The Crosby Show on Friday

[Madferret]

TSN to show NHL Draft Lottery
TSN.ca Staff

The results of the NHL's entry draft lottery, and who gets the No. 1 overall pick, will be carried exclusively on The Sports Network in a special half-hour show on Friday at 4 p.m. (EST).

TSN, which is the rightsholder for the 2005 NHL entry draft in Ottawa on July 30, will carry the lottery event live from New York, where the NHL board of governors will be meeting to ratify the new collective bargaining agreement, approve rule changes for the 2005-06 season and conduct the lottery to determine the order of selection for the entire draft.

The big prize, of course, is talented youngster Sidney Crosby of the Rimouski Oceanic, whose scoring exploits have made him the clear No. 1 choice and a potential franchise player.

Every team in the NHL has a shot at winning that first overall pick in a slightly weighted lottery.

Four teams (Buffalo, Columbus, the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh) have three balls in the lottery. Ten teams (Anaheim, Atlanta, Calgary, Carolina, Chicago, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Nashville, Phoenix) have two balls in the drum. The remaining 16 teams (Boston, Colorado, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, New Jersy, NY Islanders, Ottawa, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Jose, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington) have one.

The team that gets the first pick overall won't pick again until 60th overall. The team that gets the 30th pick, at the end of the first round, gets the first pick (31st overall) in the second round in a "snake" draft system.

The anticipation of who'll pick first overall, and win the right to draft Crosby, is higher than it has ever been in NHL history.

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Must leave work a bit early on Friday...

http://69.93.183.37/html/emoticons/ninja.gif

[J.R.]

Must leave work a bit early on Friday...

http://69.93.183.37/html/emoticons/ninja.gifMust leave the second round of the Canadian PGA Championship a bit early. http://www.hockeystation.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

This is brilliant. No closed doors with TSN showing the lottery live. I can't wait.

[KB in Kelowna]

TSN to show NHL Draft Lottery
TSN.ca Staff

The results of the NHL's entry draft lottery, and who gets the No. 1 overall pick, will be carried exclusively on The Sports Network in a special half-hour show on Friday at 4 p.m. (EST).



All they are televising is the announcement of the results, not the actual draw. I am not sure that this is worth leaving work early for, but to each his own.

[J.R.]

All they are televising is the announcement of the results, not the actual draw. I am not sure that this is worth leaving work early for, but to each his own.Way to read between the lines, but M, what does this line mean?

TSN...will carry the lottery event live from New York.

[Madferret]

I am not sure that this is worth leaving work early for, but to each his own.

What are you my boss M ???

http://www.subgenius.com/bigfist/eyes/MTVpics/3-Smileys.GIF

As Junes pointed out..

TSN...will carry the lottery event live from New York.

[leaferfan87]

Man one player is creating so much hype about a draft lottery. Wonder how many viewers they'll be at 4:00 and then at 4:05 after the #1 team gets chosen.

[J.R.]

Unfortunately this makes things a little clearer.

NHL changes its mind: draft lottery made into live event Friday
posted July 19 @ 19:16, EST

TORONTO (CP) - The Sidney Crosby sweepstakes will be on TV after all.

It was confirmed Tuesday that the NHL draft lottery in New York will be televised Friday. But like the NBA, only the results of the draw will be shown. The actual drawing will take place away from the cameras. The original plan had been to hold the entire lottery behind closed doors during Friday's board of governors meeting, with commissioner Gary Bettman subsequently announcing the results at a news conference.

Now hockey fans will get to see how it unfolds. The order of the draft will be unveiled, starting with the 30th pick and ending with the prized first.

The event will be carried live on TV, starting at 4 p.m. EDT following the 1 p.m. board of governors meeting.

"Given the fact that we have been without NHL hockey for a year and that we have a lottery system in order to select the draft order it was imperative in my opinion to have a live event," said Crosby's agent Pat Brisson. "It obviously helps having Sidney Crosby part of the mystery."

The draft itself will be July 30 in Ottawa.Via: Sportsnet.ca (http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/shownews.jsp?content=h071919A).

[bluemeanie]

Awww man... it's like having to read the book when there's a movie version available. :rolleyes:

[KB in Kelowna]

Sorry I was only speaking for myself on taking time off on friday.

[slapshot™]

Awww man... it's like having to read the book when there's a movie version available. :rolleyes:

I'm holding out for the audio book cassette.

I saw on Snopes.com (http://www.snopes.com/) that Alan Eagleson is doing the narration. Apparently, Bettman felt Eagleson could add some well-needed credibility to the NHL cause.

[bluemeanie]

Is NHL ready for Crosby?
Future in league looks bright

(CP) - There's more to Sidney Crosby than predictions of becoming the next Wayne Gretzky.

Crosby has shown more Peter Forsberg, a little bit of Joe Sakic and even flashes of Mark Messier as he prepares to make the step from major junior hockey to the NHL.

