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.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

when i’m sitting down to watch a game, it’s mostly on a projector

i don’t know how i grew up watching games on a 20-odd inch CRT… sitting really really close to the screen, i guess

living in the US through most of the 2000s and well into the 2010s was probably the roughest, watching games on a laptop on skippy af illegal streams

 

[weaponomega]

Back in the early 90s I used to watch, or really listen to the Bruins games on the scrambled channel.

I now use the Sportsnet+ app on my tv.

 

[Brodeur]

2002-03 was the first time I could afford to split Center Ice with my college roommate, so I could finally watch every Devils game from the west coast. I didn't have DVR until maybe early 2007, so my usual weekday routine would be to listen to the first period at work and then watch the remainder from home.

After we got DVR, I'd record the games and watch at my own leisure. I'd have to avoid spoilers as I'd occasionally have friends who cheer for rival teams text me in the results in real time.

(long unnecessary story warning)

One that I had spoiled for me forever remains 'The Lasagna Game" for me. I had bought a place in early 2010 and a couple friends moved in during the summer. After a few months in and I already had some regrets about them. Around August my work had a big round of layoffs. I was retained but my manager and others on my team were let go. I suddenly found myself working longer hours and weekends as a result.

I had requested PTO with my previous manager for October to take my Dad out for a birthday trip. But my new manager put the kibosh on that. So I remember being very bitter being at work when I should have been on a flight. The only thing keeping me sane was that it was opening night for the Devils. I had been spending a lot of money dining out but I remembered I had a frozen lasagna. Hockey+lasagna was the repeating thought in my mind.

I get home and immediately see one roommate on the couch with an empty lasagna canister. I check the freezer and she ate mine. Honest mistake, no biggy. I then check the DVR and I don't see the Stars/Devils game. I'm confused since I for sure scheduled the recording the night before. Then I realized what happened. Since both roommates had dominated the living room over the summer, I didn't realize that they had filled up the DVR to 100% capacity since they marked all their shows as 'do not delete.' So either the game didn't have space to record or was immediately purged to make room for something else.

I took a deep breath since the replay would be starting in ~30 minutes. I could just run to the market and grab another lasagna then watch the replay and deal with not being to fast forward through commercials. As I'm walking to the garage, I get a phone call from a beer league teammate who immediately tells me that the Devils lost. The especially unnecessary part was that he was calling because he wanted to set up practices for a tournament..........in February.

So within five minutes of being home, my meager night was ruined and I had to go into work the next day (Saturday). That season always felt off since I'd be jockeying with those roommates for the TV. Devils missed the playoffs for the first time in like 15 years. One roommate would move out within a year and the other one would leave (after stiffing me on rent for 3 months) a couple years later.[/coolstorybro]

Once streaming became an option maybe circa 2017 that took over for Center Ice. In recent years, I'm mostly still working at home. So typically I'll have the 4pm weekday game on in the background while I'm finishing up my work day and then finish the game while eating dinner.

I went from one TV in 2002 to two TVs in 2007 to now three TVs. Especially on weekends, I might have a couple TVs on NHL games and one with random YouTube videos. A few weeks back I had NHL, WHL, and AHL games on which was amusing.

 

[Ralph Malfredsson]

late 80s - had a tiny Sharp TV (15 inches?) in my room. Watched the games there
late 90s/early 2000s - went to University, lived in residence. We split the cable and stacked multiple small TVs in the common room to watch all the 1st round games at once. (Bad time to be going to school in Toronto as a Sens fan)

now - my favourite thing in the world is watching the game (either streaming, on TV, or in the arena) with the GDT open.

 

[MS]

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.

As someone who grew up in BC when I've been on the east coast for work trips etc. I've found it bizarre in the opposite way.

Like, I grew up right from elementary school where I'd get home from school and right away there was a hockey game on. And it's been that way my whole life, and still now I get home and I usually flick on either the Blue Jays game or an NHL game. And then there are sports available right until 10 when you're basically getting ready for bed.

On the east coast, I'll finish up a work conference and get back to my hotel room ... and it's like a 3 hour dead zone where literally nothing is happening and the TV is nothing but crappy daytime TV and news. It's so weird. I actually don't know what to do. And it must be such a different experience for kids because that availability is probably one of the biggest things that made me a sports fan.

____________

Back to the original question, the biggest change for me in my lifetime has been the disappearance of radio as a primary option. Before the mid-1990s like 30/80 Canuck games were available on TV and you had to listen to the rest on the radio, and when I was very young the realization that I could listen to games after I was (unfairly) made to go to bed was one of the things that made me a die-hard Canuck fan.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Funny story that Brodeur's story reminded me of - I moved back to Colorado in 2004 just in time for the 2004-05 lockout (my first day at my job was actually the day of Game Seven, Lightning Flames).

So when the 2005-06 season finally was about to begin, I was jacked because it was the first time I could get Center Ice (which I believe required DirecTV in my area, and therefore a satellite access). Opening night I was ready with 15 games and let's do this. But lo and behold, my beer league's regular night was Wednesdays and I'm the goalie. What to do, what to do.

Oftentimes a solution finds itself - about two weeks before opening night, I ended up doing a full split save on a cross-crease redirect and was then bowled over by the guy that initiated the pass. Torn groin and a hernia, and I'm out six months. Watched a lot of hockey that year.

 

[Salsa Shark]

I ditched cable when I bought my house last year and have gone to streaming the games exclusively. I'm in NJ so I miss skipping between Rangers, Devs and Islanders when they frequently play on the same night.

But as far as watching the games? I'm still in my chair or on the couch watching the TV with the GDT on my ipad.

 

[JMCx4]

when i’m sitting down to watch a game, it’s mostly on a projector

i don’t know how i grew up watching games on a 20-odd inch CRT… sitting really really close to the screen, i guess

living in the US through most of the 2000s and well into the 2010s was probably the roughest, watching games on a laptop on skippy af illegal streams

I hope you were fully clothed ...

 

[buffalowing88]

I remember when the NHL package came out in 06-07 for the southeastern US states my dad made it a big deal about buying it. As Buffalonians who had moved down here a decade prior, we hardly ever got to see them unless it was a national game. That package was the literal highlight of my freshman year of college. I don't know that I missed a game.

We kept it through 2011 and then everything fell off. Now I just go to one of the bars that has the games in Charlotte and watch the Sabres inevitably break my heart and then tab out. At least in the playoffs I can enjoy good hockey.

 

[Boxscore]

99.9% of the time I watch the games on TV in my hockey room, surrounded by all my hockey stuff. This is a habit I formed as a kid... as young as 5 years old I can remember vividly. I'd sit on the floor in front of the big, wooden boxed TV with the huge dials and watch the Flyers with a large box of my hockey cards and hockey books around me. I'd either wear my hockey pajamas or one of the jerseys I had with pajama bottoms.

Heading into my teen years, I'd watch games while organizing sets of cards in binders or paging through hockey magazines. Some things never change, I guess!

Here's where I am mostly every night watching the games...



On special (or rare) occasions, I will pull up ESPN+ on my phone and stream a game if I'm out or at the gym. However, I watch tons of YouTube hockey content on all three platforms... laptop, phone, and TV.

 

[Crosby2010]

Still watch NHL games on my big screen(s) TV at home. It is still the best way to do it. Never understood how watching it on your tiny little phone is more entertaining than a 50" TV.