EDITORIAL: NHL playoffs a welcome celebration after gruelling season

It’s a perversely Canadian ritual: Just as the weather gives us a hint, a mere breath of warmth, our national game, a decidedly winter sport, enters its final phase.
Yes, it’s the NHL playoffs, which this year provides Canadian fans of five teams something to root for. It’s a wealth of possibilities, as the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators all start first-round play this week in the so-called second season.
NHL seasons are a brutal grind. Teams play 82 physically demanding games in six months, travelling all over North America for the right to do it again for another six weeks, culminating, if you’re lucky and still standing, in a shot at professional sports’ grandest prize.
There’s something about the Stanley Cup that sets it apart. Other sports trophies are bland at best. Major League Baseball hands out something with a bunch of metal flags. The NFL has a silver football. The CFL has the Grey Cup, but that has no relevance outside Canada.
And pardon us for saying so, but the NHL has the most gruelling season of all. Football is perhaps more physical, but it has a much shorter season. Basketball’s season is similar but nobody checks you into the boards. Baseball teams play every day but there’s a lot of standing around.
NHL players must go all out all the time. Shifts are short and maximum effort is absolutely required. The game is much faster and the players much bigger than they were prior to the expansion era.
Compare a baseball player after a game to an NHLer after a triple-overtime loss. The hockey player is drenched in sweat, worn out and marked up. The baseball player might have a dirty uniform.
So hoisting that big silver cup seems the sweetest victory of all to us Canadians. At this stage, fans of those five teams are giddy with anticipation. With a bit of luck, hard work and the odd favourable matchup, your team has a chance to go all the way.
Leafs fans in particular are dizzy. With young stars like Auston Matthews, Torontonians are dreaming of deep playoff runs for years to come. Edmonton, which sports the league’s scoring champ, Connor McDavid, has similar hope for the future.
This year, the favourites might be the defending champion Penguins, led by our own Sidney Crosby. Any Canadiens fan from Cole Harbour has to be praying against a Montreal-Pittsburgh matchup. Talk about divided loyalties.