Best Tradition in Sports
Every sport has their traditions and unwritten rules. In hockey the biggest tradition revolves around winning a series and winning the conference final and then moving on to the Stanley Cup Final and winning the Cup.
When a team wins a round in hockey after beating up on each other, literally, they all line up just line we did when we were kids and shake each other’s hand. You can hate this person or that person, a la Dino Ciccarelli after playing the Colorado Avalanche and shaking Claude Lemieux’s hand. In this series, Lemieux (a noted dirty player/agitator) hit Kris Draper from behind into boards basically mangling his face and breaking his jaw among other parts of the face. Ciccarelli shook his hand and then after shaking his hand said he can’t believe he shook his hand. This is the way it is. There will probably still be no love lost between them but they shook hands because this is what players do in hockey after a series is complete.
Claude Lemieux hit on Kris Draper
Dino Ciccarelli comment on Lemieux
In other team sports for the most part players walk off the court/field without shaking hands. It is becoming more prevalent in football and happens in basketball but not like it does in hockey and never happens in baseball.
The handshake line in hockey is just a part of the sport. Nobody thinks differently whether the teams will shake after a series is over. On top of the handshake line, after the conference final in hockey, like in basketball and football, there really is not much celebrating. The job has not been accomplished. You see a large celebration in football on the field and on the court in basketball. In hockey, the team will take a picture with the trophy but will not touch it because it is considered bad luck. A player will not even touch the Stanley Cup if they have never won it, so just imagine hoisting the conference championship trophy after they have won. In the end, hockey just seems to have the best traditions.