Road trips are where good records and momentum go to die. Some teams will talk about how a road trip can build camaraderie and a family atmosphere within the team, but it’s usually a better idea than it is in practice. I don’t care how much family spirit you have, if you go 1-4-1 on a 6 game road trip then you did NOT do anything positive for the good of the team. It might SOUND like a good idea—but after you do it then there are undoubtedly feelings of regret.
"I love playing in the East!!!"
What makes it so difficult to play on the road? There are a couple of built in advantages for the home team, but there has to be something more than that, right? Is it that important to put your stick down 2nd when you’re taking a faceoff? Is getting the last line change a matter of winning or losing? There has to be more to it than that—or I’m wasting my time being a fan.
The truth of the matter is that playing at home has built in advantages that you can quantify with statistics or a rule book. There’s a feeling in the building that can’t carry an under matched team to levels that they couldn’t otherwise reach. Think about that feeling you have when you’re at a game and the crowd is going nuts after a huge hit, a fight or a big goal. If you’re anything like me, you feel like you could go out there and take a shift yourself! Just imagine how the players on the ICE feel when that energy is filling their arena?
When a player is at home before the game, there is a built in advantages as well. On the road, teams routinely have to deal with back-to-back situations and even 3 games in 4 nights. They’ll hop on planes immediately after games, fly to another city, take a bus to a hotel and not hit the bed until 3:00am or 4:00am. They’ll lose entire days recovering from the night before—or worse yet they’ll be playing another game when they haven’t fully recovered from the game and travel of the previous night. They’ll switch between time zones like we switch between regular and decaf at our desk. They have chartered flights, but let’s not pretend like it doesn’t take anything out of the players and their effectiveness.
It’s not just the hockey related things that contribute to road woes though. Think about when you’re on a trip for work—hell, think about when you’re just away from home on vacation. Everything’s different. You’re living out of a suitcase. You’re sleeping in a different bed, a different bathroom and even sharing a room. Sometimes, you’ll look forward to it and even enjoy it—at the beginning. At some point, you start yearning for those everyday things you take for granted at home. A home cooked meal. You yearn for the familiarity of your neighborhood, grocery store or usual Friday night restaurant. You look forward to your own bed (yes I like to sleep); if you have a family, your kids faces.
With all of these everyday factors working against NHL road teams, it’s no wonder that there is a huge disparity between home and away records. Through a month and half of the season, home teams are 57 games over .500 (141-84-27). Away teams are only 5 games over .500 (111-106-35) (you can thank shootouts for the discrepancy in home/away cohesiveness). In case you don’t quite understand the disparity between those numbers, that’s the difference between a 3rd seed in the playoffs last year and the 9th pick in the draft. Don’t fool yourself, it’s a huge difference.
"I hate playing in the West..."
Last year, 25 teams had winning records at home and only 4 teams had losing records (the Maple Leafs broke even). The Western Conference only had ONE team last season that was under .500 on the road (Colorado Avalanche). Read that again: 14 out of 15 teams had winning records at home in the Western Conference last season. This season, Western teams are already 39 games over .500; while Eastern teams are only 18 games over the break-even point.
Are the teams in the West better? Or are the arena’s tougher to deal with? I’m not sure it’s either of those things. The teams in the West are used to dealing with SERIOUS travel for every single road trip. When the Kings have a game against the Sharks or the Coyotes, we’re still talking about an hour and 15 minute flight. And those are the easy road trips!
If they aren’t playing one of those teams (or the Ducks), then we’re talking about a 2 and a half hour flight minimum. The Rangers could play for a month without enduring that kind of flight. So when they DO have to deal with that kind of travel, they aren’t as well prepared as teams from the West.
The New Jersey Devils have started the season 9-0 on the road. The Pittsburgh Penguins started the season 7-0 on the road before they made their trip to the West Coast. If you put these starts into historical perspective, we’re talking about the 2nd and 3rd best road starts since expansion (Buffalo started 10-0 in the 2006-07 season). There’s no doubt that the Devils record has been impressive—but they haven’t even left the Eastern Time Zone. Their furthest game was against the Florida Panthers. Teams in the Pacific Division deal with a 3 hour flight every time they hit the road.
Next time you see your favorite team playing on the road, keep some of these things in mind. Every single fan wants their team to go 82-0. But when you see your team playing flat on the road, stop and think about the peripheral things going on during the trip. Think about how you feel the day after you have a flight. Better yet, think about how you feel the day after a red-eye flight. When you’re on a business trip, think about how much you want to go home by the end of the trip.
Sometimes we forget that hockey players are just like you and me. They might be better compensated, in better shape and have a better job, but at the end of the day they are the same as every other person on the planet. Keep that in mind when they’re dragging ass and getting hammered by a team in the Southeast. It’ll help you sleep at night.
