Small market success stories are nice, but they don't capture much attention in the United States.

Small market success stories are nice, but they don't capture much attention in the United States.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- If it takes awhile to get into the spirit of these Stanley Cup finals, don't blame it all on the NHL lockout or a pair of unlikely contenders.
Muggy weather and Muppets are culprits, too.
On the eve of the NHL championship opener Sunday, the Edmonton Oilers were adjusting to the weather down South, where temperatures in the upper 80s felt more like a day at the beach than a skate on a frozen pond.
"We just flew in, so we don't really have a feel of the atmosphere here," said Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish, whose team sought an extra day of refuge in New York during an extended layoff before heading North Carolina Sunday.
Home ice displacement
The Carolina Hurricanes' road to the finals, meanwhile, took a detour on Sesame Street. A Muppet-themed ice show at its home arena -- the site of Game 1 tonight -- forced Carolina to shift practice to the training rink.
Detroit, Denver or Philadelphia this is definitely not.
"It's a little bit of a different venue here than maybe what is the norm in the Stanley Cup finals," MacTavish said.
Different is what the NHL wanted when it fought for a new deal with players. Owners demanded a salary cap to ensure that 30 teams could not only survive financially but also have a realistic chance to play for the Stanley Cup.
After a yearlong lockout, two small-market teams are the only ones standing as was the case two years ago when Tampa Bay edged Calgary in Game 7.
"You can't judge it yet," Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford said. "You have to wait until three years from now. Edmonton and Carolina are in the finals this year, but there is a very fine line from winning and losing this year. There's really good teams that missed the playoffs."
Oilers comply
The Oilers did their part in taking out the best one that got in: Edmonton squeaked into the playoffs during the final days of the regular season and then eliminated the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings in six games.
Small market success stories are nice, but they don't capture much attention in the United States -- where hockey has fallen even further off the map than before the lockout. Television ratings in the first year of deals with cable partner OLN -- which will show Games 1 and 2 of the best-of-seven series -- and network carrier NBC have been minuscule.
"There's teams that are more popular in this league such as Detroit and Colorado and probably the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers," Rutherford said. "But the fact of the matter is when you get into June, it's basically those two markets that have the most interest whether it's small markets or big markets."
By beating Anaheim in five games, the Oilers have been waiting around for over a week. The layoff will have reached eight days by the time the first puck drops.
Hitting home
"It's really starting to hit home now that we're here," top defenseman Chris Pronger said.
"It's pretty tough when you're at a neutral site.
"Sometimes you forget how hard it was to get here. We kept kind of picking up steam as we went along and went series-to-series. We're just harnessing that and getting that edge back and making sure that we're focused."
The Hurricanes weren't a popular preseason pick. Since their surprising run to the 2002 championship round, Carolina hadn't even made it back to the playoffs.
In his first full season behind the bench, coach Peter Laviolette got his message across quickly. The Hurricanes jumped out to a 14-3-1 mark and established that they were for real.
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