Okay, not knocking Versus - because ESPN always did the same thing ...

But I like it when stations (CBC does, I think FSD usually does as well) show the singing of the anthems and the cameras pan around the crowd and the rink.  I think it sets the scene and captures the atmosphere a lot better than a few last vapid words from the studio blatherers, another commercial break, and then getting to the game just in time (sometimes barely) for the opening faceoff.

This especially bugs me when there is something special about the anthem singer; I think Vancouver one time had a member of one of the Canadian native tribes sing, and I believe some of the words were in her native language (like the split between English and French), and that was very neat to hear.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 05/16/09 at 09:48 AM ET

Great suggestion Baroque.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 05/16/09 at 09:50 AM ET

I think VS. needs to hire all new cameramen.. most specifically the pan-view cameramen… they are almost as horrible as the referees last round.

Posted by Al Anon from Group on 05/16/09 at 09:50 AM ET

The main thing Versus need to do is fire Joe Benihaha who will be doing play by play for the eastern series.  His over the top silly phrases and goal scoring shreak make hockey hard to watch..

Posted by leafsfan1967 from Philadelphia on 05/16/09 at 09:59 AM ET

They should be more consistent with replays of penalties. Half the time we never get a view of what was called. If the NHL is trying to bring in new fans, it would benefit those who are learning the game to see what is a penalty and why.

Nitpicky, but the bar at the top of the screen with the teams and scores is overly and unnecessarily large.

Along with Baroque’s example of the national anthems, I always like it when the play-by-play guys will stop talking for a minute or so so that the audience can just take in the game and the crowd noise. Sometimes commentary is unnecessary.

Posted by Aphaea from Pennsylvania on 05/16/09 at 10:03 AM ET

Good points Aphaea.  I know I have waited for a reply of a penalty call, and it never comes.

Show us the too many men on the ice call, show the interference call or the hooking call and show it quickly.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 05/16/09 at 10:05 AM ET

Show us the too many men on the ice call, show the interference call or the hooking call and show it quickly.

Agreed.  I’m happy with the improvement in Vs.‘s coverage, but Al is right, the camerawork is pretty awful.  It’s often far too zoomed-out, and they still can’t find the puck.  Beninati is terrible, but I’ve heard him on Caps broadcasts before… he’s much better.  I guess he’s trying to ham it up for a national audience.  It’s great to hear Dave Strader, and Emrick is always pretty good.  I do miss Gary Thorne, though.

I know every network does the in-game interview stuff, but it seems that on Versus more than anywhere else, something big happens in the middle of one.  Maybe it’s just bad luck, or maybe it’s just poor judgment on their part in terms of when to do these things.  Maybe with 5 minutes to go in a tight game it’s not the best time for Christine Simpson.

Posted by Incognetis from Delaware... Hi... I'm in... Delaware on 05/16/09 at 10:31 AM ET

I know I have waited for a reply of a penalty call, and it never comes.

Agreed.  Heck, sometimes they never even tell you what the penalty call was.. or go to break without mentioning that a penalty was called.  Though Versus is not the only one guilty of this, isn’t that part of the game?  Shouldn’t we at least know?

I, too, like the anthems, hate that commercial bar, and think the score overlay is unnecessarily large.

Posted by BobTheZee on 05/16/09 at 10:36 AM ET

Good points Aphaea.  I know I have waited for a reply of a penalty call, and it never comes.

Show us the too many men on the ice call, show the interference call or the hooking call and show it quickly.

The NHL isn’t ever going to allow that, Paul.  They know their refs are mediocre, and they certainly don’t want to start creating a visual history of how badly the refs do game in and game out.

The last thing the NHL needs is a videologue getting started on specific refs and how often they screw stuff up, all done largely on the leagues dime if they directed the coverage in that direction.

Especially if, as I’ve long suspected, a ‘pattern’ to how and when certain refs mess up begins to emerge.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 05/16/09 at 10:49 AM ET

Versus on screen graphics are too large - both on the top and on the bottom right in that particular clip.  They cover the play too often and drive me nuts

Posted by npietran on 05/16/09 at 11:30 AM ET

At the risk of sounding like a foil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorist, I wonder if the lack of replays of penalty calls is due to a league suggestion/request. Not all calls are bad, but quite a few of them—a seemingly abnormally large number of them—have been. And the color commentators will often say so. Now, it’s one thing for fans to complain privately about reffing—it’s pretty much your birthright as a fan—but it’s not hard to imagine the PR department deciding that it’s bad for the league to have all those bad calls held up to public scorn and scrutiny when they’re trying to attract new viewers, and perhaps tv crews are consequently asked not to discuss it.

I’m not sure I believe my own theory, but as Baroque pointed out some time ago, “malleable” seems to be a contractual obligation for many sports “journalists” these days.

Posted by Bio on 05/16/09 at 11:30 AM ET

The NHL isn’t ever going to allow that, Paul.  They know their refs are mediocre, and they certainly don’t want to start creating a visual history of how badly the refs do game in and game out.

