[stemit14]

The broadcast was fantastic. So much better than anything from Sportsnet. Reminded me a lot of what you get from NFL broadcasts. I’ve watch a few of these Amazon games this year and they have all been great.

Obviously the key ingredient is that it’s not Sportsnet running it… but I also see the advantage Amazon has where they get to prep all week for one game. You could tell the broadcasters had been watching both teams closely leading up to it and had great insight into how they had played and specific moments from previous games. You don’t see that in any hockey night in Canada broadcast of a flames game. They basically just rely on Hrudey to say something specific about the flames while the rest of them basically treat it like they haven’t watched the flames play since the last time they played on HNIC. I’ve seen them post lines in the past where Coleman is playing center and Backlund is playing wing.

Amazon is doing a simple broadcast with real effort and focus. There is very little cringe moments like you see with HNIC (eg. when they bring out the net and sticks to try to “coach” the viewers). There are so many moments like that and awful anecdotes from Hrudey and Ron that it’s unwatchable at times.