2013: The NHL season that almost wasn't

[Beef03]

All we want is for the Bruins to win the NE division and the Leafs to end up in 5th and Les Canadiens in 4th

That would make a Montreal/Toronto first round match-up, a Canadian wet dream. The two teams haven't met in a playoff round in 34 frigging years. They play each other Saturday on HNIC.

Damien Cox's column:

http://tinyurl.com/cwcmj59

If this happens, there will be no other news in Canada.

"Leafs beat Habs in Game one. In other news, North Korea launches a nuclear attack on the US"

Seriously.

A Canadian wet dream

All we want is for the Bruins to win the NE division and the Leafs to end up in 5th and Les Canadiens in 4th

That would make a Montreal/Toronto first round match-up, a Canadian wet dream. The two teams haven't met in a playoff round in 34 frigging years. They play each other Saturday on HNIC.

Damien Cox's column:

http://tinyurl.com/cwcmj59

If this happens, there will be no other news in Canada.

"Leafs beat Habs in Game one. In other news, North Korea launches a nuclear attack on the US"

Seriously.

Yes, this is exactly what CANADA wants. I guess if Canada is southern Ontario and Quebec.

My thoughts exactly. Would have a hard time turning on the TV if this actually came to fruition.

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

Yes, this is exactly what CANADA wants. I guess if Canada is southern Ontario and Quebec.

There's more Canada than that?

 

[JR]

Beef and JC. You're letting your Western parochialism show.

There are Habs and Leafs fans right across the country.

Vancouver fans are in BC, Calgary/Edmonton fans are in Alberta.

Jets fans are everywhere .

I've never met an actual Ottawa Senators fan. I think they keep them in a secret location and just bring them out for games

Like the Blue Jays, the Leafs are Canada's team. Everyone knows that.

Seriously, guys, the four dailies, the three all sports TV networks and the two sports radio stations--all in The Centre of the Universe ---would have this series hyped up so much you'll want to stab your eyes out. Or leave the country.

 

[HC]

A friend posted this link which is the Panthers feed of a game against Winnipeg. She posted it because it's kind of a funny discussion about Winnipeg but all I kept thinking is "When are these guys going to notice there's a hockey game being played"? It seems an awfully long segue ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=BR5j9fbnnw4

 

[SoCalDude]

Hey, I covered Stanley Cup games at the old Boston Garden where it was hotter inside than it would be at night at Dodger Stadium in the winter.

But wouldn't a temp that high make the ice extremely crappy, no matter how good the ice-making system? Maybe I'm just totally off on this and if I am for some reason I haven't thought of, please let me know. Just doesn't make sense, for a number of reasons.

They can do it, but the ice will be shirt.

The only reason this makes sense for them is from a dollars and sense stand point and all the exposure they would gain. Although I question how much exposure they would gain. Question for the SoCal SJ members, has hockey gained any more exposure since the Kings won the cup?

In terms of ticket sales, hard to tell.
The Kings have sold out all their games for a couple of years. They are getting more regular hits on the sports talk shows and local TV news segments. LAT and LA Daily News cover them like a beat, but no overkill. OC Register uses AP for gamers with little to no off-day coverage.
The Ducks, not so much. The announced attendance is much higher than the number of butts in seats. But they have sold SRO tickets for a few selected games, i.e. Kings and Blackhawks. OCR covers them like a prime beat, including daily off-day stories. Columnists check in frequently. LAT is a semi-regular, LADN and the LANG group have no presence in O.C. so they do very little. Not much TV news or talk radio time for the Ducks.

 

[Beef03]

Hey, I covered Stanley Cup games at the old Boston Garden where it was hotter inside than it would be at night at Dodger Stadium in the winter.

But wouldn't a temp that high make the ice extremely crappy, no matter how good the ice-making system? Maybe I'm just totally off on this and if I am for some reason I haven't thought of, please let me know. Just doesn't make sense, for a number of reasons.

They can do it, but the ice will be shirt.

The only reason this makes sense for them is from a dollars and sense stand point and all the exposure they would gain. Although I question how much exposure they would gain. Question for the SoCal SJ members, has hockey gained any more exposure since the Kings won the cup?

