Remember when former ESPN senior vice president and director of news Vince Doria said hockey “doesn’t transfer much to a national discussion“? SportsCenter must be moving into the realms of regional discussion, then, as ESPN announced this week that they’ll do a special Sportscenter on Tuesday, Feb. 16, featuring extra hockey content and NHL analyst Barry Melrose co-hosting with Steve Levy:

The “Levy Lounge” will return to the 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter on Tuesday, Feb. 16, with anchor Steve Levy and ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose hosting the one-hour program. In addition to the normal news, highlights and information SportsCenter viewers expect, the “Levy Lounge” will emphasize NHL content, with some special guests expected to join Levy and Melrose for conversation and interviews.

As SportsMediaWatch notes, this is the first time Melrose will be hosting SportsCenter, which is about time for the world’s most interesting analyst and hockey’s foremost cigar lover. It’s also continuing ESPN’s recent trend of unusual SportsCenter hosts (including Stephen A. Smith and Ronda Rousey). Don’t expect this to lead into a more regular emphasis of NHL content, as hockey’s best ratings still pale before those of other sports, but this is a cool thing for Bristol to try as a one-off, and it’s something that might help convince hockey fans to tune in for at least one night.

It is worth noting that ESPN has been showing more hockey on SportsCenter in the past couple of years, but its presence is still pretty small compared to some other sports. That’s understandable given the ratings for hockey, but it’s nice to see it get a boost for one night. It’s also a better use for Melrose than, say, college football Megacasts or Blue Jays’ playoff celebrations. Now, ESPN will just need to make sure they book another anthem singer so we can get this reaction:

Barry Melrose tears

[SportsMediaWatch]

 

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.