The NHL Conference Finals are set to begin this weekend. One could argue that the four best teams in the league are the four teams that still remain. It should be exciting with the puck dropping for both series this weekend, except for one big variable.
The game times.
Inexcusably the Tampa Bay/New York series will start at 1 PM on Saturday and Chicago Anaheim will start at 3 PM on Sunday. It is late spring. Why are we being subjected to afternoon games? I can only speak for myself but I like enjoying the nice weather the few months of the year it is available and that is if I don't have things I'm already scheduled to do. I can't imagine I am the only person with family events, birthday parties, and sporting events for the kids.
I can understand afternoon games when there is a full slate of NHL teams active but that clearly isn't the case.
Also making these game times look even more ridiculous is the fact it is conflicting with the World Hockey Championships.
In the past I haven't been very interested in the World Hockey Championships but so far a lot of those games have been more interesting to watch from an entertainment standpoint than the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Great players are actually finding themselves with time and space to make skilled plays.
The semifinals for the WHC will conflict with Saturday's Eastern Conference Final and the Gold Medal is set to conflict with the Western Conference Final. Seems foolish for the NHL to purposely schedule their games at the same time considering some of the NHL's biggest stars will be in action over in the Czech Republic. Why not market those players on a global stage and have the playoff games at night? It is better for the NHL, the WHC, and most importantly the fans who want to watch both.
It could have been a tremendous hockey weekend, but the NHL doesn't always make things easy for its fans. This atrocious weekend schedule is just the latest example.
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