There may not be a part two to this post… I have been following hockey from Beijing as well. On Sunday morning, I watched Game 6, with a distant relative, also a Canadian-born Chinese from Montreal, and another Quebecer expat. It was pretty awesome, even though it was slo-mo at times, and even sound-less in the last part of the third period, when the Canadiens lost their grip on the game.

Tomorrow morning, I will be watching Game 7 of the Bruins-Canadiens series.

I was told that the Rickshaw bar is open 24/7 and might be willing to switch you to a channel showing hockey. But, unverified info, and I am not going to verify it tomorrow morning.

While my hometown is hockey, my temporary one is Olympics. While not overly in-your-face to the point of seeing only that, the Beijing Olympics are quite noticeable in Hong Kong. It is a lot more than it is in Canada (more so because of the volume of advertisement here, I think) and the ads are not necessarily associated with commercial partnerships, as demonstrated in the previous picture of a Hong Kong tramway. Hong Kong people strongly support the Olympics (see opinion poll), and the feeling about the Olympics here is a far cry from the sentiment felt in Western countries.

Moreover, equestrian competitions for the 2008 Olympics are to be held in Hong Kong, for hygiene reasons, and probably also because of the territory’s long horse racing tradition.

I was in Taiwan last week for a week, and any Olympics-related advertisement was nowhere to be seen (but I did not go look for it).

I am about to board my flight for Beijing, so I might be able to tell you in a week how it compares!

Yesterday morning, for Game 2 of the Montreal-Boston NHL playoffs series, I again went to Lan Kwai Fong to see whether I could find a bar that was open, and showed ice hockey live… The answer was a simple no. The bar most often cited as showing hockey, often taped in advance, but sometimes live, if the game’s in afternoon, was The Keg, located up the slope on the LKF block. Unfortunately, just like most of the other establishment at this hour (8AM), its doors were closed shut, and noone was to be seen.

I left a message under the door, and the lady managing The Keg called me back. She said that the bar, of Canadian ownership, only opened for business at 5:30PM, and closed at 4AM. If there are games in the afternoon in North America, it was possible that they can be shown live… This is how it goes here for hockey! So, either receive it on some special satellite channel (don’t know how) or watch it illegally on the web!

I am flying to Beijing tomorrow, and will be looking there again. A few names have been mentioned, but who knows…

Hockey Day In Canada est une présentation spéciale annuelle de Hockey Night In Canada, avec Ron McLean dans une petite ville quelconque (Winkler, MB, cette année), et de trois matchs incluant des équipes canadiennes. Ce qu’il y aura de spécial pour cette édition, c’est la diffusion sur le web d’une description alternative des matchs en mandarin et cantonais, deux dialectes du chinois, et en hindi, la plus parlée des langues en Inde (voir article).

Detroit vs Toronto @ 15 h (Mandarin)
Montréal vs Ottawa @ 19 h (Hindi)
Colorado vs Vancouver @ 22 h (Cantonais)

Les liens vers les streams en direct seront disponible sur le site de Hockey Day In Canada 2008 dès le début des matchs.