The guys from NBA had their fun, now is NHL turn. The playoffs for the Hockey league is around the corner. Like almost every tournament in the U.S ground, West will meet East at the end, but first each conference must find their champion to represent and claim the precious trophy for their glory.

With the end of the regular season, 16 teams were the chosen ones for these playoffs, eight by each side. For the Western Conference, the Vancouver Canucks was the team champion of the regular season and with the best record at 117 points. For the Eastern side, the Washington Capitals is the top seeded team with 107 points. Also, this is the first time that three teams based in California (San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim) together with Vancouver made it to the playoffs in the same year; being all four part of the Pacific Coast.

The announcement will be public when the few teams with final games left finish their seasons. This season crusade for the Stanley Cup promise games filled with excitement and rivalries old and new with action from both sides of the country map. Every team in this battle for the cup will have their chance; from the top seeded Vancouver to the lowest ranked New York team.

The Playoffs are divided in three rounds for each conference, the first round, the conference semifinals and the conference finals. The winner of each conference will be facing against each other at the final match for the desired trophy. During the first rounds, teams are seeded according to the same criteria, and the remaining highest seeds play against the lowest seeds remaining.

In case of a tie, the NHL tie break procedure will work this way; if two or more teams are tied by points at the end of the season, the standing of the teams in each Conference should be determined in the following order:

1: the greater number of games won.

2: the greater number of points earned in games between the teams that are tied. If two teams are tied but haven't played an equal number of games at home against each other, points earned in the first game played in the city that had an extra game shall not be included. If there are more than two teams tied, then the higher percentage of available points earned in games among those teams, but don't include any "odd" games, shall be used to determine the standing.

3: The Greater differential between goals for and against for the entire regular season.

The Playoffs will be the Best-of-seven-format. The higher seed will receive a Home-Ice advantage in all rounds except for the first, when all division winners are assured a seed that is no lower than three. The Advantage for the finals is determined by points. The team with home-ice advantage is at home for games 1, 2, 5 and 7 and on the road for 3, 4 and 6.

The Stanley Cup will be covered through live streaming on Stream Online Free Channels. Both Conferences are ready, and the teams are more than ready to claim the Stanley Cup Trophy for their home. The games will be hard and full of adrenaline, Blood and Teeth's on the floor guaranteed, so don't miss them.

written by:MK