TV Station Cuts To Commercial, Misses Chicago Blackhawks Winning OT Goal [Video]
Austin, TX — Really bad timing for a local television station which ran a commercial instead of showing the Chicago Blackhawks winning goal against the Boston Bruins last night in sudden-death overtime.
NBC affiliate KXAN, which found itself on “thin ice” for this programming fail, subsequently apologized on the air during its newscast.
Brent Seabrook scored the game-winner at 9:51 in overtime for the Blackhawks, which tied the Stanley Cup final at 2-2. Patrick Sharp also had a goal for the Hawks in the 6-5 matchup as did Michal Handzus, Jonathan Toews, Marcus Kruger, and Patrick Kane. The Bruins’ scorers were Rich Peverley, Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron (twice), and Johnny Boychuck. Game 5 is Saturday night in Chicago and game 6 is in Boston on Monday. If necessary, game 7 will be on Wednesday night in Chicago. The NHL does not use the 2-3-2 format that the NBA adopted for the final round.
KXAN inexplicably cut away for a station promo followed by a Kia commercial and missed Seabrook’s heroics. The Yardbarker website called the abrupt commercial break a “botch of equally epic proportions” to the goal itself, adding that “It was one of the great Stanley Cup Final games in memory and the dramatic sudden death finish was just the capstone to an instant classic.If you were watching the game in Austin, Texas on KXAN, there was just one slight problem …”
Later a news anchor made this apology to viewers: “We unexpectedly and accidentally went to commercial break during overtime in tonight’s game. It was admittedly the worst possible time to do that, and we’re so sorry. We apologize for that interruption.” One of the other anchors awkwardly chimed in with “computer automation will bite you sometimes.”
In case you might believe that no one cares about ice hockey in the Lone Star State, immediately before the televised apology the station ran a story about how hockey is supposedly gaining in popularity in Texas and in the Austin area in particular. This in and of itself was an uncomfortable juxtaposition.
Watch the station go to commercial just before Seabrook scored on a slap shot for the Blackhawks and the subsequent apology:
