When the NHL conference and division changes were announced, I was a tiny bit worried. Being a Detroit Red Wings fan living in Pittsburgh, PA, I had settled my inner hockey rivalry by playing the conference card. [Figure: it's not too hard to root for a Detroit / Pittsburgh Stanley Cup rematch, though my absolute favorite SCF was 2011 when the Boston Bruins played the Vancouver Canucks in the playoff season where it seemed everybody was playing the full 7 games and OT, and the Pens had the ginormous upper hand on Tampa Bay and dropped 3 in a row to be catapulted from the Cup run, to boot]. But to find the Red Wings on their way to the Eastern Conference after such a power grip on the Western Conference even with the likes of Vancouver, LA, and Chicago emerging over the past 5 years [When I was growing up with hockey, your Western Conference eight was typically Vancouver, Calgary, St. Louis, Dallas, Colorado, Detroit, Phoenix, and Anaheim] made me very worried.
I consider myself a Hockey fan more than picking and sticking with a team, though I will always love the Red Wings as my first born. Now, I'm a first born, and I know how little water that argument can really hold. But really, when I lived in Michigan I used to absolutely love watching the Eastern Conference games. Montreal, Boston, and New Jersey were my favorites. I used to love the Buffalo Sabres too. And the old-school Crapitals were pretty cool (clearly my opinion has changed) when they had Adam Oates and Chris Simon. And it was easy to rationalize because in my eyes, the Red Wings were #1 and the Eastern Conference as a whole was #2.
I always tell people there is one major difference between East and West hockey. The Eastern Conference has always been the elitist group, if you will. The tape-to-tape passes, precision, accuracy, and most importantly speed. The pace of an Eastern Conference game still blows my mind. The Western Conference is all about the physical play. Get your man in front of the net and screen, screen, screen! The pace is slower because there is more hitting and board play. The West is your nitty gritty, so to speak. Your grind lines and "bash brothers" hockey [cref: "The Mighty Ducks" movies].
The Red Wings were going to the Eastern Conference and I was worried because, as I said when the change was announced, "There's nowhere for them to place!" Looking at Boston, Pittsburgh, Montreal, New Jersey, the new division breakdowns, the retirements, the overall age of the Red Wings, who went from one of the oldest average to one of the youngest average, etc. etc. etc., I said "They're going to get eaten alive!" Now, like I said, The Red Wings will always be my first child and I wasn't giving up on them as much as seeing it in the light of when your kid goes from elementary school to middle school and they've got thick glasses and a limp and you love them dearly but you hope to God the other kids don't pick on them.
Then I got bold. The other team to switch from West to East was Columbus. And I was willing to bet that they'd be in the playoffs without even blinking an eye. I need to remind you, I'm a Michigander for the most part and when I'm not, I'm a Pittsburgher, and Ohio is the POS in the middle and neither state appears to be very fond of Ohio [The armpit of the United States] so this was about as bold a statement as I could ever make. But the Blue Jackets got buried in the Western Conference. They didn't have the grit to fight, say, the Colorado Avalanche. They had the speed to keep the game moving. They had wise players, precision players, but were up against grind line checkers who pulverized them before they got to show their stuff. But in the Eastern Conference, there would be more opportunity for their precision and speed.
I saw the first half of the season standings. I didn't really watch many games due to work conflict and lack of cable, but what I do know is this: The CBJ are becoming the team I expected them to be. And I'm proud to see my Detroit Red Wings trying to grasp at 8th in the Conference. These two teams are neck and neck, trying to show the folks who've been sitting in the Eastern Conference for ...forever?... that not only do they belong in the East but they can excel at it. I will forever be happy that the Red Wings didn't tank. They've got some injuries holding them back a bit, but Hockeytown is a magical place... in DETROIT.
Part of me wanted to write about this just to have proof that I said Columbus was going to make it to the playoffs this season, but the rest of me doesn't really like to be held accountable for bold predictions. However, I am just a hockey fan who loves to make predictions. And I'm thankful to have a sport to be so passionate about.
No comments:
Post a Comment