Why the NHL Playoffs Are so Exciting

Hockey in general is an extremely entertaining sport. Throw in the want and desire for a championship, and you get an extremely gritty, fast, and fun game to watch. That is what the Stanley cup Playoffs are all about. These playoffs are all about finding the best team to crown for the best in the NHL. The winner of this award wins quite possibly the most coveted trophy in sports, the Stanley Cup. It's the want to win this cup that makes the Stanley Cup Playoffs so exciting and fun to watch.

Any given year can be any team's year to win the Cup. The way the NHL has designed hockey right now is that any team has a chance to win the Championship every year. This mix of great teams no only makes a lot more fans interested because there are more teams of better quality, but it just makes the hockey better. When you take the best 16 of the already amazing field of hockey teams and put them in best of 7 series' against each other, you get an amazing and thrilling brand of hockey. It's the type of excitement that you just can't get out of other sports.

In hockey the Stanley Cup Playoffs start with the 16 best teams from the regular season. Those teams are seeded based off the regular season. They then play their opponent in a best of 7 series, winner goes on. When you have two great teams facing each other every other nigh, tensions start to get a little tight. Mix that in with the will to win and you get an amazing outcome. Teams know that if they don't win the obviously go home, so players ply that much harder, The checks get a little rougher, the games get a little faster, and the goals become a little sloppier. Everyone steps up their game, even the goalies, which means you could be in store for a one goal game. If not a one goal game you could go into overtime. In the playoffs teams play until there is a winner. Periods are added on until someone scores. Overtime can be the best hockey, but if your team is in the game, it can be the most nerve wracking time.

The NHL has something that no other sport can say that they have. There is no way to explain this thing that they have. Other sports have playoffs. Other sports have a champion, and other sports have teams that are willing to do just about anything to win. Hockey however is different. Hockey players have a different type of attitude toward the game, especially come Stanley Cup Playoff time. How many other sports are guys willing to throw themselves in front of a 100 MPH rubber disc that comes flying towards the net. I don't mean the goalies; I mean the lesser padded players that are willing to do absolutely anything to win. The NHL playoffs are the most exciting thing to watch in all of sports, all because of a little trophy known as Lord Stanley's Cup.