You'd figure after the duck boats and Fenway and the summer with the Cup and the ring ceremony and opening night and the Pats game, the avenues through which the Boston Bruins' Stanley Cup championship could be celebrated would have been exhausted.
And you'd be wrong. On Wednesday night, VERSUS presents a half-hour special covering the Bruins' banner raising, ring ceremony and community adoration in a "24/7"-style manner at 6:30 p.m. ET, an hour before the Bruins face the Carolina Hurricanes:
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From VERSUS:
The half-hour special will feature behind-the-scenes access for the Bruins' triumphant return to TD Garden on Thursday, October 6, for the banner raising and championship ring ceremonies as well as the team's three-day journey leading into opening night as the Bruins prepare to defend the Stanley Cup this season.
The show will focus on Boston's history as one of America's most fervent hockey towns and will highlight how the Bruins used hard work and determination to overcome many obstacles on their way to winning the city's first Stanley Cup in 39 years. It will also draw parallels with Bobby Orr's two championships in the 1970s and the city's passion for the sport that was rejuvenated by the 2011 championship team. The special also features exclusive interviews with the player that emerged as the heart and soul of the team last season, goaltender Tim Thomas, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy for Most Valuable Player in the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Thomas' career will be followed from the University of Vermont, to playing in the minors and around Europe, to finally becoming an elite goalie in the NHL.
Forward Shawn Thornton and Head Coach Claude Julien were wired for sound during the Bruins practices leading up to opening night and will be featured in the show along with one of the Bruin's youngest talents, Brad Marchand. Additional vignettes will include the team's summer with the Cup as well as interviews from other Bruins players and local fans.
Thank god someone's exploring Boston's history as a fervent hockey town. So criminally under-reported. (/snark)
The special will run as the second half of NBC SportsTalk, which is the daily talk show for VERSUS that's still trying to gain traction. On Wednesday nights, the last half hour (6:30-7 p.m.) is scheduled to be hockey-centric, leading into its NHL Live pregame show at 7 p.m. and the night's exclusive VERSUS game of the week. So that's an hour of hockey talk featuring NBC's announcers, analysts and bloggers. Hopefully it's put to good use.
The really interesting thing about this Bruins special is that it's produced in-house by NBC, and that's going to be one of the major changes for the NHL's cable home now that the Peacock's in charge.
There's no reason why VERSUS can't run more original content that goes beyond game coverage for the NHL, given that their marriage is for a decade and there's always been an appetite for it from the fans. Hopefully this Bruins thing is the test case.