Ryan Whitney: “ESPN goes against the grain of NHL field hockey”.

The sport of field hockey is not very popular in the United States. That’s no longer a secret.

This weekend was a case in point: instead of broadcasting Game 6 of the series between the Oilers and Golden Knights at a reasonable hour last Sunday…

The game was played at 10 p.m., when most people were asleep. Even worse? ESPN prioritized the broadcast of a baseball game… And started the Oilers game late. The broadcast of the Oilers game began with the score already 2-1, as the first three goals of the game were scored in quick succession….

And that didn’t sit well with many people. The result?

Fans don’t think it’s fair, and they’re right. All this has even prompted Ryan Whitney, a former NHL player, to say openly that ESPN doesn’t give a damn about field hockey:

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Whit’ s right. After that, we wonder why fans in the States don’t get on board, or get on board less than fans in Canada…

We agree that in the U.S., it’s not the same. Why is that? Because our neighbors to the south also have professional basketball, baseball and soccer teams. Yes, the Jays and Raptors are in Canada…

But they’re the only professional teams in the country that don’t play in the NHL, and play in one of North America’s four major sports.

It’s often said that the NHL has trouble promoting its best players… and this is another perfect example.

After all, we’re talking about a game number seven between two of the league’s very good teams… And, on the Oilers’ side, McDavid and Draisaitl are certainly among the top-5 best players in the world.

How do you expect the sport to grow if we can’t even start a game of this importance on time?

In a gaggle

– The Montreal CF has the smallest payroll in the NHL.

As expected, @cfmontreal has the smallest payroll in the @MLS. #CFMTL
10.5M. https://t.co/qGO67CDJ5Y

– Jeremy Filosa 🎙 (@JeremyFilosa) May 16, 2023

– The killer question.

– Kevin Mandolese has played just about everywhere this year.

– It’s like Connor Bedard in the NHL.

– Looking forward to it.