Steady yourself for an onslaught of Golden State clichés. 

The song California Dreamin’ will be front-and-centre.  You can pretty much count on Hockey Night in Canada to air that one over a montage of hockey highlights.

How about Come to California by Matthew Sweet?  That’s what the NHL Playoffs are doing this spring, as for the first time all three California-based NHL franchises are headed to the post-season.

That’s one more team than the entire country of Canada is sending, though the population of California is over 37 million, about three million more people than the entire Motherland of Hockey (C).   Maybe the NHL should move the Coyotes to San Diego, and the Thrashers to Fresno .

The Anaheim Ducks have enjoyed the most playoff success recently, having carved their name on the Stanley Cup only four seasons ago, while the Los Angeles Kings haven’t had the pleasure yet, only making the Final way back in 1993, when Kurt Cobain was still alive, OJ was just an ex-football player, and Wayne Gretzky was a young monarch.

The San Jose Sharks were born out of a divorce in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and for two decades plus they’ve been even less successful in the playoffs than the Kings.  The Sharks are one of the few NHL teams never to have placed a skate on Final ice.

This year, the Ducks are a trendy pick to do some damage in the playoffs, but that may all hinge on the health of their goaltending.  The Comeback Kid, Ray Emery, is always and forever one bad bump away from a lower body injury.

The Sharks may finally be off everyone’s expectation radar, after seasons of coming up small in the post-season.  General Manager Doug Wilson has copied the Stand Pat routine pioneered by famed baseball GM Pat Gillick, when he ran the Toronto Blue Jays in the late 80’s.  Gillick put together a number of talented teams during his watch, and was reluctant to make changes just for the sake of change, even when the Jays came up short time and time again in late September.

Then again, Gillick only won the Big One in baseball when he finally deviated from that plan, and made a big splash one off-season, trading a couple of star players (Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez) to the San Diego Padres for Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar.

Alomar joins Gillick in the Baseball Hall-of-Game this July.

Wilson should probably be in the hockey equivalent for his stellar work patrolling the blue line for the Chicago Black Hawks during the 1980’s.  He may get there yet, rewarded for his managerial skills, a resume that will only be taken seriously if he can add at least one Stanley Cup to the masthead.

The California Dreamin’ part, of course, really kicks in if two of these teams meet up in the playoffs.  Particularly the Kings and Ducks.  That could still come to pass, but the first round will feature the Sharks against the Kings.

When it comes to regional rivalries, hockey has the Rangers and Islanders, it has the Flames and Oilers.  It has the Maple Leafs and Senators, when both teams actually put a good product on the ice.  Maybe next season.  The Maple Leafs and Sabres are also a good regional matchup.

It had the Canadiens and Nordiques, but that’s history…for now.  Detroit and Chicago are close, geographically speaking, and certainly historically, so you can add that one to the mix. 

Boston and Hartford once had a thing goin’ on, but that was more like big brother Bruin endlessly beating up on Whale Boy.  Except for that 11-0 thumping the B’s took a long time ago at the hands (fins) of the Whalers.

The Hartford Whalers began life as the New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association, and they initially played out of Boston.  But that’s all dusty history now.

The Kings and Ducks would put on a marvellous show for hockey fans across North America.  The Freeway Faceoff Playoff Edition might even make a few front pages in Southern California.

The Ducks have their own modern day version of the Triple Crown Line.  The Mighty Mallards?  The Quack Attack?  Huey, Dewey, and Louie?

The Kings’ attack has been hampered by recent injuries, though their goaltending appears to be in better shape than the Ducks, unless Mr. Hiller can come all the way back.

The popular choice would probably be the Ducks in that matchup.  Especially considering how Anaheim handled L.A. during the final weekend of the regular season.  Try getting a ticket for that series.

The Boys from Northern California plan to have something to say about all that.  This is the first time they face the Kings in the playoffs, though there has been an All-California playoff series in the NHL before this.

The Sharks fell to the Ducks in six games during the first round of the 2009 playoff, the last time Anaheim has won a post-season series, having failed to make the playoffs last year.

Until a Kings-Ducks playoff battle finally ensues, hockey fans should be more than content with a San Jose – Los Angeles matchup.  Maybe Dionne Warwick can be coaxed into once again singing about all the stars in L.A. who are pumping gas.

