who is cherry cheering for
Likely not until Thursday the 11th because the TD Boston Gardens is booked for a concert on the 10th. That would likely mean a Game 2 on Saturday night the 13th - which CBC and Rogers I’m sure are pushing for getting the Leafs in their preferred slot.
The whole playoff system is whacked anyway. Once again we are going to see some good entertaining teams knocked out in the first round. Teams that would normally have a chance at winning it all. Toronto and Boston should not be meeting until the 3rd round, 2nd at least. What a waste of a year for some… 1 takes on 8 is the way to go in my books.
The old system was so much better . I agree 1 to 8 worked .
If I had my choice the older 1 to 16 was even better with sweet upsets in the first round . It made the NHL more like March madness which creates a real buzz as a fan .
Did they really do a 1 to 16 in the past? No divisions or conferences?
Edit:
Indeed, they did, right around the time I started paying attention to hockey, too.
- 1979-80 -With the addition of four WHA franchises, the League expanded its playoff structure to include 16 of its 21 teams. The four first place teams in the four divisions automatically earned playoff berths. Among the 17 other clubs, the top 12, according to regular-season record, also earned berths. All 16 teams were then pooled together and ranked #1 to #16 based on regular-season record:
- Series A: Team #1 vs Team #16 (best-of-five)
- Series B: Team #2 vs Team #15 (best-of-five)
- Series C: Team #3 vs Team #14 (best-of-five)
- Series D: Team #4 vs Team #13 (best-of-five)
- Series E: Team #5 vs Team #12 (best-of-five)
- Series F: Team #6 vs Team #11 (best-of-five)
- Series G: Team #7 vs Team #10 (best-of-five)
- Series H: Team #8 vs Team #9 (best-of-five)
The eight Preliminary round winners, ranked #1 to #8 based on regular-season record, moved on to the Quarterfinals: - Series I: Team #1 vs Team #8 (best-of-seven)
- Series J: Team #2 vs Team #7 (best-of-seven)
- Series K: Team #3 vs Team #6 (best-of-seven)
- Series L: Team #4 vs Team #5 (best-of-seven)
The eight Quarterfinals winners, ranked #1 to #4 based on regular-season record, moved on to the semifinals: - Series M: Team #1 vs Team #4 (best-of-seven)
- Series N: Team #2 vs Team #3 (best-of-seven)
- Series O: Winner of Series M vs winner of Series N (best-of-seven)
I’m pretty sure they abandoned the 1 to 16 scheme because of cost. It was possible for an east coast team to play against different west coast teams for the whole playoffs. The division of east and west stopped that… 1 to 8 is my choice. Sure there are upsets but usually the lower teams are eliminated.
Recent upsets like the Kings as the 8 seed winning in 2012 show that if that formula was today we would be in for some good shockers as the playing field is level now more than ever ( Vegas last year ) .
Never see the 1 to 16 again though as rivalry is promoted more than over all entertainment . It’s regionalized the game to gain further brand loyalty and forge a history between teams to gain that important passion and pride needed to push fans interest .
But as a fan that enjoys the entire league as a whole the 1 to 16 was cool .
The Leafs fighting in Atlanta who had no rivals was kinda cool back then .
This age was priceless .
This was the best of the best upsets . Down 5 nothing and then seemingly out of nowhere …
Or the 81 Oilers in 14th knocking off Montreal the third seed .
I miss this series - it was fun to watch.