You now must choose: NBA or NHL Playoffs in Detroit

Last night the Detroit Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars to win the Eastern Conference Finals and advance to the NHL Finals. Also, last night, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the New Orleans Hornets to advance to the NBA’s Western Conference Finals.

I was considering the double dip for this weekend. The drive from Chicago to Detroit is about 4.5 hours (290 miles) and the flights are under $200 round trip.

The Pistons were scheduled to host the Celtics in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals this Sunday, May 25. Knowing that last year’s NHL Finals Game 1 in Anaheim was scheduled for Memorial Day, I figured the NHL would schedule something similar.

Since both NHL Conference Finals ended earlier than expected, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals is now scheduled for Saturday, May 24 and Game 2 is scheduled for Memorial Day which does not make a difference for my plans. It would have still worked out to attend the Pistons game Sunday night and the Red Wings game Monday night.

However, with the Spurs advancing to the Western Conference Finals to play the Lakers, the NBA chose to have the Spurs host the Lakers in Game 3 on Sunday night and moved the Celtics / Pistons Game 3 to Saturday night – competing directly with Game 1 of the NHL Finals. The current conflicting playoff schedule is now:

NHL Finals:
Game 1: Penguins at Red Wings: Sat, May 24 at 8:00 pm ET
Game 2: Penguins at Red Wings: Mon, May 26 at 8:00 pm ET

NBA Eastern Conference Finals:
Game 3: Celtics at Pistons: Sat, May 24 at 8:30 pm ET
Game 4: Celtics at Pistons: Mon, May 26 at 8:30 pm ET

Notice something wrong with this schedule – especially if you are a Detroit fan? I understand why the NBA and NHL scheduled the games, but couldn't someone (TV, leagues, anybody) have planned it better. In fact, tickets are still available for all four games. So much for Detroit fans planning a great day of double header playoff sporting events.

Based on my importance of sporting events, I would attend the NHL Finals over the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals. However, instead of making the drive for one game, I will probably stick with my distant 3rd place option of attending Sunday night baseball at US Cellular Field and the Cubs game on Memorial Day – so much for a holiday weekend road trip.

Stanley Cup Playoffs – Round 2

Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs begins tonight. As with the NBA playoffs there are many travel options based on the amount of teams that are still in the playoffs. However, I am not planning to attend any Round 2 games. I could probably make it to Detroit or San Jose (proximity of city and family by city, respectively), but considering it is only the second round and that both teams “should” advance to the next round I will postpone the decision to travel to those cities for a couple of weeks.