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© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Panthers reach Stanley Cup Final, after topping Hurricanes 4-3
By TIM REYNOLDS SUNRISE, Fla©2023 GPlusMedia Inc.
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MilesTeg
Sweep! Unbelievable. The Canes are no joke. Big time players showing up in the playoffs for the Panthers. I think the trade for Tkachuk worked out for them. LOL.
EFD
There is something "Weird" when a team from Florida beats a team from North Carolina in an Ice Hockey League.
Americans (in comparison to the other 3 sports leagues) don't even watch or particularly care for hockey (again, Northern cold weather cities are the exception).
Let's shed a tear for the many a Canadian who lives and breathes hockey only to be suffer it being played in Florida, Vegas, Phoenix and Carolina.
MilesTeg
Keep your tissue. Doesn't bother me one bit and can't understand why it bothers some so much. 80% of NHL teams are based in the US. The odds are against Canadian teams solely based on numbers. The US is a much bigger market as it is after all a business and only a third of teams are below the Mason Dixon Line. Almost 50% of NHL players are Canadians so it's still a sport dominated by Canadians. However, the world is catching up, in particular Europe. The bigger the NHL gets, the better it'll be.
K3PO
Stop the tears and Canadian teams, get even!
jforce
Can't beat the trap and can't beat Bobrovsky on top of that. Well deserved!
Japan Violet
Florida Panthers, the lowest ranked team to make the playoffs this year and knocked out the Bruins (a team with the most regular season wins and points in NHL history), the almost swept Toronto, the swept the Hurricanes. Pretty amazing.
The Florida Panthers has 15 Canadian players on its 25 man roster. Boston and Carolina have some of the fewest Canadian Players.
Las Vegas Golden Knights has the most Canadian players.
So if it is Panthers vs Golden Knights then it will be two teams of mostly Canadian players in the Stanley Cup final. I guess those Canadian cities should get more Canadian players if they want to ever win again.
Eastman
harro
may we see at least once news from Ice Hockey worldcup as well?
just google for it...
ballsahoy
Congrats to Florida who snuck into the playoffs by one point, then proceeded to oust three out of the top 4 teams.
sunfunbun
It won't grow if the current cap and lack of promotion to showcase its best players by having a playoff that promotes parity with a different set of moving the goal post rules on penalties and decisions cause the league to be filtered into a depth league of which few new viewers want to watch, and less star players. There are not superstar type 'wow' plays in this season's NHL conference finals
The NHL should have a chance to be on an NBA level, but Bettman's NHL caters to local markets instead of national and international attraction, which makes the NHL a league that is limited in its scope and viewership.
Most certainly, as the NBA's Lakers/Nuggets drew its highest rating for a conference final, the NHL's Stanley Cup Final will be limited viewing, and two conference finals of boring hockey with two likely sweeps shows just how poor the league is trending.
MilesTeg
The NHL just added two new teams in the last 5 years; Vegas and Seattle. It isn't growing?
Local markets? Well of course. The NBA, NFL, and MLB expand the same way; through local markets. It isn't feasible to have an international league in any of those sports. All those games in Europe the NFL plays isn't to have an NFL team in Europe right now. It's to expand popularity, maybe get more foreign players, then eventually expand overseas but that's a long ways away for any league. The NFL Europe league didn't fare too well did it.
Every game in the Panthers / Canes series was decided by one goal and three games went into OT. It was exciting even if it was a sweep.
I saw plenty of superstar plays in the playoffs this year. Did you even watch any games?
lostrune2
Panthers - last team to make the playoffs, first team to make the finals
The world championship is happening right now and even being reported by JT
sunfunbun
Only the die hard fans watch, and yes I do watch the games. As an Avs fan, I know what showcased stars in a final look like. Neutral zone hockey and garbage goals are the norm, this year. There are no end to end MacKinnon rushes. No Cale Makar break your ankles plays. No Kucherov magic. No McDavid miracles.
Are you actually trying to tell us that the NHL playoffs this season are going to attract casual viewers to the game? NO, it isn't. The ratings are terrible and going to get worse for the finals than it has been for quite awhile.
the NHL stumbled to its smallest conference final audience in nine years.
Thursday’s Golden Knights-Stars NHL Western Conference Final Game 3 averaged 790,000 viewers on NBCSN, marking the least-watched conference final game in nine years
sunfunbun
In contrast:
The four-game Nuggets-Lakers NBA Western Conference Finals averaged 7.9 million viewers across ESPN and ABC, making it the most-watched conference final since 2018
As a diehard hockey fan, this makes me cringe. A full zero difference in viewership of the NBA vs. the NHL. If you don't understand how a local market NHL is actually hurting the league by not showcasing its talent, you should. It's very real.
theResident
@Eastman. Yep…but why would anyone care whilst all the best players are in the NHL? If anyone cared, it might actually be on TV..somewhere.
No mention on Sportscenter today.