jmd@rduxb.UUCP (Joseph M. Dakes, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, Pa.) (05/06/85)
Well, I watched my team, the Philadelphia Flyers, go down to Quebec last night in overtime. Actually I only saw the overtime period but I had to wonder why Quebec has the home ice advantage. What the hell is the NHL regular season for? A team finishes with the best record in the league and they don't even get home ice advantage in the conference finals. Do they rotate home ice between division winners each year? It just doesn't jive. Should the Flyers beat Quebec (I believe they will bounce back) who would get the home ice advantage for the Stanley Cup finals? Does it matter who wins the Edmonton-Chicago series? What gives? I think the NHL should reorganize their playoff format because it makes the regular season seem like a joke. Joseph M. Dakes AT&T Bell Laboratories Reading, PA rduxb!jmd
jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (05/09/85)
> Well, I watched my team, the Philadelphia Flyers, go down to Quebec last > night in overtime. Actually I only saw the overtime period but I had to > wonder why Quebec has the home ice advantage. What the hell is the NHL > regular season for? A team finishes with the best record in the league > and they don't even get home ice advantage in the conference finals. Do > they rotate home ice between division winners each year? It just doesn't > jive. Should the Flyers beat Quebec (I believe they will bounce back) who > would get the home ice advantage for the Stanley Cup finals? Does it matter > who wins the Edmonton-Chicago series? What gives? I think the NHL should > reorganize their playoff format because it makes the regular season seem > like a joke. The rule regarding home ice advantage is that in the conference championship series, it goes to the team from the better division, and in the Stanley Cup final it goes to the team from the better conference. In the regular season, the Smythe division had the best record, followed by the Adams, Patrick, and Norris in that order. So, the Smythe division Oilers have home ice advantage against the Norris division Hawks, and the Adams division Nordiques have the home ice advantage over the Patrick division Flyers. However, fear not Flyer fans, the winner of the Philadelphia-Quebec series will have home ice advantage against the winner of the Edmonton-Chicago series (even if it's Edmonton vs. Quebec) because the Wales Conference had a better record than the Campbell Conference. If I remember correctly, they gave the advantage to the team with the best record a couple of years ago. (Last year was the first year of the current system.) At the time though, the Smythe division was the worst division in the league, and several people complained that the Oilers didn't deserve home ice advantage in the finals because, even though they had the best record in the league, they got it by playing about 75% of their games against under .500 teams, and they wouldn't have gotten first overall in a better division. Although it seems unfair to penalise a team for the ineptness of the other teams in its division, the new system attempts to reward the teams that, solely because they had the misfortune of being in a tougher division rather than because of a lower placing in the standings, have had to defeat better teams to get to the conference finals. However, it does make the individual individual team's regular season record almost totally meaningless, and that's something that needs changing. -- Jeff Richardson, DCIEM, Toronto (416) 635-2073 {linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd}!utcsrgv!dciem!jeff {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!dciem!jeff