Hockey fans...NHL Center Ice on Direct TV worth it?

[Insane3D]

Well, the NHL season is upon us again, and this will be my first season with Direct TV. I was checking out the Center Ice package and it looks pretty nice. It seems a little expensive, but it's not so bad since they spread it out over four months or so. I was hoping to get some people's opinions in here who have signed up for it in the past.

So, is it worth it for a die hard hockey fan? With so many other games on, I could avoid watching my Bruins lose so much. :Q

 

[Wingznut]

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

My life revolves around the Red Wings. I didn't miss a single game last year.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Wingznut
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

My life revolves around the Red Wings. I didn't miss a single game last year.

Wait. Tell me how you really feel Wingz.

Ok, so assuming I want to watch another team, besides the Wings :Q, how is the variety of games?

 

[Aquaman]

If I had the money I would but I get around 70+ Canucks games on TV already form local cable stations

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Aquaman
If I had the money I would but I get around 70+ Canucks games on TV already form local cable stations

Cheers,
Aquaman

Yeah, I get all of the B's games on TV via my regular stations...either NESN or one of the ESPN's. Only problem is a good deal of those games are painful to watch...so I would like to watch other teams that..you know...can win and stuff.

 

[Aquaman]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Originally posted by: Aquaman
If I had the money I would but I get around 70+ Canucks games on TV already form local cable stations

Cheers,
Aquaman

Yeah, I get all of the B's games on TV via my regular stations...either NESN or one of the ESPN's. Only problem is a good deal of those games are painful to watch...so I would like to watch other teams that..you know...can win and stuff.

<<<<<<<<< evil eye

Canucks will own your team all year long

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Insane3D]

Canucks will own your team all year long

That's not saying much...

Oh! But wait! We have Felix Potvin now....we are gonna be winnahs!!!!

Anyways, I also forgot to mention I like to follow the Kings as I have season tickets to their AHL affiliate way over here in New Hampshire. In fact, just bought myself a nice new Kings jersey to replace my B's one. :Q Their alternate jersey is nice...

 

[Aquaman]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Canucks will own your team all year long

That's not saying much...

Oh! But wait! We have Felix Potvin now....we are gonna be winnahs!!!!

Anyways, I also forgot to mention I like to follow the Kings as I have season tickets to their AHL affiliate way over here in New Hampshire. In fact, just bought myself a nice new Kings jersey to replace my B's one. :Q Their alternate jersey is nice...

Boston's not a bad team............ got lots of scoring. If The Cat can get some confidence he should be pretty good. I am not familiar with the Boston Defense.............. what is your take on them?

Kings fan also................. BAN THey should do a bit better if Cechmanak plays well

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Insane3D]

I am not familiar with the Boston Defense.............. what is your take on them?

They are decent and fairly solid, but we lack that "big time" defenseman ever since we lost Ray, and traded our next best one...Mclaren. We have some solid guys like Sean O'Donnell and the much improved, but still kinda slow Hal Gill. We had some promising rookies in Jonathan Girard and Nick Boynton, but Boynton is holding out (big surprise with the B's), and Girard got in a bad car accident over the summer and broke his pelvis. He will be out for the entire season at least, and maybe forever depending on how it heals. He already had a severe infection develop post surgery. Also, as of now, we don't have Brian Berard as we "walked away" from his 2.5 million arbitration award. We have the right to match up to 80%, so he might be back. He is probably our best offensive defensman, but he can be a wicked liability...sort of like Ozolinch. (sp?)

The one good thing is we have an excellent farm team in Providence, but once we get some good guys coming and playing well, they want to get paid and we ship them out...

The best part is we finally signed Samsonov so hopefully the Samsonov - Thornton - Murray line will be reunited.

 

[alphatarget1]

go sharks!

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
Ok, so assuming I want to watch another team, besides the Wings :Q, how is the variety of games?

I believe you get every single game... Two years ago, there was the occasional game in Canada that wasn't shown, but I don't recall any games last year that weren't available.

 

[Insane3D]

I don't believe you get every game, but they say as many as 40 per week....that sounds like a lot. I'm strongly leaning towards this ATM.

Wingz...did you have it through cable or on Direct TV? I imagine the Red Wings aren't on often where you are, but the B's games are all on the regular channel around here. I guess I just need to figure out if I would watch all those games enoughto justify it....

 

[NakaNaka]

Right now, I get all 82 of the Ranger games here in NYC, and I don't have much time to watch out of town games. However, when I move to college and get out of the dorms and get my own apartment, I will be getting DirectTV so I can watch my Ranger games.

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
I don't believe you get every game, but they say as many as 40 per week....that sounds like a lot. I'm strongly leaning towards this ATM.

Wingz...did you have it through cable or on Direct TV? I imagine the Red Wings aren't on often where you are, but the B's games are all on the regular channel around here. I guess I just need to figure out if I would watch all those games enoughto justify it....

DirecTV. And no... The ONLY hockey games we get here in OR is whatever is on ESPN.

 

[Insane3D]

No one else has ever had this package? I know there are more than two or three hockey fans on this board....right?

 

[Aquaman]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
No one else has ever had this package? I know there are more than two or three hockey fans on this board....right?

I actually get a lot of Boston games on the UPN channel I have on my digital cable. My dad gets all the games........ pretty much free........ but that is another story.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Eminem2k1]

Its great... Watch hockey whenever, I would recommend it if your a huge hockey fan and love watching it on tv otherwise youd probably get sick of it. IE Do you watch all the ESPN games whenver you can? If so then Youll like Center Ice.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Eminem2k1
Its great... Watch hockey whenever, I would recommend it if your a huge hockey fan and love watching it on tv otherwise youd probably get sick of it. IE Do you watch all the ESPN games whenver you can? If so then Youll like Center Ice.

Yeah, hockey is the only sport I watch. In addition to catching all the B's games, I also have season tickets to the local AHL club and go to almost every single game. I could see myself watching several hockey games per night...

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: NakaNaka
Right now, I get all 82 of the Ranger games here in NYC, and I don't have much time to watch out of town games. However, when I move to college and get out of the dorms and get my own apartment, I will be getting DirectTV so I can watch my Ranger games.

Yup, Old Timers Hockey is quite enjoyable!

Anyway, tried that package out a few years back(mine was a League wide package), it gives you a whole whack of games, but you still miss out on some games and(unless your package is totally Team dependent) I found I really wasn't interested in certain games. Overall, if you like hockey I think it's worth at least trying for 1 season, after that you can choose to continue or not, no big whoop.

 

[Wingznut]

Obviously, blackout rules will still apply... Although I don't know how that would affect a NH resident.

Here is last season's (2002-2003) DirecTV Center Ice schedule. If you were so inclined, you could find an actual schedule and compare the two... But you have to keep in mind that Center Ice doesn't necessarily cover the games that are already on ESPN or ABC. (i.e. On opening day, DTV only lists one game, but the other two were on ESPN.)