NHL Playoffs

Ottawa leads its series 2-0 over the Sabres. They could go all the way.

 

They were tonight. The Ducks beat them in OT.

 

Only one more game to go and Buffalo is out of it. With a one 1-0 victory tonight Ottawa leads the series 3-0, and the Sabres are on the verge of extinction.
The real question is: Can the only one remaining Canadian team take the Stanley Cup? :applause:

 

Not much interest in the NHL play-offs here, eh?
For what it's worth: Ottawa defeats the Sabres in a 3-2 victory winning the series 4-2!! They now become contenders for the Stanley Cup awaiting the outcome of the Red Wings vs. the Ducks.

 

Now you've got to be more objective and truthful than that. In general Americans are more caught up in their basketball, baseball, football, and even in things like the Daytona during this season--the spring. Generally speaking hockey is a winter sport, not a spring sport, and there are too many other things going on to keep the average American's attention focused on hockey.
Besides that it is Canada's national sport, and if TSN doesn't broadcast it, the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), certainly will.

 

What is he not being truthful about? Hockey used to be a major sport in America, now it is a sidenote at best.

 

I never should have used the word "truthful". I didn't mean to imply that you were not being truthful. Objective would be a more apt word. I don't believe that all the blame can be put on one person, i.e., Betteman. There are no doubt many reasons why Americans have turned their attention away from hockey. Betteman isn't popular here either, but the sport still is, even if our local team isn't playing.

 

Another Betman failure - the hockey game on saturday is going to overtime - NBC should be eating up hockey overtime - not may sports are more exciting than an overtime in hockey right?? Nope - NBC cuts to the Preakness PREGAME and sends hockey to VS - what do you think, 50% of the country even gets the VS network?

NBC gave us meaningless jockey interviews instead of hockey. It shows how far hockey has fallen, its pulling in bowling ratings these days (although I hate to malign bowling)

 

How is that Betteman's failure? It sounds more like the failure of your major TV networks who want to televise something else at that hour. Do they have clowns operating those networks? Here, all programming is pre-empted no matter how long a game goes. A number of years ago when the Oilers were in the play-offs, the game started at 7:00 pm and contined until Petr Klima scored the winning goal near 1:00 am in the morning. They play until they're finished. I doubt if that is Betteman's fault. Talk to your network station why they didn't televise the entire game.

 

NBC has a contractural obligation (which is stupid) to the Triple Crown sponsors (Drawing a blank), thus the switch. It happens more than it should. I don't care if it's a marbles match, if you're in OT, you stay there. But corporate ad dollars win out. That's okay...Since there is no shot at a Triple Crown winner, the Belmont will have 57 viewers, and the sponsors will get their just desserts.

There HAS to be a better TV deal for hockey. There just has to be. The NHL bears some fault because they need to negotiate better blackout restrictions, etc. We get hit with those in East Tennnessee over the Predators, even though Nashville is four hours away. However, the Titans don't have those same restrictions.

 

I am a fan of the game. Don't care too much about the politics of it.
The Ducks are in; the Red Wings are out.
Ottawa faces Anaheim starting on Monday for the revered Stanley Cup.

 

:applause: Wonderful news!

 

Now that NBC is broadcasting the finals for Lord Stanley's Cup, there should be no excuse to take at least some interest in the NHL playoffs.
The Ducks lead the series over Ottawa 2 to 1. Most Canadians, of course, are cheering for the Ottawa Senators. But which team is truly Canadian?
The Ducks have 19 Canadians on their team; whereas Ottawa has only 14.
Oh the irony of it all.

 

The great Tim Cowlishaw has ten things the NHL needs to do to improve the game - what do you all think?

Here is the article

The Anaheim Ducks could hoist the Stanley Cup as early as tonight which would shock not only Ottawa fans but about 300 million Americans who had no idea that hockey season was still under way.
Like the last two Finals between Canadian teams and teams from nontraditional U.S. markets, there have been great goals, terrific saves and punishing hits. And like those series, no one (relatively speaking) is watching.

