After weeks of late night overtime dramatics, the league appears to have decided to let everybody go to sleep for a couple of days. Even if tomorrow afternoon’s Rangers/Capitals game Seven goes into another triple overtime, most of us will still be able to make Happy Hour down at the Pub.
I’m not sure when Gary Bettman or whoever else decided to add the occasional 2 or 3 day hiatus to various series, but I’m not sure it adds to fan anticipation and suspense.
Three of the Conference finalists have been decided, one of whom will have had ten days off before they take the ice for Round Three.
I know that much of the scheduling at this time of year is done for television. But beyond broadcast execs who don’t want to go head-to-head with NBA playoffs or the Season Finale of “Whitney”, I’m not sure who it serves.
Over the last couple of weeks, there have not only been nights without any hockey, there have been several when the only game or games have been on TSN, while CBC re-runs Monarchy videos.
And since CBC execs endlessly remind us of how essential hockey revenue is to the Corporation’s well being, you gotta wonder if all these afternoon games mean they’ll have to bump the George Strombolopolous snooze-fest into Primetime to lower costs.
Oh. They’ve already done that?
At Seven?
So much for the million viewer lead in to eight o’clock shows, huh?
Wouldn’t more people watch Ron MacLean compare the Toronto Maple Leafs to 9/11 Truthers? Oh. That’s coming Saturday…?
Meanwhile, in the Infamous Writers Hockey Pool, most of us are hanging on by our fingernails and a Rangers loss will pretty much thin the herd to a handful of contenders.
I’m already trying to come up with some kind of side bets to ignite enough interest to get us to the Finals and the always popular Props Contest. If anybody has any ideas, add them to the comment thread.
Don’t make me become as desperate for readers as TIME magazine.
I might have to resort to posting cheesy hockey hottie pictures…
Actually, I might go ahead and do that anyway.
Point is – please stay awake. The playoffs will regain their energy. Even though excitement seems to have become anathema to modern television, they always find a way to rise above the medium.
Current standings in the Pool are as follows with John McFetridge rising to top spot.
Round three kicks to life Sunday in the West. There will be much more to talk about on Monday.
