Faceoff Factor

Does Experience Really Mean Anything?

Matt Bodenschatz | National Hockey League

May 24, 06:30 PM | Hype this story!

Throughout the week we have read and heard numerous breakdowns, previews and predictions, some of which proclaim the Penguins’ youth will prevail, and others which proclaim experience is essential.

While I can’t argue with those who predict the Red Wings will win the series — it’s far from a foregone conclusion that either team will win — I do have a bone to pick with those who suggest anything other than hockey will determine the winner.

The most common phrase I hear/read is: “You have to lose before you can win.”

What does that mean?

By my calculations, you have to win before you can win. I think that makes a little more sense.

But, assuming the saying is true, haven’t the Penguins lost a bit?

• They were knocked around and knocked out of the first round of the playoffs in five games a year ago.
• They started the 2007-08 campaign losing quite a few games and didn’t find their rhythm until late November or early December.
• They lost Marc-Andre Fluery and Sidney Crosby to long-term injuries at the beginning of the calendar year.
• And they have lost two games this post-season.

That seems like a decent amount of losing — both literally and figuratively.

Do they have to lose in the Stanley Cup Finals to eventually win?

The Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2002-03. It was their first appearance. The Colorado Avalanche won in 2000-01. It was their second appearance; the first also resulted in a win.

If losing was the first thing a team needs to do to win the Cup, shouldn’t the Ottawa Senators be in line for a victory parade after being lambasted by the Anaheim Ducks a year ago?

Then there is the ever-common, “you have to know how to win.”

How dumb is that?

As if finishing second place in the Eastern Conference didn’t prove that the Penguins know how to win, you would think their 12-2 record in the post-season would speak volumes to their “knowledge of winning.”

I also hear that, since they haven’t been to the Stanley Cup Finals, this young Penguins team doesn’t know what to expect.

What are they playing? Football? Baseball?

Last time I checked they were still playing hockey and the same set of rules applied to the game.

Are the finals more intense? Of course. More draining? For sure. Tougher mentally? Without a doubt.

But as the playoffs progress, everything ratchets up incrementally. It’s not like we’re talking about a team that was plopped into the finals after a few meaningless scrimmages.

And just this morning, I read that Detroit has won the Cup before and their previous experience makes them the favorite.

So winning the Cup in 2001-02 gives them the “favorite” position? How long does “favorite” last? The Penguins won the Cup in 1991-92. Doesn’t that mean they too should be a “favorite?”

I care not what the Red Wings have done in the past. They call it history for a reason.

If Detroit’s experience was all they needed, shouldn’t they have won a Cup in at least one of the four seasons since 2001-02?

What this series comes down to is who is playing the best hockey right now and which team is the better team right now.

I don’t care what either team did six years ago. I don’t care what either team did six months ago. And I don’t care what either team did six weeks ago.

What I care about is what these teams are doing now.

Experience means nothing. “Knowing how to win” means nothing. And “having to lose before you win” is stupid, to put it mildly.

One team will walk away from this best-of-seven series with the ultimate prize, and I’m quite certain it will be determined on the ice, not by crazy, made-up notions.