LuckyTony Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 I've been asked when the final is for NHL this year, so I spent the last hour looking on the net and I can't work it out! When is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hf101 Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Welcome to the site.To the best of my knowledge the Schedule isn't released until the Eastern and Western conferences are over. I do know that it has to be over by June 28. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyTony Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 Ah I see, Thank You!so it's the winner of the East and West conferences that determines the 'Final' - or is is 'Playoff'?As soon as the last East or West team wins - is the date announced? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Ah I see, Thank You!so it's the winner of the East and West conferences that determines the 'Final' - or is is 'Playoff'?As soon as the last East or West team wins - is the date announced?Yes. For example, should the winners of the east and west win in, say, five games, the Finals will be moved up and dates set rather than their waiting for a date that was predetermined based on a 7 game series. If Boston were to win tonight or Sunday and Chicaco closes out on Saturday, I think you could probably expect the Finals to start Wednesday 6/12 or Thursday 6/13. If both or either of the semi-finals goes the distance, I think you'd probably see Saturday 6/15 as the first finals game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 By the way, HF101 is correct about the finals needing to be done by June 28, so scrap my previous post. If the semis end this weekend I bet on Tuesday 6/11 for the Finals to start and Thursday 6/13 if someone goes 6 or 7 games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyTony Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 Are these the only teams left? : -KingsBruinsPensHawks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digityman Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Lots of good information here ---> http://www.nhl.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyTony Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 Lots of good information here ---> http://www.nhl.com/Hey Digityman! Thanks for the link :-)NHL site looks super professional and bursting with info - its just that being a complete novice I'm having a hard time understanding what I'm looking at.I've gone to this link: -http://www.nhl.com/ice/stanleycup.htmIs that who is left? : -HawksKingsPensBruins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaGreatGazoo Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 I read somewhere earlier that they Finals start Wed the 12th if both semi-finals are over by Sunday. I can't find the source at the moment... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyTony Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 I was confused by Atlantic, Northeast, Southeast - but now I'm thinking, they make up the Eastern Conference.Likewise - Central, Northwest and Pacific make up the Western Conference.Am I right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Hi Tony,Yep, you got it. Nicely done. They're based loosely on geography, but as some teams have moved and also in the interest of equal numbers of teams in divisions/conferences, some make little sense (Winnepeg would be a good example).Don't spend too much time memorizing what team is in what division because they are realigning things next year. I was going to give you a blow-by-blow description of how the divisions work with the conferences, etc., for playoff seeding, but it all changes this summer so I won't saddle you with information that will die in 3 weeks.Welcome aboard! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyTony Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 Cool! Thanks ruxpin! :-)So, why bother having Conferences and Divisions?Surely a legue will do?http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20122013&type=LEA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 @LuckyTonyYour question will take some explaining, but keep in mind the explanation will be out the window over the summer (the explanation will still apply in most ways but the alignment of the league will be different).First and foremost, the allocating to conferences and divisions is for travel expenses (division teams play each other more often than intra-conference teams and those more than inter-conference teams)So, for example, the five teams currently in the Atlantic Division (Philadelphia Flyers, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and New Jersey Devils,[EDIT: Pittsburgh Penguins, credit @polaris922]) play each other 6 times, they play each of the other conference opponents I think 4 times and play against the other conference roughly once (in some instances twice).So largely for travel. Secondly, it develops better rivalries than playing every team maybe twice.The playoffs are set up by each conference. Each division winner (each conference has three) are seeded 1, 2, and 3 based on overall record (and with tie breakers two involved to detail). The other 5 qualifying teams are "at large" bids from that conference and are again based on overall record. They are then seeded, within each conference, 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5.The truly unique thing is that at the completion of the first round the teams (still within conference) are re-seeded based on overall record so that if, say, the 8th seed sneaks out of the first round it then plays the best remaining team rather than a bracket that would be used in the NCAA basketball tournament. In NCAA, if you win your round you know you're going to play the winner of the other branch of your bracket. In the NHL, you usually need to wait until all of the first round is done to know what the seeding, and therefore opponents, will be in the 2nd round.By the third round, you're left with two teams in each conference that play for the conference championship and the right to go to the Stanley Cup Finals. The re-seeding after the first round is unique to the NHL (I can't think of another example at this moment), but the division/conference set-up is fairly common across hockey, baseball, basketball and football. In all cases, it's due first to geography/travel issues and then "building rivalries" used as the cover story.Just to confuse matters, next year it looks like they're going to FOUR conferences (no divisions) with two west and two east. It will still be 8 teams from the east and 8 teams from the west that go to the playoffs. Each regular season conference winner gets seeded 1 & 2 with the other 6 being at-large based on record.Hope that helps and doesn't make your head hurt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 This page gives you an idea of how the playoffs proceed (to the right is the eastern conference and to the left is the western).Unfortunately, it doesn't really give you information where these teams came from in terms of what division.http://www.nhlplayoffsbracket.com/2013/index.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hf101 Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 @LuckyTonyas per ---TSNBobMcKenzieIf CHI beats LA tomorrow, Cup final starts Wednesday in Chicago. If LA wins tomorrow, Cup final starts next Saturday in either BOS or CHI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 If LA wins tomorrow, Cup final starts next Saturday in either BOS or CHI.Wow, if that's the case, that's going to be a long time for Boston to sit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polaris922 Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 @LuckyTonySo, for example, the five teams currently in the Atlantic Division (Philadelphia Flyers, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and New Jersey Devils) play each other 6 times, they play each of the other conference opponents I think 4 times and play against the ...I know you hate my Penguins but you didn't have to pretend they don't exist!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 I know you hate my Penguins but you didn't have to pretend they don't exist!!That's just funny right there. I was thinking about joking that you need to score to count or some crap like that but, embarrassingly, I just completely forgot to list them. I just added them in an edit (couldn't leave that go). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 THE BRUINS WERE HERE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hf101 Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 @ruxpin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxpin Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 @ruxpinThat's awesome. You win! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyTony Posted June 10, 2013 Author Share Posted June 10, 2013 Thank you! Its becoming clearer now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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