Are the Playoffs Over Yet?

The National Post’s Mark Spector has a column today about how the playoffs are way too long, and how interest in them erodes as the longer they last.

“As great as playoff hockey can be when you close the blinds and hunker down in front of the TV, the league’s fundamental problem crops up every year at this time, as the NHL playoffs accomplish what no other sport’s postseason has done before: Interest declines as the games become more important,” Spector writes.

Even in Canada, you’d be hard pressed to find a hockey fan rabid about the prospects of an Ottawa-Anaheim Stanley Cup final – outside of Ottawa. The problem is the warm weather has arrived and people are thinking about patios, beer, BBQs, camping, baseball, boating, cottages, etc. as opposed to hockey. That said, one of the best hockey experiences I’ve ever had was watching the Stanley Cup final between Calgary and Carolina on a large screen in the middle of forest while camping with 200 other people at an Ultimate tournament. This guy with an RV hooked up a projector and hung a huge sheet between two trees. Looking around, it struck me this was something the Americans could have never imagined in their wildest dreams. :)