PowerPlayGoal.com – Hockey From A Different Angle

Since Halloween is just around the corner and is commonly associated with curses, superstitions and stuff, I felt it quite suitable to bring up a popular topic along those lines: curses and superstitions in hockey!

Now I won’t lecture anyone on the more famous curses such as the Curse of 1940, which saw the New York Rangers suffer one of the longest Stanley Cup droughts in NHL history, lasting for 54 years until 1994. However, I will bring up a more recently noticed curse and another one which may seem more fitting for Halloween (despite it happening during the 1975 Stanley Cup Final).

One particular curse I am referring to is what some call the “President’s Trophy Curse”. Basically, there is a belief that when a team wins the President’s Trophy (which is awarded to the team with the best overall record in the NHL, immediately giving that team home ice advantage throughout the playoffs), then there is a chance of that team becoming cursed. The belief came about because since the trophy was introduced in 1985, it has been awarded 23 times: most teams that win this trophy end up being defeated early in the playoffs. Two have made it to the Stanley Cup Final and lost, and only seven have gone all the way to win the Cup, with an example being the 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings, who also happen to be the team that has won the President’s Trophy six times, the most by any team.

Some of you may be familiar with an event that occurred during the aforementioned 1975 Stanley Cup Final, in which the Philadelphia Flyers faced the Buffalo Sabres. Because of unusual heat in Buffalo in May, a heavy fog had appeared inside the arena and the teams were forced to play under that condition, and they, as well as the on ice officials and the puck were invisible to the fans. At one point, a bat had appeared seemingly out of nowhere flying across the rink, and it was killed by Sabres centre James Lorentz, who spotted it, raised his stick and swatted it (in doing so he earned the nickname ‘Batman’). Some Sabres fans considered this to be an “Evil Omen”, and although Buffalo won the game in OT, the Philadelphia Flyers were the team that would win the series 4-2 and win the Cup.

Hope you had an interesting read, and Happy Halloween!

Here is the final part of the Aftermath series for this year, which will cover the Pacific Division.

Anaheim Ducks

Final standings: 47W, 27L, 8OTL, 102 points, 2^nd Pacific, 4^th Western Conference, 5^th NHL

The Anaheim Ducks entered this season as the defending Stanley Cup Champions. They lost star players Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne to semi-retirement and signed Todd Burtuzzi and Mathieu Schneider as temporary replacements. They also started the season in London, England for a two game series against the Los Angeles Kings, and afterwards returned to the US for a three game road trip where they lost two games and another in OT, before going back to Anaheim for their home opener against the Boston Bruins. The Ducks had a rough start in October, possibly something to do with their trip across the Atlantic, going 3-6-2, and their performance improved afterwards. Scott Niedermayer finally joined the Ducks roster in December (and almost immediately afterwards became one of four Ducks to represent the Western Conference at the All-Star game) and Teemu Selanne signed a one year contract with them near the end of January. The Ducks made the playoffs for the third straight season, but were up against a Division rival that they had trouble against during the regular season, the Dallas Stars, and lost in six games, bringing their defence of the Cup to an end.

Dallas Stars

Final standings: 45W, 30L, 7OTL, 97 points, 3^rd Pacific, 5^th Western Conference, 8^th NHL

The Dallas Stars this year were notable for replacing their mainly green home jersey with a mainly black, college-style one, almost completely eliminating green from the colour scheme. During the regular season, they played fairly good hockey during the first three months of the season, and then slightly worse in January, going 5-7-1. They then had an excellent record in February, losing just two out of 14 games, and then performed much worse in March, going 2-7-3. They later made the playoffs, and in the first round were up against Division rivals and defending Stanley Cup Champions the Anaheim Ducks: the Stars defeated the Ducks in six games, allowing them to make it past the first round for the first time in four seasons. In the second round, they played against another Division rival, the San Jose Sharks, and also beat them in six games. Game 6 of that series went in quadruple OT, and set a record for the 8^th longest game in NHL history. Dallas made it to the Western Conference finals, were they lost to eventual Stanley Cup Champions the Detroit Red Wings in six games.

Los Angeles Kings

Final standings: 32W, 43L, 7OTL, 71 points, 5^th Pacific, 15^th Western Conference, 29^th NHL

Changes for the Los Angeles Kings for this year included their new RBK EDGE jerseys, which simply removed the bottom stripe, and they replaced their goal horn, a foghorn, with a train horn. The Kings began the year by going on a brief exhibition trip in Europe, beating EC Red Bull 6-7 and Farjestads BK Karlstad 4-3 before going to London, England to play two games against Southern California rivals and defending Stanley Cup Champions the Anaheim Ducks, where they both lost and won a game each, 4-1. Afterwards, the Kings played poorly for the rest of the year, with their only good months being October, where they went 6-7-0, and January, where they went 6-5-0. For the fifth straight season, the Kings failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Phoenix Coyotes

Final standings: 38W, 37L, 7OTL, 83 points, 4^th Pacific, 12^th Western Conference, 23^rd NHL

The Phoenix Coyotes this year celebrated their franchise’s 35^th season, although it was their 28^th in the NHL, and 10^th as the Phoenix Coyotes (even though they had the patches on their jerseys last season…). The Coyotes had a fairly “evened-out” season, as shown by their overall record. While it was poor, they still won the majority of their games… well, only just. Their best month was in January when they went 9-4-1, and their worst month was March, when they went 4-9-1. The Coyotes missed the playoffs for the 5^th straight season, and for the second straight season, the Coyotes were last in revenue, losing $30 million this season.

