The Closest Playoff Race Nobody's Watching

It's a question I know all you Northerners, Midwesterners, and Northeasterners have: do Westerners actually watch the NHL?
Canadians don't ask such questions.

It should be obvious by now that Southerners tend to not watch hockey. The few NHL teams down south regularly have trouble getting high attendance for their home games. Let's not forget the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg last year, and this year, I've already read that Quebec City is building an NHL-style area. Look out Phoenix.

While some in the Pacific Northwest would love hockey to move to Seattle, let's face it, ice hockey is not a very popular sport out west or down south.
Nationally, the National Hockey League is already in a battle. Here's a list of the most popular professional sports leagues in the U.S:

1. NFL
2. MLB
3. NBA
4. MLS
5. NHL

And it won't be long before MLS passes NBA. But you can still watch games on NHL.com and regionally on cable for every game. And with commercials like this, who wouldn't want to watch?

South of the border, the west coast is home to the San Jose Sharks, the Los Angeles Kings, and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks (yes, I still use the Disney adjective). I'll include the Phoenix Coyotes in this group... for now. And right now, we're nearly in that "got to watch" time of the season. There's just two weeks left in the regular season, and then it's the playoffs. Don't complain. The NBA playoffs are basically the same, but the NHL uses points to determine playoff seeding in each conference, after the division winners.

Two points for a win, one point for an overtime game (there are no more ties in hockey), and zero points for a loss. Right now, the Western Conference has six teams, all within two points of each other, four of them are in the Pacific Division. That is a tight race. And as it stands right now, only three of them will make it to the playoffs. That means with about six games left for each team, everyday there's a change in the playoff standings. How often can you say that about your favorite league?

So support the sport, and all you west coast hockey fans proudly put your hands up!
... now you all get two minutes for high sticking.

Catch the NHL playoffs soon on NBC Sports.