I mean, think about it. After months of soul searching, these people concluded that blind-side head shots — like the attack by Matt Cooke on Marc Savard — are illegal.

   And, at the referee’s discretion, these infractions are — wait for it — deserving of a penalty.

   We knew this would be a difficult decision for the general managers when George McPhee of the Washington Capitals said earlier this week: “It’s such a difficult subject and it’s hard to define exactly what we want to do.”

   Oh, yes, it was a real puzzler all right.

   My sense of this is that neither the general managers, certainly not the NHL and most certainly not vice-president Colin Campbell, the guy who suspends players, wanted anything to do with this.

   Some NHL players are beginning to speak out now, but for months they’ve parroted the league’s line: We don’t want to take the physicality out of the game (Ottawa’s Jason Spezza this week). Or, you have to be aware of who’s on the ice. Or, well, it was a tough hit, but it was a good hockey play, too.

   No, what was needed to bring a degree of sanity to the NHL’s thought process was the media, or at least some in the media. Stu Hackel, who blogs for The New York Times, has been writing about head hits for a long time. Damien Cox of The Toronto Star has as well. TSN’s Bob McKenzie has done some good work on it.

  On a few occasions, McKenzie has vented on this subject, but he also chooses his words carefully. He was on the AM 640 Toronto’s Leafs Lunch this week, during which he went out of his way to explain that it’s much more important to protect junior age and youth hockey players from attacks to the head than it is the pros, who are well paid adults well aware of the hazards in their line of work.

  He also reported that if the league moved to hand out significant suspensions to these offenders, it is unlikely it would increase the punishment for repeat offenders. He didn’t explain why the NHL is against doing this, but it’s easy to guess: Because it makes sense. In the real world, repeat offenders are punished accordingly, but not in the world of the NHL.

  That’s why real blame for the problem of head shots and concussions belongs to the league, specifically Campbell, and not to the perpetrators. More than three years ago, Colby Armstrong hit Trevor Letowski from behind, ramming his shoulder into his head. Letowski, concussed, was carried off the ice on a stretcher. Armstrong received nothing.

   If Campbell had moved on this problem even as recently as a year ago, he would have made progress.

   Consider a head shot by Cooke delivered on Artem Ansimov in November. Campbell suspended Cooke for two games. Because Cooke was a repeat offender, the league also took some money away from him.

   But, what if, as a repeat offender, Cooke had been given a 15 or 20 game suspension? What if he was looking at a 30 or 40 game suspension for his next attack? Would he have even thought about targeting Savard’s head?

  Campbell and the league, terrified of taking the “physicality” out of the game, have showed no courage on this issue. Now that the general managers have acknowledged that blind-sided hits are a bad thing, there’s no indication the league will show any more courage in punishing the offenders.

Yahoo and CBC team up

Yahoo! Canada will begin streaming the CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada on Saturday, March 13.

   Yahoo and the CBC this week announced the partnership, which runs through the end of the 2009-10 season including the playoffs.

  In a release, Gina Cothey, director, audience, for Yahoo! Canada said: “It’s no secret Canadians love hockey, and as part of the company’s focus on delivering ‘wow’ consumer experiences, Yahoo! Canada wanted to make the experience of watching games even better. Hockey fans can watch their favourite teams in action and catch up on all the news and analysis from the hockey world just by visiting Yahoo! Canada. CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada is an important part of Canadian culture, and Yahoo! Canada is excited to partner with the CBC to offer NHL fans this unique online viewing experience.”
  Scott Moore, the head of CBC Sports said: “CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada is pleased to be working with Yahoo! Canada on this initiative. Yahoo! Canada provides a unique platform for CBC to extend the best in CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada programming to Canadians. In addition to our complete line-up at CBCSports.ca, we’re ensuring that Canadians can experience Canada’s number one weekly sports program whenever and wherever they choose.”

No suspension for Cooke

 It you needed further evidence of the NHL irresonsibility regarding head shots, the league has decided not to suspend Matt Cooke. On Leafs Lunch, Bill Watters said the league’s credibility “just went out the window.” I’d say Colin Campbell should have been removed from his job years ago. Here’s the hit on Savard:

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   But, when a TV star critiques the work of a colleague working at another network, that’s news.

  Why? Because, as a broadcast journalist pointed out to me, “There’s an unwritten rule in media. You don’t mention the competition, and you especially don’t praise the competition.”

  Rules and conventions, of course, mean little Ron MacLean. So, there he was, the main guy at CBC Sports, the host of Hockey Night In Canada, praising CTV’s Olympic coverage and, in particular, the work of James Duthie, who was afternoon co-host and anchor of the men’s hockey coverage. “You amaze me,” was MacLean’s comment on Duthie’s work.

  Does The Globe and Mail give kudos to The Toronto Star? Would a sports columnist at one newspaper throw a bouquet at a colleague working for another newspaper? Not likely.

