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When the Stanley Cup final starts Monday in Anaheim, most of the leading newspapers in the United States will be busy doing something else.
They certainly won't be sending reporters to Canada to cover the games in Ottawa, where connections are difficult and fares expensive.
"It's Disneyland against Parliament," one U.S. sportswriter said about the Senators-Ducks series. "Not only is it impossible to get directly from one place to another, but it takes a great deal of time and money.
"If I'm a sports editor, I say forget about it. I can spend my money on something better."
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That mirrors the view of Newsday sports editor Hank Winnicki, who says the New York Yankees and Mets take priority at this time of year. "There's so much going on in New York that we have to throw everything we have at the big story," he said.
In addition to Newsday, newspapers not attending the Cup final will include the Washington Post, New York Post, Newark Star-Ledger, Dallas Morning News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and St. Petersburg Times. The New York Times won't commit past coverage of Game 1.
Even in the big regional hockey markets they're staying away. The Buffalo News gave it thumbs down. The St. Paul Pioneer Press won't attend. Minneapolis Star Tribune coverage will be limited to blogs filed by its beat writer from the first game to the third.
The two big Chicago dailies, the Tribune and Sun-Times, have been absent from the Stanley Cup final for years. And, in Hockeytown USA, both the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News are taking a pass.
"Once the Red Wings are out, interest wanes," said Ruben Luna, sports editor of the News. "The sports fans feel, 'if my team isn't in, we don't care.' "
In the non-traditional hockey markets, the story is the same. Raleigh's News & Observer is staying home. So is the Tennessean in Nashville, the Atlanta Journal & Constitution, Columbus Dispatch, Arizona Republic and San Jose Mercury News. The Miami Herald will send its beat writer to Games 5, 6 and 7, if they're necessary.
A few days ago, the National Hockey League began contacting beat writers who would not be attending the final. In an attempt to drum up interest and get stories in papers, the league asked reporters if it could assist them during the final series by delivering information through conference calls and other long-distance measures.
Calls to the NHL Thursday were not returned, but, in the past, commissioner Gary Bettman has blamed declining print coverage on the economic problems confronting U.S. newspapers.
Cutbacks in the newsrooms, slashed budgets and layoffs are certainly a big part of the problem. Hockey ranks low on the pecking order. And, if it's between spending money on the World Series or NHL final, the choice is not difficult.
But writers and editors point to other issues, starting with Senators-Ducks, which is a small-market matchup.
"Anaheim and Ottawa just doesn't work for us," said Greg Gallo, sports editor of the New York Post.
Tom Jolly, sports editor of the New York Times, feels interest in the game over the past 10 years has declined. "I think the lockout was the watershed moment," he said. "There was a lack of outrage in the United States about the lockout, and people took stock of that."
But others believe management has used the impact of the lockout, perceived or otherwise, as an excuse to drop hockey or give it minimal coverage.
"Some of it in the United States is sports editor disinterest at specific papers," said Kevin Paul Dupont, a hockey columnist for The Boston Globe. "That's what I hear from my colleagues. Sports editors don't like it and don't understand it. That's some of it."
Unlike 20 years ago, sports editors have ways of measuring interest in the NHL through Internet traffic and national TV ratings, Helene Elliott, a hockey writer for the Los Angeles Times, noted.
"A lot of decisions are based on web traffic," she said "They base their decisions on how many clicks different stories get and different teams get. It's been determined that hockey stories don't get clicked on very much on our website."
Last year, veteran hockey writers were shocked by the low turnout for the final between Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers, another small-market matchup.
Luke DeCock, beat writer for the News & Observer, reported that only eight U.S. newspapers outside North Carolina made the trip to Edmonton.
The visiting contingent to Ottawa this spring won't be much larger. Those accredited for the final include USA Today, The Boston Globe, New York Daily News, the two Philadelphia papers, the Inquirer and Daily News, both Denver newspapers, the Post and Rocky Mountain News, and Los Angeles Times.
In Canada, there may also be fewer newspapers covering the final.
The Sun Media chain will use Ottawa Sun coverage for its newspapers, with the Edmonton Sun's Terry Jones also filing columns. The CanWest chain will rely heavily on Ottawa Citizen coverage.
