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The National Hockey League (NHL) Conference Finals are the Eastern Conference and Western Conference championship series of the NHL. The Conference Finals are best-of-seven series, and comprises the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The two series are played in late May (early June in 1995 and 2013, due to labour disputes that delayed the start of the season). The winners of the Eastern and Western Conference Finals receive the Prince of Wales Trophy and Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, respectively, and advance to face each other in the final round. ==History== Before the 1967–68 season, the NHL was made up only of a single division. From the 1967–68 season through the 1973–74 season, the NHL was made up of two divisions (as opposed to conferences), the East Division and the West Division. Following the 1973–74 season, the NHL again realigned. The East and West Divisions were renamed the Prince of Wales and Clarence Campbell Conferences, respectively. At the time, the new conferences and divisions had little to do with North American geography and geographical references were removed. Beginning in the 1981–82 season, the conferences and the playoffs were realigned. The NHL was hoping to reduce travel costs in the face of a struggling economy and high energy prices. The regular season and playoffs were also altered to emphasize divisional match-ups. Beginning in the 1993–94 season, the names of conferences and divisions were changed to reflect their geographic locations. At the instigation of then-new NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, the NHL made the change to help non-hockey fans better understand the game, as the National Basketball Association uses geographic-based names for their conferences and divisions, and the National Football League, and Major League Baseball use geographic-based names for their divisions. Therefore, the Campbell Conference became the Western Conference and the Wales Conference became the Eastern Conference. The respective winners of the Eastern and Western Conference Finals receive the Prince of Wales Trophy and Clarence S. Campbell Bowl. The Hartford Whalers never advanced to a Conference Final, however after they relocated to become the Carolina Hurricanes, they did so three times (2002 as the eventual Cup Finalists, 2006 as the eventual Cup Champions, and 2009). The original Winnipeg Jets never appeared in a Conference Final, and after moving to become the Phoenix Coyotes the franchise did not even win a playoff series until the 2012 NHL Playoffs when they advanced to the Conference Finals. Three currently active franchises (Nashville Predators, Winnipeg Jets (formerly the Atlanta Thrashers), and Columbus Blue Jackets) have never appeared in a Conference Final. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「NHL Conference Finals」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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