commentary...

the absolute toughest playoff run in all of professional sports are the Stanley Cup playoffs,because it is a sixteen team "tournament",to win the Stanley Cup... it lasts up to two months,and consists of four rounds of best of seven series,and the Stanley Cup winner can play up to twenty eight games,and most of the time,the winner plays somewhere around twenty plus games,in the Stanley Cup playoffs... the favorites does not always win,and in fact,it is most of the time... for example,Detroit had great teams in the early 2000's,but got beat by the Anaheim Ducks(in a sweep),Calgary Flames(in six games),and Edmonton Oilers(again,in six games)... Calgary,and Edmonton went to the Stanley Cup Finals those years that they beat the Red Wings... in fact,a seventh seed,and eighth seed,in 2009-2010,went to the Eastern Conference Finals,so you honestly never know who would be in the playoffs... for example,the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup,in 2004... Tampa Bay??? very true... Major League Baseball,the NFL,and the NBA have great playoff runs,towards their championship trophies,but for an intense playoff run,there is nothing like the run for the Stanley Cup,because you can not "buy" a Stanley Cup,and all the talent does not always win,period,because hockey is a game that has a three inch by one inch circular piece of vulcanized rubber,that bounces different ways,when shot at the net,at near,or over 100 miles/per hour,on ice,and that is the difference in the sports,period...