Fox Sports' coverage of Thursday's Game Two of the
Sabres-Stars Stanley Cup Final earned a 3.3/6 national
Nielsen rating, giving the net a cumulative two-game average
of a 3.4/7 (THE DAILY). In Dallas, Barry Horn wrote that
after its first two telecasts of the Stanley Cup Finals,
"Fox can exit with its head held high." Horn called the
camera work during the series "superb," adding that "you can
actually follow the puck without that silly blue tail"
(DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/12). In Albany, Pete Dougherty also
gave Fox kudos and wrote that in terms of "strategy, insight
and story-telling," analyst John Davidson "probably is the
best in the business" (Albany TIMES UNION, 6/13). In
Dallas, Tim Cowlishaw wondered why the hockey numbers
weren't better, as the NBA is generally regarded as more
popular than the NHL, "but not by the 5-1 or 6-1 margin that
recent NBA Finals have hammered out over the Stanley Cup
Finals" in TV ratings (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 6/12). In N.Y.,
Sherry Ross wrote that the Stars and Sabres "have played
emotional, intense hockey and nobody outside of these two
cities seems to care much" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/13).
HE'S HAD ENOUGH ALREADY: In Toronto, Damien Cox writes
that the length of the season detracts from the Stanley Cup,
as "the drama has been sucked out of the final playoff
matchup." Cox: "We just want it to be over, but the NHL and
its television partners have insisted on an extra day
between Games 3 and 4" (TORONTO STAR, 6/14).
