How did you watch hockey differently in the past?

[VanIslander]

Do you still watch hockey on TV? On a computer?

I now watch exclusively on my phone.

My most productive years on HfBoards were pre-smartphone (for me late '17, dumped laptop and tv by '19).

I loved having a game on tv and feet up typing away on Hfboards.

Back in uni i had to settle for Saturday nights on the dorm's big screen plus sports talk radio, game streams on radio and newspapers.

When young we had two channels and CBC was basically just hockey and news.

I can't imagine growing up with ESPN the decade after my youth, or being able to watch any game any time as a teen this century!

Click to read more...

 

[Johnny Engine]

My dad built a barn sized building across the street from our house for various purposes, and there was a tiny rabbit eared TV (smaller than microwave oven!) in the upstairs. On Saturdays as a kid, I'd often head over to the barn to watch the west coast game and not wake up anyone else - the Leafs or Habs could be family viewing in the evening, but most adults with jobs and responsibilities in the Newfoundland time zone aren't waiting around for the Canucks. And there was a pullout couch up there and I'd often just crash after watching that.

I think I had forgotten that before this thread came about.

 

[JMCx4]

Mobile phone hockey watching is pretty much my last resort these days; I can't follow the play consistently & it's ergonomically clumsy. I'm watching an NCAA DI men's game tonight via an OTA broadcast & antenna connection to my smart-capable television. Earlier today I watched a PWHL game on YouTube via wifi & my smart TV. But in the last few years my primary remote hockey watching has been from streams either cast via my mobie phone or home wi-fi connected to my smart TV. Each of those video media feeds aren't much different (except for the picture quality) from when I watched locally broadcast games on my family's tube TV with an antenna feed starting in the late 1960s. But TBH, I'd still rather follow a hockey game's action via radio with an intelligent & talented PbP announcer. There are too many visual distractions in 21st C hockey media productions that diminish the entertainment quality of the game for me.

 

[Staniowski]

I still watch current games 98% of the time on TV. And watch old games on YouTube on my phone, as well as highlights, etc.

One big change for me is watching games on the French channel (Radio-Canada), which we always had growing up. It gave me lots of opportunity to watch the Habs or Nords if they weren't on CBC. But there's generally no need for this now.

Big time difference in watching HNIC in the Maritimes and watching in Western Canada. When I lived out west, it felt really weird watching HNIC so early.

 

[MadLuke]

Like most I imagine it changed quite a bit over time.

Growing up without cable, CBC-SRC before they stopped were the mainsource for TV games, which was limited, so a lot of game were from the Radio like the early days.

QMJHL has well, when the Oceanic were goods, could not watch all the game during school night, no tv in the bedroom, but having a radio in there was easy.

I also remember watching the western second game on CBC double feature with the tv volume set at 2 to not wake up people, Oilers-Dallas playoff matchup were the best.

Then there was the cable era with the RDS-TSN, after that the cable + digital recorder that did let you start the game 30 minutes late, rewind some plays, skip ads and catch the last 10 minutes of the third period live... that was the superior way to watch non playoff game (playoff game you need to watch it live, when a goal is scored people honk in the street, neighbors, people react on your phone in the past would call each others... you would get spoiled)

Now it is streaming on the Internet on a second monitor.... that never got cable TV level of reliable and quality, there something nice to be able to watch 100% of the game with a couple of clicks, but with such abundance you remove the special aspect of it that the limited non-cable offer of the 1990s CBC alone provided.

Also everyone around you watched the same series that CBC decided to follow and talked about the same game the next day, even in the first round even when your local team was not in it...

 

[Michael Farkas]

I don't know why, but I had it in my head that you were Czech...

 

[Bear of Bad News]

I don't know why, but I had it in my head that you were Czech...

You've got him confused with Jiri Patera.

 

[Michael Farkas]

You've got him confused with Jiri Patera.

*palm to forehead* you're exactly right.

I think we just created the most confusing V8 commercial in history.