Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Excitement of an NHL Game Seven






With Saint Louis, Nashville and Philadelphia already winning their series, the first round will have a few less game sevens. However, with Boston forcing a game seven in overtime, fans will get a chance to watch one of the best outcomes in professional sports. Game sevens are certainly exciting in baseball and basketball, but hockey beats both out. Hockey is the only sport that has the physicality normally associated with football. The physical play only revs up when a series reaches game seven. Two teams have been battling it out for six games and know the only way to advance is win game seven. Furthermore, both teams know if they lose the game, their season is over.

Goaltenders make great saves, players take amazing shots and hard hits seem to happen every other minute. I dare anyone who claims hockey is boring to watch a game seven and then tell me how they feel about the sport. Let's take a look at the past decade and the game sevens that occurred in the playoffs. One goal games will be in bold and over time games will be in bold and italics.

2011:
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 26 April: Buffalo loses at Philadelphia, 5-goals-2 
  • Game 7 on Wednesday, 27 April: Montreal loses at Boston, 4-goals-3 (OT) 
  • Game 7 on Wednesday, 27 April: Tampa Bay wins at Pittsburgh, 1-goal-nil 
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 26 April: Chicago loses at Vancouver, 2-goals-1 (OT) 
  • Game 7 on Thursday, 12 May: Detroit loses at San Jose, 3-goals-2 
  • Game 7 on Friday, 27 May: Tampa Bay loses at Boston, 1-goal-nil 
  • Game 7 on Wednesday, 15 June: Boston wins at Vancouver, 4-goals-nil 
2010:
  • Game 7 on Wednesday, 28 April: Montreal wins at Washington, 2-goals-1 
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 27 April: Detroit wins at Phoenix, 6-goals-1 
  • Game 7 on Wednesday, 12 May: Montreal wins at Pittsburgh, 5-goals-2 
  • Game 7 on Friday, 14 May: Philadelphia wins at Boston, 4-goals-3 
2009:
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 28 April: N.Y. Rangers lose at Washington, 2-goals-1 
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 28 April: Carolina wins at New Jersey, 4-goals-3 
  • Game 7 on Thursday, 14 May: Carolina wins at Boston, 3-goals-2 (OT) 
  • Game 7 on Wednesday, 13 May: Pittsburgh wins at Washington, 6-goals-2 
  • Game 7 on Thursday, 14 May: Anaheim loses at Detroit, 4-goals-3 
  • Game 7 on Friday, 12 June: Pittsburgh wins at Detroit, 2-goals-1 
2008:
  • Game 7 on Monday, 21 April: Boston loses at Montreal, 5-goals-nil 
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 22 April: Philadelphia wins at Washington, 3-goals-2 (OT) 
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 22 April: Calgary loses at San Jose, 5-goals-3 

2007:
  • Game 7 on Monday, 23 April: Dallas loses at Vancouver, 4-goals-1 

2006:
  • Game 7 on Wednesday, 03 May: Anaheim wins at Calgary, 3-goals-nil 
  • Game 7 on Thursday, 01 June: Buffalo loses at Carolina, 4-goals-2 
  • Game 7 on Monday, 19 June: Edmonton loses at Carolina, 3-goals-1 

2005:

Playoffs did not occur because of the lockout

2004:
  • Game 7 on Monday, 19 Apr: Montreal wins at Boston, 2-goals-nil 
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 20 Apr: Ottawa loses at Toronto, 4-goals-1 
  • Game 7 on Monday, 19 Apr: Calgary wins at Vancouver, 3-goals-2 (OT) 
  • Game 7 on Saturday, 22 May: Philadelphia loses at Tampa Bay, 2-goals-1 
  • Game 7 on Monday, 07 Jun: Calgary loses at Tampa Bay, 2-goals-1 
2003:
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 22 Apr: Toronto loses at Philadelphia, 6-goals-1 
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 22 Apr: Minnesota wins at Colorado, 3-goals-2 (OT)
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 22 Apr: St. Louis loses at Vancouver, 4-goals-1 
  • Game 7 on Thursday, 08 May: Minnesota wins at Vancouver, 4-goals-2 
  • Game 7 on Friday, 23 May: New Jersey wins at Ottawa, 3-goals-2 
  • Game 7 on Monday, 09 Jun: Anaheim loses at New Jersey, 3-goals-nil 

2002:
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 30 April: N.Y. Islanders lose at Toronto, 4-goals-2 
  • Game 7 on Monday, 29 April: Los Angeles loses at Colorado, 4-goals-nil 
  • Game 7 on Tuesday, 14 May: Ott. loses at Tor., 3-goals-nil 
  • Game 7 on Wednesday, 15 May: S.J. loses at Col., 1-goal-nil 
  • Game 7 on Friday, 31 May: Col. loses at Det., 7-goals-nil 

2001:
  • Game 7 on Wednesday, 09 May: Toronto loses at New Jersey, 5-goals-1 
  • Game 7 on Thursday, 10 May: Pittsburgh wins at Buffalo in OT, 3-goals-2
  • Game 7 on Wednesday, 09 May: Los Angeles loses at Colorado, 5-goals-1 
  • Game 7 on Saturday, 09 June: New Jersey loses at Colorado, 3-goals-1 

So you've stomached through my game seven stats and are probably asking yourself why I would list all of the game sevens for the last decade? Well let me give you a little more stats and show you what I see about the last decades game sevens:

  • Of the one-hundred and thirty-five total series, there were forty-four that went to game sevens during the decade. That means only 32.5% of series go to a game seven. They are going to happen sometime during the playoffs (one has happened every year during my search), but are not that common. 
  • Of the forty-four game sevens, twenty-seven or 61.3% of the games were decided by two goals. 
  • Of the forty-four game sevens, twenty or 45.4% of the games were decided by one goal. This means almost half of the game sevens are going to be a close game. If a game is close, that either means the goalies played great games or each team was able to provide great defense and score goals. 
  • Of the forty-four game sevens, five or 11.3% are decided in overtime. This is an extremely rare occurrence. Overtime game sevens are great and I can only hope this year's game sevens head to overtime. 
  • The largest margin of victory in the last decade's game sevens was seven goals in 2002 as Detroit beat Colorado 7-0. 

Now that you know a little more about game sevens, I hope that you take the opportunity to watch what the NHL has to offer. I promise game seven will be one of the most exciting sporting events you can watch this year.

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