DID THE NEW YORK ISLANDERS AND NEW YORK RANGERS REALLY HAVE TO PLAY TONIGHT?
VERSUS, the National Hockey League’s television partner in the United States of America, broadcasts games every Monday and Tuesday nights. However, instead of a hockey game tonight, they have elected to run the Goldie Hawn football flick Wildcats. Hmmm, wonder why?
Oh wait. Could the network’s decision have anything to do with that little vote determining the next President of the United States?
Of course it does. Which leads us to this: what was the NHL thinking scheduling Islanders-Rangers at Madison Square Garden on this momentous day in the modern history of our country?
It’s really not about Islanders-Rangers. Islanders-Thrashers at the Coliseum or Rangers-Wild at the Garden would be just as wrong, but the foolishness is magnified by placing New York’s rival hockey teams in the World’s Most Famous Arena in the nation’s biggest city on this particular Election Day.
Wouldn’t it have been the right thing to do, to step aside for this unprecedented moment in U.S. history? To step aside when an American war hero or the first African-American could be named President, when the first female Vice President could be elected into office?
Of course the Garden stands will be packed with passionate fans and everyone else will be watching on TV. We’d expect nothing less and besides, everyone interested will have plenty of time to monitor the election results. That’s not the point.
So let’s look at this from a hockey perspective: are we not even bothering to try and maximize media coverage for a game between New York rivals?
With good reason, major sports leagues postpone games in the wake of national tragedies. Perhaps this time they never should have scheduled any on a night of profound national importance.
Fire away in Comments.
29 Responses to DID THE NEW YORK ISLANDERS AND NEW YORK RANGERS REALLY HAVE TO PLAY TONIGHT?
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kevin says:
i think this scheduled game is stupid on election day and i have a roller hockey game at 9 so ill be late for the news anyway
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Chris says:
Nothing beats a great hockey game—-not even a presidential election.
It’ll be a nice break from being constantly hit over the head for three straight hours with election crap.
I think its great scheduling.
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So much goes into making the NHL schedule, but I don’t believe that elections are one of the factors loaded into the computer.
The game will be long over by the time the historic announcement is made. The outcome will be preceeded by 18 hours of nothing but commentary and statistics which is even more boring than watching a Devils game. Let the boys play and get home safe. -
Moosie says:
I also am glad there is a game tonight. It will probably be painful to watch, though. Still better than election returns.
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Dave says:
There was no way to predict that Obama and McCain would be the candidates anyway when the schedule was made so the fact that this is an “historic” election would have had no impact on the NHL schedule makers
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25yearfan says:
Technically, every election is “historic” since it determines a chapter in US history.
p.s. With the candidates debating in the shadow of NVMC, I really wish we would have heard their position on bringing change to the NYI….
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Kevin Fitz says:
Not the biggest deal. This probably isn’t going to be that close of an election anyways. People can flip to a news channel during commercials and between periods to get updates.
GO ISLES and OBAMA!!
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Dmarie says:
I hear what you’re saying, today is history in the making, but at the same time? I agree that it’ll be good to have something else to tune into as well.
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Chris A says:
The problem is that some of the “experts” are saying that 2nite might be an early night so as for me im going 2 watch the game and then swap to the news coverage during the intermissions because it is possible that the election might be decided before the game is over.
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Jislander7 says:
This might be the first Islanders Rangers game that I’m not looking forward to. I feel like the Isles have no chance whatsoever. But this is part of the rebuilding process and if we have to deal with this for one season to get a real winner for 3-4 seasons then I’m all in.
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Jim Clark says: One thing I noticed looking at the NHL schedule is 4 of the 7 games played tonight are in Canada. I think this shows the NHL made some effort to allow American fans to vote. Also aren’t there other options..absentee ballots and some states allow early voting. I don’t know if New York and California (San Jose and Los Angeles are playing at home) do. Besides New York is very likely to vote Democratic with the exception of a nationwide Republican landslide. I think Californis is prettily solidly in the Democratic win column too. In short, it doesn’t matter as much as Botta claims.
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guerin13 says:
i agree chris. this game should not be played tonight. very bad decision by the nhl to schedule this game tonight. i really don’t plan on watching much, if any, of it b/c of the election. far more important things than hockey are going on today.
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Sab says:
If the Leafs and Habs were playing up here during our most recent election last month, most Candians would have forgetten to vote hehe….
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Rich says:
Peca needles Isles….Sorry to say but Mike Peca in today’s Newsday said it best. I am paraphrasing but he said that it is extremely important to build around a nucleus not have a team in constant flux. With UFA’s leaving boneheaded trades, the coaching carousel and poor drafts there is no consistency on the Island. This year’s rebuild is starting terribly. I can’t think of one young Islander who has really opended eyes in the first 9 games of the season. That is a decent sample size soon it will be the halfway point and people ask to wait the season before evaluating. My question remains..If the Islanders go through this season with middling prospects and very little from the youth..What happens next year? Do we give them another year? The orgainization made a terrible decision in not taking Filatov, Schenn or a sure thing. CB you told us that Bailey is a good not great prospect. With the rebuild why in the world would we not take a great prospect. Then maybe Gordon would have the same smile Hitchcock wears in his anticpation for Filatov to return. Truth is there is no answer. Stockpiling picks is reason cited. Hmmm I wonder if money played a factor in not drafting the Top-5. CB any thoughts.
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UIF says:
Couldn’t disagree more, CB. It’s not like coverage of the election is being bumped for this, or even that coverage will be scarce. You can’t escape those two guys – they’re like Jason from Friday the 13th, everywhere you turn, there they are. I’m sick of the constant barrage and will be looking forward to unplugging and having something else to watch – and an Isles-Rangers game no less! Plenty of hours in the day to vote and catch some hockey.
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bCarey says:
Rich, I agree, Peca is right. But I think what he is describing is the direction we are now looking to go in. It’s funny because I went to the game last night and I pointed out Peca to my girlfriend, who had never been to a hockey game before. I began explaining to her how in 2002 the Isles made the playoffs for the first time in almost a decade and he was the captain and the new face of the organization. When Darcy Tucker threw that cheap-shot, I said, it was the end of the revival. I think most Isles fans would agree that if he doesn’t blow out his knee, we win that series. It seems a bit strange for him to say these things about this franchise, to criticize, when he was a shell of his former self in 03-04. I agree with what he says, but when your captain’s knee is destroyed and he’s never the same again, what are your options? You putter along for a couple more years, trying to recapture that magic, but if it’s not there, it’s not there. Someone explain to me what this franchise did wrong besides idling in mediocrity for the better part of this decade and trying to right the ship the Bill Torrey way – from the ground up.
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I think we have to be patient with some of the true young guys (not necessarily the 25 year old “kids”), especially Okposo. Honestly, I think he should be at the Bridge this year. He was playing college hockey last year, had a short AHL stay, and then was rushed onto the Isles. There are still so many things he could learn in the AHL before being thrown onto an NHL roster where there aren’t even talented players around him to take some of the pressure off.
There are players that jump right in and are great, but there are other players like Jokinen, for example. He played four full seasons netting no more than 11 goals before he broke out and became a consistent 30-goal scorer.
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Most polls are open 6 AM to 9PM , I am working a full day, voting and watching the game while, checking results during timeouts.Imagine that , I can multi – task…..like millions of other people do everyday with our demanding , hectic lives
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BeatleBailey says:
exactly – if election day is so important make it a national holiday otherwise play the games…and vote when you can. I did at 6:30 am today
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Mike from Queens says:
The game will be over by 9:30, and I don’t imagine knowing much with any certainty until later than that. It’s all speculation until midwest polls like Ohio, Minnesota, and Missouri close, so I don’t mind having the hockey game on.
Though, I do agree with Botta that games like Isles-Rangers shouldn’t be obscured by some other competing story. Then again, with the Isles in the tank, how many people outside of New York are even interested–election night or not?
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CB wrote: It’s really not about Islanders-Rangers. Islanders-Thrashers at the Coliseum or Rangers-Wild at the Garden would be just as wrong, but the foolishness is magnified by placing New York’s rival hockey teams in the World’s Most Famous Arena in the nation’s biggest city on this particular Election Day.
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The NHL actually tried that the last time they played on a Presidential Election (the 2004 Election was locked out). Both the Isles and Rangers were at home in 2000; the Isles battling Nashville and the Rangers playing Edmonton.The Isles broadcast that night was memorable to me as Howie intertwined play-by-play with Election results. Something along the lines of “Cleared to center ice… Gore wins Michigan”.
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James says:
Just like they show the puppy bowl during the Super Bowl for people who can’t stand football, I’m actually glad to be watching hockey instead of having to endure hours of endless speculation as Fox News and CNN “call it” and then don’t call it and so on and so forth. Go out and vote and then open the newspaper tomorrow and find out who won. I’d much rather watch Isles-Rangers.
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Mickey Mouse Franchise says:
Agree completely Chris. This game NEVER should’ve been scheduled on this particular Election Day. This rivalry is a shell of what it used to be because 1 or both teams have been terrible most of the time – it should get the most media coverage possible and tonight it won’t no matter what happens. I’ll be watching the election results and coverage which is way more important than a game.
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BringbackNyles says:
I don’t see the big deal about a game on election night…if they can play games on Christmas Eve and day in football, Easter in baseball and hockey, have catholic colleges play NCAA tourny games on Good friday, no reason why we can;t watch a little hockey instead of the 500th exit poll from maine.
Isles win 3-2
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John says:
Chris, glad to see your still excited about the electoral process. Even if this historic event draws the biggest turnout ever, what % of the voting elgible population will that be? Nobody cares. Come to think of it, I don’t even know why I am here because I don’t care about this stuff anymore either. An Islander fan from NJ. No radio, no classic jersey, no pre-game show, no newspaper coverage, no every game in hi-def (typical Cablevision lie, try and find MSG+II in hi-def). Unlike in my youth when I believed the Isles weren’t given the credit they deserved, in my adulthood it is clear the organization has done a great job in marginalizing itself. The only hope to keep them on the Island of Long is to move to Kings County with the Nets (if that even happens). Otherwise we will all lose them forever to Las Vegas or Hawaii (how does Islanders sound?) in Gary Bettmans NHL.
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DanNOLA says:
I don’t mind having the game tonight at all. It gives me something to distract me as I come to terms with the fact that Obama will probably be the leader of the free world. Of course, if the Isles lose in a bad manner in combination with an Obama victory, I’ll probably just drink myself into oblivion to forget the pain.
I am so glad that there will be something to watch tomorrow night that has nothing to do with the election. There will be virtually no news until the polls close in California, which will be well after the end of the Rangers-Isles game (even if the game ends in a multi-round shootout).