In every team sport, the ultimate focus for teams is to win a championship, starting with clinching the division and taking their respective league’s title.
However, there is still pride in claiming superiority as a conference.
There is a tie when it comes to the National Hockey League’s best team; and both teams — the Chicago Blackhawks and the Anaheim Ducks — are in the Western Conference. Overall, the West features eight teams with 30 or more points, and only two teams with sub-20 points totals.
On the other hand, the Eastern Conference does not feature a single team with 30 points, and there are six teams sitting below 20 points.
So it is clear that the West wears the crown so far this season.
Granted, there are only 14 teams in the West compared to the East’s 16, but this has nothing to do with success or record. Since the NHL has interconference play occurring throughout the entire season, each leagues is playing an equal amount of games at the same pace. In other words, it is not as if the West can jump the gun over the East.
The two East’s division leaders are the Boston Bruins with 29 points and the Pittsburgh Penguins with 26 points. Both of these teams were the Eastern Conference playoff finalists last season, as Boston swept Pittsburgh in four games. Boston and Pittsburgh, in addition to the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals, hover around the top of the standings year after year.
Yes, the East has consistently produced tough contenders and far more Stanley Cup Championships, and yes, the East arguably has the league’s three best players in Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin.
The East was where hockey was born and where the NHL’s storied franchises exist.
But there is no arguing that the West has emerged as the dominant conference.
Five of the eight Stanley Cups since the 2005 lockout have come from West teams, the Blackhawks, which have won the Stanley Cup twice. In addition, the Blackhawks and the San Jose Sharks, two of its top four teams, have each qualified for the playoffs the past five seasons. The other two, the St. Louis Blues and the Anaheim Ducks, have made the postseason three of those five years.
Prior to this season, the Detroit Red Wings—arguably the West’s former dynasty—won three Cups in 10 years, but Detroit has since joined the East with other storied franchises such as the Montreal Canadiens, which have won an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cups.
But the West is newer than the East, so its the growth and success has symbolized the growth of hockey. If Western teams continue to flourish, hockey may just keep expanding to parts of the country that have never been exposed to the excitement of the sport.
The East had its day, now it is time for the West to shine and prove that hockey has all the potential to be a nationwide craze, not a sport solely for those who reside near its origins.
Kelsey Surmacz is a freshman stringer for Post sports. Who do you think is the dominant league? Email her at ks363012@ohiou.edu
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