Stanley Cup Sabotage?

Viewers on both sides of the border had some issues with the Stanley Cup Final schedule over the weekend. While Canadians were deprived of the beloved Saturday night timeslot with games instead on Friday and Sunday nights, Americans saw their Sunday evening play host to both the NHL and NBA Championships. Given where hockey ranks in the pecking order of the average U.S. sports fan, it’s fair to guess that most selected the basketball court over the hockey rink. And the NHL knows this, because it purposely scheduled an additional off-day between Sunday’s game and Wednesday’s contest so as not to go head-to-head with the NBA Finals on the Tuesday. So if the league doesn’t want to compete with basketball on Tuesday, why in the world would it want to do so on Sunday? Is the NHL purposely trying to sabotage its own product?

Instead of scheduling games for Friday and Sunday night, with an extra night off before the next game on Wednesday, it would have made much more sense to have games on Saturday and Monday nights, before continuing with the series as planned on the Wednesday. The latter plan would have given Canadians the beloved Saturday night timeslot and ensured the league that it would not have to go up against the NBA Finals (and lose, no doubt) on Sunday. Whereas game four ran the risk of seeing the Stanley Cup being awarded on U.S. cable, robbing the league of maximum network exposure for the marquee moment, game five could have seen the Stanley Cup get hoisted while the majority of U.S. eyeballs were glued to basketball.

It’s a good thing for the league that the Flyers are being a lot more competitive than a lot of people thought going into the series. Whatever happens now, the Stanley Cup will be awarded unopposed from a sports perspective on network television in both Canada and the United States. Despite its efforts to the contrary, it looks like the NHL will get the maximum exposure for its marquee moment.

TONIGHT'S GAMES:
No games scheduled