Stanley Cup Finals

[89Hen]

Found myself really enjoying the Blues win last night. It's their first trip to the Cup finals since 1970 and first that they actually deserved. They were in the Cup finals their first three years of existence because the NHL put all 6 expansion team in their own conference so one would make the Cup. Dumb idea as the Blues went 0-12 in those finals.

I don't see any way that Craig Berube shouldn't be coach of the year. When he took over in November, the Blues were 30th of 31 teams in the standings. They went 38-19-3 to finish out the regular season.

Sure glad this isn't the NBA where you have to be 1st or 2nd in the conference in the regular season to have a shot at making the finals.

[GannonFan]

Blues - living proof that regular seasons don't matter. Glad we agree on that.

[89Hen]

Blues - living proof that regular seasons don't matter. Glad we agree on that.

OK Mr BCS.

Rather interesting that the teams with the best records in February...

1. Boston
2. St. Louis
4. Carolina
5. San Jose

But I guess you think how a team is playing in November somehow matters.

[GannonFan]

Blues - living proof that regular seasons don't matter. Glad we agree on that.

OK Mr BCS.

Rather interesting that the teams with the best records in February...

1. Boston
2. St. Louis
4. Carolina
5. San Jose

But I guess you think how a team is playing in November somehow matters.

So just to be clear, you're now admitting that NHL hockey prior to February doesn't matter and we shouldn't be watching until then. I agree.

[89Hen]

OK Mr BCS.

Rather interesting that the teams with the best records in February...

1. Boston
2. St. Louis
4. Carolina
5. San Jose

But I guess you think how a team is playing in November somehow matters.

So just to be clear, you're now admitting that NHL hockey prior to February doesn't matter and we shouldn't be watching until then. I agree.

We found Cleets' kryptonite earlier this month, now we've found yours. And for the record, you aint watching anyway, same way I'm not watching NBA.

Regular season doesn't really matter in ANY sport that has playoffs. At least not in the way YOU think it should matter. Ask the 16-0 Patriots how much that mattered. Ask the 116 win Seattle Mariners how much that mattered. The regular season sets the field for the playoffs and gives the fans a chance to go to games. It's actually a little ironic that AFAIK, the NHL is the only one of the sports that awards an actual trophy for regular season "champ". But nobody cares about it.


PS - I thought of one sport that maybe has more meaning to the regular season... Premier League in England. Don't teams get relegated if they finish in the bottom couple places?

[Ivytalk]

Bruins in 5. I was impressed by how they steamrolled Carolina, and Rask is a hot goalie now.

[CitadelGrad]

The Blues had the worst record in the NHL as of January 4th. Binnington became the staring goalie on January 7th.

What's a Rask?

[GannonFan]

So just to be clear, you're now admitting that NHL hockey prior to February doesn't matter and we shouldn't be watching until then. I agree.

We found Cleets' kryptonite earlier this month, now we've found yours. And for the record, you aint watching anyway, same way I'm not watching NBA.

Regular season doesn't really matter in ANY sport that has playoffs. At least not in the way YOU think it should matter. Ask the 16-0 Patriots how much that mattered. Ask the 116 win Seattle Mariners how much that mattered. The regular season sets the field for the playoffs and gives the fans a chance to go to games. It's actually a little ironic that AFAIK, the NHL is the only one of the sports that awards an actual trophy for regular season "champ". But nobody cares about it.


PS - I thought of one sport that maybe has more meaning to the regular season... Premier League in England. Don't teams get relegated if they finish in the bottom couple places?

Well, soccer in England doesn't have playoffs, so the regular season of course matters in the Premier League, the Championship League, and Leagues One and Two, all the leagues that teams get promoted to and demoted from (same holds true for I think most European Soccer leagues). There actually are playoffs in the leagues under the Premier, a 4 team playoff between the teams that finish 3rd through 6th (the top two teams automatically get promoted) to decide the 3rd and final team to move up. Pretty exciting stuff - huge money difference between Premier and Championship.

As for America and where there are playoffs, regular season of course matters in the NFL. It isn't the end all be all, but getting a top two seed (the first week bye and the homefield in the divisional round) is a perk worth playing for and teams do that in the regular season. Same with MLB especially since they added the second wild card team and made that a one game, winner moves on thing. Avoiding the wild card game is certainly something worth playing for. And in the NBA there is a proven home court advantage, especially in the playoffs, so again, the regular season means something. With the even playoff structure and the lack of home ice advantage in the NHL, that's why the NHL regular season is far less meaningful than compared to the major sports.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a- ... ay-hockey/

The NBA and NFL have the biggest regular-season home advantages, improving a team’s chance of winning by 10 and 7 percentage points, respectively. And those benefits grow even larger in the playoffs, ballooning to as high as 14 percentage points for NBA teams. NFL home teams gain almost 5 extra points of win probability in the playoffs — again, after controlling for the fact that better teams tend to get more postseason home games.

