NHL On NBC: Take Two

[Joseph_Gallant]

Today (January 21st), my local NBC affiliate (WHDH-7 Boston) broadcast the network's lead NHL regional telecast (Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins).

To me, the production and commentary overall were somewhat superior to the regional telecast between Boston and Dallas that was fed to most of New England last week.

While I thought that Mike Emrick's play-by-play was about equal to Chris Cuthbert's, analyst (and former New York Rangers' goalie) John Davidson proved again why he is the best analyst in televised hockey (although some in Canada may consider lead "Hockey Night In Canaea" analyst Harry Neale to be J.D.'s equal) and maybe the best analyst in all of television sports.

The one facet of the coverage where the lead announcing team was clearly superior to the team that handled last week's game in Boston was rinkside (or "Inside The Glass", as NBC calls it) reporter Pierre McGuire. He was so much better than Cammi Granato (who herself was pretty solid during last week's Boston/Dallas game) that it wasn't funny.

My verdict: The Emrick/Davidson/McGuire team deserves their selection as NBC's lead NHL announcing team, including the Stanley Cup Finals. Although I have only seen clips of HNIC's lead announcing team of Bob Cole and Neale, I would favorably compare the NBC trio to Cole and Neale.

Although NBC did hype the "goalie cams" (tiny lipstick-sized cameras implanted in the masks of both goalies in the Philadelphia/Pittsburgh game), I don't think this was the first time there have been goalie cams. Didn't CBC's "Hockey Night In Canada" use goalie cams during the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals??

 

[Garrett]

Now, how could you possibly be a Bruins fan, and yet say that Network coverage was better than lcoal coverage ?

Unless of course, you are nostalgic like me for the days when Bob Lobel did the broadcasts...

> Today (January 21st), my local NBC affiliate (WHDH-7 Boston)
> broadcast the network's lead NHL regional telecast
> (Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins).
>
> To me, the production and commentary overall were somewhat
> superior to the regional telecast between Boston and Dallas
> that was fed to most of New England last week.
>
> While I thought that Mike Emrick's play-by-play was about
> equal to Chris Cuthbert's, analyst (and former New York
> Rangers' goalie) John Davidson proved again why he is the
> best analyst in televised hockey (although some in Canada
> may consider lead "Hockey Night In Canaea" analyst Harry
> Neale to be J.D.'s equal) and maybe the best analyst in all
> of television sports.
>
> The one facet of the coverage where the lead announcing team
> was clearly superior to the team that handled last week's
> game in Boston was rinkside (or "Inside The Glass", as NBC
> calls it) reporter Pierre McGuire. He was so much better
> than Cammi Granato (who herself was pretty solid during last
> week's Boston/Dallas game) that it wasn't funny.
>
> My verdict: The Emrick/Davidson/McGuire team deserves their
> selection as NBC's lead NHL announcing team, including the
> Stanley Cup Finals. Although I have only seen clips of
> HNIC's lead announcing team of Bob Cole and Neale, I would
> favorably compare the NBC trio to Cole and Neale.
>
> Although NBC did hype the "goalie cams" (tiny lipstick-sized
> cameras implanted in the masks of both goalies in the
> Philadelphia/Pittsburgh game), I don't think this was the
> first time there have been goalie cams. Didn't CBC's "Hockey
> Night In Canada" use goalie cams during the 2004 Stanley Cup
> Finals??
>

 

[DrBear]

> Now, how could you possibly be a Bruins fan, and yet say
> that Network coverage was better than lcoal coverage ?

Easy. Most of today's local announcers, especially in smaller markets, stink. They're all trying to get to ESPN or Fox or the broadcast networks so they're styling and trying to develop a style, and totally ignoring the game. The exceptions are the people (Scully, Uecker, Harry Kalas, erc.) who have been there for years and are very happy where they are (and all three of those have done network or major national gigs). Try developing talent instead of style, folks.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

In this thread, I was comparing NBC's "A" broadcast team (Mike Emrick/John Davidson/Pierre McGuire) to the network's "B" or "C" team (however Chris Cuthbert/Peter McNab/Cammi Granato rank in the pecking order).

I was not comparing local broadcasts to network broadcasts.

As for Bob Lobel, he never did play-by-play for Boston Bruins' games, but I think he did do color for home games on WBZ-1030 for a short while in the mid-1970's.

Maybe Garrett was thinking of either Bob Wilson or Fred Cusick, who were the longtime radio and TV play-by-play voices respectively of the Boston Bruins, both now long since retired.

 

[Garrett]

Are you sure Lobel never did it? I could have sworn I've seen video with him doing the play by play....

> In this thread, I was comparing NBC's "A" broadcast team
> (Mike Emrick/John Davidson/Pierre McGuire) to the network's
> "B" or "C" team (however Chris Cuthbert/Peter McNab/Cammi
> Granato rank in the pecking order).
>
> I was not comparing local broadcasts to network broadcasts.
>
> As for Bob Lobel, he never did play-by-play for Boston
> Bruins' games, but I think he did do color for home games on
> WBZ-1030 for a short while in the mid-1970's.
>
> Maybe Garrett was thinking of either Bob Wilson or Fred
> Cusick, who were the longtime radio and TV play-by-play
> voices respectively of the Boston Bruins, both now long
> since retired.
>