To win the Cup is to be named the champion of the NHL, the most prized ice hockey championship on the planet. The monstrous trophy is unique, passed from champion to champion, and is engraved with the names of every title holder.

This year has seen its usual fierce competition, with the finest ice hockey teams in America and Canada competing over a massive season, playing an astonishing 82 games. The top eight after the regular season progress to the finals, with team one playing team eight, two playing seven, and so forth. The finals themselves move through a conference quarter final, semi final and then a third series which determines the champions of the Western and Eastern Conferences. Each series is a seven-game maximum, with essentially the first team to record four wins victorious. 

Before reaching the Stanley Cup finals, a team can potentially play 103 games. While this seems prolonged and arduous, unlike other major sports championships where a team may only need to win seven games to be claimed a champion – there truly is no doubt as to who the best team of the year is with an ice hockey season.

'It is going to be a close finish, and with teams playing towards 100 games each, fatigue is a factor'


In the western conference, the Detroit Red Wings and the Dallas Stars are playing for the right to proceed to the Stanley Cup decider. The Red Wings are a landmark club, being one of the original teams of the NHL (albeit their name has changed three times). They are possibly the most supported club in the league, with Detroit known affectionately as “Hockey Town”. 

The Red Wings have won more Stanley Cups that any other American team (third behind Montreal and Toronto).  They have made the last 17 play-offs consecutively – the longest such run in all American sports. They finished top of the West, and won the President’s Trophy – the award given to the team with the best record in the regular season. They won 54 games out of 82, more than any other side and finished the best defensive team in the league.

Their opponents, the Dallas Stars (formerly of Minnesota) have won one Stanley Cup; and finished with an offensive record second only to Detroit in the regular season. Their season’s results do not make for excellent reading, with only one victory against the Red Wings, although it was in Detroit. The other three games the Red Wings scored a combined 12 goals against them.

In the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins are competing for the right to play the winner of the West.

The Flyers qualified sixth after the regular season. They have made a remarkable comeback this season, after finishing with their worst-ever record in history last year. They are a team of great pedigree, having the second-best all-time winning record of any team in the NHL. They also thrashed the Montreal Canadiens, the best team in the history of the Stanley Cup and the top qualifier in the Eastern Conference, 4-1 in the semi-finals.

The Penguins, two-time Stanley Cup winners were runners-up in the Eastern Conference regular season and contain Evgeni Malkin, the finest offensive player in the NHL this season. The Flyers won five of their games against the Penguins in the regular season, including an 8-2 smashing in Pittsburgh. But the Penguins did claim three victories of their own, and smashed the Flyers 7-1 in Philadelphia.

It is going to be a close finish, and with teams playing towards 100 games each, fatigue is a factor. But the reality is that is it hard to look past the Detroit Red Wings; they lead the NHL statistics in most categories, including having the best goaltender in the league – as well as the best goal-scorer in the league, Johan Franzen, and having two other players in the top ten. They are America’s best team by some margin, and I predict that they will go on to win their eleventh Holy Grail.