For the players:
This one is kind of a no brainer. Even the casual hockey, or sports fan for that matter, can tell you that playing at home in front your own fans fires the players up. Lot’s of times at home you’re playing against family or friends and that’s motivating for a player. You don’t want to let down the people who support everything that you’re trying to accomplish. The people that are paying money to watch you play, or, in the case of minor league players, the people that paying money for you to play in the first place. The crowd gets loud when the home team does something good, and quiet when something bad happens. The noise level alone gets the heart pumpin’ a little bit faster, and a player instantly becomes emotionally engaged in the game. I’m not saying that a player doesn’t get pumped up for a game on the road, because there is a whole different element to playing on the road, but being at home in front of your own fans gives you an extra little boost of energy.
For the coaches:
This is where home ice advantage becomes a really big deal, especially in the playoffs, where one play could make or break a game or even an entire series. The playoffs are all about match-ups, and it’s important for teams to match say, their best shut down defenseman with the other teams leading scorer. The home team in hockey gets the luxury of making the last line change, which is big in terms of matching up your guy with the other teams. I’ve done some coaching in the past, and there is a lot more going on behind the scenes than the average fan realizes. As a coaching staff when I was coaching we always looked at the home games as must-win games. Those are the games when you should be able to match your number 1 defense pair against the other teams top offensive line like 90% of the time. A miscue on the bench as a coach can lead to not getting the desired match-up, and in the NHL if you give an elite player one shift against your 5th and 6th D-men it could lead to a goal. This is the single most important thing about home ice advantage, especially in the playoffs when the match-ups are everything. This is also why we often see a road team playing a tight-checking team defense style of hockey. It’s not easy for an opposing coach to get his ideal match-up, and you’re often looking for any chance to slide your top line against the 2nd or 3rd D pairing. Road teams rely on stingy team defense and they usually try their best not to get caught up in a run and gun kind of game.
Road teams are 5-1 through two nights of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, we’ll see if the home ice dominance continues throughout the first round.
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