2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs Preview

 The last week of the NHL regular season was unlike anything seen in recent history. The dust from the 82-game grind settled, and jaws dropped as a once cloudy playoff picture became clear. Seven teams from the previous year's Stanley Cup Playoffs would not be returning to the postseason.
 The unfathomable turn of events saw some of the last decade's powerhouses checking April tee times, while some of the most wildest stories the league has ever seen led certain squads to the quest for Lord Stanley's Cup. Some teams simply had incredible runs, others got off to an unexpected hot start and never looked back, and others defied the odds in the most literal sense possible to clinch a playoff spot.
 However, whatever success or misfortune experienced during the past six months is meaningless now. A whole new season begins as the NHL's 16-best squads begin the hellacious quest for ultimate glory. The field is set, and much like the season that preceded it, the first round looks tantalizingly unpredictable.

2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs Preview

 16 wins is all it takes. After 82 games spanning from October to April, the teams that were good enough to qualify for the playoffs only need 16 wins to achieve their childhood dreams and lift the most iconic trophy in the world over their heads as champions. Easy enough, right?
 Well once you consider there are 15 other teams determined on reaching those 16 wins before your team does, a task that seems menial to a playoff contender suddenly becomes a grind like none other.
 In pursuit of 16 wins, players are ready to skate through brick walls and hell fire to defeat their opponent. They know blood will be shed, their legs will quiver from fatigue but find a way to push off another stride, and broken bones will be ignored like paper cuts.
 All of this madness will be done for one shining, three-foot, 34 lbs trophy. It's the Stanley Cup.

 The race for 16 wins starts tonight, and all eight first round match-ups have their own unique quirks and storylines ready to play out on the ice. The Hart of Hockey has a breakdown of every series in preparation of the Stanley Cup Playoffs dropping the puck tonight with a little prediction for the outcome of these match-ups.

2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs Preview

BECAUSE IT'S THE CUP...

 Oh, it's the most wonderful time of the year. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin, and yet again, the NHL has delivered some delicious first round match-ups right to your front door. Possibly as a result of the shortened, 48-game season, some teams that seemed to be locks for the playoffs a few months ago are left to the cold, cold, embrace of beach vacations and country clubs while some new faces get to participate in the postseason.
 So say goodbye to any chance at productive nights over the next few weeks, because the quest for Lord Stanley's Cup is beginning, and there's no way you should miss it. Eight different series, eight winners, and eight rosters full of broken dreams, that's the first round of the playoffs. Here's a closer look at this year's combatants:

2012 NHL Playoff Preview

 Because it's the Cup...
 Simple, but a perfect tag line for the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs.  There needs to be little explanation for why the athletes we admire do the things they do.  Whether it's training camp in September, the trade deadline in February, the start of the the postseason, or all points in between, anything and everything can be explained by one answer: Because it's the Cup.  All of the sweat poured onto the ice and absorbed through Reebok armor during games, practice, or even back in the training room, is all for this.  All of the blood spilled from taking haymakers to the face or blocking shots on the penalty kill is the sacrifice made for one thing.  It's the Stanley Cup.
 How the postseason plays out, on the other hand, cannot be answered quite as easily.  That's why The Hart of Hockey is here with it's 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs preview.

Celebrate Old Times

 The NHL season kicked-off yesterday night, with two nationally televised games on Versus, and "coincidentally", both games featured both teams from last year's Stanley Cup Final.  The Boston Bruins took on the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Vancouver Canucks opened their year against the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Both games had a pre-game banner raising ceremony in front of their home fans, but the Stanley Cup Champion Bruins' celebration sort of rubbed me the wrong way...
 The pre-game ceremony began with a moving highlight reel following the Bruins' playoff journey en route to becoming eventual Cup Champs.  The video sent chills all over my body, reliving Boston's highs and lows of the 2010-11 playoff campaign.  Falling down 2 games to 0 against heated rival Montréal in the first round, then forcing a Game 7 overtime victory, the sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers, a thrilling Eastern Conference Finals and one-goal Game 7 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning, falling down 2 game to 0 against the Canucks, only to unload on Roberto Luongo at home, and then eventually win Lord Stanley's Cup in Game 7 of the Finals.  Beautiful.  After the video ended, a tarp hanging from the jumbotron fell to the ice and magically revealed the Boston's 2010-11 Stanley Cup Champions banner.  Then... I'm not too sure about how I feel regarding what happened next.

Photo by Brian Babineau / Getty Images

 The Garden's PA announcer introduced the Bruins, and captain Zdeno Chara led the team onto the ice via the zamboni doors, Stanley Cup in hand.  You read that right, Stanley- Cup- in- hand.  The crowd goes wild, of course, so maybe Chara is just going to skate to center ice and gently place Lord Stanley on a podium with a spolight shining down on its sacred silver.  Wrong.  The Bruins continued to parade around the ice, passing the Cup off one player to another, in similar fashion to the traditional celebration that takes place immediately after a team wins the Stanley Cup.
 Although it was nice to see since retired players Mark Recchi and Shane Hnidy suited up in B's uniforms one last time with the Cup over their heads in front of the home crowd, I couldn't help but sit a bit uncomfortably as this procession took place.  Yes, you ARE the Stanley Cup Champions.  Yes, this IS the pre-game ceremony commemorating your victory.  But this is also a NEW SEASON, not some summer block party on Portland Street.  That was an accomplishment, a great one at that, made in 2010-11.  Boston, as of yesterday night, you were officially in 2011-12.
 It just seemed a bit taboo to carry around the Cup right before any game of any kind, and quite frankly I was a bit surprised it happened among a culture as superstitious as hockey culture (I mean, let's not forget Def Leppard's gaffe during their concert before Detroit's hope opener the season after winning in 2007-08, a mistake that some believe cursed the Wings and Marian "Judas" Hossa, but that's another story.)  I do not know of any other team doing anything like this during a banner raising ceremony, but maybe there is a precendent for it.  I remember in 2009-10, the Cup just sat silently, still, but ever-present at center ice in Pittsburgh after they had won the season before.
 The rest of the ceremony in Boston was moving and went very well, but the team's celebration with The Cup sat in the back of my mind until the game began.  Maybe I'm just a tradionalist, another fool who believes in all of the superstitions, curses, and magic held within the game of hockey, but it all just seemed... not good.  I will not blame the Bruins' loss that night on their antics with the Cup, but i'm sure I will be thinking about it if they miss the playoffs, are eliminated from the playoffs, Tim Thomas has an off year, or really anything goes wrong.
 Bottom line is, it just seemed a bit faux pas for a hockey team to do to me.  Am I alone on this?  What do you think?