Kukla's Korner Hockey
Watching The NHL Playoffs
by Paul on 05/14/12 at 05:18 PM ET
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from Bruce Dowbiggin of the Globe and Mail,
The last time the NHL was riding this high, in the estimation of American public opinion anyway, was during the spring of 1994 when the New York Rangers won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years. The league promptly celebrated its success by locking out its players for the first three months of the next season, thereby squandering almost all of its hard-won momentum.
Fast forward to the present. Ratings for the first two rounds of the NHL playoffs are hitting record levels with four of the top-6 NBC Sports Channel games ever telecast. On a local level, the New York Rangers (playing in the No. 1 media market in the U.S.) have reached the finals in the Eastern Conference, while the Los Angeles Kings (No. 2 media market) are in the Western Conference finals.
Strike up Gary Bettman’s Marching Band ... we’re headed for another lockout.
Much is being made in some corners of the ascension in NHL playoff ratings and the concurrent decline in the NBA’s ratings during its just-completed first round.
Filed in: NHL Media, Hockey Broadcasting, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: nbc
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The NHL’s first round (even round 2) are always more exciting than the NBA’s first round or two.
And there’s a very logical reason for that.
In the NBA, skill always rises to the top and teams can’t rely on odd bounces or pure ‘luck’ to usurp a larger seed.
In the NHL, luck and bounces play more of a part than skill.
So upsets are far more likely in the first 2 rounds of the NHL playoffs - which heightens interest.
By the time the conference finals approach, the game is all but ignored on a national scale.
Posted by Hank1974 on 05/14/12 at 06:10 PM ET