NBC's Big Mistake

During last year's playoffs, NBC and Versus were doing an extremely good job of broadcasting at least one Stanley Cup playoff game every day. For hockey fans, this was our March Madness. As teams were eliminated, the anxiety increased, until the Conference Finals came around. During the Eastern Conference Finals between the Ottawa Senators and the Buffalo Sabres, the intensity was high and by the time we got to game 5, everyone was on the edge of their seats to see who would win this series. With a double overtime game already in the series, Ottawa came into game five with a 3-1 series lead over the Sabres. As any hockey fan would know, the game was expected to be a good one. And a good one, it was. As the game neared it close, the score was tied at 2-2 and the game headed for overtime. Many fans, including myself, were looking forward to watching a great game end in overtime, the best part of playoff hockey, especially on national television. Unfortunately, fans were shafted when they were told the game would not be on and the three hour pre-race show leading up to the Preakness Stakes horse race would be telecasted. As you would expect, i was really pissed off. How can you cut off a great hockey game for three hours of how pretty horses are! I mean, come on! Of course, the rest of the game was on Versus and Ottawa ended up winning the game and series in overtime., but that is besides the point. In hockey purists eyes, this was a tremendous slap in the face to the sport. Many thought that NBC did not care about the NHL and i heard that even some people began boycotting watching NBC because of it. Turns out that NBC had a contract with the Preakness, and were forced to air all that it did on that day. This was a very sad day in the sport of hockey and hope that it will never happen again.