NHL Center Ice Pulls A Heidi

By now, I'm sure plenty of you have heard about the "Love Me Two Times" shootout that took place on Saturday in Dallas between the Stars and the Red Wings.

Like plenty of other NHL Center Ice subscribers, I'd decided to watch Stars-Red Wings instead of the local NBC affiliate feed of the Flyers and the Lightning:

With the Stars up 2-1 after two rounds, Turco had a chance to seal the victory by stopping Henrik Zetterberg. He did, too, forcing him to push the puck wide right.

But Turco's stick slipped out of his hands while he tried to poke away the puck. Turco immediately turned to an official and shook his blocker to indicate he did nothing wrong. The official apparently agreed because the Stars began celebrating. Then replay officials took another look, ruled it a thrown stick and credited Zetterberg with the tying score.

"I didn't mean to throw it, but I'm sure it was the right call," Turco said.

Unfortunately, the news of exactly what happened might not have gotten to subscribers of the league's PPV package, NHL Center Ice. That's because the feed to the Dallas-Red Wings game went dark once it appeared the Stars had won the shootout that was set to continue after video review.

If I hadn't accidentally tripped over the local NBC affiliate again, I wouldn't have known what had happened until hours later. While it might not seem like a big deal, the problem is that subscribers pay a considerable sum of money for the PPV package. And when you're a paying customer, it's not out of line to expect somebody in the control room to pay attention to what was happening on the ice in Dallas.

There's a very simple way to fix this problem. As any NHL Center Ice subscriber knows, game feeds often end just before the next commercial break after the game goes final. Instead, it might be a better idea for the league to arrange that the feed continue automatically for at least five minutes after the game goes final.

It's a minor adjustment, and one that would have helped avoid the mistake on Saturday. And besides, it's the sort of service that the few dedicated customers that the NHL already has deserve to get.

UPDATE: Jay Kumar writes:

Saw your post about NHL Center Ice cutting away from the end of the Stars-Red Wings shootout. I’m a Leafs fan/sufferer and I’ve noticed that it varies how quickly Center Ice cuts away from a particular game. I’ve seen them cut away immediately after the game ends, but I’ve also seen the feed remain available for an hour or two after the game. One game a few weeks ago ended and the station began showing an infomercial and that continued to air for quite some time on Center Ice. I’ve enjoyed on a few occasions watching the post-game coverage out on Rogers Sportsnet and LeafsTV.

I often wonder if it depends on the dude who’s working at Center Ice HQ. If he’s in a hurry, the game cuts away quickly. Then there are the times where they have the wrong game and/or station on; I remember tuning in to see a Leafs game a few months back and they had a TSN feed on, but it was TSN News (a la ESPN News) and they’d show a minute or two of the game before switching to another game. It was infuriating. They finally fixed it after the first period.

Still, I definitely feel I get my money’s worth with Center Ice and I’m glad I have it.

Let me add that I love NHL Center Ice too (anyone who has it usually does), and am glad that it's available.

POSTSCRIPT: For those of you who might not understand the Heidi reference, click here.

Eric 06:13 AM

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Posted by: at January 31, 2006 01:34 PM

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