It’s often been said, “There’s nothing like playoff hockey,” and this season it’s especially true.

I’ve lost count of how many people have made that statement to me. In fact, many of those people are not true hockey fans, but yet they love watching hockey when it’s playoff time. Even the casual fan will tune in, and enjoy the excitement of a close game, or one that goes to overtime.

A quick search on Google produced several pages of stories with the title or phrase, “There’s nothing like playoff hockey,” proven it’s a universally accepted belief.

The National Hockey League is into the second round of what has become a two-month playoff season, and thus far, the games and matchups have proven to be very exciting.

All four No. 1 seeds were eliminated in the first round, as the Dallas Stars beat the defending Stanley Cup Champion Nashville Predators four games to two, Tampa Bay finished the regular season with the best record in the league, but got swept in the first round by Columbus, 4-0, Carolina got past Washington, 4-3, and Colorado beat Calgary, 4-1.

It was exciting to see four teams that barely got into the playoffs as the wild cards, knock out the top seeds. That is, of course, unless you were rooting for one of the teams that got beat. That’s the excitement of playoff hockey.

There were 46 first-round games played and 10 of them went to overtime.

Through Sunday night, there were eight second-round games and three had gone to overtime. During one seven day stretch, there was an overtime game each night.

I watch hockey all season, but usually just a favorite team or two, however, at playoff time, I’m watching just about every game regardless of who is playing.

OILERS IN PLAYOFFS

Playoff excitement is also present in the minor leagues, as the Tulsa Oilers are battling Idaho in the second round of the ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Tulsa advanced to the second round by beating the Kansas City Mavericks, 6-2, in game seven of the Mountain Division Semifinal series. The Idaho Steelheads defeated Utah in five games to advance and face the Oilers.

The first two games of the Mountain Division Final were played in Tulsa, with the Oilers winning both by the same score, 3-1. As of this writing, the series moved to Boise, Idaho, for games three and four on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Here is the rest of the schedule; Game 5 (if necessary) – Friday, May 3:  Tulsa at Idaho  at 8:10 p.m., Game 6 (if necessary) – Sunday, May 5:  Idaho at Tulsa at 4:05 p.m., BOK Center, Game 7 (if necessary) – Monday, May 6:  Idaho at Tulsa at 7:05 p.m., BOK Center.

An interesting side note – the Tulsa Oilers are affiliated with the St. Louis Blues, who won their first round series against Winnipeg, 4-2, and are now battling Dallas in the second round. The Blues’ American Hockey League affiliate, San Antonio Rampage, did not make the playoffs.