Nhl Western Conference Tickets

NHL: The Foremost Professional Hockey Competition

Professional sports in the Western hemisphere do not get much bigger than this. Throughout Canada and the United States, the NHL is unmatched in terms of prestige and honor. As the oldest professional sports competition in the region, it has a special place in the lives of the people in general and hockey fans in particular.

A grueling regular season of the NHL gives way to the playoffs every year where 16 of the best sides compete for a chance to be crowned Conference champions and earn the right to play for the prestigious Stanley Cup.

The playoffs are the big stage where the best teams and the finest players come to the fore and make their mark. This is the platform that the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull and Jacques Plante lit up and built countless records on. You can watch the current crop of NHL superstars forging their way into history by getting NHL Western Conference tickets.

NHL Western Conference

The current structure of the NHL was introduced in 1974 when the league decided to realign all the teams into two conferences comprising of two divisions each. Named as the Clarence Campbell Conference and the Prince of Wales Conference initially, there were no geographical references for any conference or division in the new setup.

A further realignment followed in 1981 in an attempt to better reflect the teams’ geographical locations. However, the existing names were retained until 1993, at which point the Clarence Campbell Conference became the Western Conference and the Prince of Wales Conference became the Eastern Conference.

The idea behind these name changes was to not only better reflect the competing teams’ locations on a map but to also enable non-hockey fans to understand the game in a better way. Because the NBA, the MLB, and the NFL were all making use of geography-based names for their divisions and conferences, the NHL hierarchy felt that they could better promote and grow the game among non-followers through geographic references.

A total of 15 teams compete in the Pacific and Central Divisions of the Western Conference. The winners of the conference playoffs are awarded the prestigious Clarence S. Campbell Brown Bowl. It is currently held by the Vegas Golden Knights who are incidentally the youngest franchise in the conference, having only made their NHL debut in the 2017-18 season.

Most Successful Outfits

The Chicago Blackhawks and the Edmonton Oilers are the most successful teams in the Western Conference with 7 titles apiece. They are followed by the Detroit Red Wings and the Philadelphia Flyers who have both been champions 6 times.

The Calgary Flames, the Los Angeles Kings, the New York Islanders, the Vancouver Canucks and the Minnesota/Dallas Stars have lifted the Campbell Bowl 3 times each. Next on the list with two titles are the Anaheim Ducks, St. Louis Blues and the Colorado Avalanche. The Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks and the Vegas Golden Knights all have been champions once.

In terms of appearances, the Blackhawks lead the charts as well, having made it to the Conference Finals on 12 occasions. The Detroit Red Wings have been in the finals 10 times while the Edmonton Oilers, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers have all played in 9 finals each.

The Edmonton Oilers enjoy the overall best winning percentage in the Conference Finals with 7 wins from 9 appearances. Interestingly, no Western Conference Champions have been able to win the Stanley Cup since the Chicago Blackhawks got the better of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2015.

The Eastern Conference Champions have maintained a bit of a stranglehold on the Stanley Cup in recent seasons. Whichever team comes out on top in the Western Conference Playoffs this year will be hoping to reverse that trend when they begin their quest for the biggest prize in the game. You can catch all the exhilarating action by getting NHL Western Conference tickets.