NHL 2006 Playoffs thread...

[CanadianChris 0]

Slightly off-topic, but the Quebec Ramparts (coached by Patrick Roy) won the Memorial Cup today. Now Roy has another ring to stick in his ears.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

As a Habs fan, I'm of course expected to have a love-hate with Roy.

 

But his zinger on Roenick, referenced by CC, keeps him on my good list.

[Guest]

I'm going to restart my computer. When I come back, I'll have a kickass avatar, even though I just got this one yesterday.

 

EDIT: Maybe not kickass, but I like this one among the many darkhorse ones.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Is there a bigger crybaby in the NHL than Lindy Ruff? The guy is an absolute idiot. I won't even mention the fact that he won Coach of the Year, an award that should've been won by Peter Laviolette. I stubbornly thought that Buffalo was a classy organization, boy was I wrong about that one. I also have to believe that the same people who own the Buffalo Sabres have some type of share in the ownership of OLN.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Um, I can't blame pepole for leaving with 3 minutes left when their team is losing 4-0.

 

You can when they talk an unlimited amount of shit about how Hurricanes' fans act the same way. Buffalo fans made themselves out to be the most dedicated fans in the NHL, yet when their team was down 4-0 they all rush to the exits. It isn't just that either, the Buffalo fans started fights at the RBC Center and shit like that. Someone drove a car with Hurricanes' decals on it to Buffalo's arena and apparently it was egged and keyed. I guess when your team can't get it done on the ice, you have to resort to idiotic actions like that.

Trust me, I know Buffalo fans are complete idiots as I live in WNY, but I've never seen violence going to games as a Flyers fan. So I'd like some documentation rather than internet rumors before you trash thier fan base. I'll hate on them for complete stupidity rather than leaving with 3 minutes down 4-0.

 

I have to say, my poor perception of Buffalo fans only strengthened after last night. I was trying to park, and there was a B-fan, standing right in the middle of the road. He refused to move.

 

My family arrived inside, as always, for the pre-game warm-ups. Much to our dismay, there were a few Sabres fans sitting right beside us.

 

"Okay," I thought, "I will just ignore them," but they were clearly trying to start a fight before the game even started. The woman began to provoke me..."Oh, so how big is nascar here?" And "If the Sabres fans weren't here, how many empty seats do you think you would have? We sold our tickets in 12 minutes!" I responded calmly, letting her know in no uncertain terms that I wanted no part of smack talk. (My children were with me.)

 

One group of Buffalo fans in the upper bowl continously disrespected the National Anthem, yelling "Let's go Buffalo" throughout.

 

Then, the Sabres scored the first goal. The woman's boyfriend stood up, leaned directly in my ear, and yelled.

 

As I was leaving the arena after the game, a Buffalo fan took his beer bottle and dumped his beer on my head and in my face. Real classy. It takes a real man to pick on a 5 foot female minding her own business on her way to the car.

 

There were also several confirmed fights in the parking lot of the RBC Center and most were instigated by Sabres' fans. Classless fans for a classless franchise.

[Guest Felonies!]

Your franchise bailed out of Hartford to play in front of 2000 comped "fans" a night in Greensboro, don't try the "classless" shit.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Your franchise bailed out of Hartford to play in front of 2000 comped "fans" a night in Greensboro, don't try the "classless" shit.

 

Oh yeah, the fact that the owner of the franchise actually wanted to MAKE money is classless and relevant to this conversation. Good post!

[Guest Felonies!]

Yeah, the Hurricanes have made Karmanos a rich man. Better post!

[the max 0]

Your franchise bailed out of Hartford to play in front of 2000 comped "fans" a night in Greensboro, don't try the "classless" shit.

 

Oh yeah, the fact that the owner of the franchise actually wanted to MAKE money is classless and relevant to this conversation. Good post!

 

Fact: Karmanos screwed up the negotiations to build the Whale a new arena.

Fact: The final season the Whale existed, they averaged 90% capacity in a 15000+ arena.

Fact: The first year of the Hurricanes existance, they averaged just over 9K/game

 

Karmanos never wanted to keep the team in Hartford.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

If Hartford is such a great market, why haven't any other teams moved there?

