adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Sports

Remote Leafs radio setup proves costly on call of OT goal that gave team series win

Published

 on

Sports broadcasters usually get only a handful of opportunities in their career to put their stamp on a team’s most memorable moments.

When John Tavares scored an OT winner to give Toronto its first series victory in 19 years on Saturday, the stage was set for what could have been a classic radio call by longtime Maple Leafs play-by-play man Joe Bowen.

Instead a remote radio coverage setup proved costly.

Bowen, who called the game from a Toronto studio on TSN 1050, said Morgan Rielly scored the winner in the 2-1 win in Tampa Bay. In fact, Tavares scored as his shot deflected off a Lightning player and not off Rielly as Bowen had believed.

300x250x1

“When the TV shot doesn’t show the Tavares celebration until well after the fact it’s rather difficult to make the call off the TV monitor,” Bowen said on Twitter. “By the initial celebration it appeared Morgan Reilly (sic) had scored. My bad!”

Travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic made remote coverage a necessity for many outlets. Since the sports world has essentially returned to normal, most broadcasters and reporters have resumed regular on-site coverage.

A handful of others have not though, and do so at their peril.

TSN, a Bell Media property, and Sportsnet, part of a subsidiary of Rogers Communications, split radio coverage for the Maple Leafs. Instead of being on site for home and away games like for most of his four-decade run on the Maple Leafs’ mic, Bowen has recently called road action from the same feed a viewer gets at home.

“It’s a challenge, it really is,” he told The Canadian Press in a midseason interview. “In my humble estimation, it’s not the right way to do it but the powers that be at present believe — I guess it’s a cost-cutting measure of some sort — so this is what we’re doing and we’re trying to do the best we can under the circumstances.”

However, coverage plans will be changing for Round 2. Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment confirmed Monday morning that Bowen and broadcast partner Jim Ralph will soon be back on the road.

“As the Toronto Maple Leafs prepare to face the Florida Panthers in a highly anticipated second-round matchup in the NHL playoffs, the team and its broadcast partners will have the radio broadcast crew covering the action in person both at home and on the road beginning Tuesday,” an MLSE spokesperson said in an email.

The Maple Leafs will host Game 1 on Tuesday and Game 2 on Thursday. The series will shift to Florida for Games 3 and 4 with dates yet to be announced.

Hockey is not the only sport impacted by changing coverage plans. On a recent remote call of a Blue Jays road game, an in-studio fire alarm could be heard for about 10 minutes during the Sportsnet broadcast.

Several print and online outlets have also declined to staff road games involving Canadian NHL teams in the post-season. Some reporters have had to write stories from afar and are limited to quotes from formal availabilities, miss out on on-scene colour and can’t conduct in-person interviews.

“Good reporters, trained reporters, experienced reporters on the ground see things that other people won’t,” said associate professor Bruce Gillespie, who teaches journalism at Wilfrid Laurier University. “They may see things that teams and coaches and whatnot may not want them to see, but are still a more interesting story.

“Therefore being on the ground gives you access to people that they’re not bringing out. You bump into people in the hallways or in the locker-rooms or simply just go find better sources to talk to versus the ones who are being paraded out for the scrum.”

Almost all media outlets across the country have made cutbacks to in-person staffing over the years. Many now pick their spots depending on story appetite, if they still send reporters on the road at all.

Shrinking newsrooms, changes to the overall media landscape and slashed budgets are often to blame.

“The only people who think it’s a good idea that a reporter is not on the scene of an event that (they’re) covering are the bosses and the bean counters,” said David Shoalts, who recently retired after a long career as a Globe and Mail sports writer. “There’s so much you miss if you’re not there. This is one that really drives me crazy.

“Big, wealthy corporations not sending radio crews on the road and it would cost them peanuts to do so. But oh no, here’s 10 cents we can save and so those guys stay home.”

Zoom calls and online availabilities were the norm when sports returned during the pandemic. Most teams and leagues have resumed regular access, which can leave reporters who cover games remotely on the outside looking in.

“It’s unfortunate, particularly for the younger generations who won’t be romanticizing sport the way that it could be if the story were told in a different way,” said Mike Naraine, an assistant professor of sports management at Brock University.

Shifting coverage setups can also sometimes make things confusing for a viewer, listener or reader.

Some broadcasters make clear they’re calling the action from off-site while others do not. Some writers include their byline but don’t have a placeline indicating where the story originated from. Quote sourcing is usually made clear but sometimes is not.

Gillespie said his preference would be for a byline in almost all cases since it builds trust and transparency. With remote coverage, he added, a placeline should be used to note the location of the reporter who wrote the story.

“You wouldn’t write a travel story about Tahiti from Toronto without saying so,” he said. “People expect travel reporters to be there.

“I think in these (sports) cases, my guess is that companies who are not paying (for) reporters to travel to games are probably hoping that the readers won’t notice the difference, and therefore they don’t want to tell them the reporters aren’t there because they don’t want to bring any attention to it. But I think ethically, they should.”