Or maybe you could have just read this post. I think I need to go back to bed.

Posted by Bio on 05/16/09 at 11:32 AM ET

Well, let’s just go ahead and call it healthy criticism.  While the NHL kept touting “don’t miss a second” they actually prevented us from watching some games - just ask Detroit fans nationwide when CHI-VAN went OT, or B’s and Canes fans who had to miss the majority of their game 7.  More an NHL problem than Versus.

With only 2 series remaining let’s hope they avoid that again.

The ad bar is incredibly annoying, greedy and reflects the manipulative basis that the NHL and Versus operate from.  There is no reason it either has to be so large as to actually block us from viewing the play, or has to be put up there at all during play.  There are plenty of opportunities to do it skating up ice after an icing call or other break while waiting for a face off.  Trouble is that Versus can’t be bothered to pay that close attention, rather using a timer on their automated video system to throw it up and block the screen on an automated basis with total disregard to the play and the fans.

It is consistent with the NHL.com continuously putting up errors on their web site.  Today (Saturday) it states you can watch the BlackHawks - Red Wings game today at 3 pm, while at the same time a banner states it starts Sunday.  There are consistently glaring errors on the site.  Both at Versus and NHL, Inc. there is overwhelming evidence of total amateurism and lack of professionalism, unfortunately.

Posted by RWBill from the Land of 12 in 12. on 05/16/09 at 11:34 AM ET

They should just carry the CBC or TSN feeds.

Posted by WK from Chicago, IL on 05/16/09 at 11:50 AM ET

One of the many things I don’t like about VS is that their announcers don’t have the b@lls to call it like it is. They never point out when a ref is wrong or missed a call. I think that if the NHL was held accountable for their terrible refs they would be forced to fix it. I’m tried of hearing, “well they really got away with one” or not even showing the penalty at all. I understand they have a contract with the NHL but it’s a pain to sit through a game where the announcers don’t have the b@lls to call out what is happening.

Posted by YYZerman from Detroit, Michigan on 05/16/09 at 12:27 PM ET

And why is VS’s score bar at the top so freaking big. You can’t see 1/5 of what is going on at the top of the screen. Don’t you think it could be a little smaller so we can see more of the game?

Posted by YYZerman from Detroit, Michigan on 05/16/09 at 12:31 PM ET

I’m with you, Paul…I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do with this going to bed before 6 AM crap…

Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 05/16/09 at 12:46 PM ET

I really enjoy watching the start of games on CBC.  It’s awesome to see the players as they gather outside their room and head to the ice.  Then they follow it up with the nation anthem(s).  As stated above it really sets the tone.

As for the graphic overlays, VS is terrible.  They were showing a “look in” on another game and had a huge graphic taking up the bottom left corner of the screen.  How could that production team not look at that and notice how bad that looked?

Posted by Steve from Toledo on 05/16/09 at 01:36 PM ET

• Any one moment from the first two rounds that you will go into your long-term memory bank?

The royal no-goal screw job by Brad Watson in Game Three.  Probably one of the most egregious no-goal calls in NHL history.  Something ignominous in his officiating resume that will completely jade us Wings fans every time he refs a game involving the Wings.

As for improving the Versus broadcasts, I’m a fan of the singing of the national anthems.  They should include that.

I think it’s pretty neat of them to post meaningful stats intermittenly in that graphics bar on top of the screen.  Stuff like SOGs (both cumulative and for the period), hits, faceoff wins, blocked shots, and TOI for the high-profile names in the game.

The bench interviews returning from the commercial break is annoying to an unbelievable degree to me.  It’s game time once the players set up for the faceoff and since hockey has flying objects, I don’t think that’s the best time for an interview distracting a player from a possible puck in the bench.  Just stop it already.

Go straight to the post game interviews.  Don’t cut to the studios and then go to the post game interview.  The players want to get back to the dressing room to get out of the gear.

Send the Versus cameramen to Europe and watch how they cover the soccer matches.  It’s genius.

Posted by SYF from a "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" on 05/16/09 at 02:20 PM ET

I really dislike their ticker and the font that it’s in.  I know, it’s a small thing, but the all-caps weirdly formatted font is hard to read and I find it really distracting.

Posted by hockeymuskrat on 05/16/09 at 03:30 PM ET

Have the Versus sound people meet the CBC sound people to learn how better to capture the sound of a hockey arena. The same needs to happen with ABC and CBS as CBS does a remarkably good job with college football sound. Don’t know if that will ever happen though as broadcasters are a stubborn group, but I can dream.

Inform the audience what infraction incurred and who did it, or at the very least inform us who is going on the power play before they go to commercial. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to wait for 2-3 commercials to learn what happened.

Learn that you don’t have to have the announcers talk all the time, particularly in big moments, to keep an audience’s attention. This is a huge gripe of mine, not only of hockey but of all sports. Let the viewer experience the sounds of the game.

As for the national anthem, I think its a good idea for the finals. For regular season and the three playoff round games, I think it might get old after a few times.

Posted by UMFan from Colorado on 05/16/09 at 06:05 PM ET