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NHL: Can Baseball Teams Learn From Hockey’s Playoff Traditions?

By Aaron Goldschmidt

NASHVILLE, TN - JUNE 5: Honorary Mayor of Nashville Ryan Johansen #92 of the Nashville Predators gives his postgame locker room talk after a 4-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins during Game Four of the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Bridgestone Arena on June 5, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - JUNE 5: Honorary Mayor of Nashville Ryan Johansen #92 of the Nashville Predators gives his postgame locker room talk after a 4-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins during Game Four of the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Bridgestone Arena on June 5, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Rockies may have celebrated their playoff berth prematurely, something NHL teams purposely shy away from.

Much like the NHL season, the MLB season is long and grueling for fans of baseball, and even longer for the players. 162 games from late March until the end of September is a marathon, but that’s why they get paid the big bucks.  And it makes perfect sense to celebrate if your team was good enough to make the playoffs.  Or does it?

This season, the Colorado Rockies started off hot as they usually do.  The reputation in Denver is the team bursts out of the gate but tends to slow down after the All-Star break.  This year, the Rockies were one of the best teams in baseball to start the season featuring a handful of young sluggers led by third baseman Nolan Arenado.

Nearing the end of the regular season, they were in a dead heat with the Milwaukee Brewers for the last wild-card spot in the National League.  And with one game remaining in the season, the Rockies clinched their spot in the 2017 playoffs.  For the first time since 2009, they got to the post-season for another Rocktober.

The video above shows the reaction of Rockies pitcher Jon Gray after the team found out they were headed to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks for a one-game playoff.  Gray talks about how special it is to have made the playoffs, noting it’s something the Rockies have waited for all year.

In the background, loud cheers were accented with the popping of champagne bottles.  Like they were celebrating a new year, the Rockies expected to take their fresh slate and motivation to Arizona for a hard-fought divisional battle for the right to play the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Then this happened.

The Rockies and their ace, who had celebrated their playoff berth just days before, were met with a rude awakening early in the first inning when MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt went deep for the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Gray went 1.1 innings, allowing seven hits and four earned runs.  It was a seesaw game between the Rockies and Diamondbacks, but the final score ended up being 11-8 in favor of Arizona.

Baseball fans will tell you that playoff baseball is all about pitching, which clearly gave the edge to the Diamondbacks who started veteran Zack Greinke.  But the young bats of the Rockies battled back and stayed in the game as long as they could.  Needless to say, the Rockies were sent home in a disappointing end to their season and a short Rocktober. To be fair, the Diamondbacks had a similar celebration when they set their wild-card game spot in concrete.

NHL Traditions

Immediately after I saw the Rockies locker room celebrations, I thought of how the best team in the NHL’s regular season reacts to winning the President’s Trophy. A league representative brings out the trophy on a nice table. He takes a picture with the captain of the team with the best regular season record. Most of the time the captain won’t even touch the trophy.  And while the trophy is being presented, their fans are chanting “we want the cup!”

Every sport seems to have its own superstitions, but hockey seems to have some unique traditions.  Many players have the same routines when they get to the rink, they eat a specific meal, and even tape their sticks a certain way every time.  In the playoffs, players don’t shave their facial hair with fears that doing so might change their luck.

Although half the league makes the playoffs, it’s still considered a privilege to compete for the Stanley Cup.  Considered to be the best playoff sport, everybody knows the level of play in hockey increases substantially making it fun for the fans and extremely competitive for the players.

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The NHL season is 82 games, but they are also hitting and fighting each other on a nightly basis.  The grit involved in getting to the playoffs isn’t taken for granted, which I believe is why it’s also not celebrated.  NHL captains know they need to keep their teams focused on the main goal, the Stanley Cup.

So when a young team like the Rockies pouring beer and champagne all over each other only to be eliminated a couple days later, it feels weird.  You would think that a veteran in that locker room would step up and say, “guys, we haven’t won’t anything yet.”  But that didn’t happen.  They were so thrilled with the idea of making the playoffs, which in reality only extended their season for one more game. It’s important to note virtually all MLB playoff teams celebrate their spot in the postseason.

Next: Every NHL Team's Mount Rushmore

After a long season, it’s hard to fault the team for celebrating. The Rockies put in a ton of work and overcame numerous obstacles. But maybe next season if the Rockies are lucky enough to get back to the playoffs, they will have bigger goals in mind.

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