ESPN Shows Hockey Clip [HUMOR]

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PLEASE NOTE: The following article is entirely a work of fiction. The player quotes used in the following article were created entirely by the author, and in no way should they be mistaken for real quotes.

All views and opinions expressed within are solely the viewpoint of the author, and do not reflect the views or opinions of ESPN, or the National Hockey League.

The sport of hockey was presented to its widest-ever audience on Tuesday night when SportsCenter, the daily highlight show on ESPN, accidentally showed a clip from a previous night's National Hockey League contest between the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings.

The clip, which lasted a mere thirty seconds, baffled the SportsCenter analysts as they tried in vain to describe the actions of the players involved.

"The point seems to be  putting that black thing past the guy in that blue circle, and into the red cage behind him," anchor Scott Van Pelt stated.

Nevertheless, the clip, which aired during the program's 53rd minute, qualified as the largest television audience ever for anything related to hockey, reaching 3.2 million viewers across the United States.

That's roughly three million more than viewers that tune into Versus' weekly hockey telecasts, which air live on Mondays and Tuesdays throughout the nation, to viewers lucky enough to have whatever cable provider happens to be carrying Versus that particular week.

News of the clip's airing, however accidental, reportedly delighted National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman, who said during a press release that he felt the widespread exposure to the clip represented "good news for the NHL", and that it "gives the league something on which to grow here in America."

ESPN President George Bodenheimer, on the other hand, apologized for airing the clip, declaring it was "an oversight on the station's part" and that it would replace the clip in time for SportsCenter's next airing with highlights from 2009's Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, in which a Spanish Spaniel named Clussex Three D Grinchy Glee took home the top prize.

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