AudioSavior

It should be a great final! GO Flames GO!


Hogan has been to all the Tampa games and cheering them on. How funny would it be to see Bret at the Calgary games doing the same. Hogan VS Bret lol.

Dr. Giganto

My prediction:

This will be the lowest-rated Stanley Cup finals ever, especially since it coincides with two good NBA conference finals series

AudioSavior

Well the ratings in Canada will be off the chain. I never really cared if Americans watched hockey or how hockey does there.

Erin

Monk's First Lady

Agreed Ida! Go Flames indeed.

The NBA bores the hell out of me.

Danny Diamond

Founder/Admin

You should, without the American support the NHL would crumble quite quickly.

AudioSavior

And without Canadian players, there would be no American Hockey. 8)

We don't need American ratings what so ever nor do we use them or your sponsors.

American support? WTF does that mean. Your statement is so freaking typical. American support, give me a break. They are in it to make money and for the love of the game not some stupid support.

You obviously have no clue how well produced or supported Canadian Hockey is here on TV. Not to mention if it wasn't for American hockey, Canada would have a lot more teams then it does right now.

DMW

Simon is right. The NHL is absolutely dependant on the American market right now for survival. The fact that Americans are caring less and less about hockey is the primary reason the league seems to be on the verge of collapse, or at least pending a major overhaul that's going to consist of some contractions.

That's not to say that Canada couldn't sustain the NHL on it's own, but it would have to be at least half the size it is now. As much as you guys love hockey, the Canadian market just isn't big enough to support a league with this many teams that have players that are being paid as much as they are.

Finally, there would still be American hockey without Canadian players. The quality surely wouldn't be as high, but it's silly to think the league couldn't exist without them.

IRALB

You never used to talk about hockey prior to the playoffs.

AudioSavior

I was being sarcastic about the Canadian players in response to America "supporting" anything. Hockey needs both America and Canada and they both do equal parts to keep it alive.


My whole point was about what Mister D said about the ratings. Hockey is not half as watched in America as it is in Canada. I doubt the ratings are ever very high there seeing how it always is the same time as the NBA's playoffs. The ratings in Canada will be higher then ever seeing how a Canadian team is in the Stanley Cup.

Freak

Ida, the NHL is doing miserably right now, which can be directly attributed to nobody in America giving a flying f*ck about hockey anymore. There are about six cities in the States that the NHL needs to desparately get out of, preferably by straight-up contraction, because they're losing money by the second. Look at San Jose, it was reported today that the Sharks LOST 6-7 million dollars this year, despite making it to the conference finals AND cutting 10 million in payroll... that's nuts.

Having Calgary in the finals is gonna shoot Canadian ratings for hockey through the roof however. Having a team like Tampa in there should help as well, as they're both exciting and led by a handful of Canadian players.