Gold Medal Would Mean More to Canada

Feb 12th, 2010 | By David Strehle | Category: NHL

As most of my fellow hockey fans in the United States have probably already heard, the Olympic hockey game featuring the U.S. vs. Canada on February 21st is not being shown on NBC.  Instead, the parent company has deemed ice dancing…yes, you read that correctly…ice dancing, as a more desirable event to show on network television, relegating one of the most-anticipated hockey matchups in the Olympic Games to their cable outlet, MSNBC.

As a matter of fact, NBC will not carry Olympic hockey games as part of their regular network programming, instead choosing to air hockey on cable outlets MSNBC, CNBC, and USA. NBC bases this decision on “women as the demographic that appeals to ice dancing”, and that women make up a majority of viewers for the Winter Olympic Games.

So this is the “massive national media exposure” that NHL officials felt was so vital to cancel the annually forgettable All-Star Game and to disrupt the NHL season for a two week period?

All of the major networks…NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox…would never leave a MLB, NFL, or NBA game in progress.   Sure, the NFL had it’s “Heidi Game”, where (again) NBC left a New York Jets-Oakland Raiders game with the Jets leading 32-29 with just over a minute left.   When the network cut away to air “Heidi”, the Raiders mounted an incredible comeback, scoring 14 points to win 43-32.  But realize this was a different time period, the 1968 NFL regular season, and this would not happen to an NFL viewing audience again.

And let us not forget that NBC is the same network that decided to leave a 2007 playoff game between the Ottawa Senators and the Buffalo Sabres after the third period, a tie game headed for overtime, to show the Preakness.   That’s right, NBC left a heated NHL playoff tilt at the climax of fan interest for what amounts to the equestrian equivalent of a NASCAR race.

With the announcement of NBC’s Olympic hockey schedule, I have not been this incensed since the coverage (or should I say lack thereof) of Team USA’s victory over Team Canada in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey tournament.   In what was a tremendous three-game Final series that saw the U.S. battle back to win the final two games in Montreal after losing the first game in Philadelphia, there was as much U.S. national media attention focused on the win as there would be a mid-season Major League Baseball game between two teams that are mathematically out of playoff contention.

And something to watch for is what I would call a hypocritical move by NBC.   If somehow the U.S. can make the Medal round, you can bet they adjust their schedule of coverage to follow America’s Gold Medal hopefuls.  Since 1980′s improbable Team USA Gold Medal and the effect it had on the general public, NBC would try to capitalize on any such U.S. run.   And if by the occurence of another “Miracle”, NBC would take the Gold in patting itself on the back for their support of the hockey team and how they were with the team from the beginning.

It was at the time of the ’96 World Cup of Hockey that I made a decision regarding international hockey competition…I will root for Team Canada. Plain and simple.  I did root for the U.S. in the World Juniors Championship finals against Canada that took place around the New Year holiday.   But this recent decision by NBC to show ice dancing over hockey has re-opened some old wounds.

Call me a traitor but in all honesty, hockey is not only Canada’s game, the game of hockey just means more to Canadians than it does to Americans.   The World Cup of Hockey triumph barely registered a blip on the U.S. sports radar, not even making ESPN’s top three stories the following morning.  In America, the win was largely ignored outside of the hardcore hockey community.   If Canada had won, the following day would have been the equivalent of a national holiday.   Don’t get me wrong, I will still root for Team USA to do well, and if by some major unforseen occasion Canada is eliminated earlier, I will be pulling for a U.S. Gold.

But unless Canada is somehow knocked out, I will bleed Canadian hockey red.

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  • Icelover
    I don't deviate from you very often but I'd be grateful to see 2010 Men's Olympic Hockey on a public access channel if I had to. I do agree that NBC will surely support an increasingly gold-potential USA team, but don't under-estimate the mass appeal of Ice Dancing. AND - no one is more surprised to write those words than I am.

    I'm an American supporting Team Canada because that is where my heart lies. It's comprised of some of my favorite players in the game. As conflicting as it sounds, I'm not rooting against anyone else, I would just mean more to me - personally - if it was Canada.

    I love Canada. It's an extraordinary and beautiful country, reflected in its people and thankfully - a great many of them play and/or appreciate hockey. I'm from Los Angeles, an anti-Canada,
    in its self-importance and hockey ambivalence. Should the Kings make the playoffs, hockey will be sexy until they exit... but that's a different story altogether.

    On Tuesday, men's hockey will take the world stage. I intend to watch it all and can hardly wait. Although Americans won't see it on a mass scale, I hope it displays to the NHL just how tremendous these players are and that they deserve the right to play for their countries.

    Let the games begin.
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