Some outlets add an editor’s note to make things clear. The Star Tribune in Minneapolis, for example, includes an extra paragraph when it publishes content that was created remotely.

“The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game,” it reads. “This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2023.  CTV News Toronto is a division of Bell Media.

 

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Allen on trade to Devils from Habs: 'Sometimes you've got to be a little bit selfish' – Yahoo Canada Sports

Published

 on


Jake Allen loved being a member of the Montreal Canadiens.

The hockey-mad market, the crackling Bell Centre on a Saturday night, the Original Six franchise’s iconic logo.

The 33-year-old goaltender is also realistic.

300x250x1

With the Canadiens still in full rebuild mode — and two young netminders in Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau ready for more playing time — Allen could see the writing on the wall.

Desperate for help in their own crease, the New Jersey Devils asked Montreal about the veteran’s availability. But the team, general manager Tom Fitzgerald told reporters earlier this month, was initially on Allen’s no-trade list.

There wasn’t anything the Fredericton product disliked about the organization or city. The Devils simply appeared to have their crease set for years to come.

But when the club that finished with 112 points and made the second round of the playoffs in 2022-23 was badly hampered by poor play from Vitek Vanecek, Nico Daws and Akira Schmid — each netminder owned save percentages below .900 — the Devils circled back.

And Allen had changed his tune.

“Loved my time as a Hab,” he said of pulling on Montreal’s red, white and blue threads. “I always will cherish that. Put on probably the most special jersey in hockey, in my books. But you realize in your career, it doesn’t last forever.

“You’ve got to make decisions sometimes.”

Allen, who is signed through next season, eventually agreed to a deal that sent him to New Jersey ahead of the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline for a conditional third-round pick at the 2025 draft.

Apart from playing meaningful hockey on a team trying to claw its way back into the Eastern Conference playoff race, the swap gave him more runway to get his family settled in a new city instead of waiting to see what this summer’s crowded goalie market might bring.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be a little bit selfish,” said Allen, a Stanley Cup champion with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. “Look yourself in the mirror and wonder what’s best for you and your family.”

He’s been really good for his new team.

Allen was lights out in Tuesday’s first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs, making an eye-popping 25 saves in what would turn into New Jersey’s 6-3 victory.

So far he’s 4-2-0 with a .925 save percentage and a 2.51 goals against average in six starts for the Devils, who sit five points back of the East’s second wild-card spot.

“A real pro,” said interim head coach Travis Green.

Allen is a combined 10-14-3 in 2023-24 with a .900 save percentage and a 3.39 GAA. Across his 11 seasons with St. Louis, Montreal and now New Jersey, he’s 193-164-41 with a .908 save percentage and 2.75 GAA.

“Makes the saves we need to get some momentum back,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said. “If you have a solid goalie in the net, that makes your work easier.”

Allen is also 11-12 with a .924 and a 2.06 GAA all-time in the playoffs — a good sign for his new club should New Jersey manage to make the cut.

For now, though, he’s just enjoying being back in a post-season race.

“I thought this was a good opportunity to come in the rest of this year, play some games,” Allen said.

“It’s been a good start.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2024.

___

Follow @JClipperton_CP on X.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Matthews game-time decision for Maple Leafs against Capitals with illness – NHL.com

Published

 on


TORONTOAuston Matthews will be a game-time decision for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, MNMT) because of an illness.

“It’s going to be on how he feels throughout the day,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said.

The forward did not participate in Toronto’s morning skate. Max Domi took his place as the center on a line between Tyler Bertuzzi and Mitch Marner, a right wing recovering from a high-ankle sprain sustained March 7 and will be out the next two games.

300x250x1

Matthews leads the NHL with 59 goals, one from becoming the ninth player in NHL history with at least two 60-goal seasons. He scored 60 in 73 games in 2021-22, when he won the Rocket Richard Trophy, Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. He had one goal and nine shots in 23:44 of a 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, which extended his point streak to five games (four goals, seven assists).

He missed one game this season with illness, a 7-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 16.

“Of course, it’s an adjustment when your best player is out of the lineup,” Domi said, “when anybody is out of the lineup, but I think we’ve done a great job all year of guys stepping up when they have to, and we just have to continue to do that.”

Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury.

“He just remains day to day,” Keefe said. “We’re hopeful he’s going to bounce back here. The one thing that is good is once he gets through this day or two here, it’s not going to be a lingering situation. It’s not going to be an injury that’s ongoing. Once he’s past it, he’s past it so we just need to give him some time.”

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list

Published

 on

The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.

“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.”

The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

300x250x1

Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout.

The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.

He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign.

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League.

“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut

 

Surrey, B.C.’s Arshdeep Bains makes Canucks debut

1 month ago

Duration 2:20

Arshdeep Bains from Surrey, B.C., has made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. As CBC’s Joel Ballard reports, it’s been a hard-fought journey for the hometown kid to the big leagues.

Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford.

“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said.

Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday.

Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13.

The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.

Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.

“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending