Stanley Cup Finals for Newbies.

It feels like just yesterday I was blogging about how difficult it has been for me to organize my thoughts recently. Oh wait! That was yesterday. Yet here I am, my second post of the day and it isn't even 10 am yet. Who am I? Adderall is a hell of a drug my friends. Prescribed I pinky promise.  
Here we are- 9 o'clock on a Friday morning and I am balancing a million things.. well. okay I lied. I woke up this morning confused and heartbroken, stressed, overwhelmed, missing a little bit of hair and extremely excited for tonight. It has to be that time of year again. Stanley Cup playoff season. Oh and finals are right around the corner. This really should be planned better or I may have a premature heart attack. That may be dramatic but a panic attack? I'm planning for a whole handful of them. 
You may recall my post from a couple months ago explaining hockey for any new comers. It was written in about 8 minutes in between periods of the US- Canada game. I believe. I was inspired by all of the confused yet extremely patriotic tweets I was seeing. So in the spirit of my absolute favorite time of year- here is everything a brief overview of what you need to know to enjoy the playoffs. Oh and brush on the basics in my first hockey post. 
First, it's imperative that you grab a beer and learn to enjoy the hits and fights. Mostly just grab a beer. 
We have eight teams from each conference battling it out until there is one team from each conference standing. Picture a March Madness bracket except significantly smaller. Your final two teams move into the Stanley Cup Finals and one will end up with the cup. (Fun Fact: The Stanley Cup has a "keeper" who travels with it everywhere it goes and is always wearing white gloves when touching it.) Playoff games are also played as a best of 7 series opposed to a singular game. 
Round One in the Eastern Conference- 

Round One in the Western Conference: 

Curious about who's in the lead as of now? Got ya covered. 

In regular season games if the score is tied, teams will play a five minute over time period. At the end of OT if there score is still tied teams move into a shootout. In the playoffs, teams will take an intermission and play another 20 minute period. The first team to score in that period is the winner. 

So far we have experienced more than one OT nail biter/rip your hair out games. It has only just begun and we are off to a crazy start. Sit back and enjoy the ride! Have any questions? Ask away! 

GO BRUINS!