   Or, as a broadcast journalist asked, “Have you ever seen Peter Mansbridge come on the air and say, ‘What a great job CTV did covering the Federal Budget’? Have you ever heard Lloyd Robertson say, ‘Terry Milewski did a super job for CBC covering Parliament today’?

  So, what was MacLean up to? Well, he’s unpredictable. We know that. By mentioning Duthie and nobody else involved in the CTV Olympic coverage, was there some hidden meaning to it all? My sense of it was his praise of CTV was sincere, although the CBC would probably prefer he hadn’t said anything. He mentioned Duthie, probably because, as a hockey guy, he is MacLean’s counterpart at CTV owned TSN.

  Actually, I’m wrong about the CBC’s reaction to MacLean’s praise of CTV and Duthie. Scott Moore, the head of CBC Sports as well as as media sales and marketing for the network,  said he liked it. 

    ”I thought it was very classy of Ron,”  Moore said. “Ron sort of feels he’s above the competitive fray for whatever reason. He feels he can say that sort of stuff and people accept it from him.”

     On the same broadcast, Don Cherry noted that he had been honoured last week by the Boston Bruins and had dropped the puck before their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, televised by TSN. Did TSN mention Cherry’s involvement during the broadcast? No. That’s the norm.

  Still with Cherry, he resumed his feud with Dick Pound on Saturday’s Coach’s Corner, referring to Pound as a freeloader. This was in reference to Pound handing out medals to the women hockey players at the Vancouver Olympic. The feud, of course, goes back to Pound stating a large number of NHL were receiving “pharmaceutical assistance,” a claim that angered Cherry.

  The New York Post reports that Academy Awards officials nixed several Tiger Woods jokes that had been written for co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. They were deemed “too rude.”

  Will the success of the Vancouver Olympic hockey tournament move NHL ratings in the United States? Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News reports that the Pittsburgh Penguins played the New York Rangers last Thursday for which MSG earned a .96 rating (percentage of MSG’s potential viewing households tuned in). On the same day, in the afternoon, a Mets-Cardinals grapefruit league game on Sportsnet New York earned a 1.13 rating. No Olympic buzz.

Weekend audiences

 Hockey

Vancouver Canucks-Chicago Blackhawks, Friday, Sportsnet Pacific, 389,000.

 Hockey Night in Canada pre-game, Saturday, CBC, 793,000.

Toronto Maple Leafs-Ottawa Senators, Saturday, CBC, 1.812 million.

Montreal Canadiens-Los Angeles Kings, Saturday, CBC, 793,000.

 Leafs-Philadelphia Flyers, Sunday, Sportsnet Ontario, 478,000.

 Calgary Flames-Minnesota Wild, Sunday, Sportsnet West, 146,000.

Canucks-Nashville Predators, Sunday, Sportsnet Pacific, 321,000.

 New Jersey Devils-Edmonton Oilers, Sunday, Sportsnet West, 133,000.

Curling

 Tim Hortons Brier, Saturday afternoon, TSN, 773,000

 Brier, Saturday, prime time, TSN, 705,000.

 Brier, Sunday morning, TSN, 599,000.

 Brier, Sunday afternoon, TSN, 597,000.

 Brier, Sunday prime time, TSN, 846,000.

 Auto racing

 NASCAR Sprint Cup Kobalt Tools 500, TSN2, 312,000.

 Basketball

 Toronto Raptors-New York Knicks, Friday, TSN, 322,000.

 Raptors-Philadelphia 76ers, Sunday, CBC: 218,000.

 Alpine skiing

World Cup, women’s downhill, Saturday, CBC, 71,000.

 World Cup, men’s downhill, Saturday, CBC, 57,000.

  CTV, along with its affiliated Olympic channels, exceeded most of the viewership projections given to advertisers – with one major exception.

  In the province of Quebec, the forecast that CTV-Rogers presented to advertisers for Olympic programming on the Quebec broadcast network, V, fell well short.

   V’s average prime time audience of 564,000 was a whopping 44 per cent below the 1.011 million that CTV-Rogers anticipated.

  V, formerly Television Quartre-Saisons, failed to meet the audience forecasts given to advertisers in any of the time slots. V was 45 per cent under for the Olympic afternoon estimate. The weekend audiences were down 30 to 33 per cent.

  What happened? Well, perhaps V did not under-perform. It’s possible, maybe even likely, that CTV-Rogers, when putting together its projections, over-rated Quebec interest in a Winter Games, which were, after all, thousands of kilometers away and over the mountains to a region where a French Canadian athlete didn’t even make the short list of four for the cauldron lighting ceremony at BC Place. And where the head of VANOC struggled mightily to put together three words of French in his closing address.

   Yes, the people at Olympic rights holding CTVglobmedia, which included The Globe and Mail, and CTV’s consortium partner, Rogers, had been giddy with excitement for months over the domestic Games. But perhaps the thrill  failed to resonate quite as much in Quebec.

