Play-off Thread

[joshinva]

I wish i could have seen the game 7 between Carolina and Buffalo. that looked like a fantastic game.

Game 1 of the Finals tonight. Maybe I'll go to a local bar and check it out. Of course, I don't drink, so the barkeep won't like me much, but I do tip well.

My wife will wonder why I am such a loser to go to a bar and watch the game by myself. But the Cup Finals only comes around once a year.

I have a feeling that next season the NHL is going up a notch. Seems like the game has become more exciting this year. And after a full year with the new rules behind them, I think the players will be much more acclimated and that will only make it better. Can't wait.

Please, please, please, give me two years of big market teams. Where the hell have you been since '92, freakin' Blackhawks?!?

Chicago, Rangers, Flyers, Kings, and Detroit. That'll be a good place to start.

 

[Matra1]

Poker---who watches that crap?

More people than are watching hockey. Chris Zelkovich in the Toronto Star:

Whether it's Buffalo or Carolina taking on the Oilers, there's a good chance this series could score the lowest prime-time ratings in U.S. television history. That dubious distinction belongs to the XFL, which once brought a 1.6 prime-time rating to NBC.

Since the network is averaging but 1.1 for its Saturday afternoon playoff games this year, the possibility of a record certainly exists. NBC boss Dick Ebersol could top himself as the purveyor of America's least-watched show.

The reasons for that possibility are legion.

First, Carolina and Buffalo are among the smallest markets in the United States, so even strong local interest won't boost ratings.

Second, most Americans couldn't find Edmonton on a map, and many would have trouble finding Canada.

Third, NHL ratings in the U.S. have been in free fall since 2002 and the current TV configuration is doing nothing to prevent that from turning into a death spiral.

The decision to put games on little-watched OLN, while enriching the NHL's treasury, has done little to stir interest.

Several Canadians travelling in the U.S. last week told me they couldn't find the NHL on television because hotels didn't carry OLN and sports bars refused to show anything but baseball and basketball.

That's why NBC's last playoff broadcast on May 20 was beaten by the likes of beach volleyball and poker.

Today the same column points out that the stanley Cup got no mention from ESPN's The Sports Reporters on the weekend. I watched that show. All they did was babble on and on about basketball.Edited by: Matra1

 

[Don Wassall]

I didn't get to watchit but I see that Rod Brind'Amour scored thewinning goalin Game 1 with 31 seconds left. He had the game winner in Game 7 against Buffalo too.


Although he's not an elitescorer, Brind'Amour is one of those hockey players that everyone respects who's a fan of the sport. Always gives total effort and has excellent leadership qualities. He reminds me of Ron Francis, anotherterrific leader by example who was also an all-time scoring great.

 

[joshinva]

Awesome freakin' game! Hockey is so much better than basketball it's sickening.Hoping for 7!

 

[sunshine]

That was a classic game but the reserve goalie of the Oilers made a bone head play. I think the Oilers are in trouble without goalie Roleson who is out for the series. There are some studs on both teams.

 

[joshinva]

What Matra1 wrote is depressing. Indeed. Especially with all the crap that "the NBA is BACK!" NHL with horrible ratings, the NBA picking up some. Man this sucks.

Please go 7!

 

[Matra1]

Game 1 was only watched by 660,000 on OLN in the US - over 3 million on the CBC in Canada. It's a shame because it was a first rate game. Part of the problem is that Carolina v Edmonton is not exactly a headline contest the way NY Rangers v Detroit would be.

 

[Don Wassall]

Glad to see Edmonton win a very exciting and well played Game 3, but overall I think Carolina was the better team and could easily have won the game. The Hurricaneshave an advantage in goalies and are strong everywhere else. It's stating the obvious but the Oilers absolutely have to win Game 4 or the series will probably end in five games.

 

[joshinva]

3 mill in Canada watched? Any idea how that rates among shows up there? Is it American Idol category? How does the NBA rate up there?

Game three was indeed a good game. man, I forgot how intense Edmonton fans were. Made watching the Dallas Mavericks fans seem like they were underwater.

Anyone see when they were singing the Canadian Anthem, and even the US? That was incredible.

Praying for 7!

 

[Lance Alworth]

Poker sucks. i saw something on EmptyV covering that stupid psuedo sport. How in the hell did something as trivial and boring as poker become the latest fad. it truly is mind boggling. Hockey > Poker

 

[Don Wassall]

NBC televised Game 3 and is airing Game 4 right now. I don't know how sports fans can watch hockey and not enjoy the speed, skill and toughness integral to it but that's just me I guess. Actually, I expect to see a story in the mediathat the games were the lowest rated shows in history. . .

 

[Matra1]

End of the 2nd period and another great game - 2-1 Carolina.

I get one eastern and one west coast network affiliate. I just noticed that the Seattle NBC is not showing the hockey. Instead they seem to be showing reruns of sitcoms and Dateline. I don't know how common it is for a local affiliate to not show what's on the main network but if many affiliates are opting out it will obviously drag down the total number of viewers.

