I was watching college basketball today, and my son and I were chatting. I noted that we are getting to the end of the season, so now teams are playing a lot of tournaments. Next week, they are starting the national championship tournament. This week, they are playing conference tournaments. My son asked a fantastic question.
"What's a conference?"
In college basketball, that's pretty fuzzy these days. but something the NHL still seems to care about, perhaps to a fault. No more has that been evident than this season, particularly when looking at the Utah Mammoth and Minnesota Wild.
Before we dig into those, let's first talk about what is good about conferences. Familiarity breeds contempt. The rivalry factor makes the regular season a little bit spicier, rather than rote. Cross conference games are interesting, playing teams you don't get to see regularly. Of course there is also the cost containment of having the conferences geographically centered. And then, the post season enflames all those things, emphasizing rivalry, allowing for fresher teams with reduced travel in the first couple of rounds.
This season, it looks like the playoff structure will cause results that appear unfaCir. I'm a Wild fan, the team most feel is getting slighted, but I don't feel that way. The Stanley Cup, one way or another, is likely to involve a path through Colorado or Dallas, maybe both. After that, allegedly, it should be a piece of cake. But really, if winning the Cup necessarily would involve beating those teams, why does it matter WHEN you play them?
This year is a one year fluke. Anything can happen when you reach the Playoff. Utah might have a clearer path to run deeper towards the Championship. but they haven't improved their odds of winning the Cup. I'm looking forward to an intense series with the Stars, maybe more than one with a team like the Ducks. Bring it on.
No comments:
Post a Comment