Strong Local Ratings For Game Five

Hat tip to Ted's Take for pointing out yet another sign of D.C.'s (re-)emergence as a hockey town: take away the home cities of the two participants in last night's thrilling Game Five and only six cities in the entire country had a higher household viewership rating for the game than did your nation's capital.

Must be all those Pens fans that infest the Verizon Center when Sid and the boys come to town, right? [eye roll]

I Think I'm In Love

Channel 276 on Comcast (in both D.C. and Montgomery County, apparently) is now the NHL Network.

I turned it on to see John Druce score on Chris Terreri in Game 6 of the 1990 Patrick Division Semis and nearly shed a tear of joy.

... And you thought this was going to be a Lindsay Czarniak post.

The Post In Which I Resist The Urge To Go With An Inappropriate Headline Regarding Cox Cable

It's not quite Comcast vs. MASN, but there appears to be an "issue" regarding the telecasting of some Caps games this season. As a resident of the People's Republic of Maryland (and thus not impacted by it), I'm just getting up to speed on the situation, which apparently is going to impact a number of my Confederate brethren.

The long and the short of it, as I understand it, is that Cox is the only cable provider in the D.C. area that doesn't carry CSN+, which means that Cox customers won't be able to see the 17 Caps games this season (which may or may not include the games this weekend - tomorrow night's game is set to be the first of these "no shows") that are to be shown on the Comcast-owned channel.

For more on the issue, you can catch up here, but why read about it when you can actually do something about it? Contact Cox via the methods listed on their website (or other methods, should they present themselves) and tell 'em you want to watch the Caps games - all of 'em.

Update: A formal statement from Ted Leonsis on the matter.

Watch The Home Preseason Games Online

Per the Caps: "Washington Capitals fans can watch and listen to tonight’s home preseason game versus Carolina and the final two home preseason home games live on WashingtonCaps.com. The Capitals and Hurricanes drop the puck at 7 p.m. and Steve Kolbe, the voice of the Capitals for the last 10 years, and former Capital Ken Sabourin will call the game live from Verizon Center.

"Fans will also be able to listen to the Capitals lone remaining preseason road game on Sept. 26, at Philadelphia on WashingtonCaps.com. Mike Vogel, senior writer for WashingtonCaps.com, will join Kolbe in the booth to call the action from Wachovia Center."

Wanna Watch A Game Or Two Tonight?

How would you like to watch tonight's Caps/Sens game? How about the Leafs and 'Yotes? Hell, why not both at the same time, all from the seat in which you're sitting right now?

Thanks to Allsmoke for pointing us to the NHL's Center Ice Beta preview, where all of this and more can be yours - for free - through October 9 (they don't even require a credit card). Just follow the link here, click on NHL Center Ice, follow the instructions and, knock on wood, you should be watching hockey in no time.

If that description isn't tempting enough, check out the screen grab (updated with an in-game shot):

I think I just drooled on my shirt.

Versus And NBC Dump Clement

In case you missed it, Versus and NBC both dropped Bill Clement from their respective studio shows for nationally televised hockey games this coming season. The significance of the move, of course, is that it breaks up the "all former Caps" studio show of Clement, Keith Jones and Brian Engblom, and also it gives me a chance to use one of my favorite goofy hockey cards in a post.

Versus Schedule Out (Though Not Released)

The Battle of New York has what purports to be this coming season's Versus schedule, and the Caps make the national broadcasts four times (not surprisingly, the Pens, Wings, Flyers, Rangers and Avs lead the way with eight appearances apiece).

Here are the Caps' four Versus games:

Nov. 26 – 7:00 Buffalo vs. Washington
Dec. 17 – 7:00 Washington vs. Detroit
Jan. 21 – 7:00 Washington vs. Pittsburgh
Mar. 3 – 7:00 Boston vs. Washington

In case you're wondering, I don't believe NBC has released it's schedule yet, but judging from the Caps' schedule, the only likely possibilities for nationally broadcast Caps games on the Peacock are February 10 versus the Rangers (doubtful, as it would be opposite the Flyers and Pens), and March 9 versus the Pens.

Then, of course, there are the playoffs...

Hull And Outs

I hope you weren't a die-hard Brett-Hull-as-analyst fan, because it appears as if he's out like Pierre Hardy bags (a similie which means absolutely nothing to me, by the way, but was on this list).

Don Cherry's U.S. Debut

If you didn't catch the second intermission of last night's game, you missed out - Don Cherry certainly lived up to the advanced billing. Whether or not that's a good thing, well, I'll let you decide:

Horses, Pols and Pucks

Can you believe a national broadcast network opted for race coverage over a critical playoff hockey game? Only in the United States...

Well, not exactly.

H/t to Kukla's on the link