Sens at Land's End

The TV schedules for national NHL broadcasters in Canada and the US (that would be CBC, TSN, and Versus) were released yesterday. For Sens fans living in the Ottawa area, this isn’t such a big deal: you can be pretty sure you’re going to get local coverage of most of the games from Sportsnet or whatever CHRO/The New RO/A Channel is calling itself these days. For people like me, though, who live in faraway places where other NHL teams get all the local broadcasting attention and where they only have access to Sportsnet Pacific, this makes a difference. I learn exactly how often I’ll be able to watch the games comfortably from my bed, and how often I’ll be getting eyestrain and back pain from trying to watch them on a tiny streaming video window on my computer while sitting in my desk chair.

I have browsed the schedules, and I’ve learned a few things. For one, no matter how many times the CBC claims it’s going to show fewer Leafs games, this will never actually happen. If the Leafs finished dead last in the NHL every season from now until 2017-2018, the CBC would still show their games cross-Canada every Saturday night in the 2018-2019 season, and they’d probably bill the Leafs’ quest to set a record for incompetence that might never be broken as the most exciting thing to happen in hockey since 1967. I’m not too sure where they get the impression that people in the west are interested in the Leafs. I suppose there are probably Leafs fans out there, but I haven’t met them. Most people in Vancouver appear to view the Leafs the same way I do, that is, with a mix of violent hatred and complete derision. On the other hand, they react to the Sens mostly with a big "eh." I guess the second thing I’ve learned from the broadcast schedule, then, is that a violent reaction is better than no reaction, and that’s why the Sens won’t be coming to my TV via Hockey Night in Canada very much this year (unless they’re playing the Leafs, or maybe Sidney Crosby’s team). Could it be that Western Canada’s giant collective shrug towards the Sens has something to do with a lack of coverage of the team in the west by the nation’s official broadcaster? Maybe, but I guess we’ll never know.

CBC’S Confirmed Nationally Broadcast Sens Games for 2008-2009
Oct. 4: Pittsburgh at Ottawa (Stockholm, Sweden) (2:30pm Eastern)
Oct. 5: Ottawa at Pittsburgh (Stockholm, Sweden) (2:30pm Eastern)
Oct. 25: Ottawa at Toronto (7:00pm Eastern)
Nov. 22: N.Y. Rangers at Ottawa (This game is part of "Original Six Saturday.") (3:00pm Eastern)
Dec. 6: Pittsburgh at Ottawa (2:00pm Eastern)
Dec. 27: Ottawa at Calgary (A birthday gift? For me? How thoughtful!) (10:00pm Eastern)
Jan. 3: Ottawa at Toronto (7:00pm Eastern)
Jan. 17: Montreal at Ottawa (7:00pm Eastern)
Feb. 21: Ottawa at Montreal (Hockey Day in Canada) (3:00pm Eastern)
Feb. 28: Toronto at Ottawa (7:00pm Eastern)
Mar. 14: Ottawa at Pittsburgh (3:00pm Eastern)
Mar. 29: Ottawa at Tampa Bay (a Sunday game, for some reason) (6:00pm Eastern)
Apr. 11: Ottawa at Toronto (7:00pm Eastern)

Good thing for afternoon games against Pittsburgh, eh? The Sens will be featured nationally in the primetime Saturday slot only five times this season (the CBC will also broadcast other Saturday night Sens games regionally in the Ottawa area), and each time they’re playing either Montreal or Toronto. Looking at the Sens’ remaining Saturday games, I actually can’t blame the CBC for not showing them more often. The Leafs generally do have more appealing matchups. The only problem is that the other team in those matchups is, of course, the Leafs.

Which brings me to lesson #3 learned from the broadcast schedule: TSN only gets to pick its Sens games after all the other networks are done. How else can we explain a slate that features matchups against mostly teams that are either mediocre (Florida and Atlanta — twice!), boring (Boston and New Jer-zzzz), or Nashville? They’ve thrown a couple of good looking matchups — one game each against Montreal and Washington — to make it a bit more palatable, plus meetings with Buffalo and Tampa Bay which should at least be entertaining. I don’t want to complain too much because really, I’m always glad to see the Sens on my actual TV, but these are games it’s going to be a little hard to get psyched up for.

The NHL on TSN’s Sens Games for 2008-2009
Oct. 22: Florida at Ottawa (7:00pm Eastern)
Nov. 11: Ottawa at Montreal (7:00pm Eastern)
Dec. 3: Atlanta at Ottawa (7:00pm Eastern)
Jan. 4: Ottawa at New Jersey (5:00pm Eastern)
Jan. 14: Ottawa at Atlanta (7:30pm Eastern)
Jan. 20: Washington at Ottawa (7:30pm Eastern)
Feb. 5: Boston at Ottawa 7:00pm (Eastern)
Feb. 11: Ottawa at Buffalo (7:30pm Eastern)
Feb. 16: Ottawa at Nashville (8:00pm Eastern)
Mar. 11: Tampa Bay at Ottawa (7:00pm Eastern)

So, all in all, that’s 23 Sens games on TV in Vancouver this season. Not bad, but also not enough to satisfy my bottomless appetite for Sens coverage. The final thing I have learned from the schedule is thus that I will be subscribing to NHL Center Ice Online as soon as I get back to my west coast home. This will allow me not only to watch about 60 more Sens games (unless there are pay-per-view games) but also to watch any other televised NHL game. Like Spider-Man’s amazing abilities, this will, I’m sure, be both a gift and a curse. The eyestrain and backaches will get worse and worse the more hockey I watch, and my grades will suffer, and I’ll have no life. But at the same time, I will become an encyclopedia of hockey knowledge, able to comment intelligently on that questionable penalty in the Columbus/Dallas game the other night and the reasons for the Ducks’ 18-game winless streak. It will be awesome.