THURSDAY COMMENTARY: OH WHAT A NIGHT
(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98 & Rock 98.5 FM)
If Fridays are for football then every other day is for hockey, especially in the winter.
And what a day Wednesday was!
There were two huge games which had my attention, for different reasons and in vastly different locales.
At the Saddledome in Calgary, around 17,000 fans soldout the joint out because Connor Bedard – hockey’s version of The Beetles – was in town with the Regina Pats.
And as usual, the 17-year old Pat did not disappoint. His 44th goal of the season was one the Hitmen goalie is still looking for, and Connor scored the shootout winner in a 6-5 Pats victory.
The game was shown across Canada on TSN and across America on the NHL Network.
Here’s a lesson in marketing that everyone should pay attention to: WHL rinks weren’t sold out till after Bedard led Canada to World Junior gold over the Holidays, with every game on TSN.
TV rules the world, exposure is king, and TSN should probably send the Dub an invoice. (aka The media carries your message).
The other “huge” game was in Coral Springs, Florida – at the NHL Panthers’ practice facility – in a game between NHL Alumni and Panthers Alumni to kickoff NHL All Star Week here in South Florida.
It was … amazing. And the rink was packed to the rafters.
You’ll know the names: Roberto Luongo, Pierre Turgeon, Sylvain Lefebvre, Rhett Warrener, Darius Kasparaitis, Patrick Marleau, Jeff Chychryn, and the list goes on.
It wasn’t as feisty as alumni games I’d seen in the past, but just as entertaining. Peter Worrell scored two goals in the first period, which felt like more goals than he’d scored in his entire career! The NHL stars beat the Panthers greats 15-10.
I watched half the game with Ulf Samuelsson before adjorning to watch my beloved Pats on TV.
And on this night, no one disappointed in either place.
That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV, WQEE Radio and YouTube Live)
Photo: Florida Panthers
