"Momentum in Hockey"

[Hockeyholic]

Is it fair to say that there truly is zero momentum between hockey playoff games? That what happens in one game has no affect on the next?

The Jets-Preds series illustrates this. Just when you thought one team was in control...it was gone as quickly.

Your thoughts?

Click to read more...

 

[DownIsTheNewUp]

I would agree with that. Momentum doesn't typically carry game to game, each game is a clean slate. Now there are times that teams can play really well for several games straight, but even within those games there are probably several "momentum" shifts where the other team has good stretches.

 

[Evincar]

Just another hockey myth.

 

[tarheelhockey]

It lasts till the puck drop of the next game. 30 seconds in, nobody on either team is thinking about anything other than what’s in front of them.

 

[Nick1219]

Think it depends on the situation and your definition of momentum.

Hate shifting this to a basketball conversation immediately, but this year when the Cavs beat the Raptors in Game 1 the series was essentially over. Everyone in Toronto and the entire team was likely saying “here we go again” and the Cavs carried that momentum on through the series.

In hockey there’s plenty of other examples of that type of similar situation, which I can’t seem to think of right now. Granted, these guys are professional athletes and this stuff shouldn’t shake them, but I think in the rare/extreme cases it must.

I think momentum can also carry over mentally with guys not being able to put a puck past a goalie. If you get shutout after throwing everything you can at a goalie and then the following game he’s a wall, it can get you and hurt you mentally.

All things equal... is there momentum between games? I don’t really think so. Think it really depends on the opening few shifts of the next game and ultimately who scores the opening goal.

 

[Bounces R Way]

The Jets-Preds series was close because those were two really good teams. Momentum absolutely exists. It's part of the reason Washington after finally knocking off Pittsburgh was able to go into Tampa and win 2 games on the road. It's an even bigger part of the reason an expansion team is in a conference final, while teams that have sucked and drafted high for years are still kicking rocks at the bottom of the standings.

 

[philip]

It's definitely a thing, but more confidence related. A team is 2-0 down in a series playing poorly, win a game and go 'hey, that was a bit better' , win the next and like 'we can do this!' it's positive thoughts and confidence. Whereas the team being turned around start to question everything they're doing.

 

[Tom Hanks]

It’s more fan’s perceptions than what’s going on. The previous game (outside of injuries) has no real bearing on the next game.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Momentum is about making adjustments either in game or between games.

Quickly recognizable if the necessary adjustments are possible and/or have been made.

 

[CapsDC]

The Jets-Preds series was close because those were two really good teams. Momentum absolutely exists. It's part of the reason Washington after finally knocking off Pittsburgh was able to go into Tampa and win 2 games on the road. It's an even bigger part of the reason an expansion team is in a conference final, while teams that have sucked and drafted high for years are still kicking rocks at the bottom of the standings.

The bolded makes no sense. Now you're talking about momentum not only carrying over games but lasting for YEARS? No, bad teams that have remained bad have managed it through subpar coaching and/or personnel decisions. The Vegas run is still amazing but the league also changed how the expansion drafts worked this time around to give Vegas a fighting chance and allowed them to poach a lot of good players.

 

[Michael Farkas]

This is way too oversimplified in the way that it's asked. And it likely won't lead to productive discussion here.

Momentum in the - I'm assuming - traditional sense of how people define it here, will not carry over from game to game. That's the adrenaline boost you get from a big goal, etc.

However, different circumstances create different scenarios.

More uneven series, for instance, carry with them other factors (read: nothing like Jets/Preds, two even teams). If you're a dominant #1 seed playing a cannon-fodder #8: #1 just runs you out of the building in games 1 and 2, and then in game 3 it's an even game and that #8 seed is starting to believe...and then boom, the top team drops three goals in 5:17 and it's a 5-2 final. It might not be termed as "momentum" traditionally, because it's really not. But there are shades of mentality that go through a series...when "intimidation" becomes "doubt", after you get to 5-2 there when that #1 seed goes all globetrotters on you, that "doubt" becomes "acceptance" for a lot of guys on a lot of teams...sometimes you just know that the team across from you is just better. That will absolutely carry into game 4...I don't consider that "momentum" which is housed within an individual game. But it might be the carryover you're attempting to look for...