 LA is a great big freeway
Put a hundred down and buy a car
In a week, maybe two, they’ll make you a star
Weeks turn into years, how quick they pass
And all the stars that never were
Are parkin’ cars and pumpin’ gas

You can really breathe in San Jose
They’ve got a lot of space
There’ll be a place where I can stay
I was born and raised in San Jose
I’m goin’ back to find
Some peace of mind in San Jose…(C) Burt Bacharach and Hal David

The East Coast might have to get ready for a series of very late nights.

Come To California, indeed.

 come to California
come to California
baby let it all hang out
come to California
tell us what it’s all about
but watch your mind little bit
’cause the future is beginning now
come to California . . .
but watch your mind little bit
’cause you’re headed into the machine
come to California . . . (C) Matthew Sweet

 Mick Kern

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s

Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking, as that old Steve Miller chestnut tells us.  With 30 franchises in the National Hockey League, even if every team were to take a turn winning the Stanley Cup, let’s say in alphabetical order, that would still mean a 30 year wait between Cup victories, and since that type of ultimate parity is never going to happen, then the sober fact is, most NHL fans will never see their team hoist the big mug.

Last season, the Pittsburgh Penguins were the champions, a season after making it to the Stanley Cup Final, and falling short to the Detroit Red Wings.  When captain Sidney Crosby accepted the Cup from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, it had been 17 years since the Penguins were crowned Stanley Cup Champions.

17 years is a long time; a generation of Pittsburgh hockey fans would have grown up never having seen Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux play together.  Yet 17 years is nothing if you’re a fan of the Chicago Blackhawks or the Toronto Maple Leafs.

To have experienced a Stanley Cup celebration in Chicago, if you go with the thought that most childhood memories are retained beginning at the age of five, then the youngest you could be as a Blackhawks fans, and vividly recall the Cup being won, is the age of 54.

Chicago has not won the Cup since 1961.  In comparison, Maple Leafs fans aren’t so bad off.  Using that same measurement, the age of the youngest Toronto fan to witness, and remember, a Maple Leafs’ Stanley Cup parade would be 48, as the Leafs haven’t won it all since 1967.

Those are the two longest current Cup droughts in the NHL.  Still, that’s nothing on long-suffering New York Rangers fans.  When the Broadway Blueshirts won it all in 1940, back in the days of a seven-team NHL, if you had suggested that the Rangers would take another 54 years to win it again, you probably would have been laughed at.  No team could be that unfortunate, especially considering the era of the so-called Original Six began shortly after and lasted 25 years.

Yet, as the years wore on, even a losing appearance by the Rangers in the Cup Final was rare.  After falling to the Red Wings in 1950, it was another 22 years before Ranger fans could once again experience the agony of coming up short in the Final, when they lost in six games in 1972 to the Boston Bruins.

The mocking cry of 1940 rang in the ears of Rangers’ fans as the decades piled up.  In one four-year stretch, the rival expansion New York Islanders won more Stanley Cups (4) than the Rangers had won in their entire history.

The 1994 Cup win by the Rangers ended that 54-year drought, but hey, it’s now been 16 years, and counting.

The years can pile up very quickly.

Just ask a fan of the Boston Bruins.  When Bobby Orr flew through the air after putting the puck past Glenn Hall to end the 1970 Stanley Cup Final, putting the Bruins at the top of the hockey world, it had been a long 29 years since Boston had won it all.

Two years later, they repeated the feat.  Two Cups in three years.  The future looked bright.

The Bruins would make it back to the Big Show in 1974, 1977, 1978, 1988 and 1990.

In 1974, they fell to the expansion Philadelphia Flyers.  The powerhouse Montreal Canadiens bested them in 1977 and 1978 (and 1979, for that matter, for that semi-final was the de facto Stanley Cup Final).

Both of the Bruins’ Final appearances in the 80’s ran smack dab into the run-and-gun Edmonton Oilers, the first time with Wayne Gretzky, the second time without.

As we enter the 2010 NHL playoffs, the Boston Bruins have now gone 38 years without winning the Stanley Cup.  Of the Original Six teams, only fans of the Blackhawks and Maple Leafs have been waiting longer.

And for all those smug Montreal Canadiens fans, your team hasn’t won the Cup since 1993, which is 17 years ago.  Yes, there was that non-hockey year of 2004-05, but that applies to every team, which is why we’re calculating years here, not seasons.

That 17-year gap…and counting…is the longest in franchise history, with no indication that it will come to an end any time soon.

The previous dry period for the Habs was during the Dirty Thirties.  Montreal won the 1930-31 Cup, and then didn’t get to taste glory again until 1943-44, a very lengthy 13 years later.

That leaves the Detroit Red Wings as the only Original Six team with a Cup win in recent memory, that being in 2008.  The Red Wings also walked through Valley of the Shadow of Death, going from 1955 until 1997 before winning it all again.  That was a 42 year drought, which only goes to prove the Cup Curse, if there is one, can indeed be broken.

Then again, fans of the Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks, Buffalo Sabres, and Washington Capitals might say whatever; at least you have a Cup.  All these long-time NHL franchises have made the Stanley Cup Final at least once, but returned home with nothing to show for it.  Which means the Kings and Blues are right behind the Blackhawks and Maple Leafs for longest current Stanley Cup droughts.

What is that cliché?  Just Win Baby?  Not in pro sports.  Count on your team NOT winning the Big One.  Mathematically, it’s a long shot.  Sure, somebody has to win, and the odds are much better than wasting two bucks on a lottery ticket, but it always seems to be the same teams that are either winning the Cup, or at least seriously competing for it.

The following list is ranked in order of NHL team’s that have had the shortest Stanley Cup winning drought.  Obviously, a team such as the Atlanta Thrashers has had a shorter dry spell than the Los Angeles Kings, or the Washington Capitals, due to only being in the league for about a decade.  (** = teams that have yet to win a Stanley Cup)

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS – 3 Stanley Cups (2009, 1992, 1991)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 1 (2008)

DETROIT RED WINGS – 11 Stanley Cups (2008, 2002, 1998, 1997, 1955, 1954, 1952, 1950, 1943, 1937, 1936)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 13 (2009, 1995, 1966, 1964, 1963, 1961, 1956, 1949, 1948, 1945, 1941, 1940, 1934)

Current Cup Drought – 2 years

ANAHEIM DUCKS – 1 Stanley Cup (2007)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 1 (2003)

Current Cup Drought – 3 years

CAROLINA HURRICANES – 1 Stanley Cup (2006)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 1 (2002)

Current Cup Drought – 4 years

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING – 1 Stanley Cup (2004)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – zero

Current Cup Drought – 6 years

NEW JERSEY DEVILS – 3 Stanley Cups (2003, 2000, 1995)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 1 (2001)

Current Cup Drought – 7 years

COLORADO AVALANCHE – 2 Stanley Cups (2001, 1996)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – zero

Current Cup Drought – 9 years

**COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS – zero Stanley Cups

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – zero

Current Cup Drought – 9 years (since joining the NHL in 2000-01)

**MINNESOTA WILD – zero Stanley Cups

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – zero

Current Cup Drought – 9 years (since joining the NHL in 2000-01)

**ATLANTA THRASHERS – zero Stanley Cups

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – zero

Current Cup Drought – 10 years (since joining the NHL in 1999-2000)

**NASHVILLE PREDATORS – zero Stanley Cups

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – zero

Current Cup Drought – 11 years (since joining the NHL in 1998-99)

DALLAS STARS – 1 Stanley Cup (1999)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 3 (2000 as Dallas, 1991 & 1981 as Minnesota)

Current Cup Drought – 11 years

NEW YORK RANGERS – 4 Stanley Cups (1994, 1940, 1933, 1928)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 6 (1979, 1972, 1950, 1937, 1932, 1929)

Current Cup Drought – 16 years

**FLORIDA PANTHERS – zero Stanley Cups

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 1 (1996)

Current Cup Drought – 16 years (since joining the NHL in 1993-94)

MONTREAL CANADIENS – 23 Stanley Cups (1993, 1986, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1973, 1971, 1969, 1968, 1966, 1965, 1960, 1959, 1958, 1957, 1956, 1953, 1946, 1944, 1931, 1930, 1924) – also one Cup in 1916 before the formation of the NHL

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 8 (1989, 1967, 1955, 1954, 1952, 1951, 1947, 1925)

note: the 1919 Stanley Cup Final between the Canadiens and Seattle was cancelled due to the Influenza Epidemic

