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Category: Hockey-Related-Stories

It’s Just Not NHL Fans That Have Complaints With Versus/Directv

by Paul on 11/19/09 at 02:03 PM ET
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from Carl Steward of the Oakland Tribune,

This year’s Cal-Stanford game is being televised exclusively on Versus, which was dropped from the DirecTV lineup at the end of August when its contract to carry the network expired. Negotiations on a new deal between Versus and DirecTV have been stalled for nearly three months because of a feud over carriage fees.

The Pac-10 has already lost its DirecTV audience in five previous games televised on Versus this year, including Stanford-Arizona on Oct."‰17 and last week’s Cal home game against the Wildcats.

The Pac-10 doesn’t have a direct contract with Versus, which is owned by Comcast. It does have a deal with Fox Sports Net instead, a deal that runs through the 2011-12 basketball season.

“They (Versus) are really a sub-licensee of Fox, which puts out five to six games to Versus every year,” said Jim Muldoon, Pac-10 associate commissioner for communications and football administration. “There are selection rights to put one game on FSN and one game on Versus each weekend. Versus, for this particular weekend, had the selection preference and took Cal-Stanford.”

Cal and Stanford fans don’t have much recourse other than to complain to DirecTV or Versus. Muldoon said the Pac-10 is powerless to apply

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Filed in: NHL Media, Hockey Broadcasting, VERSUS, Hockey Related Stories | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Directv,

Gambling In The Game

by Paul on 11/17/09 at 06:47 AM ET
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from Bill Lankhof of the Toronto Sun,

National Football League executives pat themselves on the back, noting they haven’t had a major gambling scandal in close to 50 years. National Hockey League vice-president Bill Daly calls gambling on NHL games by players or club officials a “hypothetical” issue.

Mostly, professional sports league administrators speak about how they have the twin-headed monster that is gambling and associated crime covered.

“Bull,” says Arnie Wexler, the former executive director of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling, a renowned speaker and a self-described “recovering compulsive gambler” who has counselled numerous professional and college athletes.

“This is a huge problem not only with players but some executives,” Wexler says. “It’s a hidden secret. They don’t want the information to get out to the public. So they try to hide it. They’re afraid the media will write about it.

“This is the big dirty secret. This is a bigger, dirtier secret than steroids for pro sports and it will be the next explosion.”

continued

Filed in: NHL Talk, Hockey Related Stories | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Hockey & Curling Don’t Mix

by Paul on 11/13/09 at 12:35 PM ET
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Filed in: Hockey Related Stories | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Stay Connected

by Paul on 11/12/09 at 02:24 PM ET
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HNIC now has an app for the iPhone and a KK member recently posted about his app on all things hockey that also works on the iPhone.

Now if we could get some hockey apps for the Droid, I would be happy!

Filed in: Hockey Related Stories | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

The Mike Danton Interview

by Paul on 11/12/09 at 07:59 AM ET
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from Garth Woolsey of the Toronto Star,

Believe him or not, this much we know for sure about Mike Danton: He was, and quite likely still is, one terribly messed-up individual.

That is the overriding impression left by the former St. Louis Blues forward in his supposedly tell-all interview with Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet, which aired in an hour-long special Wednesday night.

As much as Danton, now 29, presents himself as a man who has learned some life lessons the hard way and is finally approaching normalcy, one is left with the uneasy feeling he continues to delude himself, as well as those who might take his words at face value.

continued

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

Mike Danton came across as calm, composed and factually challenged—some might even say delusional—in the much-awaited hour-long interview broadcast on Rogers Sporstnet last night that was supposed to tell his side of the story.

Danton told his story of how he went to prison for a muddled murder-for-hire attempt. He just didn’t tell the story.

continued

added 8:36am, from Elliotte Friedman of CBC,

Then, when our cameraman and I shut off our cellphones, Danton told us he’d be leaving his on. Frost wanted to listen to our interview from the other end, so Danton dialled him, put the phone in his pocket and told us he was ready to begin. Never seen anyone else do that before or since. (Now I should point out that Danton was as polite as possible. He was friendly, smiling and answered all of our questions without any issue. Even when declining our footage request, there was no hint of rudeness.)

Things really spiralled out of control afterward.

