Your guide to the World Championship

Right now, a typical NHL fan is spending just about every evening watching hockey. If the game goes to overtime, that can extend well into the middle of the night. On weekends, there are games on in the afternoons, as well. Which leads to an important question: What should we be doing in the morning?

Could I interest you in some hockey?

The IIHF’s Ice Hockey World Championship is taking place this month in the Czech Republic, and, thanks to the magic of time zones, that means we’ve got meaningful hockey to watch all morning. Granted, it may be a little bit tricky to drag yourself out of bed at 6 a.m. to watch Norway play Belarus, but hockey fans will find a way. After all, you can sleep in July.

The tournament has been running since last Friday, but if you haven’t been keeping track, don’t worry. There are still plenty of games left to go, and I’ve put together a handy guide to bring you up to speed. Here are 10 things you need to know about the World Championship.

1. This tournament is for the championship of the entire world!

Sounds pretty exciting, right? This is the big one. It says so right there in the tournament’s name. Whoever wins this one will be the undisputed world champ!

2. It’s not really a world championship in any meaningful sense.

Look, the World Championship is a nice tournament. It’s fun. It matters to the players who go. But it’s not a real world championship, and never really has been.

The tournament’s biggest problem is timing; since it takes place every year while the NHL playoffs are still going on, many of the world’s top players aren’t able to play. And even among those who are available, finding an excuse not to go has become a bit of an annual tradition. So while the World Championship always features lots of recognizable names, it’s never really a definitive best-on-best scenario.

That said, lots of top stars do end up playing (more on that in a bit), and the quality of play is high. But as far as international prestige goes, the World Championship is far back from the Olympics, the World Cup, and even the World Juniors. At this point, you could probably also make a strong argument that the Women’s World Championship is more meaningful, too.

But none of those tournaments are going on right now, so … on to the World Championship!

3. There are a whole lot of teams.

International men’s hockey is generally considered to be a six-country sport, with gusts up to seven depending on how you feel about Slovakia. The big six — Canada, Russia, the USA, the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Finland — tend to dominate, with the occasional feel-good run by an underdog nation mixed in.

Since it’s kind of hard to run a six-team tournament, major events often work in two more teams and run with eight. Occasionally you’ll get 10 or even 12, with some preliminary tournaments to narrow down the field and give the countries with weaker programs a chance to play meaningful games. But once the real deal gets going, you want to avoid having too many teams cluttering up the schedule.

Not the World Championships. This year’s field features 16 teams, divided into two groups. And every team in a group plays each other in the round robin, which means …

4. All of those teams create lots of mismatches.

Most days on the round-robin schedule have a distinct “mid-’80s Saturday-morning wrestling” feel — you’ve got one good matchup if you’re lucky, and then a whole lot of squashes. Luckily, this year’s tiebreaking procedure doesn’t rely on total goal differential, so there’s no incentive for the stronger nations to really run up the score. But hockey is hockey, and you can take your foot off the gas only so much. We’ve already seen Canada beat Germany 10-0 and Sweden drop Latvia 8-1. That will continue as the round-robin portion wears on; there are basically one or two important games on the schedule for the top nations, and the rest are batting practice.

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So you're facing a 2-0 series deficit...

While the Capitals edged the Rangers last night to go up 2-1, the league’s three remaining series each feature a team holding a 2-0 lead. Two games into the second round, the Flames have been dominated by the Ducks, the Wild just can’t crack the Blackhawks, and the Habs … well, the Habs are kind of losing their minds against the Lightning.

The good news is that while a comeback from a 2-0 deficit is unlikely — only about 14 percent of teams pull it off — it’s far from impossible. Over the last few decades, it has tended to happen roughly once a year. We didn’t see any 2-0 comebacks in the first round this year, which means we’re still due.

That said, it’s a tricky proposition, and you really need to have a few things going for you to have a chance at pulling it off. So let’s run through eight factors that should be in your favor as you battle back from being down 2-0, and more importantly, which of these three teams have each going for them.

The Factor: A Goalie Who Can Steal the Series for You

This one’s probably the most obvious. All sorts of factors can contribute to a 2-0 deficit — a superior opponent, an offense gone cold, poor special teams, or just plain bad luck — but a hot goaltender is the one trump card that can overcome everything else. It’s awfully tough to come back without your goalie pulling off at least one or two of those “we just weren’t beating him tonight” games, and you want to have a guy who’s shown that he’s more likely than others to get it done.

Applies to: Minnesota and Montreal. Devan Dubnyk and Carey Price are two of this year’s three Vezina finalists. The Wild and Habs both have plenty to worry about right now, but not their goaltending.

Doesn’t apply to: Calgary. The Flames have already swapped starters in this series, which typically isn’t a good sign when you’re only two games in. Jonas Hiller started Game 1 but barely made it out of the first period. Karri Ramo got the nod in Game 2, and actually played a strong game despite the loss, making several highlight-reel saves. The Flames will need him to keep that up for the rest of the series; his track record says that’s probably wishful thinking.

The Factor: Facing a Goalie Who Could Let You Back In

This is the obvious flip side to the first factor. You need a goaltending edge, and the best way to get that is for your own guy to stand on his head. But if that doesn’t happen, facing an opponent who’ll hand you a few stinkers to get you back into the mix will work too. Just ask the 2002 Red Wings.

Applies to: Minnesota and maybe Calgary. Yes, Corey Crawford has a Cup ring. He’s also already lost his starting job once this postseason, and his 4-1 win on Sunday night was his first solid game of the opening two rounds. As for the Ducks, starter Frederik Andersen was supposed to be a potential weak spot heading into the playoffs. He hasn’t been so far, because the Ducks haven’t had any weak spots at all yet, and if it stays that way the Flames are done. Maybe we’re grasping at straws, but we’re not willing to move Andersen into the “sure thing” pile quite yet.

Doesn’t apply to: Montreal. We gave the “Is Ben Bishop actually good?” coin another flip, and it came up heads, so Ben Bishop is good today. And he’s been pretty darn good for the past week, starting with his Game 7 shutout win against the Red Wings and continuing through this series. So the Lightning probably feel pretty good about him (although they’d feel even better if he didn’t occasionally do stuff like this).

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The 25 moments in every NHL playoff series

We’re a few games into the second round of the NHL playoffs, and so far this postseason has been a mixed bag. We’ve seen several favorites move on, a handful of upsets, a sweep, and a pair of Game 7s. We’ve had the usual mix of great saves, heroic individual efforts, and controversial moments. And with two more rounds after this one, no doubt there’s far more to come.

But with eight series down and four more under way, it’s hard to escape a certain sense of familiarity setting in. That’s because while every playoff series is unique in its own way, they all tend to follow a pattern. So whether you’re relatively new to all of this or you’re a veteran fan who could use a refresher, now would be a good time to run down the list of 25 moments you can expect to encounter in any given NHL playoff series.

1. The matchup is finalized

If you’re lucky, you get up to a week’s notice. More often, you only get a couple of days. But either way, it’s more than enough time to start building up some animosity balanced with a healthy dose of fear. These guys aren’t bad, but your team should be able to beat them as long as everything goes according to plan.

It should be an enjoyable series. And hey, may the best team win.

2. You familiarize yourself with the other team’s media

Now is a good time to seek out some of the other team’s local media and get to know their work. After all, they know the opponent best, and you’ll probably gain some valuable inside information by keeping up with their work. Follow a few of them on Twitter, just to make sure you’re always getting both sides of the story over the weeks to come. Make sure you get the lead columnist from all the major dailies, plus a radio guy or two. Maybe even throw in the play-by-play guy – you’ve heard he’s quite the card. Always good to hear some voices from across the aisle, right?

3. Game 1

This is the big one. Game 1 sets the tone. It’s the one that determines who gets the momentum. Over the course of NHL history, the team that wins Game 1 has gone on to win the series 112 percent of the time. I may not have that number exactly right, but it’s something close. Game 1 is everything.

(Note: By the end of the series, you will not remember anything that happened in Game 1.)

4. You admit that you respect the other team’s best player

You’re rooting against the guy – that goes without saying – but you have to admit to a certain grudging respect. He’s a hell of a player. Sure, he has delivered the occasional cheap shot and he probably dives a little bit too much for your liking, but you’d take him on your team in a second.

5. The coaches start working the referees

Well, that didn’t take long. Within minutes of the first game ending (and sometimes even before), both coaches are in full-on lobbyist mode. Of course, they can’t actually say that they think the referees are screwing them — there’s no sport in that. No, they have to try to go subtle, feigning confusion over the rulebook and saying things like “I really thought that interference in the neutral zone/setting picks in the defensive end/running over the goalie with a Zamboni was against the rules, but apparently it’s not. So I guess we better start doing it too.”

It’s shameful and laughably over the top. It also works every single time without fail, with the exception of whenever your team’s coach does it.

6. You find that one guy on the other team who looks weird

Do the other team’s fans know about this? It’s always some third- or fourth-liner that you’d never heard of before, and he doesn’t really do all that much in the series. But he’s on camera just often enough that you start to wonder: What’s wrong with this face? Does he realize his jaw does that? Where is he from, and does everyone who’s from there look like that? Every time this guy shows up onscreen for the rest of the series, the next five minutes of the game will be ruined.

7. Each fan base picks one player on the other team to boo

This is always a fun one, since it happens organically. There’s no meeting; nobody holds a vote; nobody sends a memo. But at some point, everyone unanimously decides to boo one (and only one) player on the other team every time he touches the puck. It could be the superstar, the pest, or just some random guy, but it will happen to somebody.

(Underrated moments in any series are the first few times this happens, since it’s really confusing when you’re not used to it yet. One team is passing the puck around during a line change and suddenly everyone’s booing, and you’re left going, “Wait, what’s going on, is something happening behind the play that … oh, right, it’s that guy.”)

