WHO'S GOT THE BEST HOCKEY - EAST OR WEST?

I’m back from my winter break feeling refreshed, recharged and ready for the 2nd half of the season. Usually at this point of the season I take a look back at the first half to get an overall feeling of how we got here, but because this is also the point of the season when the age old argument of “ who’s got the best hockey East or West?” starts to show up, I’ll detour that way when I look back.

I’ve taken on this subject before and it usually turns into Western fans calling the East a “cupcake league” and whining about Eastern media bias or easy travel and Eastern fans calling the West irrelevant or “too much euro flash not enough North American smash”.

Year after year I hear the same old jabs going back and forth and I always come to the same conclusion. Having lived both in the West and in the East the answer to the question simply lies with where you live. Naturally you chose to watch the games in your area or the ones that affect your favorite team(s). So it is no great mystery that if you live in the East you tend to favor the East and the same for Western fans. We all know that you can’t judge the two conferences from the joke they call the All-Star game, so I did some looking into the 1st half of the season and came up with some numbers to fuel the fire for this years version of the debate (cue creepy organ music and an evil laugh).

Who’s got the best hockey? East or West? Before you decide, chew on this….

…As of today…

The conference with the most total points goes to the West with 706 (East 667)

The conference with the most overtime points goes to the East with 63 (West 58)

The total number of points in East vs. West games goes to the West with 98 (East 66)

The number of players in the top 50 in scoring goes to the East with 29 (West 21)

The number of forwards in the top 50 in scoring goes to the East with 30 (West 20)

The number of defensemen in the top 50 in scoring goes to the East with 28 (West 22)

The number of defensemen in the top 50 +/- rating goes to the West with 30 (East 20)

The number of goaltenders in the top 30 in GAA goes to the West with 19 (East 11)

The number of goaltenders in the top 30 in save % goes to the East with 16 (West 14)

The number of teams in the top 15 in goals per game goes to the East with 9 (West 6)

The number of teams in the top 15 in goals against per game goes to the West with 9 (East 6)

The number of total goals scored goes to the East with 1761 (West 1742)

The number of goals surrendered goes to the West with 1697 (East 1806)

I still say it all depends on where you live for where your alliances lie, but after looking at some of these numbers I get the feeling that if you want to see offence head East and if you want to see defense head West. Just remember on average there really is only 2 points that separate the two conferences with the West holding the slight edge so they are quite even overall. Happy debating!