The hotels can be posh, their amenities and service first rate, and yet life in the two playoff bubbles of the NHL is not exactly glamorous.
After spending nearly a month at the tunnel-connected hotel-arena complex in Edmonton, Alberta, Rick Bowness acknowledged that there were times when he had to coax himself to step outside to bask in the sun and something fresh. , inhaled unfiltered air.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE AT FOXNEWS.COM
‘When people think living in a bubble is great, it’s hard. It’s mentally difficult. And everyone makes the best of it. The Stars’ interim coach said after Dallas progressed to the second round last week with Game 6 victory over Calgary.
‘These are not your typical playoffs. It’s not, where, OK, you play, you jump in your car and you go home or whatever. It’s not one of those. It’s playful, go back to your room, “Bowness said, starting to laugh.” This is not as easy as you think it is. “
Bowness insisted he did not complain, but simply noted the challenges that come with the most unique of the NHL playoffs, which have not yet reached the halfway mark in a bid around the start of the season. To award Stanley Cup – or sooner.
“Listen,” he said. “Until you live here, you have no idea what we do, what we go through.”
The potential for NHL bubble fatigue is real.
The tight restrictions, daily testing of COVID-19, lack of freedom to venture above the security barriers around the hotels and arenas in Edmonton and Toronto, and the separation of family can weigh heavily on anyone. Teams have access to open stadiums in both cities, and the NHL has also arranged golf outings on off-days, in which players are bussed to and from the facilities without access to those outside the bubble.
“It’s hard when you’re in that kind of environment because it’s almost like you’re in jail,” Black Bowks general manager Stan Bowman said after Chicago was eliminated in five games in the first round by Colorado.
“When the pandemic hit, you could still leave your house, you could run outside and get some fresh air,” Bowman added. ‘But here, I think it’s the mental toll that you’re kind of caught. You can not go anywhere. And over time, it starts to get to you. ”
Arizona Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet noted the bubble-related challenges during his three-week team, which ended in a back-to-back 7-1 loss to Colorado.
“It’s basically monotonous every day. We had two-and-a-half blocks with nothing to really do other than hockey. “This is where mental will comes in,” said Tocchet. “The teams that go far, of course, have to have the talent. But you also have to have the strong mental capacity to get that for sure.”
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly wrote in an email to The Associated Press that the league was “actively trying to minimize the length of the playoffs” in part because of the dynamics and limitations of ‘bubble life’. “
That was proven Friday, when the NHL placed the second round of the playoffs to open before the first round was complete. And with the conference and cup final set for Edmonton, the two East finalists will likely have only two days to acclimatize to their new surroundings while traveling from Toronto.
“We will continue to aggressively pursue all opportunities for ‘upside,'” Daly wrote.
He added the NHL is still seeking approval from health authorities on the question of whether family members may allow the bubble before or during the conference finals.
Noting the bubble problems, Boston March forward Brad Marchand said players can use them as motivation as well.
“We all sacrifice to be here, so I think the drive is there to make it worthwhile,” Marchand said.
“So when you get on the ice, you want to win, because otherwise this whole thing is for nothing,” he said. ‘It will be worth it if we win. So that’s that fear of losing, I think, that kind of turns you off mentally and away from family. ‘
Teams arrived at their capitals on July 26, before playing an exhibition match, followed by a preliminary two-part round. The top 16 teams competed in a best-of-five elimination series, while the top four teams from each conference played a round-robin tournament to determine seeding.
The first round started on August 11 and lasted just 11 days.
There were no series of sweeps in the first round for just the fourth time since the lockout of 2005, with no series going the maximum of seven games – the first time that happened in the first round since 2001.
Overall, a combination of 43 games were played, which corresponded to the second-lowest total since 41 games were needed to complete the first round in 2000.
While it is not clear what those numbers reflect, Bowness said the remarkable momentum changes within a series or even a game were “absolutely” the result of life in the bubble.
Columbus and Toronto ran each other down from shortages with three goals during their preseason series. Dallas did the same in a series decisive 7-3 victory over the Flames.
“The way we live and play will lead to a lot of emotional swing,” Bowness said. “Give our boys credit, they fought back.”
In a bid to break the monotony, Bowness is planning a mandatory fun day for the Stars at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium on Friday.
‘We have to get out of the hotel. We need a mental break, ‘he said.
The players paid Bowness with a 5-3 opening victory over Colorado a day later. The only downside was Bowness and his staff could not attend because they had to be prepping for the Avalanche at the hotel on Friday.
“It would have been a good day to get out with her, but hey, that did not happen,” Bowness said. ‘And we knew that when we got into this bubble, you were rolling with the bumps.’
