http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2003/story?id=1538933 I find it interesting that hockey seems to suffer the same fate soccer does with the mainstream media.
I've noted for years the similarities between coverage of hockey and coverage of soccer. Since the beginning of MLS, soccer has been where hockey was 10 years prior. In '96, soccer got almost no national coverage just like hockey did in the mid-80s. Now, the coverage is starting to increase, just like the NHL's popularity started to take off in the early 90s. One thing hockey fans learned was to develop a thick skin and not freak out everytime some yapping head made some snide comment like "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out." Soccer fans would do well to do the same.