...NHL teams do a bit better at home in the regular season (55 percent), they actually see their advantage decrease slightly in the playoffs.

[89Hen]

And in the NBA there is a proven home court advantage, especially in the playoffs, so again, the regular season means something.

The better team has home court in the playoffs, so is this supposed to be a revelation? If anything this only further makes my point. There is less parity and we end up with Golden State in the Finals how many years in a row? No thanks.

[89Hen]

BTW, I wouldn't be that shocked if there was a minuscule difference in NBA having more of a home court advantage. Basketball is a little more of a 3D game which brings in visuals. Like everyone, I love that scene in Hoosiers when they measure the basket and foul line. But in reality, I could see where vision of the basket and surroundings could make a difference. A team gets used to their own visuals.

Ice hockey is more 2D and with the same white ice and glass in every arena, the look isn't that different. I've played hockey at several NHL arenas, and during play you'd never actually know you were in a big arena. It isn't until a stoppage of play or sitting on the bench that you start to look up at the seats.

[Gil Dobie]

There's no crying in hockey, except in Boston.

[UNI88]

BTW, I wouldn't be that shocked if there was a minuscule difference in NBA having more of a home court advantage. Basketball is a little more of a 3D game which brings in visuals. Like everyone, I love that scene in Hoosiers when they measure the basket and foul line. But in reality, I could see where vision of the basket and surroundings could make a difference. A team gets used to their own visuals.

Ice hockey is more 2D and with the same white ice and glass in every arena, the look isn't that different. I've played hockey at several NHL arenas, and during play you'd never actually know you were in a big arena. It isn't until a stoppage of play or sitting on the bench that you start to look up at the seats.

I never thought of the 3D vs 2D perspective but it's very true. Nice insight!

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[Gil Dobie]

BTW, I wouldn't be that shocked if there was a minuscule difference in NBA having more of a home court advantage. Basketball is a little more of a 3D game which brings in visuals. Like everyone, I love that scene in Hoosiers when they measure the basket and foul line. But in reality, I could see where vision of the basket and surroundings could make a difference. A team gets used to their own visuals.

Ice hockey is more 2D and with the same white ice and glass in every arena, the look isn't that different. I've played hockey at several NHL arenas, and during play you'd never actually know you were in a big arena. It isn't until a stoppage of play or sitting on the bench that you start to look up at the seats.

You should have seen some if the gyms we played at in High School. Some didn't have room to stand out of bounds to throw the ball in. Some had balconies that could block your shot from the corner. Others had 3 half lines, one center line, one for going right to left, and one going left to right. Bigger gyms had hundreds of feet of open space behind the basket. The Canadians didn't have the basketball lines as well market as volleyball.

[AshevilleApp]

Expecting Boston to win, but pulling for St. Louis. If the Bruins win, Boston will have the current champion in 3 of the 4 major sports. The only other time one city has had 3 (I think) was Detroit in 1936 (I think). No NBA then though, so it really was the city of champions.

[89Hen]

Expecting Boston to win, but pulling for St. Louis. If the Bruins win, Boston will have the current champion in 3 of the 4 major sports.

+1 I liked it a lot better when the Pats sucked and the Red Sox were the lovable losers.

[SuperHornet]

All I gotta say is:

Thank you, Blues! Anyone who beats the Sharks is good in my book. I HATE the Sharks....

[ALPHAGRIZ1]

Bruins in 5

Rask will be MVP

[89Hen]

All I gotta say is:

Thank you, Blues! Anyone who beats the Sharks is good in my book. I HATE the Sharks....

But they're so majestic.

But they also tear families apart.

[CAA Flagship]

The Missouri Lt. Gov (R) (alumnus) was the keynote speaker at my son's HS graduation last Sunday.

[SuperHornet]

All I gotta say is:

Thank you, Blues! Anyone who beats the Sharks is good in my book. I HATE the Sharks....

But they're so majestic.

But they also tear families apart.

I'm one of those rare NorCal Mighty Ducks fans....

[Chizzang]

We found Cleets' kryptonite earlier this month

Can you remind me what my Kryptonite is..?
I already forgot

[Ivytalk]

Bruins take game 1, 4-2.

[89Hen]

We found Cleets' kryptonite earlier this month

Can you remind me what my Kryptonite is..?
I already forgot

Abortion debate

[Chizzang]

Can you remind me what my Kryptonite is..?
I already forgot

Abortion debate

That's it... Thank you

[Ivytalk]

2-2 going back to Bawstun.