Home Ice Advantage?
It’s pretty clear that the NHL is normally off my radar, but with the Flyers unexpected success this year I’ve been paying some attention. With the Stanley Cup Finals moving to Philadelphia tonight, I thought that home ice really just gave the team crowd support and the chance to sleep in your own bed. As it turns out, there’s more to it than that.
Apparently there’s some sort of final line change option that the home team gets that I’m trying to piece together. I’m sure it’s as simple as the home team batting last in baseball. but hockey is a foreign language to me. The hockey expert I just spoke to said that all it means is that the home team gets last pick as to what line it puts on the ice at each face off. So a team that’s not as deep in talent can make sure they have the most favorable match ups each time the puck drops.
From the analysis I listened to since the last game, this was being cited as a big disadvantage for the Flyers in games 1 and 2. So, let’s go Flyers! Use that thing that I had never heard of to your advantage after it hurt you so badly in Chicago. I’m sure it will make all the difference.