While looking at the standings, it's quite obvious there's a huge amount of disparity between divisions in this league.Take a quick look at the Telus East Division. See how five of the six teams have X's beside them? That means they've clinched a playoff birth.
Now take a look at the Telus West Division. Only one team has clinched a playoff birth thus far.
Just that alone, tells you the Telus East Division has teams that are much better than those of the Telus West Division. But the standings only tell part of the story.
The fifth best team in the East Division, if placed in the West, would be second.
The East Division has a combined winning percentage of .629, compared to the West, who doesn't even have a team at the .600 mark, and has a combined winning percentage of .474, a full 155 points less than the East.
So what does all this mean?
Well, for one, the East would be a tougher division to get wins, given that the majority of games are played within the division. Teams constantly need to be on their "A" game. Coaches need to work that much harder to get the most out of their players game in and game out.
The same isn’t necessarily true for teams in the West Division. In my opinion, and many others, wins come easier within an easier division.
General manager's need to be constantly working the phones to keep their teams ahead of the curve.
Their scouts need to work extra hard, to ensure their teams can keep up with the talent level in their division in particular.
It also means that their fans are treated to the highest caliber of games, given that the majority of games are played within the division.
And it shows.
Five of the six teams in the Telus East division are in the top 10 in attendance. Quebec tops the league, as well as the entire CHL with a staggering average of 11,352 (Attention Gary Bettman!)
To the West's defense, they do have two teams in the top 10, Blainville-Boisbriand at seventh, and Gatineau at ninth.
There really isn't anything the league brass can do to even out the competitive playing field of these two divisions (trust me, I'm in P.E.I), so the responsibility falls on the management of the West Division teams to attempt to be more competitive with not only the other teams in the West, but the other teams in the Q.
Hopefully they will look into it. Their fans deserve it.
jonathan@theqspot.ca
