Tanking! That word with negative connotations becomes a popular focal point around this time of year.
In Sports, tanking is commonly referred to as purposely losing games with the objective being for a team to get a better draft pick the following season.
Firstly, professional players do not intentionally try to lose.
Pro athletes have enormous egos with great pride and dignity, not to mention bonus clauses.
In addition, a coach will never give a pre-game pep talk suggesting: “Let’s lose one for the gipper”.
There is no benefit for the players to lose consistently however teams can certainly utilize their roster, so they don’t always have the best chance to win.
Many Vancouver Canucks supporters have been cheering loudly for their team to drop game after game down the stretch in order to improve their chances of landing Auston Matthews, the projected top pick in the June Draft.
How do you think the Sedins feel about this since they are in the twilight of their career and likely won’t be part of any Vancouver resurgence?
Henrik and Daniel have been vocal this season about their frustration with some players on the team not putting forward a strong enough effort each time out.
The Canucks, to the delight of some of their fans, seemed to tank in a pair of losses this week in Alberta: 6-2 to Edmonton and 7-3 to Calgary meaning Vancouver will finish either 27th or 28th in the overall standings.
The Canucks will have either a 9.5 % or 11.5 % chance of winning the draft lottery.
It is difficult to gauge intent, so to prevent teams from purposely attempting to finish last overall, the lottery system was created in the NHL (WHL) and NBA.
32 years ago, this issue was prominent, yet every spring we reflect on the pros and cons of the worst team in the standings getting the best available amateur player.
In theory, it should work that way.
The New Jersey Devils were suspicious of the Pittsburgh Penguins throwing their last few games of the 1983-84 season to acquire the 1984 first overall draft pick—Mario Lemieux, who ended up saving the franchise.
The Penguins finished with a mere 38 points, three less than the Devils.
New Jersey got the consolation prize with the #2 pick, Kirk Muller, who turned out to be a very good player, but not close to the stature of #66, who averaged a whopping four points a game in his final year of junior.
Picking first overall in some years offers no guarantees.
The Edmonton Oilers remain cellar dwellers despite having in their lineup the #1 player taken in three straight drafts: Taylor Hall (2010), Ryan Nugent Hopkins (2011) and Nail Yakupov (2012).
Yes, the Oilers got lucky when landing Connor McDavid (2015) but the team continues to flounder at the bottom.
Everyone seems to have an answer to the lottery dilemma but often the worst team does not get the first pick which doesn’t seem right.
Then again this situation has been caused by a lack of integrity with many losing teams.
And another 32 years from now, the debate will still be raging on.
Yes, despite suspicions, we will truly never know if the 83/84 Penguins purposely “tanked” or not.
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Home ice can be overrated in the playoffs.
Sure every team would prefer to play in front of their fans but often in hockey there isn’t much of an advantage.
Here are some recent examples:
In the first round of the WHL playoffs, home teams were 19-23 in 42 games, including 12-9 in the Western Conference and 7-14 in the Eastern Conference.
In round three of the BCHL playoffs, the visiting team is 5-0.
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The third round of the BCHL post-season drags on far too long.
Three teams start out in a double round robin with the top two to advance to the best of 7 Fred Page Cup final.
This year the Nanaimo Clippers are 2-1, the Chilliwack Chiefs are 2-2 and the West Kelowna Warriors are 1-2.
The next game tonight has West Kelowna at Nanaimo.
One would think a Clippers win would eliminate the Warriors but that is not the case in this race to three victories.
The League issued the following release:
Here are the possible scenarios that will unfold after the West Kelowna at Nanaimo game.
1. If Nanaimo wins Friday’s game over West Kelowna:
· Nanaimo advances to the BCHL Finals
· West Kelowna and Chilliwack would continue playing, beginning on Sunday, April 10 in Chilliwack until one team reaches three wins
2. If West Kelowna wins Friday’s game over Nanaimo:
· all teams would be 2-2 in Round 3 and the schedule would be as follows:
Sunday, April 10 – West Kelowna AT Chilliwack
The winner of this game would advance to the Fred Page Cup Finals.
The losing team will play vs Nanaimo on Tuesday, April 12 for the last berth in the Fred Page Cup Finals (venue TBD)
Surely there has to be a better way.
By the time the Fred Page Cup is handed out, the two finalists could have met a total of 10 times, should the championship series go the full seven games.
My suggestion would be to eliminate the bottom team after the double round robin unless all three teams are 2-2.
If three teams are 2-2, the team with the best goals for and against record should advance to the final while the other two play a sudden death game for the second berth.
Another suggestion that makes more sense, but less financial rewarding, would be for the three BCHL division winners to play a single round robin.
The team with the best record after two games would advance to the final while the other two teams would meet in a sudden death game or possibly a best of three series to determine the second Fred Page Cup finalist.
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Jake Lebrun, a former Spruce Kings captain, and Liam Blackburn of Prince George are playing for West Kelowna.
In 15 BCHL playoff games for the Warriors, Blackburn has 13 points, including 6 goals while Lebrun has two goals and three assists.
From the Quote Rack:
Cleveland guard Kyrie Irving says he still thinks the Cavaliers “are the team to beat” in the NBA postseason. Did they legalize marijuana in Ohio and not tell us?
Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California www.leftcoastsportsbabe.com
A former Cleveland Browns employee has been indicted for embezzling from the team $88,000–or roughly two Johnny Manziel blackjack hands.
Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California
The San Diego Padres opened the season by being shut out three games in a row by the Dodgers. They are now favored to win the lottery for the NHL Austin Mathews #1 draft pick selection.
Comedy writer TC Chong
And in case you missed it:
Reuters reports a 72-year-old man faces prison after forcing an airliner to land because he was in the galley doing yoga. He could get 20 years, which is quite a stretch.
Comedy writer RJ Currie www.Sportsdeke.com
Hartley Miller is the sports director and morning news anchor for 94.3 the Goat. He also is the 94.3 radio color commentator for P.G. Cougars home games.
His column appears Fridays on myprincegeorgenow.com.
Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to [email protected]
Follow him on twitter: @Hartley_Miller
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