Post by Thor on May 12, 2004 11:55:08 GMT -5
I will probably get spanked for raising questions about the sacred grounds of NHL and SC, but for the benefit of understanding each other here it goes. 
Some discussions at the IHWC boards have brought an old puzzle of mine to mind: The different hockey seasons in North America and Europe. Why does the post-season Stanley Cup stretch all the way into June? Who benefits from hosting, playing or watching games of ice hockey in the middle of hot summer wheather (not taking into account Florida and Southern California all year round
)?
Why not move the NHL season one month forward? To a start in early September just as the rest of the hockey world? With the probable 10-game shortening of the NHL season that could mean a post-season end in late April.
One answer is that it would overlap with the baseball playoffs. But since the Baseball World Series does not end until early November, it already overlaps with NHL hockey.
So what is actually the reason why the North American hockey calendar is one month behind the European? Is it tradition? In that case, wouldn't it be better to have tradition more closely follow the seasons of the year?
Hopefully some of our Canadian and American memebers will provide a perspective, because I realize it is probably deep in the culture. It is an issue that divides the hockey world, so it might be good to start understanding one another on this point.
Some discussions at the IHWC boards have brought an old puzzle of mine to mind: The different hockey seasons in North America and Europe. Why does the post-season Stanley Cup stretch all the way into June? Who benefits from hosting, playing or watching games of ice hockey in the middle of hot summer wheather (not taking into account Florida and Southern California all year round
)?Why not move the NHL season one month forward? To a start in early September just as the rest of the hockey world? With the probable 10-game shortening of the NHL season that could mean a post-season end in late April.
One answer is that it would overlap with the baseball playoffs. But since the Baseball World Series does not end until early November, it already overlaps with NHL hockey.
So what is actually the reason why the North American hockey calendar is one month behind the European? Is it tradition? In that case, wouldn't it be better to have tradition more closely follow the seasons of the year?
Hopefully some of our Canadian and American memebers will provide a perspective, because I realize it is probably deep in the culture. It is an issue that divides the hockey world, so it might be good to start understanding one another on this point.
