My NHL favorites

In the first of a new series I am going to talk about my favorite teams in the NHL and how they rank within each division. so I thought it best to start off with my favorite team the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Atlantic Division.

I first started following the NHL in 1996, I was 14 years old and my Sister's then boyfriend had some old Sega Mega Drive games, NHL 92 and NHLPA93 I think they were, anyway when there are 20 odd different teams to choose from you have to pick a team right? I am not sure why I chose the Pens exactly, maybe its the fact they play in Black and White, which is similar to Newcastle United, my favorite soccer team, or maybe its the fact Penguins are my favorite animal and the logo just looked good. One thing for sure was that I knew exactly how good Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr were and so when the UK eventually started to get Hockey TV coverage there was only ever going to be one team I was going to follow. Sadly by now Super Mario retired but Pittsburgh still had an awesome team with the likes of Jagr, Alexei Kovalov, Martin Straka and Darius Kaspiritius all combining to form a great team.

With Pittsburgh clearly my favorite team it meant I was always going to hate the flyers and New Jersey, with the rivalries that developed over the followin seasons. The Pens versus the flyers is one fo the most fierce rivalries in hockey, with the pride of Pennsylvania at stake. New Jersey were one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference during that golden era of hockey between 1995-2004. If New Jersey were a good side they were never a pretty side to watch. I always found them a very boring side who relied on defense to win games rather than play more exciting expansive hockey, like Detroit or Colorado played at the time.

New York Rangers were like a collection of expensive players rather than a team. I suppose I never minded the Rangers as Wayne Gretzky played there in the twilight of his career, so they would get second spot in the division. The islanders would get third spot simply for being a nothing team, I cant say I like them but do not hate them like I do the flyers or New Jersey. So here is how I would rank the teams in the Atlantic Division. Look out for my team by team previews in the coming days, although with no hockey to look forward to as yet it makes it kind of pointless, but there i sbound to be some hockey during the season right?

Atlantic Division
1 - Pittsburgh
2 - NY Rangers
3 - NY Islanders
4 - Philadelphia
5 - New Jersey