8. You fall in love with one of your team’s third-liners

He’s so gritty! And he competes so hard! And his heart! And his beard! And that one time a better player shot the puck and it deflected off his armpit and into the net! So clutch …

This offseason, he’s going to use this playoff run to demand a massive contract. This time next year, you will hate him for ruining your team’s cap. But today, you are willing to name your firstborn after him.

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Round two preview

The NHL’s frantic first round ended on Wednesday with the Lightning’s 2-0 Game 7 win over the Red Wings, so now would be a good time for everyone to stop, take a breath, and enjoy some much-needed time off from playoff hockey. Decompress a little. Maybe reconnect with family and friends.

Done? Good. Round 2 already started last night. We’d better hurry up and get to the preview.

Pacific Division: No. 1 Anaheim Ducks vs. No. 3 Calgary Flames

Series started: Last night in Anaheim, where the Ducks crushed the Flames 6-1

Season series: The Ducks won three of five. Each of the last three games ended in a 6-3 final. That means something. I do not know what.

Playoff history: They’ve met once, in the first round back in 2006; the Ducks came back from a 3-2 series deficit to win in seven.¹

Dominant narrative: The well-rested favorite takes on the scrappy underdog.

In this corner: Calgary Flames (45-30-7, 97 points, plus-24 goal differential)

How they got here: They beat the Vancouver Canucks in six in a minor upset, winning all three games at home.

Unexpected first-round hero: Micheal Ferland.² A 23-year-old rookie, Ferland (or “Ferkland,” as he’ll be forever known to Vancouver fans) drove the Canucks crazy with his physical play early in the series. Then he scored the goal that started the Flames’ comeback in the series-clinching Game 6, and finished the game with three points. His mom wouldn’t let him hit the Sedins, but we can assume she has no issue with him going after Corey Perry, because even moms hate Corey Perry.

Wakey-wakey: Mikael Backlund³ is relied on for secondary scoring from the middle six, but had just one assist in the opening round.

The big question: Can they handle the Ducks physically? The Flames-Canucks series was ugly at times, and Calgary never backed down. But the Canucks aspire to be a dominant physical team; the Ducks actually are one. A massive Jets team went out and hit every Duck that moved in Round 1 and barely made a dent in them. The Flames are a team built on a philosophy of truculence, but they’re not going to intimidate anyone this round.

Health watch: Ferland and Jiri Hudler both left last night’s game and are listed as day-to-day. Captain Mark Giordano remains out after surgery on a torn biceps. That surgery was considered absolutely, positively, 100 percent season-ending, so yeah, he’ll probably be back eventually.

Key number: 329 — Career starts for current Flames goalie Jonas Hiller during his seven years with the Ducks, including 22 in the playoffs. He was pulled early in the second last night.

Bandwagon status: With the Jets, Senators, and Islanders all out, the Flames are pretty much the last team left with any solid underdog cred.

They win this series if: They can handle the physical battle without getting into penalty trouble, the young forwards can keep producing, and Hiller rebounds from Game 1 to write a nice little revenge tale against the team that dumped him. If all of that happens, and about a dozen more things go their way, they’ll make it to Game 5. From there, they’ll probably need a miracle. So, business as usual for these guys.

And in this corner: Anaheim Ducks (51-24-7, 109 points, plus-7 goal differential)

How they got here: They swept the Jets in the first round and had been off since that series ended last Wednesday.

Unexpected first-round hero: Jakob Silfverberg. Guys like Perry and Ryan Getzlaf get most of the attention, but the Ducks can boast some impressive secondary scoring. The 24-year-old Silfverberg, who came over in the Bobby Ryan trade with Ottawa, had six points, including the late winner in Game 2.

Wakey-wakey: Not too many guys can be said to have a bad series when you win in four, but 22-goal man Matt Beleskey was held off the score sheet against Winnipeg.

The big question: Can they sweep again? After last night’s lopsided opener, it sure looks that way.

Health watch: Everyone’s at least a little hurt these days, but the Ducks should be as healthy as possible after all their time off.

Key number: 3 — Number of games in the first round in which the Ducks trailed heading into the third period but came back to win, tying an NHL playoff series record. They also had 18 third-period comebacks during the regular season, another record.

Bandwagon status: Come on. They already beat the Jets and made all their cool fans cry. If they do the same to the underdog Flames, they’ll advance to the third round, where they’ll just kick a boxful of puppies down a flight of stairs.

They win this series if: They look anything like they did in the first round, not to mention in Game 1. On paper, this should be close to a bye for the Ducks.

Prediction: The Flames once again find a way to defy the odds and make this a lot closer than it has any right to be, but the Ducks eventually advance in six hard-fought games.

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Grab bag: Round One edition

In the return of the grab bag:
- Why can't suspension rulings just be consistent?
- Don Cherry needs a reboot
- First round comedy stars
- An obscure player with a very sad record
- And we celebrate the fierce Rangers/Capitals rivalry with a classic throwdown...

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