Tube time: 63 Thrashers games to be shown this season

Sep 05 2008

Published by bud006 at 9:26 am under Thrashers News Edit This

By Bud L. Ellis
thrashers.today.com

ATLANTA – Sixty-three of the Atlanta Thrashers’ 82 games this season will be available on a television near you … that is, if you live in Georgia and can get the SportSouth regional cable network.

The Thrashers released their 2008-09 TV schedule Thursday afternoon, highlighted by 61 games on SportSouth. Two other games will be shown on Versus as the NHL’s Game of the Week.

That means, if you get SportSouth, you’ll end up being able to watch roughly three-quarters of the schedule on the tube. Not bad, considering sometimes it’s hard to find hockey on the tube. When I lived in Southeast Georgia during the early and middle part of this decade, I loved seeing the TV schedule released. Being 300 miles from Philips Arena, it wasn’t easy to trek to Philips Arena to see Le Thrash in person.

Now that I’m in the Atlanta suburbs, it’s much less of a chore to watch a game in person. With that said, it’s nice to prop up my feet in the Sports Garage, grab the remote and find the Thrashers on the TV.

Now to some highlights of the TV schedule:

Nineteen games against Southeast Division foes are on SportSouth (20 in all counting the Versus games).

Both games against Nashville are on SportSouth … it’s about darn time the NHL cut the number of division games (reduced from eight against each division team to six this season) so teams can play more out-of-conference contests.

Speaking which, 14 Atlanta games against the West will be on TV. Highlights include matchups with Dallas on Jan. 27 and against Anaheim on Feb. 15.

Both games against the defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings (Oct. 24, March 20) are on TV, as are all four matchups against Eastern Conference champ Pittsburgh (Nov. 20, Dec. 18, Jan. 6, March 17).

Of the 19 games not on TV, seven are in the season’s first 17 games. Eight of those 19 are road games, including – curiously enough – division games against Tampa Bay (Oct. 21), Florida (Nov. 2), and Carolina (Nov. 9, Nov. 14).

Starting with the New Year’s Eve matchup at Carolina, 41 of the final 45 games will be broadcast.

Neither game against Toronto will be broadcast on TV.

The two games on Versus are Oct. 28 vs. Philadelphia and March 16 at Washington.

Here’s a look at the TV schedule in full. Print, hang it on your fridge and get ready for some hockey on the tube.