 

[joshinva]

Anyword on the ratings for game 4? To be honest, I am surprised my NBC affiliate shows the game. We're in Rural Virginia, can't be a lot of hockey fans here. But they showed it, thank God.

Pulling for Edmonton tonight. Carolina simply looks better though. Like to see the home team win the cup anyhow.

 

[Matra1]

It was reported in the LA Times that I Love Lucy (reruns obviously) beat the hockey in the LA market on Saturday night! Nationwide it got a supposedly respectable 1.7 nationally (1.9 million viewers) and on Monday a 2.4 rating (2.6 million viewers). In the Raleigh area it's getting big time ratings.

http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/450377.html

Anyway, another great game on Wednesday night. Surely those who watched will want to tune in again on Saturday.


Edited by: Matra1

 

[joshinva]

Those LA numbers don't surprise me in the least. THey can't even keep an NFL team, so I am not worried about them. However, I am VERY please to see the ratings Nationwide. a 2.4 nationwide is fanstastic! If I am not mistaken, I believe the NBA gets a 4.1 or something.

Think about this, we've got a Canadian team, a small market Canadian team at that, vs. Raliegh NC, which has NO major league sports. It was only in the last 10-15 yrs that there was ANY major league teams in the whole region outside of Atlanta.

This is also the first year after a strike that wiped out a whole year of hockey. Neither team has any marketable superstars and yet, we pulled a 2.4. in my mind that is incredible. If this thing goes 7, man, that would be a huge step in getting back in the mainstream.

Thanks for the updates on the numbers. Keep them up, please

 

[C Darwin]

How stoked are Oiler fans? Smyth's goal just set the crowd on
fire! I know I'll be one of the many hundreds of Americans
watching game seven (on Canadian TV).

 

[joshinva]

Can't Wait for tonight. Let's see an OT game. I have never seen an OT game decide a championship, at least that I can think of. I am just glad NBC has the guts to put on the NHL. If the NHL continues on the momentum from this year, ESPN will rue the day. Simple fact is the NHL is now much better positioned for long term growht. Many of the teams are profitable, the aciton is much better and they're playing to a full house almost every night.

You heard it hear first, with this style of game and when the big market teams come back to civilization, the NHL will be trendy again.

Let's go OT!

 

[joshinva]

any word on tv ratings?

 

[sunshine]

Down about 8% from two years ago. And it was real low back then so nothing to get excited about ratings wise.

 

[Bear-Arms]

Very entertaining! Way better than last year--

I joke, but it was a really good series.Edited by: Bear-Arms

 

[joshinva]

nothing to get excited about...yet. I am holding out that the game is much, much stronger than just two years ago, which I am very surprised by. And that the core fan, i.e. us, are motivated. All it will take is a couple big name teams, playing fast aggresive hockey to notch it up.

The NHL completely blew it after the 94 Cup, with the strike, the Devils trap, 4 straight Cup sweeps, but now I think we could have another chance. Next year is crucial. Need big market teams to step up. Blackhawks? Bruins?

 

[white is right]

Chicago is a big market, but not a big hockey market. The old joke is that Chicago has 20,000 hockey fans and they all show up to all the games........

 

[joshinva]

I remember when the Blackhawks made the finals back in the early 90's, I think they played the Canadiens. The intensity was crazy, at least inside the old Chicago stadium.

If the NHL were smart, they'd do what the NBA does, and highlight the intensity of the fans in the rinks. THey'd have a commercial with the Oilers Fans screaming "let's go Oilers!", with the explosion of the crowd when the home team scores an OT goal.
That's how you create the buzz, by making your game seem as if you MUST watch because those other 20,000 people are just delirious with passion. And people are sheep, they follow. They do what everyone else is doing.

NBA does a good job with that promotion. Don't know why the NHL has never focused more on the fans. That is what got me hooked. I will never forget watching a Sabres/Canadiens game back in 1990 or so. The Sabres fans were going crazy, the rink was as loud as a rocket taking off. You literally couldn't turn away because you didn't want to miss anything. Ever since then, I've loved the Stanley Cup playoffs, and now NCAA too. THere is nothing in sports more exciting.

 

[Realgeorge]

Commissioner Bettmann, NWO-extraordinaire, would never permit a network telecast to concentrate on white hockey fans enjoying a game and camaraderie. White hockey fans are by NWO-definition evil racists, and only the lust for some advertising bucks are white hockey games televised at all.

CBC and TSN will occasionally pan the stands to show happy white Canadian fans. Never will happen with an American TV network

 

[son_of_Radovan]

Joshinva said:
"I remember when the Blackhawks made the finals back in the early 90's, I think they played the Canadiens..."

Nope, that was 1992 and the then-mighty Pittsburgh Penguins

swept the Blackhawks.