[the max 0]

Too busy moving teams to the south, man.

 

Plus, there's no arena to move into, unless the team moves into the 30 year old civic center.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Too busy moving teams to the south, man.

 

Plus, there's no arena to move into, unless the team moves into the 30 year old civic center.

 

I think people are a little caught up in dissing teams that move to the South. We have passionate fans. People are a little too quick to throw out every stereotype in the book when they talk about fans in the South, especially Hurricanes' fans.

[the max 0]

I still question what exactly that has to do with class.

 

He's an asshole. He took a popular team out of a region for no reason other than money. He knew he could eventually get a new arena in Carolina that would give him everything he wanted, so he took the team out of Hartford, despite the fans meeting his demands for season ticket sales and packing the arena to 90% capacity in an old building.

 

You question the Buffalo fans' class, yet I'm sure that the Hurricanes or any other fans from North Carolina ALWAYS act respectful towards visiting fans. The fact remains that diehard sportsfans are usually assholes when it comes to rivalries. I have friends that won't give a Yanks/Rangers fan the time of day. They're nice, normal people, but when it comes to sports, some people lose their minds. Using a few bad eggs to "prove" that ALL Sabres fans are classless (which they are, but not as bad as Flyers or Lightning fans) is just stupid. And then DEFENDING a snake like Karmanos and asking how he's ever acted classless is just moronic.

[the max 0]

Too busy moving teams to the south, man.

 

Plus, there's no arena to move into, unless the team moves into the 30 year old civic center.

 

I think people are a little caught up in dissing teams that move to the South. We have passionate fans. People are a little too quick to throw out every stereotype in the book when they talk about fans in the South, especially Hurricanes' fans.

 

I live in the South. If you're going to lump in the Canes fans with a team like Tampa, you're out of your fucking mind. I had beer, soda and popcorn thrown at/on me because I had a Bruins jersey on at the Bruins/Bolts game earlier this season. Southern people are known for their CHARM, not always their class. I've met some of the nicest people in my life since moving down here; People that will help you any way they can, no matter what the circumstance is. I've also met people who wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire.

 

No matter WHERE you live, there are going to be nice people and assholes. The person in the story that you told met assholes. There are also nice Sabres fans (my girlfriend's brother) who wouldn't even think of acting like those people in your story.

 

My point? Everyone is different. Using the actions of a small group of people and using it to make a statement about a larger group is stupid and prejudiced.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

No, diehard sportsfans aren't usually assholes when it comes to rivalries. Diehard sportsfans love the sport they follow, but also understand that it is just a game. Fans who wants to make asses out of themselves are exactly that, asses. You may think that Karmanos is classless and you can continue to think that, I'm sure most hockey fans in the Northeast feel we should return to the dark ages where New York was about as far South as hockey went. All Philadelphia sports fans are jackasses, so atleast we can agree on that.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Too busy moving teams to the south, man.

 

Plus, there's no arena to move into, unless the team moves into the 30 year old civic center.

 

I think people are a little caught up in dissing teams that move to the South. We have passionate fans. People are a little too quick to throw out every stereotype in the book when they talk about fans in the South, especially Hurricanes' fans.

 

I live in the South. If you're going to lump in the Canes fans with a team like Tampa, you're out of your fucking mind. I had beer, soda and popcorn thrown at/on me because I had a Bruins jersey on at the Bruins/Bolts game earlier this season. Southern people are known for their CHARM, not always their class. I've met some of the nicest people in my life since moving down here; People that will help you any way they can, no matter what the circumstance is. I've also met people who wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire.

 

No matter WHERE you live, there are going to be nice people and assholes. The person in the story that you told met assholes. There are also nice Sabres fans (my girlfriend's brother) who wouldn't even think of acting like those people in your story.

 

My point? Everyone is different. Using the actions of a small group of people and using it to make a statement about a larger group is stupid and prejudiced.

