Posted by Avs Schedule – Who thinks up this stuff?
It can’t be easy creating the NHL regular season schedule. You have 30 different arenas to deal with. One third of teams in the NHL share their buildings with an NBA team, each having 41 home games. And the NHL scheduling requirements themselves add to the complexity. The last time the NHL had a balanced schedule was back in the days of the 21 team league, where you played each team twice home and twice away. Now teams play division opponents six times, conference opponents four times and then a completely unbalanced schedule against the teams in the opposite conference. Teams play some teams only on the road, some only at home and some both home and away.
Also factoring in are the requirements of the arenas themselves. Some have extended events that required long absences for their teams. For example, the Blackhawks just returned from their “circus road trip”.
One more factor: this season’s schedule is compacted as the NHL will stop regular season play for two weeks at the end of February to take part in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. The regular season doesn’t start any earlier or end any later, so approximately six games (average for 2 weeks) have to be squeezed in.
Taking all that into consideration, it still doesn’t explain the weird schedule handed to this seasons Colorado Avalanche. By the time the team finishes their current road trip in St. Louis on December 7th they will have played 21 road games to only 11 home games. The Avs started the season with 2 home games then went on a 7 game road trip and are currently on a 5 game trip. They have had home stands of two games twice and three games once.
Longtime Colorado hockey fans can remember when the minor pro teams that played in the Denver Coliseum, the Spurs from 1968 to 1974 and the Rangers from 1987 to 1989, were forced out for more than 3 weeks every January as the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo took over the Coliseum. (And the “aroma” from the various Stock Show animals took over the Coliseum for another couple of weeks after the Spurs/Rangers returned).
But that was not the case this season. From October through December there were only two extended events at the Pepsi Center, each three days. So that leaves unanswered the question “why?”.
Another puzzling aspect of this year’s schedule is the routing. Looking at some of this year’s road trips makes you wonder if the NHL schedule makers flunked geography.
The current road trip is a good example. The Avs started the trip in Tampa Bay on Monday, then played in Miami on Wednesday. They left immediately after that game, arriving in Pittsburgh at 3AM to play the Stanley Cup Champion Penguins that night.
Earlier this season Colorado played back to back games in Edmonton and Calgary, went down to San Jose and then returned to Canada to finish the trip in Vancouver. Huh?
A trip in January has them playing back to back games in Carolina and Buffalo and then making a quick cross-continental hop to play in Calgary.
(Imagine how tough these trips would have been back in the day when teams flew commercial instead of charter flights).
When all is said and done, by the end of 2009 the Avs will have played 24 road games to only 18 home games.
As inequitable as the 2009 part of the schedule seems, it means that Colorado will play 23 home games to 17 road games in 2010. From January 16th to the last game before the Olympic break on February 13th the Avalanche will play 10 home games while playing only 3 times on the road, each a one game trip. In that stretch the Avs have home stands of 5 games and 4 games.
In a backhanded way this seasons schedule might turn out to be a boon. Quite a few in Avs Nation were certain that the terrible early schedule would bury the Avs and when they made it through October and November near the top of the Northwest Division there was cause for optimism. If the Avalanche can stay in that vicinity through the middle of January, they can pile on the points during the 10 home / 3 road game stretch that follows.
All in all, I think I’d rather take my chances with a schedule a little more balanced.
Some Other Articles That You May Enjoy:
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Colorado Avalanche Report 1/30/2010
Colorado Avalanche Report 1/16/2010
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Just so you know, everyone’s schedule is messed up, not just the Avs. How about the fact that the Flames had 5 games in 20 days then went on to have 4 sets of back-to-back games in November?