If Avalanche D Ray Bourque "finally gets to raise" the
Stanley Cup, he "might have Tina Turner, ABC and the CBC to
thank for it," according to Ray McNulty of the Boulder DAILY
CAMERA, who notes that a concert by Turner at the Pepsi
Center on Wednesday, along with requests from ABC and the
CBC, has "forced the NHL brass to put together a conference-
finals schedule that should greatly benefit" the team.
McNulty notes Games One and Two are scheduled for Saturday
and Monday, respectively, in Dallas, and "under normal
circumstances," Game Three "would most likely" have been
played Wednesday in Denver. But that puts the game in
conflict with the Turner concert. McNulty notes if Games
One and Two had been scheduled for Friday and Sunday, Games
Three and Four "could've been played Tuesday and Thursday,"
resulting in no conflict with the concert. But ABC "wanted
to televise Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals between"
the Devils and Flyers on Sunday. As a result, the NHL "had
to give the CBC the Avalanche-Stars Game One on Saturday
night." McNulty writes "there's no question" the Avalanche-
Stars series "provides the better story ... and probably the
better hockey. But the Devils-Flyers series provides the
bigger TV markets. And as we all know, it's all about the
ratings." NHL VP/Media Relations Frank Brown said: "All
kinds of permutations and convolutions were done because
everybody's needs are different. There was thought given to
every possible way to do it" (DAILY CAMERA, 5/11).