   RDS, the French language sports cable channel, exceeded the forecast that CTV gave advertisers, but its projected numbers were smaller than those assigned to V, which reaches a larger Quebec audience. For example, RDS’s prime time average was pegged at only 154,000. It averaged 427,000.

   Overall, the Olympic audiences for CTV and its affiliated channels were excellent.   For CTV, the prime time estimate was 3.499 million. It achieved 4.163 million.

   The prime time forecast for TSN was 599,000. It averaged 1.077 million. Rogers Sportsnet’s prime time projection was 503,000. Its average was 935,000.

  CTV did fall short in Olympic Pacific Prime time (midnight to 2 a.m. ET). CTV projected 2.397 million for its main network and got only 1.017 million. Why? Viewers in the East were asleep. In the West, the audience had watched the live telecasts earlier.

Sidney Crosby led all Olympic athletes in online discussion during the Olympics, Adweek reported on Thursday. He finished ahead of  high profile U.S. athletes Apolo Anton, Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller. 

TSN did well with its NHL trade deadline coverage on Wednesday despite the absence of big deals. It averaged 184,000 viewers over 10 hours (8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET), more than doubling Sportsnet’s audience of 85,000 (8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.). That’s Hockey drew 384,000 followed by the Vancouver Canucks-Detroit Red Wings telecast, which pulled a large 865,000. TSN.ca enjoyed its fourth busiest day ever. It had 12.8 million page views, more than four times the daily average.

 The good news for Sportsnet with its deadline coverage was its audience increase from last year. It’s 85,000 audience was up 19 per cent from 2009. TSN’s audience was flat with last year. Sportsnet also had 200,000 streams of its telecast compared with TSN’s 100,000.

The application by Rogers for a  national sports channel was approved by the CRTC this week. In its application, Rogers said the channel will air NHL games involving Canadian teams. Rogers doesn’t have a national cable TV deal with the NHL. It has regional agreements will five of the six NHL teams.  Therefore, the NHL games carried on the national feed would be blacked out in all regions except the one in which the Canadian team is playing.  Insiders don’t expect the national channel to launch  for several years.

TV insiders are giving TSN’s James Duthie high marks for his work at Vancouver, where he doubled as CTV afternoon co-host and men’s hockey anchor. They liked his interviewing skills, humour and easy style. One said he felt Duthie could move out of sports to something in news or entertainment.

 As I reported at Yahoo Canada! on Monday, CTV pulled Brian Williams and Lloyd Robertson off the Vancouver Olympic closing ceremonies and gave the co-hosting assignments to Duthie and Lisa LaFlamme. My guess is CTV was unhappy with Williams and Robertson on the opening ceremony. Williams’ minimalist approach didn’t work. Sometimes less isn’t more.

Look for TSN to announce a fairly significant soccer property acquisition sometime in the next few weeks. TSN2 is expected to announce new programming as well.

At the Toronto Star, Chris Zelkovich seemed a little confused about the cost of a 30-second commercial airing during the gold medal game in Olympic men’s hockey. He suggested the ask would be $300,000, then quoted “advertising sources” as saying the price was actually $240,000.

  People I talked to in advertising have no idea what Chris was talking about. As I reported on this website Feb. 25, the price for a 30-second spot on the men’s semi-final, Canada-Slovakia, was $215,000, up from the standard Olympic price time rate of $90,000. CTV was asking $365,000 for an ad running during the men’s hockey gold medal game.

  To fill time, the networks hooked up with hockey personalities, and it worked out pretty well. Sportsnet had a conversation with Gary Roberts, the fitness guru and former NHL star. TSN did a remote with Sidney Crosby, who talked about the Olympics and the acquisition of Toronto Maple Leaf forward Alexei Ponikarvosky.

    On the scoop ledger, it was even during the morning. Sportsnet first reported the Derek Morris trade to Phoenix from Boston. TSN countered with the Martin Skouda deal to New Jersey from Toronto, and also the Dennis Seidenberg trade to Boston from Florida. Sportsnet had the Aaron Ward trade to Anaheim from Carolina.

   Guest analysts included Mike Peca and Mike Keenan for TSN, and Marty McSorley for Sportsnet. TSN assembled its Reporters panel of Dave Hodge with Damien Cox, Mike Farber and Steve Simmons.

   It’s always an education to hear Cox talk hockey and assert his approval of Toronto Maple Leaf general manager Brian Burke. He’s been a Burke supporter from the get-go, enthusing about the talent the Leafs have on the farm and rating the Phil Kessel trade as brilliant.

  Based on what Kessel has done with the Leafs, and showed at the Olympic tournament, that assessment doesn’t square with the real world. Truth is, the Kessel trade, for two first round picks, plus a second, going to Boston, was a reckless, irresponsible decision that has set back the team’s development for years.

