06-16-2017, 10:03 AM
For the first time in franchise history, the Clarence S. Campbell trophy, the trophy awarded to the winner of the NHL’s Western Conference, will be inside Bridgestone Arena. It’s funny how in the NHL Colin Wilson Jersey, winning the conference is not a big deal. In the MLB and NFL, teams go nuts after winning their conference playoffs. Baseball players toss on goggles and spray Bud Light in each other’s faces. NFL players bask in the glory of their accomplishments.NHL players? Well, who cares about the conference? Everyone knows the real prize is the Stanley Cup. This mentality has, ever since 1997, bred a superstition of whether or that one should not touch the conference trophy. Why celebrate when the job isn’t done yet?Initiated by the 1997 Philadelphia Flyers, more and more team captains have refused to touch their conference trophies because the real prize was yet to be won. In fact, since the lockout, not one Western Conference winner has touched the Clarence S. Campbell trophy. Yet, for all the superstition, does not touching the conference trophy lead to better results? No.Does not touching the Clarence S. Campbell trophy give the Western Conference the highest chance of winning the Stanley Cup, purely from a superstition-karma standpoint?No.If the trophy is awarded Monday night, should the Nashville Predators touch it if they want the statistically best blessings from the hockey gods come the Stanley Cup Finals? Maybe.The Cold, Hard FactsThe first team to engage in this superstition was the Philadelphia Flyers who decided to avoid touching the cup a convenient twenty years ago. Below are the Stanley Cup Finalists of those last twenty years.Key:Blue: Lost, did not touch the conference trophy.Red: Lost, touched the conference trophy https://www.predatorsoutlet.com/Craig_Smith_Jersey-10.Green: Won, did not touch the conference trophy.Yellow: Won, touched the conference trophy. There are some key things to note here. First, the tradition of not touching the conference trophy has grown significantly over time. The winner of the Western Conference has not touched their trophy since Calgary touched it and lost in 2004. Meanwhile, the Eastern Conference has touched the Prince of Wales trophy, the award given to the Eastern Conference champions significantly more than the west has touched the Clarence S. Campbell trophy.Nevertheless, if both teams don’t touch their trophy, or if both do touch it, what are the likely outcomes? The Western Conference crushes the Eastern Conference when both sides match each other in either touching or not touching their conference trophies. When both conference winners mirror the other’s actions Juuse Saros Jersey, the west has a 8-3 record. In particular, the Western Conference dominates in years in which both teams have refused to touch their conference trophies, stockpiling a 5-2 record off the heels of the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings.