It’s Saturday night and, if I were in Canada, I would be watching Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. But, hey! It’s Saturday night, I’m not in Canada, but I’m watching hockey night in Canada! (It’s on Versus though.)

This is such a breath of fresh air from the American broadcasts of hockey. I’m lucky to get any hockey at all down here; in a country dominated by baseball and football (and sometimes basketball), hockey is a distant fourth (or worse) in terms of TV coverage. Thankfully, it’s the Stanley Cup playoffs and that gives the networks sufficient reason to carry the games. But the broadcast itself is a little sad to watch. The camera work is poor, and the commentary is even worse. I think that the American commentators have a tough time understanding the game… pucks are being “punched” to players, players “cancel” each other, and they seem to make a big deal of the referees not having a stick.

It’s as if their perception of the game is like this: hockey is a sport where the quarterbacks have to dribble the puck and try to hit a home run into the mesh endzone. Oh well. I suppose that I should just be content with having the option to watch this great game. And I am. My love for hockey can be summarized by the following words by Tom Connors:

Oh! The good old hockey game,

Is the best game you can name;

And the best game you can name,

Is the good old Hockey game!

 Go Avs go!!!