Current Cup Drought – 17 years

**OTTAWA SENATORS – zero Stanley Cups (the previous Ottawa Senators franchise records are kept separate from this current incarnation)

Stanley Cup Final appearances – 1 (2007)

Current Cup Drought – 17 years (since joining the NHL in 1992-93)

**SAN JOSE SHARKS – zero Stanley Cups

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – zero

Current Cup Drought – 18 years (since joining the NHL in 1991-92)

EDMONTON OILERS – 5 Stanley Cups (1990, 1988, 1987, 1985, 1984)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 2 (2006, 1983)

Current Cup Drought – 20 years

CALGARY FLAMES – 1 Stanley Cup (1989)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 2 (2004, 1986)

Current Cup Drought – 21 years

NEW YORK ISLANDERS – 4 Stanley Cups (1983, 1982, 1981, 1980)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 1 (1984)

Current Cup Drought – 27 years

**PHOENIX COYOTES – zero Stanley Cups

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – zero

Current Cup Drought – 30 years (since joining the NHL as the Jets in 1979-80)

**WASHINGTON CAPITALS – zero Stanley Cups

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 1 (1998)

Current Cup Drought – 35 years (since joining the NHL in 1974-75)

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS – 2 Stanley Cups (1975, 1974)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 5 (1997, 1987, 1985, 1980, 1976,)

Current Cup Drought – 35 years

BOSTON BRUINS – 5 Stanley Cups (1972, 1970, 1941, 1939, 1929)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 12 (1990, 1988, 1978, 1977, 1974, 1958, 1957, 1953, 1946, 1943, 1930, 1927)

Current Cup Drought – 38 years

**BUFFALO SABRES – zero Stanley Cups

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 2 (1999, 1975)

Current Cup Drought – 39 years (since joining the NHL in 1970-71)

**VANCOUVER CANUCKS – zero Stanley Cups

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 2 (1982, 1994)

Current Cup Drought – 39 years (since joining the NHL in 1970-71)

**ST. LOUIS BLUES – zero Stanley Cups

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 3 (1968, 1969, 1970)

Current Cup Drought – 42 years (since joining the NHL in 1967-68)

**LOS ANGELES KINGS – zero Stanley Cups

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 1 (1993)

Current Cup Drought – 42 years (since joining the NHL in 1967-68)

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS – 13 Stanley Cups (1967, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1951, 1949, 1948, 1947, 1945, 1942, 1932, 1922, 1918) – one as the St. Pats and one as the Arenas

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 8 (1960, 1959, 1940, 1939, 1938, 1936, 1935, 1933)

Current Cup Drought – 43 years

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS – 3 Stanley Cups (1961, 1938, 1934)

Stanley Cup Final losing appearances – 7 (1992, 1973, 1971, 1965, 1962, 1944, 1931)

Current Cup Drought – 49 years

Of the current thirty NHL franchises, seventeen have won the Stanley Cup.

Only six teams have failed to at least advance to the Stanley Cup Final.  Four of those six franchises have joined the NHL in the past decade (Nashville, Atlanta, Minnesota, and Columbus), so their track record is not that bad…yet.

The biggest non-achievers in terms of the National Hockey League are the Phoenix Coyotes and the San Jose Sharks.

The Sharks came into being when the Gund Brothers engineered a franchise split with the Minnesota North Stars in 1991.  Despite having stellar regular season teams for the past few seasons, the Sharks have been unable to get near the Cup Final.

As for the Coyotes, they began life in 1972 as the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association.  The seven years they spent in that rebel league were fruitful, as they won three Avco World Trophies, and arguably, were better than a number of NHL teams at the time…Colorado Rockies, Cleveland Barons, Detroit Red Wings, etc.

Along with the Whalers, Nordiques, and Oilers, the Jets were absorbed into the NHL in time for the 1979-80 season.  Most of their good players were reclaimed by the existing NHL clubs, and even though the Jets iced a number of competitive teams in the mid-80’s, they have never come close to making it to the Stanley Cup Final, either in Winnipeg, or in Phoenix, where they relocated in time for the 1995-96 campaign.

The underlying point to all is this a blunt one; a team’s window-of-opportunity to win the Stanley Cup is a narrow one at best.  When you’re one of the top eight teams in the league, it’s probably worth it to roll the dice and do whatever you deem necessary to win it all.  If not, your Stanley Cup Drought will only drag on.

-  Mick Kern

(all stats as of 04-02-10  -  if any of the stats are wrong, please contact me)

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s

Sorry, I don’t have all the stats in front of me, though no doubt they’re out there lurking on the internet somewhere.

But let’s forgo the statistical evidence for now, and rely on your gut feeling in response to the question.  Which game is the most important in a seven-game NHL playoff series?

Obviously, the fourth win by a team is crucial, for that is the drop-dead point of the entire affair.

Putting the obvious aside, at what point does a team get to that threshold, the earliest juncture in a series where they statistically hold the upper hand?

How crucial is it to win Game One?  What percentage of NHL teams that take Game One of a seven-game series go on to win three more games?

My gut tells me that, while getting off to a good start is nice, Game Two is where it really begins to matter.

For instance, let’s say your team wins Game One AND Game Two.  Many times in NHL history, a team has rebounded from a two-game deficit, but I’d venture that the majority of teams that get in that two-game hole to begin a series fail to climb all the way out of it.  It only makes statistical sense.

If your team is down two games, heading into game three, then you have to win four of the next five games.  Not impossible, but difficult, particularly since you’ve just lost two games in-a-row, so you’re not that hot to begin with.

Some will advance the theory that Game Three is the real litmus test, and they may be right.  This theory holds more water when teams are tied at 1 game apiece, but then again, once could say Game Five is the key game, if both teams are tied at 2 games apiece.

Hey, what about Game Six???  Okay, suddenly every game in a series is crucial, but you know what, they are.  Midway through the second period of Game One, it may look like a long series looms ahead, but the clock advances very quickly in the post-season, in some sort of warped Space Time Hockey Continuum.

Until convinced otherwise, I still postulate that Game Two is usually the turning point of a seven-game series.  Let’s use a current example.

The eighth seeded Anaheim Ducks took Game One over the powerhouse San Jose Sharks.  A road win in Game One automatically hands the home-ice advantage to the road team, erasing six months of hard work by the higher seed.

Suddenly, all the pressure is on the Sharks, who can’t afford to go to Southern California down by two games.  If they win Game Two, the Sharks have avoided a sweep at home, have gained some momentum, and have set themselves up to reclaim so-called home ice advantage by only having to win one of the next two games in Anaheim.

If they lose Game Two, then they face the unenviable task of having to beat the resurgent Ducks four out of the next five games, and that scenario doesn’t look too promising for San Jose.

Of course, the Ducks prevailed 3-2 in Game Two, and now head home up two games.  If the Sharks bounce back and take both games on the road, the worst Anaheim can be is tied heading back to San Jose, where they know they can win in the playoffs, because they’ve already won two games there.

True, if the Sharks take the next two games, they may regain momentum, and take control of the series, but that’s a pretty precarious branch to be walking out on, though now that’s all they’ve got to work with.

Game Three is also crucial, as the Blues found out, when they fell to the Canucks, who now have a stranglehold three-game lead in their series.  And we all know, only two NHL teams have ever come all the way back from a three-game hole, and prevailed….though I think we’re long overdue for it to happen again.

Okay, so maybe I’ve convinced myself that both Game Two and Game Three are the contests that, upon closer inspection, reveal much of how the series-in-question will unfold.  Someone please show me the math on this, because we can probably all list off teams that have come back from 2-0 and 3-1 game deficits, but it only stands to reason that most teams in that position never make it all the way back.

Math aside, there are other factors that have to be considered.  The Washington Capitals also have lost the first two games of their series with the New York Rangers, and they were home-ice defeats, but one gets the sense that if they can win at MSG in Game Three, they’ll force themselves right back into this series.  Same might be said for the Calgary Flames, and their battle with the Blackhawks, especially since the Flames are returning to the friendly confines of the Saddledome, or whatever they’re officially calling it these days.

Then again, does anyone really think the Montreal Canadiens will be right back in their series with the Boston Bruins if they manage to win Game Three on home ice?

Seven games in a playoff series seems to be the perfect number of games to separate the wheat from the chaff.

- Mick Kern

Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s