NHL on ESPN an Abysmal Experience

I'm here for the hockey fans on this one...though stay tuned either way, you could be on the ICE by the end.

Last night, my Kraken were the national game on ESPN Hockey Night. Right away, I'll admit I was skeptical...not having my hometown announcers already gave me a funky feel. On top of that, in usual ESPN fashion, the puck drop was delayed 15 minutes. But I told myself, No, we’re going to give this a fair chance.

The game continues, and through the first period, it's a 1-1 tie. A great game for both sides.

Then comes the second period, and the Kraken open this thing up! GOALS left and right...the boys were buzzin'. Problem is, the announcers were not. You could tell they wanted this to be a Macklin Celebrini Game from the jump, and when things took a turn for the Kraken, the production started to lack. No love for the team that was having fun and flying around like Adam Banks (Mighty Ducks reference had to be in the blog), which is fitting since the announcers quickly made us out to be the villains of the night.

But my frustration peaked at the 13:21 mark in the second. With a 4-1 lead, the Sharks safely tucked away in a Kraken body bag, a melee ensued. And then, the ESPN sweethearts of the night took a shot at our TOP 5 goalie in the league, Joey Daccord.

Of course, our sweet savior Vince Dunn stepped in:

Dunn's bulldozing of Henry Thrun

But was there an excited play-by-play? Multiple replays? An extended close-up of Dunn after his victory?

NOPE!

Now, of course, you might be thinking, Oh boo-hoo, you didn’t get to see your team’s highlights or get the homer feel on your goals scored. I get that. But EVERYONE wants to see the fights. Who you root for even gets thrown out at times, and it's all about watching the blows thrown by the boys on the ice. Yet ESPN gave a lackluster performance of what was a DAMN good show.

In the future, I’d much rather watch my team on their hometown broadcast or TNT. We all know our guy Paul Bissonnette would have been all over that with the intermission report and postgame interview.

Moral of the story: TNT should own hockey on the national level in America. ESPN just doesn’t have the GRIT needed right now to give us the full hockey experience.

Bet Recap: 2-4! Lets go Kraken and JOEY DACCORD!

Bet of the day 01-31:

Back to the hardwood floors with a bit of ivy!

Princeton ML +140