Fox’s Wonder Puck Still Splits Hockey Fans

While the battle rages between hockey traditionalists and progressives about the glowing puck and comet tail, Fox Sports marches on undaunted.

FoxTrax, the creation that the network came up with over a season ago in hopes of snaring some mainstream sports viewers, will be used in the portion of the Stanley Cup finals that is to be televised by Fox Sports.

I know the purists out there don’t like it. You don’t think a light show is needed to enhance anything when you have the brutish wonder of Flyers captain Eric Lindros going against the rugged defense of the Detroit Red Wings.

You have Brendan Shanahan, the guy some Flyers fans cursed general manager Bob Clarke for not getting, against Rod Brind’Amour and Chris Therien, the two names most mentioned as Shanahan trade bait.

That annoying blue dot just gets in the way, you say.

What would an NHL Hall of Famer like Bobby Orr think of watching a game in which the puck shines?

“I love the puck,” said Orr, a FoxTrax backer. “I really do. Anything we can do to make it easier for viewers, we ought to try to do it.”

When in Canada, where watching hockey borders on being a religious experience, even Orr has been taken to task for his views on FoxTrax.

“I’ve had a lot of discussions,” Orr said through laughter. “There are a lot of people who don’t like it. It has changed from when they first used it, and I think Fox will continue to work at it and make it even better.”

I have grown used to it, but I confess to being a hockey neophyte. For those staunch traditionalists, ESPN will be doing Games 2, 3, 4 and 6.

Fox will televise the opening game of the seven-game series and, should this series blossom into the blood-letting, down-to-the-wire fracas it is forecast to be, the network will televise Games 5 and 7 as well.

“I don’t think we’ll do it any differently than we do any other Fox game or Fox series,” said Fox’s NHL play-by-play announcer, Mike Emrick, who’ll be joined by analyst John Davidson. “Granted, there’ll be more attention paid to this because it’s prime time Saturday night.”

Predicting a winner

Now, tell us who will win the series?

“In my opinion it’s impossible to pick this thing to start with,” said Davidson. “After watching the Rangers play Philadelphia, it’s a question of whether Detroit can handle Lindros and LeClair. On top of the goal crease, they were immovable. Throughout the series that’s going to be a gigantic challenge for Detroit.”

Orr hedged as well.

“It’s a very difficult series to pick a winner,” he said. “Philly has the size and the offense. You give them the edge there, and Philadelphia has a guy by the name of Lindros. I think it’s probably going to be a seven-game series.”

“NHL on Fox” studio analyst Dave Maloney didn’t pick a team, but he sounded a little skeptical about the Flyers’ goalies, Garth Snow and Ron Hextall.

“If Detroit, who got 45 shots on goal against a very good Colorado team, can generate that kind of offense against Philadelphia, I’m one of the guys that would say the goaltending would become the issue,” Maloney said. “Hextall or Snow would have to stand up to that kind of pressure. I think Philly gets weaker when you get toward the net.”

Emrick did pick the Flyers, but it was a tentative pick. He talked about how the Legion of Doom line averages out to be 17 pounds heavier and an inch-and-a-half taller than the average Red Wings defenseman.

“I consider (the Flyers) the favorite but that doesn’t mean they’re going to win,” said Emrick. “The team that’ll win will be the one with the best goaltending. If I knew who that would be, that’d be my pick.”