The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

My buddy Rick & I contemplated ordering tonight's Senators vs Red Wings tilt on Pay-Per-View as Ottawa ventures into new ways of getting a few more bucks out of the fans. We want all the games for free, but it's not going to happen. You want to sort of balance it so the numbers are just enough to merit having just five PPV games a year, but as a fan I don't want too many people ordering it so they can justify reducing the number of free games and increasing the number of PPV ones. In other words, have my cake and eat it, too.

So we decided to go the Coliseum to take in the game.

Funny thing is, it costs $10.95 to order from home and you can have as many people over as you want, but going to the theatre costs $10.95 for just one ticket. But we wanted to see what the atmosphere would be like, and of course watching it on the big screen would be fun so we justified it that way.

The crowd was pretty quiet for most of the game, mainly because Detroit brutally outplayed Ottawa for the first period and third periods and there wasn't much to cheer about. The Sens regrouped early in the 2nd and came out hard with three straight goals, the patrons in the theatre cheering and high-fiving each other after each goal. But overall, they were pretty tame and a local pub is probably more lively.

The PPV broadcast offered no commercials and more information segments, some hit but most of them missed. They forgot little things, like updating the crowd on the scores around the league. They also would answer emails while the puck was in play, most of the questions not terribly interesting but somehow the answer would drag on and distract from what was happening on the ice. Some of the crowd chanted "boring" during the segments showing the training room, dressing room, how the players prepare, etc, but I thought they were interesting, although someone other than Roy Mlakar should of hosted those parts.

Back to the game: Ray Emery was amazing. A personal best 43 save performance with a highlight-reel glove save in the 2nd period was a small, personal victory over his mentor Dominik Hasek. Ottawa had no business winning, but once in a while your goaltender steals a game for your team to perhaps make up for the ones they should have come out ahead. With Alfredsson and Redden out, this was the perfect time to do it, and hopefully the boys can pay Ray back with a strong effort Thursday against a tough Nashville team.