Winning the Cup Harder Than Winning Records
by BookieKiller.com's NHL Guru, Rink Rat
The old Rink Rat is feeling frisky this Monday morning, much like the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League. The Canucks have fashioned an impressive 10-game winning streak and the entire city of Vancouver is agog at their exploits. Vancouver is cutting through the NHL these days like a scythe through ripened wheat. Which at this point makes their victims such as the Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricane, et al the chaff.
The team's previous record for consecutive wins was seven, set back in the days when Igor Larionov could skate. In truth, seven is such a wimpy number for such things one wonders why the team even makes mention of it in their record book. Winning streaks are tricky things. Once in motion they take on a life of their own. Games which should have been losses turn mystically into wins; good fortune abounds; the players inevitably become full of themselves and naturally, they have to eventually lose. Bad habits creep into the team's game because at some point the players begin to tune out the coaches.
Not surprising really. We humans tend to learn more from failure than success, as the Rat can readily attest. Last year Vancouver specialized in failure early on, playing so poorly they nearly blew a play-off spot in early December. Luckily, the lessons to be gleaned from their early poor play were absorbed just in time. Their second half was sublime as they rattled off a 26-9-3-3 effort and squeaked into the play-offs, albeit as the hottest team in the league. Vancouver has anointed that second half run as their baseline measurement for success. Not a bad idea. However they would be wise not to read too much into this current winning streak.
For one thing, it doesn't even qualify as top-five in the league's record book. Pittsburgh Penguins hold that distinction, with a 17 game streak in the spring of 1993. The New York Islanders are second, with a 15-gamer in 1982. Boston is third and fourth, with a 14-game run in 1929 and 13 games in 1971. Philadelphia did 13 games in 1985. Here is why the Canucks should be cautious - only the Islanders on the top-five list won a Cup in their streak year. Pittsburgh's 17 gamer was the final 17 games of the regular season, meaning they were the hottest team in NHL history beginning the playoffs. Then? PPffftttt! Out in the second round to the Islanders. The Cup was won by a Cinderella Montreal team which got 10 of their 16 post-season wins in overtime. In '82 the Islanders beat an upstart Vancouver Canucks in the Cup final. The '29 Bruins (14 game streak) were beaten by the Canadiens in the Cup finals and the '71 team (13 wins) was whacked in the first round by another Cinderella Canadiens team, this one with the untested Ken Dryden in goal. Philadelphia in 1985 won 13 games on the trot and finished first in their division with 110 points. They went out to an unfancied New York Ranger team which finished 32 points behind them in the standings. Another Canadiens team won the Stanley Cup. That team had a paltry 87 points. Six teams, including the Flyers, finished with more points than the Canadiens that season.
So...the Canucks have worked themselves into a position where they could make the record books in the next week to ten days. What are we to make of it? Well, as we've just seen, when a team has a record breaking winning streak, the Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup.
The Rat can be reached via email @ rsbookiekiller@hotmail.com
by BookieKiller.com's NHL Guru, Rink Rat
The old Rink Rat is feeling frisky this Monday morning, much like the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League. The Canucks have fashioned an impressive 10-game winning streak and the entire city of Vancouver is agog at their exploits. Vancouver is cutting through the NHL these days like a scythe through ripened wheat. Which at this point makes their victims such as the Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricane, et al the chaff.
The team's previous record for consecutive wins was seven, set back in the days when Igor Larionov could skate. In truth, seven is such a wimpy number for such things one wonders why the team even makes mention of it in their record book. Winning streaks are tricky things. Once in motion they take on a life of their own. Games which should have been losses turn mystically into wins; good fortune abounds; the players inevitably become full of themselves and naturally, they have to eventually lose. Bad habits creep into the team's game because at some point the players begin to tune out the coaches.
Not surprising really. We humans tend to learn more from failure than success, as the Rat can readily attest. Last year Vancouver specialized in failure early on, playing so poorly they nearly blew a play-off spot in early December. Luckily, the lessons to be gleaned from their early poor play were absorbed just in time. Their second half was sublime as they rattled off a 26-9-3-3 effort and squeaked into the play-offs, albeit as the hottest team in the league. Vancouver has anointed that second half run as their baseline measurement for success. Not a bad idea. However they would be wise not to read too much into this current winning streak.
For one thing, it doesn't even qualify as top-five in the league's record book. Pittsburgh Penguins hold that distinction, with a 17 game streak in the spring of 1993. The New York Islanders are second, with a 15-gamer in 1982. Boston is third and fourth, with a 14-game run in 1929 and 13 games in 1971. Philadelphia did 13 games in 1985. Here is why the Canucks should be cautious - only the Islanders on the top-five list won a Cup in their streak year. Pittsburgh's 17 gamer was the final 17 games of the regular season, meaning they were the hottest team in NHL history beginning the playoffs. Then? PPffftttt! Out in the second round to the Islanders. The Cup was won by a Cinderella Montreal team which got 10 of their 16 post-season wins in overtime. In '82 the Islanders beat an upstart Vancouver Canucks in the Cup final. The '29 Bruins (14 game streak) were beaten by the Canadiens in the Cup finals and the '71 team (13 wins) was whacked in the first round by another Cinderella Canadiens team, this one with the untested Ken Dryden in goal. Philadelphia in 1985 won 13 games on the trot and finished first in their division with 110 points. They went out to an unfancied New York Ranger team which finished 32 points behind them in the standings. Another Canadiens team won the Stanley Cup. That team had a paltry 87 points. Six teams, including the Flyers, finished with more points than the Canadiens that season.
So...the Canucks have worked themselves into a position where they could make the record books in the next week to ten days. What are we to make of it? Well, as we've just seen, when a team has a record breaking winning streak, the Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup.
The Rat can be reached via email @ rsbookiekiller@hotmail.com
