I was rooting for Carolina because of the Howe connection and the fact that, when they were in Hartford, they had one of the coolest logos ever.
I could careless about hockey in general, but I usually try to catch the final game, especially a game seven. I just love watching it when they bring out Lord Stanley's cup and then watch the guys go wild when they finally hoist that heavy thing above their heads.
OLN is soooo bad, everything is 2nd-rate. NHL needs to back out of their deal ASAP. I'd love to watch the NHL on TNT, since TNT I believe has some connections with NBC. ESPN would rather show 3 hours of NFL Live during the offseason rather than a playoff hockey game, IMO.
TNT, in the past, has had a close relationship with CBS... not NBC. ESPN has shown hockey for a looooong time... they're based in a hockey market, they have good hockey talent (Melrose, Levy), and they will broker a deal to get back to the NHL. You can't blame ESPN for taking the year off... they knew ratings would be awful the year after the work stoppage (albeit, they would have been better had they not been on the OLN)... now that the league has some momentum again, tv will follow suit.
