It’s like “Hard Knocks” on ice, except without Rex Ryan’s potty mouth.
HBO’s “24/7” series will follow the Penguins and Capitals in the four weeks leading up to the teams meeting in the NHL’s Winter Classic, the one outdoor regular-season game played each season, on Jan. 1.
“I have no problem with the way our players conduct themselves,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said when asked if he was concerned if some of the bad press Ryan and the Jets received for the head coach’s cursing would be an issue in this show.
“Will there occasionally be some colorful language? Sure, any sport will have it, but I’m excited people are going to get to see NHL hockey in ways they’ve never seen it before and that’s going to reflect positively on the game. … I don’t know how much cursing we’ll see; once we see the first episode we’ll know if you should see it with kids of a certain age.”
President of HBO Sports Ross Greenburg said, “If a coach throws in a curse during a heated team meeting then it will probably be in there, but there’s only one Rex.”
The Winter Classic has become the NHL’s premiere regular-season game and this year it will feature the sport’s two biggest stars — Penguins forward Sidney Crosby and Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin — meeting at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
“Hard Knocks” focuses on an NFL team preparing for a season, with the Jets the subject this year. “24/7” started began showing boxers preparing for marquee fights. It branched out when they followed Jimmie Johnson as he readied for the start of the NASCAR season, which opens with the Daytona 500.
The hockey program is the first time HBO will follow teams during the regular season.
“I think it is very exciting,” Greenburg said. “Going behind the scenes and telling the true story on how athletes prepare for battle on the field or on the ice is what this country wants and we have to deliver it.”
Bettman and NHL executive John Collins pitched the idea during a private screening of “Broadstreet Bullies,” a program by HBO on the 1970s Flyers. But an agreement wasn’t reached until the Stanley Cup scored its highest ratings in 36 years when the Blackhawks beat the Flyers in six games.
“What’s going on with our game right now is that it’s probably the best it has ever been in terms of speed, skill, competitive balance, excitement, entertainment, lead changes,” Bettman said.
And the league is putting Crosby and Ovechkin on the forefront of that pitch.
“When we learned who the teams were it piqued our interest. You are taking the two biggest stars in the sport, the two biggest rivals,” Greenburg said.
