With the first weekend of NHL playoff games upon us and the Philadelphia Flyers, is the league scheduling the games so everyone has a chance to watch?
With the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs underway, there’s plenty of hockey to watch. Whether it’s live, on your DVR, or if you have scramble over to NHL.TV to watch a game that happened two days ago if you’re one of those compulsive types, there’s always something there.
It is, of course, that time of year for hockey fans to latch onto as many intriguing matchups as they can. Unfortunately, if you really wanted to catch a Western Conference playoff game, be prepared for some long nights and bloodshot eyes in the morning.
The first round schedule doesn’t really do fans out west any favors. Especially the intriguing Norris (unfortunately named “Central”) Division playoffs where most of the games are starting at 9:30 EST and 8:30 CST.
These are the markets that have Minnesota, Chicago, St. Louis and Dallas. While Nashville is playing in the Pacific Division playoffs, they too have one scheduled home game with a time of 9:30. Many of those contain big hockey fan bases and some are areas the league wants to build into more consistent markets.
But how can the NHL do that when the games are on so late?
The times are important because the playoffs are when lifelong fans are made. When parents sit beside their children and watch hallmark postseason moments which create future fans.
That kid grows up and remembers the time he and his dad watched Rod Brind’Amour score twice in Game 5 of the 1997 Eastern Conference Finals to send the Philadelphia Flyers to their first Stanley Cup Final in a decade. When that fan grows up, he might take his kid to see Claude Giroux knock Sidney Crosby on his rear and score in the opening minute of Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
Yet, when the games start so late how will the kids ever get a chance to live the excitement of playoff hockey when bedtime’s in 15 minutes? The NHL cannot build fans scheduling the games out west like they currently do.
However, there’s one key time when the kiddies can watch games because they can start during the day: the weekend. Unfortunately, the NHL continues to utilize the weekends poorly, especially in this year’s first round.
Look at tomorrow’s slate of games: New York Rangers at Pittsburgh Penguins at 3, Philadelphia Flyers at Washington Capitals at 7, Minnesota at Dallas at 8, San Jose at Los Angeles at 10:30.
If NBC and the NHL want optimum viewers why are two of those games clashing on a Saturday? They easily could have the Rangers and Penguins, who are two days in between games, play at noon. Then have the Flyers and Capitals play at three and Minnesota-Dallas start at 7 p.m.
That way, everyone gets a chance to watch these games. The hockey nuts who want to watch every contest. Parents and kids who’d prefer to not stay up until 2 a.m. in case there’s multiple overtimes. Everyone gets a jumpstart on a grand day of hockey.
The argument against noon playoff games are they don’t give fans enough time to get up and haul themselves to the parking lot so they can drink before the game. Or, more responsibly, travel if they are fans of the away squad. Others may argue that a game so early messes up the players’ schedules and doesn’t give the fans the best quality of hockey.
That’s hogwash. They play 1 p.m. playoff games in football, don’t they? How do the fans manage to get to the stadiums that early then? Do football fans hook coffee to their veins on gameday? If football fans can do it, hockey fans can too. It gives your wee one a chance to actually see the game in its entirety.
As far as the quality goes, they play noon and 12:30 games all the time in the regular season. It’s practically every weekend that, at least, two NHL teams play in an early afternoon game ranging from noon to 1 p.m.
There were two games this past weekend that were essentially playoff tilts with Boston getting throttled by the Ottawa Senators and the Detroit Red Wings dropping a close one to the Rangers. So you can’t tell me there can’t be noon, 12:30, 1 p.m. playoff games because they matter more. That 12:30 contest mattered to the Bruins, though you’d think it mattered more to Ottawa based on the result.
Perhaps, it’s because of ratings. Primetime games will always have a better viewership than early afternoon games. Though that doesn’t take into account how the USA-Canada 2014 Olympic semifinal was NBCSN’s highest-rated hockey game ever. Yes, it was an international game which always attracts a larger audience, but it took place at noon on a Friday. You know, when people are normally working.
Hopefully, in time, the NHL and NBC will give hockey fans the quadruple headers on the weekends to help get as many fans — young and old — to the games as possible and they’ll make their weeknight central tilts a little earlier too.
After all, the playoffs may be where NHL legends are crafted, but it’s also where hockey diehards are born.