Versus released information today on the ratings for this past weekend's NHL All-Star game, which was played at the RBC Center in Raleigh. According to the network, it was the most-watched NHL All-Star game since Versus began airing the game in 2007.
The broadcast averaged 1.5 million viewers and peaked at nearly 2 million viewers from 6:45 p.m. to 7 p.m., the final minutes of the game.
Time Warner Cable is giving hockey fans a chance to indulge their sports casting fantasies this weekend at the NHL All-Star Fan Fair.
Fans can "Step Thru the Screen" and take part in an HD sportscast using green screen technology. Fans will get 30 seconds to sit behind the sports desk and make the case for why their favorite NHL player is the best. It all takes place in a replicated sports newsroom setting.
Located at the Time Warner Cable Booth at the Convention Center downtown.
Two guys who think very, very much about hockey did a mock draft today for the NHL All-Star game this weekend. Chip Alexander, our sports writer who covers the Carolina Hurricanes, and sports columnist Luke DeCock, who may know more about the Canes than anyone who is not an employee of Peter Karmanos.
Here is a link to the transcript of the draft. When it started, I went down to the second floor to watch Chip, who was doing some kind of instant messaging thingie that fans could watch live on our web site. He was on the phone with Luke, who was doing the same somewhere else. I'm guessing his home.
The way I understand it, the NHL has two captains for the game, one of them being the Canes' Eric Staal, and they will pick players just like Luke and Chip did today. Chip's first pick, by the way, was the Canes' Jeff Skinner, a late addition to the All-Star lineup. The 18-year-old Skinner, I am told, is on his way to becoming the most popular member of the Hurricanes.
View 2011 NHL All-Star Weekend in Raleigh in a larger map
Welcome to Raleigh, NHL fans. I hope you brought your own wheels.
We use cars here. To get around town, you'll need to rent one or call a cab.
Our hockey rink, the RBC Center, is not on a bus route. Neither is our cramped Amtrak station – the busiest rail stop between Richmond and the auto-train depot at Sanford, Fla.
Learn more about how to get around town during the 2011 NHL All-Star Weekend.
John Brantley, the airport director, shuddered at the idea that thousands of hockey fans, corporate types and media could fly into RDU this week, arriving in a big new terminal that looked finished but was half empty.
So it was worth an extra half-million dollars, he says, to get the $570 million Terminal 2 completed and opened four weeks ahead of schedule -- in time for the 2011 NHL All-Star Weekend. ... [MORE
View 2011 NHL All-Star Weekend in Raleigh in a larger map
Hordes of hockey fans are coming to Raleigh -- along with scads of sponsors, media types and hockey hangers-on -- for a long fun weekend Jan. 28-30 that will culminate in the 2011 NHL All-Star Game at the RBC Center. (See All-Star Weekend schedule.)[1/27/11 update: see today's story.]
How will they get around town while they’re here? Here’s a map and some information to help them find their way. This Google map locates:
* the two major venues (Raleigh Convention Center, site of the 3-day NHL Fan Fair, and the RBC),
* the six hotels heavily booked for NHL teams, media and fans in Cary and downtown and North Raleigh,
* RDU Airport (where the $570 million Terminal 2 had its formal debut Sunday, Jan. 23) and Amtrak stations,
* the downtown Raleigh route of the R-Line, a free circulator that runs about 18 hours a day,
* and other downtown venues where you can find concerts (including a 3 Doors Down show) and a two-day festival called NHL All-Star Wide Open -- all with links to maps, directions and parking info.
What else should be on this map? Let me know. ... [MORE]
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will host a press conference regarding future NHL All-Star Games at the RBC Center Thursday, Carolina Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said in a phone interview this morning.
Rutherford would not confirm that the Hurricanes have been awarded the 2011 All-Star Game but said that the league has opened up the application process for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 All-Star Games.