   Still, Cox yesterday continued to express support for Burke’s “blueprint” for success, arguing Kessel could develop into a star. As for the loss of the two first rounders, he said the Leafs just need to compensate by acquiring draft picks from other teams. True, but they won’t be first rounders. They got a fifth for Skoula.

    The TSN panel – in fact, nobody in the Toronto sports media that I’ve heard, with the exception of perhaps Bill Watters  – did not take Burke to task for the insanity of the Kessel trade.

  Simmons did make a valid observation about the upside-down world of Leaf decision making. He noted that a year ago the Leafs, well out of the playoffs, could have played out their losing hand and finished low enough to draft very high.

  Instead, they  went out and acquired goalie Martin Gerber, who won some games. So, instead of finishing  in the top three or four, the Leafs drafted seventh and took Nazem Kadri, who is no sure thing by any means.

   What if, instead, the Leafs had continued on their road to mediocrity and  drafted third? That gets them Matt Duchene, and the rebuilding begins in earnest.

    Fast forward to this season when it makes sense to the Leafs to try to win a few games to keep Boston from picking in the top three. What does Burke do? He cleans house – Pierre McGuire described the talent up front as an AHL lineup — thus basically ensuring Boston will pick in the top two or three, perhaps even No.1 overall.  That’s the Leaf blueprint for success.

UPDATE: Slow day at the deadline. Minor deals. No big names. Hockey fans are still withdrawing from the intensity and high level of play at the Olympic tournament. My guess is the audiences figures for both networks will be below average.

  A total of 16.6 million viewers watched Canada’s 3-2 overtime win against the United States, the largest viewership ever for a telecast on Canadian television.

  That audience figure represents the combined total of viewers on nine channels, including the main CTV network, where the majority watched the game. Included among the nine channels were the affiliated French Olympic outlets as well as the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and the Rogers Omni ethnic channels.

   It’s an impressive audience, but not a surprise given the hockey rivalry between Canada and the United States, and the quality of the game. Canada took a 2-0 lead, but the Americans narrowed it to 2-1 and then scored in the final seconds of regulation time to sent it into overtime where Sidney Crosby got the winner .

  CTV reports that 80 per cent of Canadians (26.5 million) watched some part of the game.

  CTV also had a big number for the closing ceremonies. A total of 14.3 million watched, making it the second most viewed telecast of CTV’s Vancouver Olympic coverage.

   In the United States,  NBC earned a 17.6 overnight rating (percentage of potential households tuned in) for the Canada-U.S. game. That’s the largest rating ever for a hockey game televised in the United States. 

   That rating, SportsBusiness Daily reports,  represents a 45 per cent increase over the rating for 2002 Salt Lake final also between Canada and United States.

   It also ranks third highest among NFL regular season telecasts in 2009. It’s also higher than the rating for a World Series game dating back to 2004 and every NBA Finals game since 1998.

  SportsBusiness Daily suggests the rating will make it difficult for the NHL to discontinue participating in the Winter Olympics.

 Hope Prime Minister Stephen Harper sends CTV a thank-you note for at least trying to raise his image from that of the robot-that-walks-like-a-man to something a little closer to normal. CTV gave Harper more face time at the Olympics than most of the Canadian athletes.

  There were the shots of Stephen at the venues; in deep conversations, presumably about hockey, with Wayne Gretzky; and also the prime time interview with host Brian Williams on Saturday, clips from which, as I mention in Yahoo, could be used by Harper in election campaign ads.

   To be fair, Williams did press him on the future funding of Canadian athletes. Harper tried to slip by that stickler by saying he fully supported increased sponsorship, meaning the private sector. And public money? Harper mumbled something about that, too.

   Meanwhile, Jack Layton, leader of the federal NDP, tried to bask in the glow of the Olympic hoopla by finding his way to Gretzky’s restaurant in Toronto where CTV had a camera installed at the bar. Jack was able to get himself a spot right at the front.

   During the men’s hockey gold medal game, CTV went to the crowd scene at Gretzky’s several times, but not once did anyone at the network mention that the bald guy closest to the camera was the leader of the NDP.

 Here’s my Yahoo column on CTV’s final Sunday of coverage. I thought the flag waving was excessive.

 NBC made another in a long line of poor programming decisions on Sunday when it ended its coverage of the closing ceremony at 10:30 p.m. ET to go to something called The Marriage Ref.

  VANOC head John Furlong’s pathetic attempt to say a few lines of French during his speech at the closing ceremonies was an embarrassment.

 Here is a thank you note to Canada from Brian Williams, the NBC Brian, who, of course, was at the Olympics. Kind of nice:

Canada 3,  United States 2, overtime

PRE-GAME:

  The CTV panel, host James Duthie with analysts Bob McKenzie, Darren Pang and Nick Kypreos, has been producing good commentary throughout the men’s Olympic hockey tournament.

   McKenzie reports that  offensively Canada has been okay, ahead in goal scoring compared with performances in other high level competitions. (Canada did have trouble finishing against Switzerland and the United States in the preliminary round.)  McKenzie notes Canada cannot afford a bad goal or defensive breakdown.

