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@ Canucks Corner

Fighting against the odds

By Josh Martin, Sports Editor

ith the regular season coming
to a close, the Vancouver
Canucks sit atop of the NHL

standings with a total of 97 points as of
last Friday. That puts them seven points
up on the second best Philadelphia Flyers
and 11 points ahead of the Detroit Red
Wings, who are sitting at second position
in the Western Conference. If all goes
right, and the Canucks continue to play
well down the stretch, they will capture
their very first Presidents Trophy in
franchise history.

The’Presidents’ Trophy is awarded
to the NHL team that finishes the regular
season with the most points and the best
winning record. The winning team is
guaranteed home-ice advantage in all four
rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and
also receives $350,000 to be split among
the team and players. Now that’s quite a
nice incentive.

Since the Presidents’ Trophy was

established at the beginning of the 1985-
86 season, it has been awarded 24 times
to just 14 different teams. No other team
has accomplished this achievement more
than the Red Wings, who are on the high
end of the spectrum, taking home the
award six separate times.

Now, out of those 24 times that the
best team in the NHL during the regular
season won the Trophy, only seven times
has the team gone all the way and won
the Stanley Cup. Hmm...Interesting. And
in the last two years, the San Jose Sharks
in 2009 and the Washington Capitals last
season, the top teams didn’t even make it
past the first round of the playoffs.

It is a strange statistic that only seven
out of 24 times have the top winning
teams in the regular season gone on
to win it all. That’s a 29.2% winning
percentage. Now I’m not saying if the
Canucks did win the Presidents’ Trophy
they would be playing against odds. It’s
just a simple observation, that’s all. A
weird one might I add. You would think

: : re
that the top teams during the regular
season would play stronger in the
playoffs, but hockey doesn’t work that
way. It’s unexpected and unpredictable
with teams that barely make the playoffs
beating out the number one seeded
squads that were the favourites to win the
playoffs. That has been evident in the past
several years, with the Edmonton Oilers
in 2006 beating out the Red Wings and
in 2009 the Anaheim Ducks stunning the
Sharks in six games.

The Canucks are the favourites

 

     

heading into the final weeks of the regular
season and without a doubt this team has
arguably the best line-up this franchise
has ever seen. I know that it seems like
every year when you read the local sports
section in the paper they say, “This is our
year,” and you go, “they said that last
year, and the year before,” well, this year
kicks all those other years asses.

If they are to go all the way in the
post-season anytime soon and take home
the prize...it’s going to be now or never.

 

 

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