Bruins' Brad Marchand Slams NHL Broadcasters, Media Outlets After Game 2 Hot-Mic Incident
I'd be willing to bet that most people are fans of having microphones to capture in-game audio. That said, I now know Brad Marchand is not one of them.
The Boston Bruins pest (I mean that in a good way) made his feelings about this known thanks to an incident in Game 2 against the Florida Panthers. As regulation was winding down and the Bruins doubling up the Panthers 6-3, tempers started to flare.
Panthers agitator Matthew Tkachuk was in the middle of it, this time jawing with Bruins center Tomas Nosek. At one point, Tkachuk even mentioned Nosek's wife.
Them's fightin' words.
As this was happening, ESPN's Ray Ferraro had his mic open. This allowed all of us at home to hear what was being said.
However that didn't sit well with the man they call Nose Face Killah.
Marchand Torched Broadcasters For Broadcasting Tkachuk and Nosek's Chirp Fest
A few days later, after Game 4, Marchand blasted the media for broadcasting what is said at ice-level.
“I think the NHL and the media outlets cross the line by allowing those mics,” Marchand said, per BosHockeyNow. “There’s a reason guys don’t want mics on the bench, and that’s because they’re going to take advantage of it at some point, and they did. Regardless of what’s said by Tkachuk or other guys, there should never be an instance where a mic picks up any of that stuff.”
Look, I love a fleeting expletive as much as the next guy, but I kind of get what he's saying. The players are going to say what they're going to say. However, as was the case here, the broadcasters can decide when to keep the mic open.
If nothing's happening close it; if there's juicy chirping happening, open that puppy up.
"The fact that the media outlets allowed that to happen, it’s very disrespectful to the agreement we have in place,” Marchand added, alluding to the NHL's broadcast agreement. The NHL has deals in place with Turner and ESPN.
“It’s going to get guys in trouble," Marchand said A lot of things that are said, a lot of things like what he said, that is said all game long and throughout the years, but you don’t pick it up (on) mics. There shouldn’t be mikes in that situation. It’s part of the game.”
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