FanShot

Some Early Broadcasting tidbits from Boston.com

9

Here and there Hard to believe it’s almost time to drop the puck on the NHL season, but the regular-season opener is less than a month — not to mention nearly 4,000 miles — away. The distance from Boston to Prague makes for unusual situation for NESN and The Sports Hub, the team’s television- and radio-rights holders. NESN will send reporter Naoka Funayama with the team, along with a director and videographer. But Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley will not head overseas, instead calling the games while watching a video feed in NESN’s Watertown studios. It’s a tactic ESPN used for several World Cup telecasts in 2006. While it’s not ideal, it’s acceptable so long as the audience isn’t misled that the broadcasters are calling it live from the arena. The Sports Hub’s Bruins broadcast team — play-by-play voice Dave Goucher and analyst Bob Beers — won’t call the exhibition games in Dublin (Oct. 2) or Liberec, Czech Republic (Oct. 5), but will be in the booth for the regular-season opener in Prague against the Phoenix Coyotes Oct. 9.