Colin Nevitt

Why N.H.L players might not enjoy the comfort of home ice.


The pregame show turned out to be prophetic in the stanley cup finals, this game held the two best teams in the western and eastern conference. The teams were Las Vegas Knights and Washington Capitals. Basking in the bleachers from the cheers of the fans the team took down its opponent, the Washington Capitals. But two nights later, the Knights foundered a loss 3-2. The games ended the way they did because of complex factors to tease apart, but their outcome established well in the N.H.L ,the advantage of playing at home that bolsters teams in sports like basketball and football does not apply much in hockey. Home advantage is phenomenal in all major sports, in the N.B.A for example, teams have historically won more than 60 percent of their home games. However over the last 10 years N.H.L home teams have one only 55 percent of the time, according to data from hockey reference. The prospects tend to be a lot worse postseason. N.H.L teams lose more that half of their home games during playoffs, wining under 47 percent of the games before the finals. Before winning to austonashing games and taking a 3-1 series lead in the stanley cup finals, capitals were 4-5 at the capital one arena during the playoffs. They can win the stanley cup finals on a road game against Las Vegas Knights, where they went 9-3 during postseason there.

Most hockey teams are very competitive, always looking for a way to win and defeat the other team. The reason why some NHL teams don’t win or don’t have as good enough chance to win is because of home ice advantage, it doesn’t make much sense because home ice advantage is suppose to be good luck and a way to win the game for a very long time. Some of the NHL teams are convinced that home advantage is no longer a good thing and keeps them from defeating the other team, being the home team builds up a lot of pressure on the home team because of all the fans showing up to the game wanting them to win and that might not make the players do as well witch means winning the game is going to be a lot harder. This doesn’t just affect the home team it also affects the away team also, this affects the away team in a positive way because without having much fans their it feels like a normal hockey game competing and pushing to get closer and closer to the stanley cup. In conclusion to this article home advantage is not what you want and being away is better because it does not cause any pressure and gives the team a chance to do what they can do without having to think they have to win all the time.