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Filed in: Hockey Related Stories | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Mike+Danton,

Luc Joins Leno

by Paul on 11/11/09 at 04:35 PM ET
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BURBANK, Calif. – November 11, 2009 – On Thursday, November 12 recent inductee to the NHL Hall of Fame Luc Robitaille will take to the ice on “The Jay Leno Show” (Monday-Friday, 10-11 p.m. ET).  The Stanley Cup winner will take penalty shots on Leno’s IT guy in a segment called “Extreme Johnny.”

Robitaille made the NHL All-Star team 8 times in his career and logged 668 career goals and adding 726 assists.  The left winger skated for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New York Rangers, the Detroit Red Wings and the Los Angeles Kings.

Thursday’s show will also feature an in-studio visit by Penelope Cruz and a “Ten @ Ten” with Dolly Parton.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Los Angeles Kings, Hockey Related Stories | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Luc+Robitaille,

Let Us Remember

by Paul on 11/11/09 at 08:07 AM ET
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from Greatest Hockey Legends,

This is Bob Carse. He was a promising hockey player out of Edmonton by winter, a gas station manager by summer.

He never fulfilled his NHL hockey promise because of World War II. He was one of the first professional hockey players to enroll in basic military training. He was quickly identified as a promising rifleman, and by August 1944 he was pulled off the ice and sent overseas, one of the few NHLers to see dangerous warfare action on the fields of Europe.

Dangerous indeed. In October his wife received a a telegram dated October 12th, 1944 stating that Carse’s status was officially listed as Missing In Action.

continued

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 Tags: Bob+Carse,

Afternoon Line

by Paul on 11/09/09 at 01:46 PM ET
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Greg Hardy in his Power Rankings (sports related) at ESPN tries to be funny…

It looks like a senior staff member of Alberta’s health services was fired after arranging for members of the Calgary Flames and their families to skip ahead of thousands of other patient Canucks in order to receive their H1N1 shots. Meanwhile, Canadian drugmakers are still scrambling to develop a vaccine that will make watching an NHL game more enjoyable than suffering from swine flu.

Fail and I wonder if Hardy has even watched an NHL game lately?

Let’s add Damian Cox of the Spin to the afternoon line too,

Hilarious to hear Buzz Hargrove claim he quit because he wasn’t being allowed to do his job as NHLPA ombudsman. Folks, Hargrove was scheduled to be fired last night and simply beat the union to the punch. He was going to be fired because he tried to turn the job of ombudsman into emperor and made a fool out of himself. Next most laughable claim comes from departed suit Ian Penny who says Chris Chelios undermined him. Well what the heck did Penny do to Paul Kelly all those months?

Filed in: NHLPA, Hockey Related Stories | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

There Goes Some Income

by Paul on 11/04/09 at 03:06 PM ET
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from George Richards of On Frozen Pond,

In case you haven’t heard, the Fort Lauderdale law firm RRA isn’t having a very good week.

One of its founders is accused of bilking hundreds of millions of dollars from the firm and from clients. He flew to Morocco (apparently to avoid extradition) but returned to Lauderdale yesterday.

So what does this have to do with hockey?

Well, RRA is a huge sponsor of South Florida sports teams including the Dolphins, Heat and of course, the Panthers.

Word is the team is trying to separate itself from the scandal. I’m also hearing the law firm hasn’t paid off the team for its signage and sponsorships since it’s so early in the season. And now, with the firm’s funds down to about $500,000, that’s a check that isn’t coming.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Florida Panthers, Hockey Related Stories | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

The Flames & Their H1N1 Flu Shots

by Paul on 11/04/09 at 07:51 AM ET
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Many of you know I listen to Canadian radio stations via the web, and this story is the ‘talk’ today…

from Bill Kaufmann of the Calgary Sun,

The Calgary Flames did nothing underhanded to procure H1N1 vaccinations in the past week ahead of thousands of high-risk Albertans, club president Ken King said yesterday.

But despite that claim from the team, the province has launched an investigation into what officials say shouldn’t have happened.

While King acknowledged a team doctor and the physician’s nurse wife might have been a “point of contact” in seeking the vaccine which is in short supply in the province, King said nothing was done outside Alberta Health Services (AHS) auspices.

“I’m happy to confirm we would not have taken an illicit process,” said King.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Calgary Flames, Hockey Related Stories | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

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