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USA Today: Versus might take shot at puck tracking for NHL telecasts

(I konw I try to stick to college hockey, but this makes me upset, so I had to write about it)

So apparently Versus is taking the attitude "Hey, it isn't broke, so let's go ahead and try to fix it." From that impeding Versus Interview Towel, to the soon to be re-introduction of the "Glow Puck." If you don't recall, the glow puck was introduced to the hockey world in the NHL during the 1996-1998 seasons, only there was on major difference from then and today...YOU COULDN'T SEE THE GAME AS WELL!!!!

With the introduction to High Definition to the NHL, hockey has become much better for new viewers to grasp and begin to learn about. In the 90s and prior, the difficulty of following the puck (not only for the camera operators) was immense, so obviously putting a puck on the ice with a transmitter in it was an ok idea, but as for today, WHY?

"We're looking to track the evolution of a play," says Ehrlich (Versus Executive Producer). While puck tracking is on his "wish list," he admits it's still a "sore subject" with hockey purists. "There's people who looked at it as a great success at Fox. A lot looked at it as a dismal failure."

-EXACTLY, "dismal failure" lets go with that for a minute shall we...Who in their right mind, in the production of a once struggling television corporation, that has somehow pulled the magical rabbit out of their ... would go the route of putting the reputation of the NHL and their new-found representation that goes along with it, back into this once failed idea.

Let me put it to you this way: If you like hockey, and watch the games, go to the games...when you turn the television on, you don't have a problem following the play (you don't, it is not a question, I know you don't). Point being, YES, we do want more people to watch hockey and grow to like the sport, but you cannot put an impedance on your current viewers. For the people who want to become hockey fans and grow to love the game, this will only be achieved in two fashions:
1) Going to a live game - there is nothing like it out there for a live sporting event
2) Being around other people who love hockey so much that they will be willing to sit through endless games until you understand the concept of "Icing."

Here is what I hope they stick to, which is what it sounds like they might, and that would be doing a Instant Replay, where they show the play with glow lines on the ice tracking the passing of the play to go into the shot and goal. ESPN does something like this with the NFL and Monday Night Football. But I still have my fears.