San Jose Sharks

Final standings: 49W, 23L, 10OTL, 108 points, 1^st Pacific, 2^nd Western Conference, 2^nd NHL

The San Jose Sharks, in order to fit in with the new RBK EDGE uniform system, made a couple of changes to their identity. Firstly, they had a new set of logos designed for them, including an updated version of their original logo (both the old and new were designed by the same person), and also switched to a slightly different shade of teal, and replaced the grey in the colour scheme with orange. Their jerseys are now also of a more traditional style. The Sharks entered the season as a favourite pick by many to win the Stanley Cup, which their overall record does reflect on. While San Jose did have an impressive overall record, their best month was March, when they were almost unstoppable, going 13-0-2. In a game on February 9^th against the Nashville Predators, the Sharks won 4-3, giving head coach Ron Wilson his 500^th win, making him the 11^th coach in NHL history to win 500 games. After a very good season, the Sharks went on to win their third Pacific Division championship in franchise history, and made the playoffs for the fourth straight season. In the first round, they defeated the Calgary Flames in seven games, but in the second round they lost to Division rivals the Dallas Stars in six.

That’s pretty much it for the Aftermath this year. Next time, I’ll try to finish it faster…

For the final three parts of the Aftermath series, the Western Conference will be covered, starting with the Central Division.

Chicago Blackhawks

Final standings: 40W, 34L, 8OTL, 88 points, 3^rd Central, 10^th Western Conference, 20^th NHL

The Chicago Blackhawks began the season mourning the loss of long-time owner Bill Wirtz, who died on September 26^th, 2007; he was succeeded by his younger son, Rocky Wirtz, who has since sought to make big, positive changes to the team. His statement was reflected by the fact that the Hawks had their first winning season since 2001-02, winning nine more games than in 2006-07, and losing eight less. They also made a big improvement in the overall league standings, by jumping up from 26^th last season to 20^th this year. However, the Blackhawks once again were unable to make the playoffs for the fifth straight season, but the future is looking brighter for this franchise.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Final standings: 34W, 36L, 12OTL, 80 points, 4^th Central, 13^th Western Conference, 25^th NHL

The 2007-08 campaign for the Columbus Blue Jackets saw them attempt to make the playoffs for the first time in team history (and fail). Columbus also made a change in management with a new General Manager, Scott Howson, replacing Doug MacLean. The Jackets had a fairly good start in October, going 7-3-1, but afterwards the team’s usual habit of suffering from a bad season began to kick in. What didn’t help was that the team’s number one goalie Pascal LeClaire was injured in March, and the team lost the majority of their final 16 games, going 4-9-3, and thus they missed the playoffs once again. A positive thing for the team to look back on is that their mostly better play resulted in them having the most successful season record in franchise history, earning at least 80 points for the first time.

Detroit Red Wings

Final standings: 54W, 21L, 7OTL, 115 points, 1^st Central, 1^st Western Conference, 1^st NHL

After making it only as far as the Conference Finals last year, the Detroit Red Wings came right back and went all the way, defeating Nashville, Colorado and Dallas in the first three rounds and then winning in the Stanley Cup Final in six games against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, making it the second time the Wings have won the Cup this decade. The Red Wings also won the Presidents’ Trophy for the sixth time: their Cup championship made it the seventh time that a team has won the Stanley Cup after winning the Presidents’ Trophy, a rare occurrence considering that the trophy has been around for 22 years, and some hockey fans consider it to be cursed. Not much else can be said about Detroit for this year, although the only bad time of the year, which was particularly bad, happened in February, when the Wings went into an eleven game slump, in which they went 1-7-3.

Nashville Predators

Final standings: 41W, 32L, 9OTL, 91 points, 2^nd Central, 8^th Western Conference, 17^th NHL

The 2007-08 Nashville Predators season began with a new owner. After Jim Balsillie failed in his attempt to buy the franchise from Craig Leipold, and instead the team was sold to a group led by local businessman David Freeman. The team had a bad start in October when after their first two games they went into a six game losing streak. They did better in November, and then went on another slump in December, when they lost 9 out of 15 games. They played fairly good hockey for the rest of the season, and beat out Edmonton, Chicago and Vancouver in clinching the number 8 spot in the West. Naturally, as the number 8 seed, they went into the first round as the underdogs, and lost to division rivals the Detroit Red Wings in six games.

St. Louis Blues

Final standings: 33W, 36L, 13OTL, 79 points, 5^th Central, 14^th Western Conference, 27^th NHL

The St. Louis Blues started off by introducing their new mascot, Louie, a blue bear with sunglasses. He was named following a ‘name the mascot’ contest that the team held. The Blues performed fairly well early on in the season, but after November they suddenly went downhill as they lost the majority of their games for the rest of the season. They failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third straight season, and had a worse season than in 2006-07. Despite all this, the team saw a massive increase in attendance, filling approximately 92% of their capacity, whereas last year they only filled about 59%.

Coming up next in part 5 will be the Northwest Division.