Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup is the premier prize of the National Hockey League (NHL for short). Players from all over the world that dream about playing in the NHL have dreams about being able to win the Stanley Cup and hoist it over their head triumphantly as they skate around the ice with an ear-to-ear grin on their face. Just like any other ultimate prize in any other sport, the Stanley Cup inspires almost all who look upon it that have an interest in the sport of ice hockey. Winning the Stanley Cup is not easy by any stretch of the imagination and indeed if you look at the regular season and four rounds of playoffs leading up to the winning of the Stanley Cup, there are few other prizes in other sports leagues around the world that are harder to win than the Stanley Cup.

Making the Playoffs

The first step towards winning the Stanley Cup lies in making the playoffs. This is accomplished by the team finishing within the top eight teams in their conference. In order to do this, the team must either (a) win their division outright or (b) have one of the five highest point totals of teams that have not won their own division. Eight teams from each conference makes sixteen teams overall and it is those sixteen teams that have the honor of going forward to contest each other for the right to hoist the Stanley Cup.

Round 1

The first round of the playoffs see the eight teams in each conference square off against each other. In each conference, the top ranked team plays the eighth ranked team, the second plays the seventh, the third plays the sixth and the fourth plays the fifth. The first team in each series to win four games advances on to the next round; making each series a best of seven. In each series, the first two games are played in the rink of the higher ranked team and the second two games are played in the rink of the lower ranked team. If additional games are needed, they are played in the rink of the higher ranked team for game five, the lower ranked team’s rink for game six and then if a final seventh game is needed back in the rink of the higher ranked team. This is where the term “home ice advantage” comes from.

Round 2

At the end of the first round, there are eight teams left; four in each conference. Those four are again paired off against each other in the same way that the eight were in the previous round and they play a best of seven again, with all of the same rules in the previous round still applying.

Round 3

Round 3 is the same as round two, except there are two teams left in each conference. The winners of each series receive a trophy for winning their conference and move on to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Round 4

The Stanley Cup Finals! A best of seven series where the winner gets to hoist the ultimate prize - the Stanley Cup!