Are they going to move the final round ahead of schedule?

[Fire0nIce228 1]

Basic question, if Detroit wins tonight, are they going to advance the timetable for the final round? I'm trying to buy tickets and plane flights to Pittsburgh but I don't want to book a flight and have them change the dates and I'm also concerned about timetable for having tickets deliverd from stubhub or one of those sites if they move everything ahead of schedule.

Has anyone heard for certain what they are going to do for the final round?

[GekigangarIII 0]

I have heard that if detroit wins tonight they are moving the round up to this Saturday with game 2 being on Sunday. Back to Back games 1 and 2 and moving it up a full week. Which is complete and utter bullshit.

Hmmmm... one team (if they advance) is missing two of it's biggest stars... wonder who would benefit from this?

[DarkStar50 679]

May 27, 2009, 12:39 pm

The Morning Skate: The Final Sked, Injured Wings and a Pusher Man

By Stu Hackel

Ordinarily, if you were a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, you’d want the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks to extend themselves as long as possible, tire themselves out, so that when the winner of the Western Conference series is finally decided, they’ll be banged up and spent and your team will be fresh, healed and ready to go.

But if the Red Wings don’t dispose of the Blackhawks tonight, the Stanley Cup final will not begin until June 5. That would be a 10-day layoff for a team that’s in the groove right now — almost guaranteeing they’ll be well out of the groove by then. And so will the fans.

If the Wings do win tonight, however, the final will start this Saturday or Sunday.

This potential nightmare has been triggered by NBC’s desire to have Games 1 and 2 on consecutive weekend nights. They didn’t want Games 3 and 4 during the week because they are strongly invested in “The Tonight Show” debut of that vroom-vroom party starter, Conan O’Brien. Rather than chance those games going into OT and ruin poor Conan’s start, and also because the network assumes it can build a stronger prime-time audience than the Stanley Cup final to carry over into O’Brien’s show, NBC shuffled those games onto Versus. So if not this Saturday-Sunday, we’re stuck for a week.

Drew Sharp of The Detroit Free Press has some pointed words for the league and Gary Bettman, who must be hoping the Wings bail them out of their scheduling quandary.

The N.H.L. is on the cusp of a great matchup, Sharp argues, the best since 1994. It could lift the league back into the national sports dialogue, but if this layoff takes place and the Stanley Cup final begins a week from Friday, it will be “insane” — especially because the N.H.L. has a chance to get a few games in prior to the scheduled start of the N.B.A.’s final next Thursday.

“Why would the N.H.L. consciously place itself in a position to get lost amid the N.B.A. exhaust?” Shark asks.

“Bettman, in some ways, is at the mercy of NBC, its broadcast partner,” Sharp writes. “But isn’t it time that he and the rest of the league grow a backbone and tell all who care to listen that the N.H.L. is never stronger than when it more vigorously advocates its marketing strengths?

“Bettman should make it clear that there will be no more than a four-day layoff before the opening face-off of Game 1, regardless of when the Eastern and Western finals end.”

This could be a great final and a fitting climax to what has been, at least through the first two rounds, a memorable Stanley Cup playoff. But who knows where or when it will start?

[yrhmblnr8r 69]

Have the game tickets left at the Stubhub "Last Minute Services" or emailed to your account.

http://www.stubhub.com/help-top-questions-...getting-tickets

As far as plane tickets go, cross your fingers for a last minute getaway fare.

[Hockeyman11385 1]

The drive isn't TOO far. From Wilmington to Pittsburgh is about 10 hours. If there are two people going you could split the driving and make it more manageable. I would think it would be cheaper than trying to buy a last minute flight.

[Hockeyman11385 1]

Well it's official. Game 1 Saturday and Game 2 Sunday. I would say that really sucks for the Wings since they clearly have the most injuries.

[Fire0nIce228 1]

Well that throwsa big wrench into my plans to go to Pittsburgh for a game or two... I am glad they moved it it ahead though, waiting 10 days for the next round would have been bad.

[KryptOng 9]

I prefer the early start date, waiting 10 days is clearly MORE ridiculous. And injuries are part of the game, players/teams just have to deal with it.

[Rustpot 1]

So the league is getting rid of the usual day wait between games because NBC doesn't want a 7:30 game to potentially run to 11:30? And the league agreed since giving any more time to Detroit potentially makes them stronger.

I swear to God if they go back to calling Holmstrom for being run into as goaltender interference and let Crosby get away with running Osgood I am going to freak.

[Fire0nIce228 1]

So the league is getting rid of the usual day wait between games because NBC doesn't want a 7:30 game to potentially run to 11:30? And the league agreed since giving any more time to Detroit potentially makes them stronger.

Are you on crack or that much of a hater? The back to back games schedule for 1 and 2 of the finals has been setup well before the Pens/Wings series was finalized; and ten days off between series isn't good for the players, the fans, or anyone really.

