My NHL, NBC and what it means to the rest of us

Ottawa and Buffalo were tied in what would prove to be the final game in the Eastern Conference final, but instead of sticking with the game and showing the overtime, NBC cut away from the hockey to begin its coverage of the Preakness Stakes. NBC continued to show the game in Buffalo, but the rest of the fans in the U.S. were left hanging, unless they were among the chosen few who have access to Versus.

As columnist Jack Todd wrote in The Montreal Gazette, "This one is frustrating from so many angles that it's enough to leave a columnist spluttering with inarticulate rage".

From here in New Jersey, one is angered how the NHL under Gary Bettman has in so many ways sold the soul of the game to try to make nice-nice to network folks, Madison Avenue and "casual fans" (many in the U.S. South & West) who really do not care at all.

Pat Hickey gives you flavor of this in this Gazette piece:
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?id=87e4c66a-538d-4d65-bc2a-d29fe225987c

Then there is Todd's potent piece under the headline "NHL shows contempt for Canada". In it he touches many raw nerves from the Heidi Bowl NFL game of 1968 to how the NHL takes Canadians (and traditionalist fans south of the border I add) for granted in so many ways.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/sports/story.html?id=d2356558-cf37-45ec-afe4-61884fd854de

Part of his summing up, Todd writes, "......How long will we keep taking it? For a while. Then there will come the season when the rules are too silly, the tickets too expensive, the games shown at 3 a.m. to accommodate The Poker Network too absurd....."

"......Here's something Bettman clearly doesn't understand: Canada is the bedrock of the NHL. Even with the European influx, we provide the bodies and the heart and the people who will pay through the nose and battle their way through a blizzard to watch the game...."

Thank you. You have put in words to so much I too feel but all too rarely gets said around here near the media and advertising mecca called Manhattan.