TV Coverage

[Sioux Fan]

I was wondering if the evening games are going to be on TV anywhere. I would love to watch the Stillwater vs Eden Prairie game on Thursday night. I would like to be able to tape it. What stations are carrying it? I will be watching Sectional quarterfinal games in Rochester. <br><br>Thanks. <p>Hockey Nut in So. MN</p><i></i>

[SEhockeyDAD]

Channel 45 from the cities isn't normally on Rochester cable, but they got an agreement to televise the tournaments. It'll probably be on channel 14, but I'm not sure. Keep your eye out in the newspaper, or call charter communications. <p></p><i></i>

[JJhockeySS]

TC ch 45 is showing the games, but I don't think any of the Thursday games will be televised. It is my understanding that TV coverage begins for all games at Xcel on Friday, and Championship games on Sat.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[ItsNEBG]

Try this: www.crystalclearsports.net will have free streaming audio coverage over the net on Thursday. They are the people who "televised" the Schwan's cup. Looks like there is no video however Thursday, but don't take my word for it, I just looked at the web page and didn't dig too deep. <br> <p></p><i></i>

[Sioux Fan]

That is too bad. Should be quite a game the undefeated team vs Stillwater Ponies and Jones.<br><br>They should have that one on somewhere!!!! <p>Hockey Nut in So. MN</p><i></i>

[hockeyrube]

<br>This is not right !!!! They cover the Boys Qtr Finals, but not the Girls ??????? <br><br>These young ladies deserve the TV exposure during the Qtr. Finals. <br><br>I suggest we all e-mail the program director at 45<br>msmith@hbi.com<br><br>Rube <p></p><i></i>

[coachcorner]

Yea your right there why the boys and not the girls? <p></p><i></i>

[brookyone]

I agree, it would be great to have all games televised...or at least all championship round games. What I do hope though is that lack of televised games in the Q'finals gets more people to attend at the X and create a little tourney atmosphere...though I'm sure that's not feasible for those well outside the metro.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>GO PONIES!!!</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <p></p><i></i>

[hockeydad]

Hey...be happy it's that much. Two years ago it was only the finals that were televised. the MSHSL can't force Channel 45 to broadcast the games, they're getting some pretty good money from teh Hubbards for the broadcast rights. I'm guessing if the ratings merit, they will pick up the quarterfinals in a couple years. <p></p><i></i>

[madjagfan]

Would anyone know of Radio Coverage? <p></p><i></i>

[madjagfan]

just looking for Championship game AA coverage <p></p><i></i>

[ghshockeyfan]

I don't know of any unfortunately... maybe some if a N or S MN team is in the final??? <p></p><i></i>

[hockeydad]

KCHK 1350 AM and/or KRDS 95.5 FM will broadcast New Prague's games. Not sure if it will be AM or FM. You can pick up these stations in the South Metro. <p></p><i></i>

[FightCadetsFight]

I would also like to see more tv coverage; primarily because our family has seen many of these players since their youth hockey days. However, I'm not sure if the casual hockey fan would be impressed with the play. I've watched a couple games on local cable channels and the play looks really slow. I don't know if that's typically what tv does to the game. But the girls game does not look very fast on tv. <p></p><i></i>

[Blade Side Down]

If you read the Tribune today, Forget the TV for now.<br>Go BUY a ticket. Numbers in the stands mean allot. <p></p><i></i>

[ItsNEBG]

There was audio of the game play-by-play on the www.crystalclearsports.net page. You have to click on the "Girls Hockey" link and then to the game of your choice - I presume at the correct time of the game. <br><br>I was not feeling well last night so I only listened to part of the 2nd period of Stillwater vs. EP and went to bed. Play-by-play was a bit ragged - the announcers probably aren't "pro's" and often said the wrong team had the puck and self-corrected. But it was as live!<br><br>Note that they are only "webcasting" the Class AA semifinals tonight and the Class A and AA finals tomorrow. Go to the X and fill a seat - I plan to be there tonight and tomorrow night. <p></p><i></i>

