_margot_

I totally know what you mean. In this country, hockey will always be the 4th team sport (NFL, MLB, NBA...), and rank behind NASCAR, XGames and often the PGA and tennis. Very sad, but the lockout a few years ago certainly didn't help, and neither do their idiotic TV contracts. Ownership is so short-sighted; instead of trying to build a fan base and grow their brand by signing true national, network deals, they take more money and sign with Versus, which not everyone gets. Now they have this Frankenstein monster of a TV presence where they barely show games on NBC and their ratings stink. The one good thing is that their ratings with women under 40 is apparently soaring, which is cool.