Sports Then and Now

Which team’s goal song will carry them to victory in the 2013 GSC?

The NHL playoffs kick off in a few hours and I really don’t think that there is a better playoff series in sports. There is nothing like playoff hockey. The tempo of the game, the physicality and the effort shown by all of the guys on the ice blows every other sport out of the water.

If you have ever been to a hockey game you know all about the goal horns that go off when a team scores. Personally, I think the horns are awesome but what I like even more are the songs that follow. Every team has their own goal song and every song, if played enough, can start to drive a visiting goalie insane.

Goal songs come in all forms. There are chants, there are up tempo songs, classic songs and songs that straight up make you want to dance. But it’s playoff time, so for 16 other teams their goal scoring days are over (at least for this season). It’s time for me to reveal my playoff bracket based on which songs are the best. I also welcome any of you to leave your comments and let me know who your Goal Song Cup winner would be.

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Marcel Dionne and the Los Angeles Kings pulled off an amazing upset of the Wayne Gretzky led Oilers in the 1982 playoffs.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin tomorrow and casual sports fans should know the NHL’s postseason is perhaps the most unpredictable in professional sports.

Since the National Hockey League went to the conference format in 1994, eight #1 seeds have been eliminated in the first round.

With that in mind, here is a list of the 10 greatest first round upsets in NHL history.

The moments on this list go back to as far as 1980, ever since the Stanley Cup Playoffs began to accept 16 teams.

10. 2009 Sharks-Ducks
The President’s Trophy is awarded to the team with the best regular season record in the NHL, but has almost became a kiss of death as only seven teams have gone to win the Stanley Cup after winning the President’s trophy and five winners have been knocked out in the first round since the NHL began awarding the trophy in 1986.

The 2009 San Jose Sharks became the fourth of the five President’s trophy winners to be eliminated in the first round after losing to the Anaheim Ducks in a six-game series, following a season where the Sharks complied 117 points compared to the Ducks’ 91.

9. 1981 Oilers-Canadians
Wayne Gretzky won his first playoff series with a stunning upset of the Montreal Canadians.

In the 1981 playoffs, the 16 playoff teams were seeded 1 through 16, regardless of conference or division, so the Oilers were seeded #14 after a 74-point season and faced the #3 seed Montreal Canadians, who had complied 103 points in the regular season.

Gretzky set the tone with five assists in the Oilers’ 6-3 victory in Game 1, leading to a sweep of the Canadians in three games in the best-of-five series. Read the rest of this entry →