The Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup is the trophy won by the NHL team who wins the whole playoff series. At the end of the regular season, the 8 best teams (2 from each conference) move on to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where they play in a best-of-7 series to see who advances to the next round. Once a team wins 4 games against their opponent, they move on.

Some teams only need 4 games to move on, which is known as a sweep. Others battle it out until the seventh game. The Stanley Cup is the most anticipated part of the season. From October to April each team plays 82 games in hopes of having the best record to advance into the playoffs.

The Stanley Cup originates from Lord Stanley of Preston who, at the time, “planned to present to the ‘the champion hockey team in the Dominion of Canada’. It was to be a reminder of his time as Canada’s governor general”(Roarke)1. 125 years later, the Stanley Cup still exists and 31 teams battle each year for victory.

Follow this link here to see the list of every NHL team who has won the Stanley Cup since 1918!

Credit: Bruins-Flickr

Hall of Fame-Flickr

1 https://www.nhl.com/news/stanley-cup-has-incredible-125-years-of-history/c-287633638

History of the NHL

The NHL was founded on November 26, 1917. It consisted of 5 teams but it was not until 1942 when the “Original 6 Era” began that the NHL became a worldwide phenomenon. The Original 6 were the Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs, who played each other time and time again until in 1967 when the NHL had an expansion of 6 more teams. As time goes on, temas are added, removed, and relocated. Check out this link for a full timeline of the NHL. Without the start of the original 6, the NHL would not be what it is today.

Sources: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-birth-of-the-national-hockey-league-feature/
https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-expansion-history/c-281005106

Conferences, Divisions, and Teams

There are 2 conferences in the National Hockey League. They are the Eastern and Western Conferences. These are then divided further into divisions. The 2 divisions of the Eastern Conference are the Atlantic and Metropolitan. The 2 divisions of the Western Conference are the Central and Pacific. Then, all of the teams are categorized under these divisions.
The teams in the Atlantic Division are the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottowa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightening, and Toronto Maple Leafs.
The teams in the Metropolitan Division are the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals.
The teams in the Central Division are the Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Starts, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St, Louis Blues, and Winnipeg Jets.
The teams in the Pacific Division are the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks, and Las Vegas Golden Knights.

About

This blog is all about hockey. I dive into how the league is divided, stats on my favorite team which is the Boston Bruins, and much more. Explore my blog to see more!

Hello World

My name is Nina McCarthy and I created this blog to talk about my favorite sport, which is hockey. I have been playing since I was 3 years old and cannot imagine my life without it. I was captain of my high school hockey team and am not shy to defend that girls can play hockey too!