For the record, Edmonton is way more hoser than hillbilly.

I'm curious what the ratings were for this series.

I don't know many people who were following it closely.

Wasn't this the first Cup after the lock out?

I'm pretty sure that the first game of the finals got beat by the College Women's Softball National Championship in the States. I think they did better as the series went along though.


Kinda of a shame because it was apparently a pretty damn good series.

It was a great series. And, I don't think the ratings were that high. At least not here. I had gone to a handful of restaurants in the area on game nights and on the 5 tvs they had at one place, they were all playing the SAME baseball game. At outback I asked them to change one of the tvs and they told me no. Then they conceded and let me watch on some small tv from like 300 feet away that was really there for the people waiting to be seated.

This is why a lot of people I know around here get resentful at the thought of a place like Raleigh bringing home the Stanley Cup. Nobody gives a fuck about hockey down there. On the flight home from Cancun on Air Canada, the goddamn pilot was broadcasting the score of the game and the stewards were all wearing Oilers jerseys. I suppose it's not just a CDN feeling about hockey, more of a northern thing. I don't really understand why they move teams down there, I guess it must make financial sense.

It would have had more of a following in the USA this year if ESPN or Fox Sports would have broadcasted early round games like OLN did. You have to have Digital Cable or satellite to get OLN, and cheap bastards like myself aren't forking out extra money for the NHL Playoffs

While Hockey is definitely a Canadian sport, its success revolves around the USA. Nebraska, a state with 1.5 million people has four minor league teams, including an AHL team for the Calgary Flames. Collegiate Hockey in the U.S. has grown to the point where Southern Colleges are now getting teams, just as Northern Colleges are starting to win at College Baseball. I think people in the Sun Belt states and states like North Carolina are flocking to NHL games because the NBA games aren't what they used to be.

Not exactly true. I went to school in Raleigh and everyone I talk to that still lives there was crazy about the entire Stanley Cup run. Eventhough North Carolina isn't as rabid as Canada when it comes to hockey, there is still a pretty rabid contingent of fans. I even recently heard that the RBC Arena was recently said to be the loudest arena during the playoffs or something along those lines (though I don't have a link).

I guess it's a relative perception. I know a guy who was down in Raleigh on business during one of the home games and he said you would never know this was there was a Stanley Cup final going on there, compared to around these parts. Even though it's a province away, they were just insane for the Oilers around here. I guess if people aren't exposed to it via television or some other medium, then it won't catch on. And who knows why people like and don't like some sports? I think soccer is the most boring fucking sport I've ever seen and yet most of the planet is absolutely enthralled by this World Cup business. There's no accounting for taste, I guess.

I was impressed that the Edmonton arena was SOLD OUT for last night's game. That wouldn't happen here in the states I don't think. Not yet. I do have hope that it will some time though. I think it will catch on.

But I think you have to understand that Hockey is to Canada what Baseball used to be to the States. Although baseball has nowhere near the cultural effect that it used to, it is a fair comparison. It is what I was trying to say in the big hockey thread about why do they have baseball in Montreal, etc. I don't have a problem with it, and I don't think it makes a team less worthy or make me resent a canadian team just because baseball is culturally a United States sport vs a Canadian/International sport. You know what I mean? I think if there is money to make the team last and support the players and the people are interested in it enough to go to games and get excited about it, then by all means let it be there. No reason to get all "I'm an American so you shouldn't have baseball in Canada" over it.

Up, but still very small. NBC & the NHL deserve good ratings. NBC did a better job with a very difficult TV sport than any other network this side of the border has. They announced more regular season dates & more playoff coverage for next season. So at least it's going in the right direction.

Once OLN got some kinks worked out they did a good job too. So much hockey programing for the playoffs it was like the NHL had it's own channel. Just a tragedy only 70 million homes have it, but it's growing (up from 67 million in Oct).

People need to stop expecting hockey to make the inroads basketball, MLB & football have. It's not going to. The American sports media is too ignorant to present it & in defence of them, the sport is tougher to figure out. But as long as the big "R's" rule ESPN... Roids, Rape, Race, Red sox yankees Rivalry, Retards (Mark Cuban, TO) a sport that basically presents a sport & not a whole lot else is gonna get lost.

You couldn't pay me to go to those things. Not when my dad has a 42 inch plasma HD. I bet some markets here could do it though, Detroit for one, NYR & maybe Philly.

On a side note, Staples center packed 20,000 in Sunday for the Korea v France game

I predicted a Carolina win. The fact that I've barely followed hockey this year and had a 50-percent chance of being right regardless does not overshadow my prescience.

I agree with you that NBC's coverage was pretty good but its not like they payed anything for it so its basically just cheap programming for them to run spots for Sunday Night Football during.

But like I said, I thought the coverage was good--One glaring thing missing though is Gary Thorne doing PBP (i actually just read that he has been voted the worst announcer in hockey several times). I dunno about that but I used to really like him and Bill Clemente doing games on ESPN.

One thing I noticed on the NBC coverage, which makes me think even more that the money isn't quite there yet is the fact that EVERY commercial break was just random mixes of the same six commercials. The Heinneken Light, Store family used to mock the reaction of a real family for some new cell phone, a couple car commercials I can't remember the specifics of, and those "witty" mac vs. PC commercials.

I was sooooo tired of those commercials by the end.

Unfortunately, the NHL needs some outrageous character/superstar in the game that can be marketed to the kids. Gimme a goalie with some bling and a porn star wife and give me a uber-commercialized sport. I don't want that to happen. I think I like the fact that it is an overlooked sport. It's like the indie music of professional sports.

On a side note, it was a real life 'Cutting Edge" when I found out that Hedican's wife is Kristi Yamaguchi (sp).

I guess Dany Heatley is out as an endorser for cars and/or beer?

I'm not nearly the hockey fan I was a few years ago when I had a succession of hockey-junkie roomates so I honestly don't even know who is the most marketable player (or for that matter the "best" player) in the league. In the end, I pulled for Carolina because pre-Thrashers I pulled for the Flyers and always liked Rod BrinD'amour. Glad to see him get a Cup. I also like Kaberlet when he was with Atlanta.

Before the Finals I honestly would have guessed that Chris Pronger still played for the Blues. The post lockout mixing of players confused me and I never really got back into the habit of watching games this year.

I think there are a handful of current players that they could do this with. Alexander Ovechkin for one. I just think it is tougher because I don't know how easy it is to woo these guys with endorsements and such. They seem so much more concerned with the game and its traditions than the money they can make with Wheaties and MTV. That could be hope more than a reality, but that's the way it seems.

Depends on the player. Seems that when players demand the spotlight like other athletes, the hockey media can backlash against them (see Roenick). What hockey needs is a very young player to step up & lead his team to a dynasty. I think a great chance was thrown out the window when Pittsburgh won the draft lottery last year instead of runner up Anaheim who has a great young nucleus & is a lot closer to the Cup.