It has been a torrid NHL season from a broadcasting perspective. Fans have been left frustrated over the poor scheduling of the matches on TV. While some games have been broadcasted on ESPN, some have been streamed via the NHL Network, leading to the fans who have only one subscription missing out on games. Naturally, this hasn’t gone down well with the fans at all, who’ve expressed their frustration time and again. But another controversy has now erupted during an ESPN broadcast.
But this time, the NHL has emerged unscathed. Rather, it is solely ESPN feeling the heat over their coverage of the Fargo Regional. Brought to attention by Zach Halverson on X, the media personality took issue with some of the terminology used in ESPN’s coverage.
The network was streaming the NCAA game between Western Michigan and Minnesota State yesterday. The game went into overtime, and instead of terming it a ‘sudden death,’ ESPN showed it as ‘sudden victory.’ The fans were quick to spot this error and slammed ESPN’s poor coverage of hockey games.
Dear ESPN,
1. it is sudden death not sudden victory
2. hockey isn’t the obscure sport you think it is. People know how OT works. pic.twitter.com/jiGo4vI9Py
— Zach Halverson (@ZachHalverson) March 27, 2025
But here’s the twist: ESPN wasn’t wrong after all. Rather, in the NCAA Hockey rulebook, overtime periods are indeed called sudden victory. To be more specific, “sudden victory overtime periods.” Halverson quickly spotted the error and issued a follow-up clarification tweet, but not before fans weighed in with their many complaints.
Eventually, it was Western Michigan who scored the overtime winner and defeated Minnesota State 2-1. Grant Slukynsky scored the winning goal as WMU moved to 31-7-1 overall on the season. While Western Michigan rejoiced in the stunning win, fans were busy airing their complaints. Albeit under false pretenses, as we now know.
There is no love lost between hockey fans and ESPN
Earlier this month, ESPN was caught in a scheduling overlap and chose to stream a college basketball match instead of an important New York Rangers game. As a result, fans didn’t hold back from slamming them after the now-debunked error from the Fargo Regional. One fan said, “It’s obscure to ESPN. They put the sport lower than women’s college basketball on their list of priorities. They would put the NFL scouting combine on the flagship channel and put game 7 of the Stanley cup finals on espn2.” The fan seriously doubted if ESPN even prioritized NHL streaming.
Further, some of the fans even mocked the broadcaster for making a huge blunder during the live broadcast. “I saw that too and thought it was lame,” a fan wrote, as he couldn’t hold back his laughter after spotting ESPN’s unusual phrasing.
On the other hand, one fan was sarcastic in their critique of ESPN for terming the OT period as ‘sudden victory’ instead of ‘sudden death.’ A Twitter user said, “What a surprise! ESPN is usually so laid back.” The fan recollected how hockey streaming wasn’t the priority for ESPN and didn’t hold back in his criticism.
Meanwhile, another fan was absolutely scathing; for their constant errors and controversies in hockey broadcasting. “ESPN’ coverage of hockey is simply atrocious,” the fan wrote, voicing his unhappiness with the channel’s poor NHL coverage.
Lastly, yet another fan jumped in on the ESPN hate train, writing, “That’s absolutely r*******. It’s sudden death.” With such basic errors, the fan questioned if hockey should be telecast on ESPN.
But well, as we now know, it was the fans who were left looking foolish, as the fault wasn’t ESPN’s after all. Though after an NHL season riddled with broadcasting frustrations, it’s no wonder that fans piled on the broadcaster the second they saw the opportunity to. But with the NHL playoffs fast approaching, fans can only hope that ESPN ups its hockey game.
The post Anger Mounts Against ESPN Over Controversial Hockey Coverage Amidst NCAA March Madness appeared first on EssentiallySports.