and self-promotion to become part of the NHL again. Not to mention the far Left woke politics that NBC has been kind enough to spare us from.
If we're lucky, they may even bring back pay-per-view for the playoffs again and force us to pay extra to watch out-of-market games!
One thing we never got to see unfortunately is JR snapping one day and just knocking out Milbury.
They will probably put most playoff games on the ESPN+ app, which means no real functional dvr option and about 15 - 20 seconds lag if you want to toggle to another channel.
Wow. Maybe I can become a fan again. How I miss having all the Wings games televised locally when I lived in Ann Arbor.
ESPN broadcasted way fewer games than NBC. They also regionalized a lot of the coverage and ignored any series that involved a Canadian team playing someone besides the Rangers. With NBC, you get every single playoff game live for free now and it has been that way for some time.
Every playoff game is free? I must admit, I haven’t watched much NHL the last few years since the Wings have been brutal, but I thought the majority of games were on NBC Sports, which you have to have through a cable service, just like ESPN. Or is there a way to watch it without having a service?
I think most of the playoffs have been on actual nbc. Or at least the conference finals and cup finals all on broadcast.
Or is there a way to watch it without having a service?
Yeah, https://sportsurge.net/
And if your game isn't on the landing page, click one of the links anyway... something like StreamEast and the like will have it (and then you can bookmark those sites directly).
He means it is part of most standard cable packages. If I remember correctly, if a game isn't on NBC or NBC Sports, they would put it on USA.
I sorely miss Gary Thorne and Bill Clement announcing heated Avalanche-Wings games
"THE GOAL COUNTS! THE GOAL COUNTS! THE GOAL COUNTS!"
Does anyone even need a hint as to what game this is from?
Can not agree with this sentiment more. Gary Thorne is the hockey play calling God!
just bring back the ncaa basketball game and we've almost hit the trifecta
Step 3 is to put Barry Melrose out to pasture.
He's become hockey's version of Dick Vitale.
Guess this means a lot more air time for Buccigross. Not a good trade-off.
Curious to who gets the other half of the rights and if it stays with NBC, what on-air talent does ESPN hire?
A lot of people forget how big hockey was nationally in the 90s. This is a step in the right direction. If we can get Thorne, Levy, and Bucci back and NHL 2 Night as well...we could be on to something
I'd kill for Bill Pidto and NHL2Night to return.
This is awesome news! I really miss hockey on ESPN, and especially Gary Thorne. He was my favorite play by play hockey announcer, along with the late great Dave Strader.
I'm excited, as someone who likes to stumble onto a hockey game randomly.
Please give Buccigross NHL2Night back!
A Buccigross-Chicken Parm reunion would be fitting.
Gary Thorne and Bill Clement? Now that Doc retired, there's a huge void in NHL play by play...
The obsession a certain generation has with the NHL on ESPN is pretty hilarious.
Contrary to what some people think the NHL being on ESPN wasn't a sign of the NHL meaning more back then or having more popularity, it had everything to do with ESPN being a way smaller network back then.
Does this then show the NHL is in ascendancy now? No, it shows how in today's fractured market space any live content with a built-in fanbase is much more valuable as TV shows and movies increasingly fail to draw audiences to live TV offerings.
I suspect a lot of the people talking about this aren't even aware that NHL games have been shown on the ESPN+ streaming platform for a couple of years already.
March 10th, 2021 at 11:20 AM ^
There is a big difference between ESPN+ showing a random NHL game and ESPN, the WWL, agreeing to broadcast games live on the network. I think everyone assumes there will be an associated re-investment in the league by ESPN - more prominence on Sportscenter, features on secondary programs, and the hype-up throughout the ESPN lineup that the NBA currently enjoys.
There is a lot of nostalgia wrapped up in the NHL on ESPN - it was the 90s, when a lot of us posters were in our formative years, Thorne and Clement have been in tons of NHL video games, and it was at the height of the Wings-Avalanche rivalry, the greatest in the history of the NHL. It's not an obsession, just fond memories of when things were good with our team, and the old fun music and clips we still watch.
March 10th, 2021 at 10:43 AM ^
I like the move. Not because ESPN has ever been even competent in their hockey content. Simply because it means more games on television. Nothing more frustrating when you are a fan of a team not in your local TV market and you go to check if the game is on NBCSN, and see a re-run of a figure skating competition come up.
March 10th, 2021 at 10:49 AM ^
With YTTV not having the FOX regionals and the Wings being basically abysmal I've caught 2 whole games this year. Not sure this will help put them on TV any more, but I hope so. I hate being that fan.
March 10th, 2021 at 11:02 AM ^
I hope them assuming the media rights means more hockey on TV. Outside of the weekend NBC games, it's a crapshoot if you can catch your team once over a three week period.
March 10th, 2021 at 11:11 AM ^
Unless you're a Blackhawks fan. That craptastic team is on seemingly every day.
This is the truth!