 Duthie interviews Brian Burke, the general manager of the U.S. team. He describes Canada as a “giant” in the landscape of hockey; says a U.S. win would be “a tremendous boost for hockey in the United States.”

Kypreos says Sidney Crosby doesn’t have to score for Canada, but a goal will go “a long way toward solidifying” a Canadian win.

  McKenzie says Canada, which will not get the last line change, will have either the defensive tandem of Scott Niedermayer and Shea Weber, or Duncan Keith and Drew Doughty out against the Americans’ most dangerous forward, Zach Parise. Canada will try to get Rick Nash on Parise up front.

 Duthie interviews Canada’s general manager Steve Yzerman who says the team that has “the most composure” will win.

  Game analyst Pierre McGuire says the Canadians will aggressive forecheck the Americans, similar to the “offensive onslaught” against the Russians.

  Camera goes to Gordie Howe in the stands.

 Reporter Ryan Rishaug interviews Canadian coach Mike Babcock who says “we’re ready,”  adding the team has improved “each and every game.” He says the key is to execute and “have fun.”  The game  ”should be a ton of fun.”

FIRST PERIOD

6:39  Americans off to a very good start. Pace on both sides is terrific. Canada looks tight. This will be a low scoring game.

Canada having trouble with American forecheck.

U.S. forward Dustin Brown has the best scoring chance of the period so far. Canada looking shaky in its own end, relentless U.S. forecheck.

7:10 1-0 Canada. Great work by Mike Richards on Jon Toews’ goal. This, Toews, Richards, Rick Nash, has been Canada’s best line so far.

Crosby has had a very quiet first period.

He makes a good defensive play in final seconds.

 Canada’s second half of the period was stronger.

Niedermayer is Canada’s best defenseman.

SECOND PERIOD

Canadian power play early. Execution better than in first period power play.

American power play does nothing.

2-0 CANADA, 7:13

 Another goal off a rebound. By Corey Perryr.

  Canada looks more confident, looser.

 Cheap penalty on Toews.

Great defensive play by Nash on PK.

U.S. goal, by Ryan Kesler, 2-1 Canada

 Looks like a weak goal, but it was deflected.

U.S. speed beginning to become a factor. Canada is getting caught standing around at times. Are they getting tired? Parise is outplaying Crosby.

  Period over. This is anybody’s game.

SECOND INTERMISSION

Kesler tells Rishaug that the Canadian players tend to “fade” as the game progresses.

Kypreos says, “They need more out of Crosby.”

THIRD PERIOD

Ample opportunities for Canada to win the game in the third,  two posts hit, squandered opportunities. Widely out-played the Americans — until the final two minutes when they went into a shell and allowed the U.S. team to tie the game. At some point, fatigue is going to come into play in overtime. Canada’s best hope is to end it early.

THIRD INTERMISSION

McKenzie says Canada just kept backing back, trying not to lose instead of trying to win.

 The Americans are more effectively checking Crosby than Canada is Parise.

Kypreos: Too many icings by Canada in the final two minutes. He says Canada must score early.

Well, they deserved to win, right? And, good for Sid.

 I’m done. I’ll never live blog this sort of game again. Too intense.

A good hockey telecast, as usual. McGuire described the conclusion were: “What drama, what theatre, what skill.”

  CTV will draw a massive audience for this. My guess is an English-French language audience of 15-million, perhaps more.

   A few words on the team: I thought Chris Pronger would be too slow for this level of play, but I was wrong. He played very effectively on Sunday. The other veteran on defense, Niedermayer, was Canada’s best player. Up front,  Nash was tremendous. Toews, too, a pressure performer.

  From then on, it was a scramble for the Canadians, who were lucky to withstand the Slovaks’ assault and escape an overtime period.

  Canada hasn’t received anything close to excellent goaltending in the Olympic tournament. Luongo has allowed a bad goal in every game he’s played except for the shutout over Norway.

  The United States, on the other hand, enjoyed a relatively easy ride to the gold medal game largely because of Ryan Miller’s goaltending. The Canadians are in the gold medal despite the performance of their goalies, not because of it.

   It would repetitive to ask, one more time, why the Canadian brain trust never considered giving Marc-Andre Fleury a start. But it should be asked. As Don Cherry pointed out in my previous column, Fleury was playing the best of the three, Martin Brodeur being the third, leading into the tournament.

  Anyway, a loss by Canada because of inadequate goaltending will make the decision to start the tournament with Brodeur and then go to Luongo, while ignoring Fleury the main talking point of the post mortem.

  I asked analyst Pierre McGuire, who will call the gold medal game for CTV along with announcer Chris Cuthbert, about the goaltending, the tournament and what Canada will need to do to win.

   What is the one thing about the Canadian that has stood out for you?

