Home Ice Advantage?

Hockey Talk

I used to believe that home ice was more of an advantage in hockey than other sports but watching this years playoffs makes me wonder if that is really the case. The latest statistic that I saw showed that home teams had won just over 50% of the games so far making home ice a virtual non factor in most of the playoff series. For instance, the San Jose Sharks and Washington Capitals both lost both of their first two games at home, and won their first game of the series on the road. Other teams such as the Red Wings, Canucks, and Bruins won all their games at home and on the road so I guess the point is, if you are a championship caliber team, you're going to win whether at home or on the road. While the fans can bring a lot of excitement to a game, it still comes down to the players on the ice and while fans and others that follow the game like to believe there's a big advantage to getting home ice in the playoffs, the benefit of home ice is probably overstated.

Washington Capitals Hockey
Sports and Culture