First Round Of Playoffs Rolls Along

A week and a half into the 2010 NHL playoffs, here's what we know about the first round:

• there were no sweeps
• only one series finished in 5 games (Phil over NJ)
• at least three series will end up 4-2 (Pit, San Jose and Van all winning in 6)
• at least one series will go the distance (Det and Pho tied at 3-3)
• three series will go either 6 or 7 games (Bos, Wash and Chi all lead 3-2 at the moment)

Not long ago, I blogged about the incredible parity demonstrated at the start of the postseason this year. While that tight start let up a bit as we went along, both in terms of series results and individual game scores, we've still seen a lot of overtime periods and empty net goals lately (both indicative of close games).

If we compare what we know about this current first round to last year's results, we see that there were three sweeps in 2009 compared to none this year, which is certainly not offset by the fact that no series finished in five games last year while one did this time around. There was a total of 44 first round games in 2009, and we can count on a minimum of 48 before we're through to Round 2 this year, with the possibility of as many as 51 games. In other words, the proceedings have unquestionably reflected more parity this year than last.

I've watched some portion of all 44 games so far this round, and very few of them have failed to provide good entertainment. If hockey fans in general aren't excited about the playoffs right now, then I'm not sure they really deserve the label "fan"... and I say that as someone whose team isn't even in the festivities, so that's hardly an excuse for Leafs, Oilers or Flames followers!