Week 12: Playoffs – Round 1 (Brackets 3 & 4)

And we’re back!

Welcome to day two of Ellie’s NHL team-finding playoff. Yesterday the Montreal Canadiens played off against the Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets went up against Tampa Bay Lightning.

Who came out on top? Read the day one report here.

On with the show:

Washington Capitals V Philadelphia Flyers

 

Hilarity of player names:

The Flyers and Capitals both have a pretty good roster. Pretty good being speak for “I know how to pronounce those names”. Except this one. Not sure on this one from the Flyers: Roman Lyubimov.

 

X Factor:

Caps: T.J. Oshie, Alex Ovechkin.

The Caps also have Nathan Walker – Australia’s first ever real NHL hopeful. Nathan, or Stormy as he is known, isn’t playing for the Caps but he plays for their feeder teams, the Hershey Bears. This is a pretty big X Factor for me.

Flyers: Claude Giroux.

Image caption: Nathan Walker, Australia’s NHL hopeful.

Logo:

The Caps logo is pretty stock standard. It’s their name with three stars over the top. The T in Capitals is a hockey stick. The theming and design makes it work.
Out of the two though, you have to go with the Flyers logo. It’s pretty unique – out of the whole league. Like Detroit, the logo is a take on a puck with wings. And it has the Flyers orange. It’s an extremely strong logo.

 

History:

The Flyers were the first expansion team in the post-Original Six era to win the Stanley Cup, victorious in 1973-74 and again in 1974-75. The Flyers have played their home games on Broad Street since their inception, which is why they are often referred to affectionately by their fans as The Broad Street Bullies.

Side note: in the TV show Bones the lead male character is a mad Flyers fan.

The Caps joined the NHL as an expansion team for the 1974-75 season, alongside the Kansas City Scouts. Or, as we know them today, the New Jersey Devils. In 1998 they won their conference championship, but that’s as close as they’ve come to Stanley.

 

Image caption: This is the delightfully good looking David Boreanaz who plays FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth on the TV show Bones (he was also Angel. You know, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Booth loves the Flyers.

 

Social media:

There’s just something special about the Flyers’ social media. They have great graphics, make fun and engaging posts, are engaging, they show a lot of behind the scenes or extra stuff.
The Caps are pretty good on the socials. Kind of lacking personality, but they share a lot of photos of players with fans, which is nice. Their graphics for this season need a little working on.  And I don’t think you should have a Snapchat profile image as your Twitter profile picture. That’s so early 2016.

 

Mascot:

Slapshot the bald eagle is the Caps mascot. He is on brand. Washington, home to US democracy. Democracy = bald head eagle. Look, in my week eight blog post on NHL mascots I panned Slapshot for being boring. But I am revising that. He is on point, he’s the teams only mascot (consistency is key) and he’s hip for a bird that is 234 years old.

The Flyers don’t have a mascot. They had one in 1976, coincidentally also named Slapshot, but he was short-lived. They had an unofficial mascot for a few years around 2010, a fan dressed in Flyers orange who danced. He was shown dancing on the giant screen and got the crowd going.

 

Culture:

The Flyers have this tough, bully-like persona. They come from Philly, they’re tough because they’re from a tough place, blue collar working. Even before I started this NHL team-finding journey I knew about the Flyers and their tough exterior.
The Caps have this persona of success. The team plays really well together, they have good players. They’re like the younger brother of the NHL who are working hard to get into college. College being the Cup.

 

Pittsburgh Penguins V Chicago Blackhawks

 

Hilarity of player names:

The Hawks have some hard to say names in their mix like Niklas Hjalmarsson and Trevor van Riemsdyk.

Funniest? Jordin Tootoo. Jordin’s last name sounds like the sound a train makes.

The only name on the Pens roster I can’t pronounce is T. Tom Kuhnhackl.

Funniest? Brian Rust. Just because it’s so basic.

 

X Factor:

Hawks: Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane.

 
Pens: Sidney Crosby. Another hands down.

 

Logo:

The Pens’ logo in on theme. A triangle with the team’s yellow with an angry-looking, skating penguin on top. As far as NHL logos go, it’s one of the better ones. And it’s instantly recognisable.

I like the Hawks’ logo – an Indian (Native American) chief face. I think I like it the most because it has a lot of meaning – the logo is another piece of the team’s and country’s narrative. It has deeper meaning than just being this NHL team’s logo.

History:

The Pens were founded in 1967 as one of the first teams that joined the NHL during the original expansion from six to 12 teams. They have four Cups behind them. The Pens have rivalries with the Flyers, Caps and BJ’s.

The Hawks have won six Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926. They won three of those Cups between 2010-2015. The Blackhawks are one of the Original Six NHL (Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers).

The Hawks were named the Black Hawks originally. This was changed in 1986. They got this name thanks to one of the founding owners, Frederic McLaughlin.

McLaughlin had been a commander with the 333rd Machine Gun Battalion of the 86th Infantry Division during WWI. This division was nicknamed the “Blackhawk Division” after a Native American named Black Hawk. McLaughlin named the new hockey team in honor of the military unit.

 

Social media:

The Pens and Hawks both bring it on social media.

The Pens have a nice-looking profile, are funny, share heaps of images, graphics and videos that are punny and informative. They put together funny clips and are always on trend with their way of getting fans to interact with their content.

The Hawks are also punny, they’re on trend and have great graphics. Their GIFs are great, too.

 

Mascot:

The Hawks have the best mascot in the NHL. Hands down (sorry, I’m not one to repeat myself but I’m aware I’ve said that phrase three times now). Tommy Hawk is such a well-developed character. His bio cracks me up. Position: Center (of attention). Hobbies: Launching confetti, spraying silly string. Favorited Foods: Roasted Duck, Pickled Penguin, Coyote Burgers, Buffalo Wings. Get it? Tommy has a brilliant Twitter presence. Annnnddd he liked one of my Tweets.

The Pens mascot is a penguin. Obviously. His name is Iceburgh. I like that they went for something a little different with the name. The Pens have a pretty cool mascot, too. He actually debuted in a film in 1995, Sudden Death.

 

Culture:

Both teams have a winning culture. They’re Cup winners, play with finesse, have star attractions, have fiercely loyal followings.

And at the end of day two?

The winners are (drum roll please): The Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins!

From four match-ups we have four winners. These two plus the Habs and Blue Jackets.

Next week the Habs and BJs and Caps and Pens will duke it out.

Check back tomorrow for the battle between brackets 5 and 6!