  I’ve coached in the Stanley Cup final (as an assistant for Pittsburgh Penguins). I’ve called five straight Stanley Cup finals (for NBC). I’ve called eight junior gold medal games (for TSN). And I’ve never seen such intense scrutiny and pressure on a team. I don’t know how these guys are doing it every single day. I’ve never seen such a pressurized situation in my life. These guys deserve huge acclaim just by getting on the ice and making any kind of skilful hockey play. It’s amazing.

   During the women’s gold medal game, the camera went to members of the men’s team in the stands on two or three occasions. It was a grim bunch. No laughing, no smiles.

 The pressure on the Canadians is my stand lone moment. It’s unbelievable. And I’m right down there at ice level and I feel it. It starts when they come on the ice for a warm-up and it doesn’t dissipate. Even when they have success it doesn’t dissipate.

  Will fatigue be an issue in the gold medal game? Canada has played one extra game. It prevailed in a close game against Slovakia in the semi-finals while the Americans romped to a 6-1 win over Finland.

  I don’t think fatigue will be an issue at all, because in the last four days you’ve had two days of rest. You didn’t have to play on Thursday and you don’t have to play on Saturday. These guys are used to dealing with that sort of stuff. It’s not difficult and they’re not moving from city to city, so I don’t think fatigue be an issue at all.

  Is goaltending the most critical match-up?

  The answer is yes. If Ryan Miller plays like he did in the preliminary round against Canada, and Canada gets 45 shots or more, and he stops more than 40, it’s going to be difficult.

 For Luongo, he’s probably going to have to face between 22 and 28 shots, not much more than that. And he just can’t give up a bad goal. That’s going to be the most important thing. He can’t give up a bad goal. And for the USA, Miller is probably going to face between 42 and 46 shots and he’s going to have to be virtually letter perfect.

  Were you surprised by the Canadians dominating the Russians?

  I wasn’t. I saw that in 2005 at the world junior championship in Grand Forks. I saw it in 2006 in Vancouver at the world junior. Brent Sutter drew up the game plan to beat the Russians – attack them physically.

  I could feel it in the warm-up. The Russian players knew. And Chris Cuthbert asked me. He said, “Pierre is that the Russian team you’ve seen.” I said, “No, because, they’re preparing themselves physically and mentally for the physical assault that’s coming.” And they know. In any international event against Canada involving the best players, they know what’s coming.

  Do the Canadians have to play in similar way against the United States?

 They have to play with the same energy. They have to manage the puck a little better. But the most important thing for the Canadians is to not give up a bad goal early. That really put them behind the eight ball in the last game against the Americans. Bad goals took away the energy and momentum. So, they have to get off to a good start. That’s going to be really important.

Canadian viewership, English and French language, for the Canada-Slovakia semi-final was 9.7 million, the third largest audience for a Vancouver Olympic sports event telecast. CTV’s audience was 8.4 million.

NBC’s Mike Milbury on the Canada-U.S. hockey rivalry: “It’s like getting even with your big brother. There’s a feeling of entitlement when it comes to the Canadians and hockey. They are a little bit nervous about the Americans, because the little guy came to play.”
 NBC’s Jimmy Roberts, on hockey in Canada: “You know the old axiom. There are two things that matter in Texas, right? There’s football and there’s spring football. That’s the kind of the way it is in Canada with hockey. Tomorrow they’ll get a shot at what they feel is the single most important prize of these Games.”
NBC’s Cris Collinsworth, on Canadian hospitality: “It’s like they’re hosting you in their house. . . We’re all very lucky to have the Canadians around. They’ve been a great host.”  From an NBC release.

  And then it will be payback time for the Canadians.

  “I can hardly wait until we get at the U.S.,” he said in an interview. “I can hardly wait.”

   Cherry said U.S. players made a mistake when they slagged the Canadians after defeating them 5-3 last Sunday.

   Cherry, the Hockey Night In Canada commentator and radio show personality, appeared on the Jim Rome show this week during which U.S. commentators ragged him about Canada’s loss to the Americans.

  “They were giving it to us (Canadians) pretty good,” he said. It was, ‘This is your game. How goes it feel? And you’re going to lose again.’ They were kidding, but they weren’t kidding, if you know what I mean.”

  “I said we are going to win the gold. This was before the game against Russia. I said, we’re going to meet your guys in the final and we’re going to kick your ass.”

   After the U.S. win over Canada, least two Americans players, Jack Johnson and Ryan Kesler, told reporters they hated Canadian hockey players.

  Johnson chartered a flight to Vancouver to participate in the Olympic opening ceremony, but didn’t extend an invitation to Los Angeles Kings teammate Drew Doughty, who’s playing for the Canadians.

  “When the U.S. players said they hate Canadians, I mean that is dumb to say stuff like that,” Cherry said. “But you know what? I think they do.”

   Cherry is impressed by the Canadian team, which started slowly in the tournament but dominated Russia, winning the quarter-final 7-3.

