Coming off encouraging ratings for last spring's Stanley Cup Finals, the NHL is hoping to continue that momentum as the new season opens this weekend. For the second year in a row the league gets things started in Europe. The Tampa Bay Lightning play a pair against the New York Rangers in Prague, while the Ottawa Senators take on the Pittsburgh Penguins twice in Stockholm. Games are Saturday (airing in local markets) and Sunday (noon and 2:30 pm/ET, Versus).
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The Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby by Jim Rogash/WireImage.com
Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start of summer, but one very un-summer like sport is reaching it’s climax. The National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup finals begin Saturday with the Pittsburgh Penguins visiting Joe Louis Arena in Detroit to play the Red Wings. Of the match-up between two storied franchises, NBC/Versus play-by-play man Mike Emrick says, “the hockey gods are smiling so wide we can count their broken teeth." For a league that has struggled for media attention, the finals showcase some of the sport’s top talent. "I cannot recall more stars in a final since 1987 when Edmonton had five of the best,” Emrick says. “But they were all on one team. This time we have the stars divided out on teams." Top names include Detroit scoring machine Henrik Zetterberg and Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, who carried the Penguins during an extended injury break for team star Sidney Crosby. Indeed, Crosby will be the focus of most mainstream attention dur...
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Sidney Crosby by Jim Rogash/WireImage.com
If you’re the National Hockey League, the smallest of the “big four” sports leagues, you have to think outside the rink — literally — to attract some attention. On New Year’s Day, the Buffalo Sabres host the Pittsburgh Penguins in an outdoor game. The “NHL Winter Classic” (Jan. 1, 1 pm/ET, NBC) has sold out 73,000 seats at Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the NFL’s Bills, and, on a day synonymous with college football, hopes to make an impact on TV, too. Bob Costas, who will be anchoring NBC’s coverage from Buffalo, thinks the unique nature of the game will be a real draw. "It really is an event,” he says. “I don't think you have to be somebody who follows the NHL day in and day out to enjoy it as an event.”It helps that the NHL’s “Next One” — the Penguins 20-year-old center Sidney Crosby — will be on the ice. Crosby won last year’s Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s MVP and the Art Ro...
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