I did a little more number crunching, and I found something fascinating that might explain why people believe in the curse: In seasons where neither team OR both teams touch their respective conference championship awards, the winner of the Campbell Bowl won 77% of the finals. If one team touches the trophy but the other doesn't, the winner of the prince of Wales Trophy wins 62% of the Finals. When the Prince of Wales Trophy winner is the only team that touches the trophy, they win 70% of the Finals. (wait till the end for the Campbell Bowl) So, if you're in the East, you'll want to try and do the opposite of what the other team does. If you're in the West, you want to try and do the same as the other team. It's similar to the Prisoner's Dilemma, except one side wins if both choose to split or steal, and the other side wins if one chooses split and the other chooses steal. This is where it gets crazy: If you apply the Prisoner's Dilemma game theory to touching the trophy in order to "steal" the Cup, it applies to every season (but two) where only the Prince of Wales Trophy was touched. However, the Opposite Prisoner's Dilemma game theory applies to every season (but one) where only the Campbell Bowl was touched. Applying either game theory to explain why a team lost in the Finals works for 10 of the 13 seasons where only one team touched their trophy (77%, same as when they both chose to touch or not touch) The only three seasons since 1997 where this doesn't apply happen to be the only seasons when the Campbell Bowl was touched and the Prince of Wales Trophy wasn't: 1997 - Lindros starts "the curse" 1999 - The infamous "No Goal" 2004 - "The curse" hits Iginla Thanks for coming to my Ted Lindsay Talk.

@icewyre

11 ай бұрын

Nice! I'm far from a mathlete, but thisbis pretty cool to see

I think the bigger "curse" might be taking a team picture with the conference trophy, and not touching vs not touching. But also keeping in mind, the winner of the Cup is who plays better and irrelevant of a "curse" lol

Sending this vid to mcdavid when he finally figures it out

"Touch" team vs "No touch" team series is all that really matters. "Touch" team 9 wins and "No touch" team 4 wins. 69.2% success rate for "Touch" team. Margin of error is 25.1%. So, 50-50 case is within margin of error. Touching seems is good, but I would not call it confirmed because sample size is to small.

@icewyre

11 ай бұрын

True, but you don't always know if the other team will touch it or not. Seems better just to touch when in doubt. I actually like what Derian Hatcher did in 1999. Skate up alone, touch it for the picture, and then skate away leaving it on the pedestal.