   He believes the 1976 Canada Cup team, for which he was a member of the coaching staff, was more talented.

 “But I’ll tell you one thing. You’re never going to get a bigger team than that. It’s the biggest (Canadian team) I’ve ever seen. Holy smokes.”

  Cherry noted the 1976 team had Bobby Orr, Denis Potvin, Larry Robinson, Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe on defense.

  “I don’t know if anybody on the team could make that defense. The fourth line was (Marcel) Dionne, (Darryl) Sittler and (Lanny McDonald), so it was a pretty good line.”

    Cherry rates Canada’s goaltending as above average.

  “(Martin) Brodeur (against the United States) wasn’t bad, but he was just good. He played good, but not great. (Roberto) Luongo was good too (against the Russians), but he wasn’t great, either. He made a couple of good saves.”

    He said he’s a little surprised the third goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, wasn’t given a start.

  “Here’s the funny thing. Fleury was the hottest guy going down the stretch than both of them. And he won the Stanley Cup last year. I thought he was the MVP. But they’ve made up their mind and he’s not going to get in.”

A surprisingly low audience for Canada’s 2-0 win over the United States in the gold medal game of the women’s hockey tournament on Thursday. Only 5.8 million viewers. I was expecting something closer to eight million.

UPDATE: CTV revises the women’s auidence to 7.5 million.

 CTV and its affiliated cable channels drew 10.5 million viewers for the Canada-Russia men’s hockey quarterfinal on Wednesday, just short of the 10.6 million that watched Canada-United States last Sunday. CTV, alone, drew 9.3 million.

Bouquets for Joannie

   NBC analyst Scott Hamilton on Joannie Rochette’s bronze medal performance: “I’ve never seen such a superhuman amount of courage and determination. What an inspiration.”

  Announcer Tom Hammond: “It is the stuff of Olympic legend.”

  Invoking the U.S. Miracle on Ice 30 years ago, CTV’s Chris Cuthbert said, after the Americans scored six goals on Finland in the first period of Friday’s semi-final, “The Finns might remember the first period as the Debacle on Ice.”

  NO APOLOGY NECESSARY

  So, the Canadian women returned to the ice, at the empty Canada Hockey Place and had a bit of celebratory fun. They were drinking champagne and beer, a few were smoking cigars. Marie-Philip Poulin, who scored both of Canada’s goals against the Americans and is 18, was drinking a beer. The drinking age in B.C. is 19, but in Quebec it’s 18. What a scandal.

  The only mistake made here was Hockey Canada apologizing to the IOC .  Hockey Canada should have told the Olympic body that nothing would be done, no apology needed, and also suggest the committee stick to more important things, like doping and various other IOC scandals. Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson was correct to tell IOC president Jacques Rogge, in some many words, to shut his mouth about the  women’s game being on notice. What a jerk this guy is. The Globe and Mail’s Roy MacGregor writes about this here.

   With Canada defeating Russia 7-3 in the Wednesday quarterfinal, the cost of a 30-second commercial in the semi-final game involving Canada will skyrocket.

  Should Canada defeat Slovakia in the Friday semi-final and advance to the gold medal game on Sunday, the fee will go through the roof, more than tripling.

  The price of a 30-second spot for Canada-Slovakia is $215,000, more than twice the cost of a spot in the Canada-Russia quarterfinal, which was selling for the standard $90,000.

  As I reported in my Yahoo Canada! column yesterday, if Canada advances to the gold medal game Sunday afternoon, the fee escalates  to $365,000, a record for a 30-second spot airing on a Canadian sporting event.

 Had Canada lost to the Russia and been eliminated, the  standard fee for the semi-finals and  final would have remained — $90,000 for a 30 second spot. That’s a significant ask from advertisers, just a bit under the $100,000 for a Super Bowl spot earlier this month, but nowhere near the $215,000 for the Canada semi-final and $365,000 for a final.

      The $90,000 fee for Canada-Russia was a good buy for advertisers. When the audience figures are released later on Thursday, viewership for that game will be in the eight to 10 million range. CTV drew 6 million for Super Bowl, charging the slightly higher ad rate of about $100,000.

   The gold medal game of the women’s hockey tournament on Thursday, Canada-United States, was also a good deal.  A 30 second spot fetched the standard $90,000. That game should draw in the eight to 10 million range.

  The only downside in the hockey schedule for CTV right now is the start of the Canada-Slovakia game – 9:30 p.m. ET is a little late for viewers in the East, but preferable to the 3 p.m. ET start, on a workday, for the United States-Finland game.

 Mike Milbury denounced the Russians for playing a “Eurotrash” game against  Canada. The NBC (and Hockey Night In Canada) commentator said after the telecast he was disgusted by the weak, dirty effort by the Russians. Reminds me of the CBC’s Don Cherry calling the Russians liars and cheats at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games. You can read the full Milbury story by Yahoo here.

