NHL Playoffs Thread [03/04]

[sahyder1]

Hockey playoff ratings are up on ESPN and ESPN2. I'd much rather see a Tampa/Calgary final over the snoozefest we get with the Devils in there.

[Riceman 4K]

I got a question for you guys. I don't really watch hockey that much and I was wondering is Calgary that good? I know that they are a #6 seed but no one seems to be making a big deal about that. Do they have a strong team but just stumbled through the regular season (say if the Lakers got the #6 seed but they are still a damn good team, no one would want to play them)?

[sahyder1]

at the start of the year very few people had them going to the playoffs. The goalie wasn't the opening day starter......and they still have injuries on their roster. The've overachieved.....but they've done so beating 3 division winners along the way. They aren't what you would call an elite team.......consider them like the Marlins.

[DMN in the House]

And why would you bring up the past to "rewind the scoreboard". In that case I could say, "let's go back and rewind that scoreboard to the '94 finals, Rangers 3 'Nucks 2," but the Rangers still suck now.

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I could be all like '1993 BITCH!' but then I would be forced to remember that we lost.

At least we had Gretzky though, when he was still good.

[Clawson]

WHAT RHYMES WITH GAGNE!!~?

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It actually means Win in French.

And as for Team USA, people thought Toronto was an old team?

Oh and syco, trust me if Fraser didn't ignore the Gretzky high stick you wouldn't have been in the finals.

Edited May 21, 2004 by Clawson

[DMN in the House]

But still

anyway... um... MIRACLE ON MANCHESTER~!

*runs*

[Ananas]

It actually means Win in French.

And as for Team USA, people thought Toronto was an old team?

Oh and syco, trust me if Fraser didn't ignore the Gretzky high stick you wouldn't have been in the finals.

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Team USA is not going to be a major player in the World Cup, especially if some of the Europeans take a vested interest in winning. Robert Esche is not the goalie you want representing you, but I guess they got to take what they can get in that sense. The States might finish 4th or 5th, but I don't see them medalling. This tournament will come down to Russia, Sweden and Canada as it should.

[sahyder1]

DiPietro will be starting in net for the US.

[Clawson]

DiPietro will be starting in net for the US.

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Hehehe....remember when New York basically traded Luongo for him.

[Laice07]

GO Flames GO. Got to go with the remaining Canadian team, but Calgary better bring all they got, because Philly and Tampa will work them hard. EIther way this Stanley Cup final will better then last years Borefest. I wish the Leafs were still in it. Oh well...It's funny, you would almost think that I would be use to Leafs losing, but every time they get knocked out, its feels unbearably new, the saddness, the emotion. I moved on, watching both Conference final games, and I wonder how well Tampa is going to overcome the overtime loss in Game 6. The Flyers have the momentum.

[Guest Terminus]

Momentum means nothing in this series as it changes period to period.

Either way the final game should be a battle and I hope the Flyers can pull it out. You said you're used to Toronto losing every year, but it feals unbearably new, that's the way I feel every year when the Flyers lose. We must win the cup this year!

[Clawson]

I'm saying Calgary in 6 over Tampa.

[sahyder1]

I'm saying Calgary in 6 over Tampa.

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Ditto. Should be a really good series. All 7 games have just 1 day off in between them right?

[Slimg]

I love hockey.  But a final with Calgary, sadly no matter how good they are, will not draw in the US

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Why? I never understood why Tampa Bay/Calgary won't appeal to American fans like Philly/Calgary will. Tampa Bay is in the US right?

I don't watch hockey but I followed the playoffs and watched games when ever but never watched a full game of it. Well I haven't watched a full pro sports game other than college basketball in the past 5 years. Although hockey has had me pulled in this year because it looks like fun.

[naiwf]

Why? I never understood why Tampa Bay/Calgary won't appeal to American fans like Philly/Calgary will. Tampa Bay is in the US right?

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Philly is a huge TV market, Tampa Bay is not. In a league that can't rely on a one game finale like say the NFL can with a Super Bowl, you need at least one team that is universally loved/hated and/or a team from a big market. The only market in the U.S. that might really tune in to watch this series is Tampa Bay, everyone else would have to be a true diehard. Canadian fans don't count for American ratings, so they don't really matter in that sense. Even if every household in Canada watched, that wouldn't benefit ESPN in the least. So, the only chance they have for a big rating is if the series goes 7, because then it becomes just a one night investment from a fan point of view.

Edited May 23, 2004 by naiwf

[Guest Hit Man 3120]

Tampa is a very good team and play a good brand of hockey but have no real "superstars." Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St.Louis are budding stars. Brad Richards and Frederick Modin are there but they aren't players people in non hockey markets care about. In those places, they know Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Martin Brodeur, Mike Modano etc.

Philly would have been a better draw just because more people know "Philadelphia Flyers." They may not know Robert Esche or Simon Gagne from the guy pumping gas down the street but they know the Flyers. They'll know "Broadstreet Bullies" and Jeremy Roenick

As for the series, I say Tampa in 6. They've just been playing lights out good hockey sans Game 6 against Philly. They have a good mix of young guys such as Lecavalier and vetereans like Dave "I have to be about 75" Andreychuck. Seriously, that guy must have played before goalies wore helmets rights? I remember back in 1993 when the Leafs played the Wings in the old Campbell Conference Division Semifinals. (that takes me back, before Bettman ruined the league) They had Wendell Clark and Felix Potvin and Andreychuck was OLD then. Leafs won in 7 on a goal in OT. Damn you Tim Cheveldae

Any whoo, besides Jerome Iginila and maybe Conroy and Gelinas, who will score for Calgary? Kipprusoff is going to need to steal atleast two games and they've been off for so long, I think his hotness may have cooled down

Raise your hand if anyone thought Tampa and Calgary would be playing for the Stanley Cup? But Tampa winning is a good omen as they are owned by Bill Davidson who also owns the Pistons

And so, I do not suck.

[Styk]

I'm thinking Calgary in 6 (though its been said)... (I'm from Western Canada... and well... I like the Flames better than the Lightning...) and the time off will help the Flames more than it will hurt them... (gives them some time to get rid of small nagging injuries...)

The Flames will have to win at home though...

[SeanDMan]

A bunch of crap I don't agree with

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Well,if you had justified your opinion from the start, no one would have beef with you. You bring up a lot of good points. But hockey wise, this is going to be lightning fast, dangerous agressive hockey with two excellent goaltenders, and if ESPN wants money from hockey, they need to SELL THIS AND SELL IT NOW. This is the kind of series that you can watch and be left upwards of 50 times with a gaping jaw and awe and incredulity that you from the day you were born were not a hockey fan. There is history with both clubs, both have had storied runs, and even though I wanted Philly in the final, and yes they are a RABID hockey market, what hockey needs is NEW markets. NEW fans. Not income from the casual ones, they need to sell this game as something that YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO WATCH EVERY MOTHERFUCKING GAME IN THE LEAGUE, and if the hockey can match up, which in this series it can, then they can create a new fanbase.

And, as an aside, no one here likes the Pistons. They suck.

[CKN]

Well,if you had justified your opinion from the start, no one would have beef with you. You bring up a lot of good points. But hockey wise, this is going to be lightning fast, dangerous agressive hockey with two excellent goaltenders, and if ESPN wants money from hockey, they need to SELL THIS AND SELL IT NOW. This is the kind of series that you can watch and be left upwards of 50 times with a gaping jaw and awe and incredulity that you from the day you were born were not a hockey fan. There is history with both clubs, both have had storied runs, and even though I wanted Philly in the final, and yes they are a RABID hockey market, what hockey needs is NEW markets. NEW fans. Not income from the casual ones, they need to sell this game as something that YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO WATCH EVERY MOTHERFUCKING GAME IN THE LEAGUE, and if the hockey can match up, which in this series it can, then they can create a new fanbase.

And, as an aside, no one here likes the Pistons. They suck.

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Yeah they have to advertise this a heck of a lot. I for one think this might be the best series of games in hockey ever. They have to sell this just like the WWE would for a crappy smackdown.

[naiwf]

They don't need to sell the games, they need to sell the PLAYERS. Ask most casual hockey fans who the best players in the league are and they'd say "Gretzky & Super Mario", that's how out of touch the common man is with the NHL. If NASCAR can sell a "sport" where nothing happens but left turns, surely the NHL can market a game tougher than American football.

Until Bettman and his lackeys create some superstars that EVERYONE knows about, the NHL will be an afterthought in the American sports collective conscience. I guarantee you 95% of sports fans would walk right by Iginla or St. Louis and not know they'd just passed two of the NHL's brightest young stars. There's no other sport that you would see that happen in.

Edited May 23, 2004 by naiwf