[hockeysc23 0]

So the league is getting rid of the usual day wait between games because NBC doesn't want a 7:30 game to potentially run to 11:30? And the league agreed since giving any more time to Detroit potentially makes them stronger.

Are you on crack or that much of a hater? The back to back games schedule for 1 and 2 of the finals has been setup well before the Pens/Wings series was finalized; and ten days off between series isn't good for the players, the fans, or anyone really.

Come on you cannot realistically expect a fan of whose team is down 2 of their best injured players to be happy the league moved up the games, threw in a back to back early on when its pretty obvious it plays to 1 team's advantage.

[Law Goalie 147]

Obviously, the Wings should have thrown Game 5.

[rebel96 0]

If Hawks Wings had turned out the same but instead Carolina had swept Pittsburgh, they'd have moved the finals up as well. This is more about the league pandering to a big TV network and Bettman not having the balls to give the people who make sure he has a job (the players) a little bit of time to recover.

I say watch the god damn hockey and be glad we're not in another lockout year!!

[Fire0nIce228 1]

My point is the back to back has been scheduled that way for weeks... It's not an anti Detroit conspiracy

[rebel96 0]

Exactly. I completely agree.

EDIT: The only thing that would get me to believe that there was even the possibility of any conspiracy would be if Detorit wins and Crosby won the Conn Smythe. He has had an amazing run so far and, undoubtedly in my mind, the best individual/teammate/leader in this years playoffs but for him to win the CS after the Pens losing would just be wrong.

[Fire0nIce228 1]

Why? If he's been the best all playoffs and it continues against Detroit why not give it to him? Jiggy got it...

[hockeysc23 0]

http://www.freep.com/article/20090529/COL0...at+s+your+hurry

Which now begins Saturday night -- a fast three days after the Red Wings won the Western Conference finals -- with Games 1 and 2 a mere 24 hours apart, thus wiping out much of the home-ice advantage the Wings fought so hard to earn during the regular season.

Or at least that's the news as I write this. Until a few days ago, we all thought the finals were starting June 5. Then, suddenly, a new schedule -- as if they're arranging a play date during flu season.

Imagine if the NFL worked this way?

"You going to the Super Bowl?"

"Not sure. When is it?"

"Maybe Sunday. Maybe Wednesday."

"I dunno. Who else is going?"

Hey, this isn't a pizza party, guys. It's the Stanley Cup finals. It's the biggest stage for the greatest sport in the world -- at least to hockey lovers.

But Bettman, desperate for league credibility, will do whatever the networks want -- even though they would laugh him out of the office if he actually asked for, you know, money in exchange one of the greatest traditions in the history of sports.

As Wings forward Marian Hossa said, "You get the Stanley Cup finals once a year. Why do you rush it? What if the first game goes to three or four overtimes? Then we have to start again the next night? I don't think that's smart."

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

If game one goes to triple overtime, then the NHL is going to have some serious egg on it's face for this scheduling

[rebel96 0]

NHL with egg on its face.....and perhaps Bettman with an octopus in the face. It'd only cost Al Sobotka 10K.

EDIT: and perhaps prison charges.

[Rustpot 1]

So the league is getting rid of the usual day wait between games because NBC doesn't want a 7:30 game to potentially run to 11:30? And the league agreed since giving any more time to Detroit potentially makes them stronger.

Are you on crack or that much of a hater? The back to back games schedule for 1 and 2 of the finals has been setup well before the Pens/Wings series was finalized; and ten days off between series isn't good for the players, the fans, or anyone really.

For the record, I wasn't complaining about the games starting the 30th instead of the 5th. I was complaining that having two back to back games obviously hinders the Wings more since their talent pool isn't as fresh, they haven't had as much time since the last series to recover, are missing a few key players, etc. I would be fine with a Sat/Mon split. How many games in the playoffs are back to back? How many games to players see in the season back to back? 6/82 maybe? So now they decide to let the players be put into a position where Game 2 might be decided based on who gets more sleep and the better breakfast so they can pull back to back games.

I'm not suggesting an anti-Wings conspiracy, I'm suggesting that the buffoons running the NHL would LOVE to have Crosby win the cup. Take that for what it's worth, but for the amount I hear about him during NBC and VS games that HE'S NOT PLAYING IN you'd think the next coming of Gretzky is putting up 6 points every game and is a shoe in for athlete of the decade.

The even worse part is every game for the series is slated at 8pm except Sunday which is TBD. Weekday/workday games for the two home teams are going to run well past 10pm. They don't even know when the game that is to be played in two days is even going to start! NHL.com says, right now at 5:55pm EST, "at Detroit, TBD-Evening".

Why the hell can't they even do a 4pm Saturday, 7pm Sunday? It's not like West Coast fans have an inability to be up before 1pm to watch Saturday hockey. It's ridiculous.