  Former Toronto Blue Jays general manager joins ESPN:   From ESPN’s release:  J.P. Ricciardi, a 30-year professional baseball veteran – including roles as a Major League Baseball front office executive, scout, and Minor League Baseball manager and player – has joined ESPN as a Baseball Tonight analyst.  Ricciardi will debut in March.

 “I’m really excited about joining the ESPN Baseball Tonight family,” said Ricciardi. “I look forward to sharing my perspective of the game, which has many layers and has been built over the years through my various roles.”

 Comment: Given the leaks to ESPN out of the Jays front office, he’s been a source of information to the network for years.

ESPN says it would air Olympic events live, unlike NBC. From The New York Times:   With 25.2 million viewers watching the Winter Olympics in prime time, NBC Universal feels vindicated by a strategy that features tape delay of some events and shows nothing live in the Mountain and Pacific time zones.

 ”A tremendous amount of time and experience goes into how we plan the Olympics,” Gary Zenkel, the president of NBC Olympics, said Wednesday from Vancouver. “Quite frankly, we’re pleased with the results.”

  But fans who crave the chance to see everything live, as many Canadians do, may find an ally in ESPN, which plans to bid for the 2014 Winter Games and 2016 Summer Games. It would discontinue the tape-delay template.

  ”I don’t think nonlive is sports fan-friendly,” said John Skipper, ESPN’s executive vice president for content.

   Everything would have been fine if only I hadn’t read Damien Cox’s column in The Toronto Star informing me  that Marty had been (a) “lied to,” (b) “blamed unfairly” for Canada’s loss to United States on Sunday and (c) just generally “disrespected” by Mike Babcock. The real trauma came when I read the sub-head to the column. The coach had “alienated” and treated like dog waste (my term), not just a proud member of the Canadian men’s hockey team, but a bona fide legend.

   My heart broke. How could they do this to an icon?

  Okay, back to reality.

   Look, maybe Cox has a man crush on Brodeur, I don’t know. But Brodeur played poorly in Canada’s 5-3 loss to the Americans and, arguably, should have been pulled the first period, when he gave up the puck in a goofy baseball attempt to clear it, which led to a goal, and also let in a softy.

   To bring him back against Germany tonight would have been ridiculous and irresponsible. Of course, you make a change. I would have gone with Marc-Andre Fleury, but Luongo is certainly a better choice than Brodeur.

   Let’s not get carried away with Brodeur’s “legendary” status. He’s a future Hockey Hall of Famer and, yes, he surpassed Terry Sawchuk’s career shutout record (103) in December. But Brodeur, 37, has been wildly inconsistent this season and has been chased from the net several times. His best years are behind him. I don’t believe he even deserved the Olympic team No.1 goalie designation.

   But here’s Cox, not only wringing his hands over the despicable treatment of Brodeur, but suggesting Luongo is a choker. He suggests Babcock has burned his bridges with Marty and will be unable to use him in goal again because of the way he’s treated him.

   Cox warns ominously, “Babcock had better be right on this or he deserves to be roasted on the spit of Canadian hockey opinion for all the unhelpful waffling he’s done on this issue.”

  Waffling? He decided to make a change and, yes, probably should have told Brodeur sooner than he did. If Luongo plays poorly, you pull him quickly and go with somebody else. Brodeur would be happy to get the call. And he would do his best.

NOTE: Readers point out (I’d forgotten) that Cox is co-author of a  Brodeur autobiography titled Brodeur: Beyond The Crease. The 2006 book was co-authored by Cox, who, of course, would have written it. So, Cox has a relationship with Brodeur that extends well past the usual one between a journalist and a hockey player.

WHERE TEAM CANADA HAS GONE WRONG

 A few thoughts on tonight’s Canada-Russia game:

  If Canada loses, it will be because (a) they can’t finish (Canadian teams rarely do finish well at the highest level of competition) (b) goaltending is weak (c) and defensemen Chris Pronger gives up the puck.

  My guess is Pronger will be too slow for the pace of tonight’s game. It may be too much for the  other veteran defenseman, Scott Niedermayer.

   One of the great mysteries of the Olympic men’s hockey tournament is the Canadian brain trust’s decision not to play goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Yes, he’s fairly young (25), but he’s played in plenty of pressure situations including a Stanley Cup Game 7, which he won.

   That Mike Babcock, Steve Yzerman et al decided that the two old guys, Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo, both struggling through mediocre seasons, would be the starting goalies could be their biggest mistake. Brodeur was inconsistent against the United States. Luongo had virtually nothing to do against the Germans, but looked bad on the first goal by Germany, awkward and out of position.

   So, here’s a first guess – not a second guess – Fleury should start tonight. He won’t. Luongo will get the call.

  If the Canadians don’t come out of the gate pounding the Russians, particularly Alex Ovechkin, they’re done. They’ll also need great goaltending.

ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser ridicules Hannah Storm — and gets suspended. Why that was a mistake.