Let the real season begin

Congratulations my beloved San Jose Sharks, you have won the presidents trophy. This trophy is given to the team with the best regular season record in the NHL. You have become the first west coast team to win the trophy and now you have secured the ever important home ice advantage for the entire playoffs. The playoffs by the way will begin on April 13, and it is what we have all been waiting for. It is the "real season". I looked back at how far the past three president trophy winners have gone into the playoffs to get an idea on what happens when a team enters the playoffs with the target of #1 is on their backs and the results were quiet interesting. In the 05-06 season Detriot was elimanted in six games in the first round, in the 06-07 season Buffalo made it to the eastern confrence finals but lost in five guick games that included no wins on home ice. Just last year (07-08) Detriot won the presidents trophy and went on to win the Stanley Cup.

So the bottom line is that the presidents trophy doesnt mean that you will go far in the playoffs, but if you make it to the finals it does pretty much gaurntee you the win because the past five years when it came down to the Stanley cup finals the team with the home ice advantage won. Not to mention that the sharks have an amazing 12-3-3 record against teams that reside in the eastern confrence. That record includes a 5-2 victory over the Boston Bruins in boston who are the top team in the east and the most likely candidate to make it to the stanley cup finals.

One thing that all of the previous five stanley cup champions have in common is an amazing home record, the sharks this year have an even more impressive record then Detriot from last year, Anahiem the previous year and Carolina before that. In fact the last time any hockey team was able to put up a record that was equal or better to the sharks this year was back in the 95-96 season when detriot was pretty much invinceable going 36-3-2. They made it to the western confrence finals and fell to the eventual stanley cup champion Colorado Avalanche.

So my prediction when looking at the presidents trophy and the great home record for the San Jose Sharks is this, they will make it to the western confrence finals. Now in hockey unlike in any other sport upsets are a regular thing and seeing them lose in round one would be an unpleasent surprise but not a shock by any stretch of the imagination.

In the very near future i will be writing down my predictions on all of the playoff rounds including my own preview and recaps for some of the most in depth hockey material you will find on the internet so check back every now and then.