On Saturday night when LeBron James led Cleveland into the NBA Finals, the NBA earned a 5.3 rating. That's not what the league used to get for conference finals, by any means. But it was far better than what NBC drew (1.5) for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Quick, before commissioner Gary Bettman renders this league extinct, here are 10 ways to fix the NHL and deliver an improved product to more viewers in 2008.
1: Put microphones on all coaches and captains for all games. One of the things that the millions of fans that flock to NASCAR races each year really enjoy is the ability to hear every word exchanged between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his crew chief, Tony Eury Jr.
The scanner technology is there to let every fan in the seats eavesdrop on what's being said. We don't want lame interviews conducted by bench reporters. We want to hear the real thing, and if we're paying $100 a ticket, we deserve it.
2: Start the season a month later. The Stanley Cup Finals should be starting when the NBA Finals are ending. For two weeks, you get the closest thing you're ever going to get to undivided attention.
The technology is good enough to make ice playable in late June. Starting the season a month before the NBA in the heart of college and pro football season does nothing for the NHL.
3: Convince the selfish Eastern Conference general managers to act in the best interests of the game and change the schedule. This was voted on and rejected a few months ago. But Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, moving into the prime of what's going to be a fantastic career, needs to play a game in Dallas and Los Angeles and Chicago every year. Not once every three years.
4: Kiss up to ESPN. Make amends. There's still enough room for programming at the world-wide leader to get your games back there. Versus gives the NHL no presence at all. The studio show has Bill Clement, a great analyst, in the misguided role of host.
Get back to ESPN – even if it's ESPN2 – and get your highlights back on SportsCenter.
5: Let the skaters in shootouts go without their helmets. In the Sixties and Seventies, we could easily identify Bobby Hull, Jean Beliveau, the flowing locks of Guy LaFleur.
Then safety reared its ugly head, and now we have no idea what these players look like. Most of the regular-season highlights we see of the NHL are from shootouts. Let's see the players. Women will like this one.
6: Eliminate the ability to ice the puck during penalty killing. You can't do it 5-on-5 but you can do it when you're being penalized? Montreal GM Bob Gainey never really thought that made sense and he's right.
AP
Television ratings have fallen flat for the Stanley Cup finals.



If they ice it, bring back the puck back for the face-off and the penalty killers have to stay on the ice.
What that would do is increase scoring from the game's best players, make power plays more powerful and cut down on penalties which would increase the flow of the game. All of those are good things.
7: Adopt the 2-3-2 travel format for all series. Commissioner David Stern did it for the NBA Finals after the 1984 season to ease the travel for newspapers. Those Boston-to-Los Angeles-to-Boston-to Los Angeles-to Boston trips were hard on the budget, not to mention hangovers.
Do it for all series. Increase (even by a fraction) news media coverage of the playoffs. It can't hurt.
8: Adopt the shootout after 40 minutes of playoff overtime hockey. Once you get past that point, the hockey gets ugly. Fans need to know that if they stick around until a little after midnight, they are going to see a winner. Networks need to know that, too. They aren't making any money with those long ad-less overtimes.
I would keep unlimited overtime for any game that could decide the Cup Finals.
9: Move the U.S. league office to Atlanta. Being in New York, the NHL can at least pretend it's a big deal. Bettman and other league officials need to walk the streets of Atlanta or, I don't care, Raleigh or Nashville and learn that nobody knows who they are. It will help them figure out what they have done to the game.
10: Contract to 26 teams. Arrive at a formula based on revenue, attendance, won-lost record and local ratings. The two worst performing teams are dropped and their players are dispersed after next season. Two more go a year later.
Now you have fewer and better teams and you get to see the stars more often and you increase your chances of making the playoffs. Those are good things.
Someone should let Bettman know how his grand plan of "expanding the league's footprint" has really gone.