Going into the start of the 2010 NHL Playoffs, the home team had won 80 out of 129 (62%) Game 7s.
So what?
Let’s think about that for a moment…
The very fact the series went to a game seven suggests the two teams are somewhat evenly matched. Add in the fact that by design, the team with home court advantage for game 7 is the team which had a more successful regular season (in theory a better team). And you get the home team winning a little more often than they lose, but not overwhelmingly.
So what?
There’s nothing in that statistic that is counter intuitive. And yet ESPN, Versus, NBC, and the USA Today kept throwing it out there prior to the Detroit/Phoenix game. And, there’s nothing about the number that would make either team winning a “shock.”
I say again, “so what?” Show me a stat that runs against what you’d expect and then maybe I’ll say “oh, that’s what.”
Contributed by: Scott Copperman