For most hockey fans, the Stanley Cup is their favorite time of year. They get to watch their favorite teams and the teams they are not so fond of competing in a series of several games. The original Stanley Cup playoffs were supposed to start in April and finish in June, but due to COVID-19’s sudden outbreak, that schedule was forced to be thrown away, according to nhl.com. Eventually, the National Hockey League (NHL) was allowed to resume Aug. 1 and the season ended on Sept. 28.

The Stanley cup started with 24 teams, with 12 from each conference zone. The top four teams from each conference were chosen to make it straight to a round-robin seeding tournament to determine who would play against who in the playoffs. The remaining 16 teams went to a separate qualifying round, where the eight winners of that went to the playoffs as well, according to espn.com.

In the playoffs, each team played a total of six games against their opponents and the winner of that round would be determined by who won the most games. Whichever team won the round would proceed to the next and the same format was used for the rounds that followed, according to nhl.com.

To the excitement of many fans of the St. Louis Blues, they were one of the teams that made it to the playoffs and were once again in the running for the Stanley Cup. After their victory of the cup last year, many were hoping that they might be able to pull through again. However, unfortunately for the Blues and their fans, they lost to the Vancouver Canucks in just the first round. The Blues only won two of the six games, leading to a 4-2 victory for the Canucks.

“It was kind of sad to watch, but I have a feeling that it was partly because we were off for so long,” varsity hockey player Kylie Shannon said. “The Canucks are a good team, but I think the Blues should have beat them. If COVID hadn’t happened, we would’ve gone a lot further.”

Though the Blues lost, hockey fans still had many other games they could watch, including the final round. The round was between the Dallas Stars and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Both teams had one Stanley Cup under their belt and were now facing off for a second. Just like the rounds before, a total of six games were played for the finals and the victory went to the Lightning, who won four out of the six games.

“[It was] kind of expected,” varsity hockey player Trent Van Gels said. “It was kind of weird at the same time. It was a good run. It could have been better, but nothing else could change that.”