Is it time for a new formula for Hockey Day in Canada?

[PanthersPens62]

It will be very interesting indeed. All of the promos I have seen so far feature Ron McLean...nothing with George Strombolopolous. Hopefully that is a sign of things to come.

I mean, Rogers spent 5 billion dollars on this league....surely they have the right to tell GB to stuff it and bring back Ron McLean.

Oh good......while I don't hate Strombo as much as many here do, HDIC is something that Ron really has exceled at........I just can't see George holding up to those high standards.

 

[yoss]

Yes, winner should be awarded the Stanley Cup.

 

[LeafsNation75]

Unless there was a scheduling conflict with the MTS Centre, I was surprised they have the Jets playing in Detroit. You think for Hockey Day in Canada the NHL would schedule them to be playing in Winnipeg.

 

[Pilky01]

Oh good......while I don't hate Strombo as much as many here do, HDIC is something that Ron really has exceled at........I just can't see George holding up to those high standards.

Considering "Hometown Hockey" is basically just a weekly version of HDIC it would be bizarre to see George hosting it.

George sucks though and rest assured he would be terrible at it

Unless there was a scheduling conflict with the MTS Centre, I was surprised they have the Jets playing in Detroit. You think for Hockey Day in Canada the NHL would schedule them to be playing in Winnipeg.

You can throw a baseball from Windsor and hit Joe Louis Arena. The Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres are almost de facto Canadian teams. Hell, the Sabres do O Canada before every single home game, Canadian opposition or not. TONS of Canadians are Red Wing and Sabre fans. It is perfectly within reason for any Canadian hockey fan east of Hamilton or west of Woodstock to consider their "home team" to be one based in the United States.

I love that they have the awareness to schedule the 7th Canadian team to play in one of the two border cities (though I don't see why they can't just host an American team themselves....Chi/Min@Win would be a pretty nice matchup right about now).

I would love to see the Leafs in Buffalo for one of these though. And really, what's more Canadian/Torontonian than thousands of people driving 3 hours in order to avoid getting ripped off for a crap product?

 

[ForumNamePending]

To be honest I never really looked at HDIC as a whole lot more than just another busy Saturday on the NHL schedule but a couple of things...

1) I like the idea of including some of the 'border towns' to mix things up a bit. Along with Buffalo and Detroit I would probably also stretch the meaning to include Boston and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Perhaps if a Canadian team has a relatively hot rivalry with an American team (regardless of location) work them into the lineup as well... As an example something like Vancouver/Chicago a few years ago.

2) I will never understand why so many view Ron MacLean as such an important piece to the HNIC puzzle. Outside of enabling Don Cherry and offering up the odd pun (neither are necessarily good things) what did/does he provide that is so critical?

 

[Anglesmith]

Nah. Canadian match ups are awesome. It's just that not every team is very good right now, so the matchups seem "dull".

There are more good Canadian teams right now than there have been for a while. It's possible that 4 of the 7 teams get in. That's really not bad. It's about what you would expect, all things being equal.

 

[BLNY]

The format is fine. It's the two dipsticks that will be front and center that are the issue.

 

[LeafsNation75]

You can throw a baseball from Windsor and hit Joe Louis Arena. The Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres are almost de facto Canadian teams. Hell, the Sabres do O Canada before every single home game, Canadian opposition or not. TONS of Canadians are Red Wing and Sabre fans. It is perfectly within reason for any Canadian hockey fan east of Hamilton or west of Woodstock to consider their "home team" to be one based in the United States.

I love that they have the awareness to schedule the 7th Canadian team to play in one of the two border cities (though I don't see why they can't just host an American team themselves....Chi/Min@Win would be a pretty nice matchup right about now).

I would love to see the Leafs in Buffalo for one of these though. And really, what's more Canadian/Torontonian than thousands of people driving 3 hours in order to avoid getting ripped off for a crap product?

During the 2007-2008 season when there was Hockey Day in Canada the Leafs had played the Red Wings, however the game was still in Toronto. So it's nothing new of the NHL to schedule the Red Wings to play a Canadian team on that day and you make some good points. Although I think it's weird for the game to played in United States. When NBC has Hockey Day in America you don't see the NHL having one of those games between a Canadian and American team being played in Canada.

 

[Pilky01]

During the 2007-2008 season when there was Hockey Day in Canada the Leafs had played the Red Wings, however the game was still in Toronto. So it's nothing new of the NHL to schedule the Red Wings to play a Canadian team on that day and you make some good points. Although I think it's weird for the game to played in United States. When NBC has Hockey Day in America you don't see the NHL having one of those games between a Canadian and American team being played in Canada.

But that is mainly just because "Hockey Day in America" is little more than a unique graphical overlay for what would otherwise be no different than any other day on the NHL calendar.

 

[Shockmaster]

So I notice on Hockey Day in Canada there's a 2:00pm game, two 7:00pm games, and a 10:00pm game. Why not make a full quadruple-header with a 1pm game, a 4pm game, a 7pm game, and a 10pm game?

 

[Mike Martin]

Why are you presupposing that it "ain't broke"?

It clearly favours certain matchups and certain times, with other teams getting the leftovers, both in terms of opponent and time. Ottawa is always stuck playing in the afternoon, one of the Alberta teams is always stuck playing an out-of-conference opponent (Ottawa) and at an unfavourable time, and Winnipeg gets the American team. Meanwhile Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are guaranteed a primo opponent in local prime time.

Seems pretty broken to me...

Doesn't Ottawa have a smaller fanbase than both Toronto and Montreal? I'm pretty sure that's why they get the day game.

 

[theaub]

So I notice on Hockey Day in Canada there's a 2:00pm game, two 7:00pm games, and a 10:00pm game. Why not make a full quadruple-header with a 1pm game, a 4pm game, a 7pm game, and a 10pm game?

I know the answer to this (they have a bunch of stories and need time for them in between games), but yeah this would be sweet.

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

What CTV and CBC need to do is fire Kypreos, Healey, Hrudey and George Snuffleupgus.

Worst god damn hockey panel I have ever seen.

 

[McRpro]

Enough with all this feel-good fluff!

/puke

 

[Mike Martin]

Enough with all this feel-good fluff!

/puke

It is pretty cheesy, how much of that do people want to watch?

 

[CH25]

Do people really watch all 4 games? (I'm American.)

It's insanely cold to play hockey outside so I'm sure a lot of people do.

 

[Shockmaster]

I know the answer to this (they have a bunch of stories and need time for them in between games), but yeah this would be sweet.

I think they would be better off saving the stories for intermissions. Are people really going to stay tuned in between the 2pm and 7pm games just to hear stories? They need a game sandwiched between those two.

 

[GKJ]

All-Canadian matchups is one of the appeals of Hockey Day in Canada. That's why it's done. That, and Don Cherry shows up in some little Canadian town.