London and Prague in the wildcard - AGAIN?!

[Victor 11,021]

Seeing Prague and London in the wildcard round this season felt like a serious case of deja vu. Aren't Prague and London always in the wildcard round?

 

I decided to see if the numbers back me up.

 

There have been 20 seasons of the current wildcard round in each conference (S73-present)

 

This is the 8^th time Prague has contested a wildcard round, the 3^rd time against London, who themselves are making their 7^th appearance.

 

By comparison Helsinki and Riga have 4 wildcard appearances to their name. Moscow and Warsaw have only contested it twice each. Davos and Malmo ruin the feeling I have with 7 and 6 appearances each, in particular given Davos did 3 straight seasons from S84 to S86. Yet they don't seem like a perennial wildcard team like Prague and London do. Is it just me?

 

Maybe it's because in North America the spread is much more even (Seattle 7, Calgary 6, D.C. 6, Vancouver 5, Los Angeles 5, Chicago 4, Toronto 4, New York 3) that no one stands out – I'm pretty surprised Seattle is that high which might be another factor. The Bears have had lots of success in that time period, finals appearances and championships. London and Prague by contrast took a long time to make their first final – Prague still has only two to their name, London just their one cup in S88 – so not only do they have 15 wildcard appearances between them but it's also most of what we've seen of them in the playoffs over the years.

 

Anyone else feel the same? Or just some unconscious bias on my part? Do London and Prague just need to get a room?

[jacobcarson877 2,563]

Riga, Prague and London feels like a pretty consistent 4-6.

[Triller 1,688]

We definitely need to get a room and when we do, it will just be another hard fought battle with one team leaving.  Always love playing Prague!

[Victor 11,021]

3 hours ago, jacobcarson877 said:

Riga, Prague and London feels like a pretty consistent 4-6.

The crystal Palace of the VHL