In terms of ticket sales, hard to tell.
The Kings have sold out all their games for a couple of years. They are getting more regular hits on the sports talk shows and local TV news segments. LAT and LA Daily News cover them like a beat, but no overkill. OC Register uses AP for gamers with little to no off-day coverage.
The Ducks, not so much. The announced attendance is much higher than the number of butts in seats. But they have sold SRO tickets for a few selected games, i.e. Kings and Blackhawks. OCR covers them like a prime beat, including daily off-day stories. Columnists check in frequently. LAT is a semi-regular, LADN and the LANG group have no presence in O.C. so they do very little. Not much TV news or talk radio time for the Ducks.

Both have won the cup in the last six years, where do they sit in the SoCal sports pecking order? Certainly behind the Lakers, Dodgers, Angels, NFL, NCAA Football, would either sit higher than the Clippers or NCAA hoops? Are they above the MLS teams?

My point being, from a pro sports stand point, you cannot generate any better sustained publicity than a successful championship run. Forcing a contrived gimmicky game that is not going to be a true representation of the sport on any level down people's throats may have a quick boost, but will largely be forgotten when the next big thing rolls around, especially in SoCal, where I'm guessing people don't really associate hockey with playing on frozen ponds in 70 degree weather on New Year's Day. The nostalgic connection will not be there. But they'll sell some tickets, some jerseys and t-shirts and get a couple of weeks of exposure and risk devestating injuries to their high priced stars like Getzlaf, Perry, Richards, Kopitar and Doughty because of wretched ice conditions -- and in turn the fortune of their collective seasons -- to do it.

Putting a Winter Classic in Dodgers Stadium is a terrible idea on all levels.

 

[Beef03]

Seriously, guys, the four dailies, the three all sports TV networks and the two sports radio stations--all in The Centre of the Universe ---would have this series hyped up so much you'll want to stab your eyes out. Or leave the country.

Believe me, the stabbing of my eyes is under serious consideration if this happens. And yes, there are Leafs and Habs fans everywhere, but I would venture to say there is a much stronger anti-East sentiment out West that overrides that fandom. The West will be plenty sick of it all by the time they are both eliminated by the end of second round (If they meet in the first round, one of them have to win, right?).

 

[Armchair_QB]

A friend posted this link which is the Panthers feed of a game against Winnipeg. She posted it because it's kind of a funny discussion about Winnipeg but all I kept thinking is "When are these guys going to notice there's a hockey game being played"? It seems an awfully long segue ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=BR5j9fbnnw4

Given that it was a 7-2 game and the Panthers were losing, that's a pretty good job of filling air time.

 

[Mark2010]

The bad thing about a Leafs-Canadiens playoff series is someone has to win. The good thing is someone has to lose.

Their fans are unsufferable.

 

[Beef03]

A friend posted this link which is the Panthers feed of a game against Winnipeg. She posted it because it's kind of a funny discussion about Winnipeg but all I kept thinking is "When are these guys going to notice there's a hockey game being played"? It seems an awfully long segue ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=BR5j9fbnnw4

Given that it was a 7-2 game and the Panthers were losing, that's a pretty good job of filling air time.

That was very entertaining. Guess I gotta go to Winnipeg if I want a good slurpee.

 

[JR]

The bad thing about a Leafs-Canadiens playoff series is someone has to win. The good thing is someone has to lose.

Their fans are unsufferable.

Maybe, but not as pathetically whiny as Sens, Canucks or Penguins fans

Ottawa wins the overall prize because the fans have learned from their string of owners who whined about everything.

 

[JC]

The bad thing about a Leafs-Canadiens playoff series is someone has to win. The good thing is someone has to lose.

Their fans are unsufferable.

Maybe, but not as pathetically whiny as Sens, Canucks or Penguins fans

Ottawa wins the overall prize because the fans have learned from their string of owners who whined about everything.

Who would know, leafs have been irrelevant for years. You only hate fans of teams that actually make the playoffs, the others are treated with apathy.