I've coached on both sides of series like that - where there's a "belief" from an underdog team and then there's what I outlined above, which is that "doubt" -> "ugh, **** me..." or whatever terms you want to use...again, I don't think that's "momentum" but it's another part of the mental aspect of the game that if you're not in and around the game all the time, you can't really account for it.

 

[ijuka]

I don't think that momentum is carried over from game to game. And it tends to be reset from period to period as well. The effect of momentum is the highest when there just is continuous play. Stoppages can always change the momentum.

 

[Bounces R Way]

The bolded makes no sense. Now you're talking about momentum not only carrying over games but lasting for YEARS? No, bad teams that have remained bad have managed it through subpar coaching and/or personnel decisions.

Why is that so crazy? Remember last year when the Penguins won their second straight cup? Or when the Kings won 2 in 3 years? Or when the Blackhawks won 3 in 5?

Winning begets winning, and that's not a phenomenon just typical of hockey.

 

[tony d]

I believe it exists. A player coming back usually helps to create momentum.

 

[Kranix]

Torts once said it doesn't exist

 

[CapsDC]

Why is that so crazy? Remember last year when the Penguins won their second straight cup? Or when the Kings won 2 in 3 years? Or when the Blackhawks won 3 in 5?

Winning begets winning, and that's not a phenomenon just typical of hockey.

No that's not momentum, that's good teams winning games. Just because a team has continual success doesn't mean there was 'momentum' carried over the years.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

Momentum exists only if you do something with it.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

It might be blown out of proportion, but if you don't think psychological momentum is a thing you've never competed in anything.

Players aren't robots where everybody can automatically reset themselves everytime, sometimes things get to you, especially common for younger players

 

[Bounces R Way]

Just because a team has continual success doesn't mean there was 'momentum' carried over the years.

Uhhh, yes it does. Otherwise the concept of momentum is a meaningless construct.

 

[CapsDC]

Uhhh, yes it does. Otherwise the concept of momentum is a meaningless construct.

Ok, we finally agree, the concept of momentum lasting for years is meaningless

 

[Bounces R Way]

Ok, we finally agree, the concept of momentum lasting for years is meaningless

Sure, which is why Napoleon conquered Europe in a week, Rome WAS built in a day, and the explosion of comic book movies in recent years was based on the quality of each individual film. Momentum can exist at both the macro and micro levels.

 

[Ronnie Residue]

Torts once said it doesn't exist

His word isn't the gospel though. Unless you don't believe in the gospel, in which case it is the gospel.
Lol I think momentum can carry between games marginally, but it can be altered very quickly at the start of the new game.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Think it depends on the situation and your definition of momentum.

Hate shifting this to a basketball conversation immediately, but this year when the Cavs beat the Raptors in Game 1 the series was essentially over. Everyone in Toronto and the entire team was likely saying “here we go again” and the Cavs carried that momentum on through the series.

In hockey there’s plenty of other examples of that type of similar situation, which I can’t seem to think of right now. Granted, these guys are professional athletes and this stuff shouldn’t shake them, but I think in the rare/extreme cases it must.

I think momentum can also carry over mentally with guys not being able to put a puck past a goalie. If you get shutout after throwing everything you can at a goalie and then the following game he’s a wall, it can get you and hurt you mentally.

All things equal... is there momentum between games? I don’t really think so. Think it really depends on the opening few shifts of the next game and ultimately who scores the opening goal.

You simply cannot compare hockey and basketball because basketball contains far more narratives and far more stories are drawn up a certain way for the fans. In general, basketball players tend to have much larger more fragile egos, and their interviews tend to be much more candid and honest, while hockey players are essentially robots; devoid of any personality and emotion. As such, basketball players are a lot more likely to let narratives and mind games get into their head, while hockey players are far more disciplined, and think only about obliteration of the opposition.

 

[Turin]

Momentum is a mix of psychology and in-game adjustments. Doesn’t really work game to game at all unless something happens that affects the teams psych.

 

[Evincar]

Why is that so crazy? Remember last year when the Penguins won their second straight cup? Or when the Kings won 2 in 3 years? Or when the Blackhawks won 3 in 5?

Winning begets winning, and that's not a phenomenon just typical of hockey.

What about from 2003-2011? 7 different Cup winners. Where was the momentum then?