Ducks Close to Winning Stanley Cup...But Does Anybody Care?

Photo courtesy of the CBC.

The Anaheim Ducks are a win away from hoisting the Stanley Cup if they win their next game (Wednesday at Anaheim). While there has been a fair amount of media coverage from ESPN.com and other national sports outlets, there hasn't been a ton of coverage locally. It wasn't until this past weekend that the Los Angeles Times devoted a considerable amount of space to the Ducks. If anything, it shows just how far hockey has fallensince the lockout a year ago. Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup finals were not on a major broadcast network (like Baseball's World Series or Basketball's NBA Finals), but rather on Versus, the channel formerly known as Outdoor Life Network, or OLN. According to a Los Angeles Times article, only 50% of the L.A. market gets Versus. That's not going to help build a fan base, especially here in Southern California. So, here's to hoping the Ducks win the Cup, but I have a feeling there won't be much of a reaction here in SoCal.