Just in case you are wondering why a professor form the United States Sports Academy in Daphne Alabama would be writing about the NHL upcoming play-off’s, quit wondering or guessing because the simple fact of the matter is that I still have my deep affiliation for all things Chicago and that includes the Chicago Blackhawks, the defending Stanley Cups Champions and playoff contender for the cup this year. Another reason is that I work with a professor here at the Academy who is from St. Louis, Missouri and a St. Louis Blues fans as he claims. Additionally it just happens that the Blues and the Blackhawks are seeded against each other in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
Heck, for all of you NHL Eastern and Western conference fans the first round playoff matchups are as follows and according to the following “The top three teams in each division earn berths in the playoffs. The next two teams in terms of total points in the conference, regardless of division, earn the wild-card spots. This provides a total of eight teams from each conference. The top seed in each division plays one of the wild-card teams in its conference. The division leader with the most points plays the wild-card team with the fewest points. The second and third seeds in each division face each other in the first round”. The complete playoff schedule is contained in the following link. http://espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/matchups
For the purposes of this article I’m stating clearly that I don’t think the Blues can take down the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. Let’s hope the trend for the Blues continues where they have not won a postseason series since 2011-2012, let the trend continue.
The Blackhawks players are healthy going into the playoffs vs. Blues and game one will set the tone, so let’s hope that the Blackhawks are energized and hungry to get things started on the way to defending the Stanley Cup.
Fred Cromartie, Ed. D.
Dr. Cromartie is the Director of Doctoral Studies at the United States Sports Academy.