Crosby, who turns 18 on Aug. 7, is ready for the NHL.

Will the NHL, scrambling to gets its house in order following labour uproar, be ready for him?

"There's no doubt this kid is ready for the next step because he dominates," Atlanta Thrashers scout Normand Poisson said. "I don't think he's going to have any trouble adapting to the NHL's pace of play.



"If the rule changes open up the game, that will be even better for him."

Crosby is the most anticipated NHL prospect to come out of the junior ranks since Eric Lindros.

The scope of the sports media has widened and intensified since Lindros was drafted in 1991 and the lack of NHL this past season increased the scrutiny of Crosby.

The fact that every team in the NHL has a chance at drafting Crosby first overall has made Friday's lottery in New York a more hyped event than it has been previously, when only the five bottom teams in the league could win the No. 1 pick.

Crosby's talents are plentiful.

Anticipation. A sense of knowing where his teammates are at all times and how much time he has to work the puck and when to get rid of it. Lightning-quick hands. Explosive speed. And an ability to wriggle his way through checks while protecting the puck.

The five-foot-10, 193-pound forward is nearly impossible to knock off the puck and is adept at moving others off it with his low centre of gravity.

"His torso from his legs through his rear and up through his core body, he is as strong as anybody I've seen," said Blair Mackasey, director of player personnel for Hockey Canada. "He's as hard to knock off his feet as anybody I've seen. Some people describe him as a freak of nature."

Poisson, a Quebec-based scout who has seen Crosby play many times, says he draws the eye like Ilya Kovalchuk did at that age.

Crosby does his best work close to the net. Like Gretzky, he can generate a lot of offence from behind it, but like Sakic, he can also score from the perimeter.

He has demonstrated an ability and willingness to play any forward position as the Rimouski Oceanic moved him to right wing during the season and he played left wing during the world junior tournament without missing a beat in either instance.

He is a prolific scorer who recognized early that the road to the NHL is paved with defensive responsibilities. His plus-minus with Rimouski this past season was plus-78.

Crosby has been a target for opposing teams' checkers almost from the moment he stepped into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the abuse has been sometimes blatant. There was never a game in which he didn't have a checker on his back, yet he still managed to put up eye-popping numbers.

He has come to let others around him complain to officials about it and instead draws the penalties and then goes to work with the extra room the man-advantage gives him.

But Crosby plays with a sharp edge. He's not above seeking retribution later in the game with a well-placed whack across the back of the legs or a stick in the ribs. He doesn't back down from physical play and digs hard in the corners by using that low centre of gravity.

His desire to be better and passion for the game is so strong that he is always looking for ways to improve.

"Tiger Woods is good, but he wants to be the best and wants to do everything to get better and I think Sidney has the same mindset," Poisson said.

The expectations of what Crosby can do as a pro have increased exponentially with accomplishment, accolade and award.

But it has not all been sweetness and light. There was Don Cherry's criticisms, his own team threatening to pull him from road games if officials didn't stop the abuse of him, the theft of his national team jersey and backlash from his decision to pull out of the Top Prospects Game.

Still, he has handled the media siege this year with poise that is almost eerie for a 17-year-old.

"He is special in that regard," said Mackasey. "I've never seen a kid at that age subject to so much media pressure and overall pressure and handled it with so much poise."

In that respect, Mackasey said, Crosby is like Gretzky in that the Great One faced the spotlight at an early age and learned how to handle it long before he reached the NHL.

There was only one real hiccup on that front this past season. At the world junior tournament, Crosby felt compelled to clarify a comment he made to TSN that had suggested he would consider being a replacement player if the NHL remained locked out this season. A day later he emphatically said he would do no such thing, heading off any ire from NHLers.

Crosby has so far been able to balance the demands of his celebrity without losing touch with his teammates or the game.

When he signed a major endorsement contract with Reebok this year, he shared Reebok gear with his teammates. When Oceanic fans were lined up outside the arena for playoff tickets the night before they went on sale, Crosby and a couple of teammates brought them coffee and doughnuts.

"He's really aware of what the fans mean to the organization and to the sport in general," Poisson said.

His upbringing by parents Troy and Trina, Rimouski's previous experience developing stars Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards, and the expertise of his agency IMG have all helped Crosby navigate to this point with no major setbacks

The NHL is coming out of the darkest period in its history and while it's too much to ask an 18-year-old to be its saviour, the prospect of Crosby playing in the league can be part of its rehabilitation, if the league and the team that drafts him develop him properly.

"When you've got a diamond, you've got to look after it," Poisson said.

[Iced Tea]

I'll be waiting for the actual draft; see who is picked 2nd on down. Once Crosby burns out in two years and leaves the NHL to become a monk in Tibet, it will be nice to see every other first round pick excelling in the NHL. :D