[cougar2004]

I seems to me that if the games were televised, there<br>would be even less people at the xcel. ouch!<br>Maybe some one should sue? <p></p><i></i>

[ItsNEBG]

As for the Strib's photo of the empty bowl, remember this photo was taken during the pre-game warm-up, and the Zambonis came out after that. So that puts the photo at no later than 10:50 am. Have you ever seen the seats in Mariucci 10 minutes before game time? LOTS of empty seats there too. Biased photo.<br><br>Then there are the starting times - allegedly to allow families to get home earlier with an 8 pm final game start. That puts the first evening game at 6 pm. Did you ever try to drive from the west side of town to downtown St. Paul in rush hour traffic? Better allow extra time!<br><br>My point is that doing a snapshot of the empty X at 10:50 am yesterday was not a legitimate view of what the crowd probably was at the middle of the 2nd or 3rd period. The Strib clearly is biased against the X IMHO. I have't been there yet so we'll see whether I join that bias or not after tonights games. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>I would say that the MSHSL is also conspiring to make it look bad but I don't think they're collectively bright enough to do something like that. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/laugh.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[Cornermukker]

The joint was 75% empty the ENTIRE day. <p></p><i></i>

[Zamman]

I thought there was a pretty good turnout for the afternoon. Yes there may have been a lot of empty seats, but it was not as bad as I expected and I was at Ridder last year. It was not any worse than going to watch games for the Schwan's tournament... <p>________________________________<br>Academy of Holy Angels<br>2005 GIRLS STATE CHAMPS!<br>2002 & 2005 BOYS STATE CHAMPS!!<br>GO STARS!!</p><i></i>

[ghshockeyfan]

Years ago (2000-1) my team won the first girls HS game played in the X. We couldn't even fill one section had we wanted to. The experience was amazing for the kids, but after the awe wore off it was a little empty.<br><br>Now, that was a HS regular season game for a St. Paul City Conf. serioes played by the teams (boys & girls)... The State tourney must be 100x better, and there's no way we even had 1000 in there let alone 3-4000. The experience of this being a state tournament too adds to this, and I hope the atmosphere is wonderful!<br><br>I've heard mixed reviews so far, and while I personally was for this move in 2000, but against it more recently, I agree that I need to reserve judgement for now...<br><br>I do believe that a seeded tourney may have heped the attendance, and contrary to popular opinion I believe that televising the games would help get more people out as some just don't know about how much the game has improved.<br><br>I also think the importance of TV is more about mainstreaming the game in the minds of the general public. The more that we show that this game is an exciting, safe, and normal choice for young girls, the better we grow the sport. <p></p><i></i>

[mnpokecheck]

I expect we have seen the largest attendance for the tournament on Thursday with the EP v Stillwater game. Convenience of seeing game on TV for Semis and Championships will cut crowds. Also after seeing 1 session on Thursday, I won't be back - I missed the excitement of a State Championship feeling that existed at Ridder (and even Hipp). <p></p><i></i>

[IGiveBlood]

I was at the afternoon games and at the EP/Stillwater game and EP had the lowest number of fans of the 6 teams. I was actually disappointed in their turnout. <p></p><i></i>

[sghfan]

I also attended both sessions yesterday. Attendance was clearly higher in session 1. There were far more students at session 1, possibly because they had a chance to miss school.<br><br>If EP & Stillwater had played in the first session and if each brought a representative number of students attendance might have been higher.<br><br>I found it notable that EP had so few fans. Certainly the EP team is worth watching. Stillwater & Cloquet both had more fans than EP. <p></p><i></i>

[ghshockeyfan]

It would seem that the recipe for sucess would be a seeded tourney with the metro teams in the day (to get kids out of school) and the outstate teams in the PM... if at all possible but still maintaining a seeded setup... <p></p><i></i>