 

I can only say what I saw and heard. At the RBC Center, the majority of the Buffalo fans acted like assholes. Throughout the course of this series, Lindy Ruff has acted like an asshole. Did I ever see a Hurricanes' fan try and start an altercation with a Sabres' fan? Nope. You can just hear what alot of the Sabres' fans have to say about Hurricanes' fans to understand why I'm upset. They want to use thirty-year-old stereotypes and act like it is impossible for hockey fans in the South to understand the game of hockey. You can believe what you want to believe, but I know that the Buffalo Sabres organization does not deserve the opportunity to hoist the Stanley Cup after the way their coach has conducted himself and their fans have conducted themselves.

[Guest Princess Leena]

I will say that Buffalo radio, and many Sabre fans were going overboard with the "All Carolina fans are stupid hicks that don't know hockey". While the hockey part may have been true a handful of years ago, I don't think it's relevant any longer.

 

And I'm not the biggest fan of Lindy Ruff, but what has he done to make you refer to him as an asshole?

[RepoMan 0]

Why I hate Southern hockey

The public at large dosn't care about hockey in the South. Places like Carolina, TB, and Nashville seem to be doing ok, but does the league need places Flordia, Phoniex, or Anehiem (market reduntancy, and their crowd has NO passion for the game)? Bring back the Whale I say.

 

Does look like some Sabres fans are being real asses. Which happens everywhere, but not ussually when your a fan on the road. When I went to Game 1 of the round 1, I talked back if pepole talked shit, but otherwise tried to be as curtious as possible. Actually had a nice conversantion with a Sabres fan about the game during an intermission. Don't start shit, espcailly with fans on the road. The only thing that really bothered me about my experience at HSBC was that Sabres fans were way too excited to be up 1-0 in the opening round. Level of celebration seemed like the were headed to the Cup finals.

[the max 0]

"Hockey's never gonna be No. 1 like basketball. But it's here."

 

Perfect line.

 

Same thing down here. It might as well be "Hockey's never gonna be No. 3 like basketball. But it's here."

[Red Baron 0]

These are probably the American Sabres fans, since they are filled with Alcohol.

 

Canadian Sabres fans are quite classy without alcohol.

[Guest Felonies!]

Your franchise bailed out of Hartford to play in front of 2000 comped "fans" a night in Greensboro, don't try the "classless" shit.

 

Oh yeah, the fact that the owner of the franchise actually wanted to MAKE money is classless and relevant to this conversation. Good post!

 

Fact: Karmanos screwed up the negotiations to build the Whale a new arena.

Fact: The final season the Whale existed, they averaged 90% capacity in a 15000+ arena.

Fact: The first year of the Hurricanes existance, they averaged just over 9K/game

 

Karmanos never wanted to keep the team in Hartford.

9K is being very generous. I think I read that it was closer to 6K.

http://sophia.smith.edu/~jeue/John/pete.html

 

A great page. I can't read this and believe that North Carolina deserves a team.

 

If Hartford is such a great market, why haven't any other teams moved there?

The Patriots almost did but Foxboro offered a better deal, and it probably would've been bad for business to be even further removed from Boston. Hartford basically snuck into the NHL by way of the WHA: Sinden and the Bruins were none too pleased, but New England happened to be hungry enough for hockey to support two teams. You couldn't expand into Hartford today, though, because it'd be too hard to siphon off fans of the Red Sox, Patriots, and maybe Celtics. The Whalers could set up shop in Hartford again and do well, though.

[Red Baron 0]

I remember at times tickets were like a buck, and no one wanted to go in. Carolina poorly marketed its team to begin with.

 

They really don't need to have a team, and it shows that when a team sucks, they don't attend.

[lomasmoney 0]

Well, that can be said for just about any sports team in any market. When the Tigers were losing 100+ games a year, no one went to the games except for when the big name teams or players were in town, but now that they are playing well and have a pretty good record, the entire damn city has suddenly remembered that Detroit is a baseball town first, and now every game the last few weeks has been drawing pretty big crowds. When a team is good, people show up, when a team is awful, those same fair weather fans go back to watching "Friends" or whatever the hell else they were doing instead of going to the games

[Guest]

Well, that can be said for just about any sports team in any market.

Not any market.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Sabres badly need Teppo Numminen back today, as another game with Doug Janik in there will make me cry.

 

Either way, they're gonna need a lot of luck to win the next 2 vs. Carolina.

[Guest Felonies!]

Well, that can be said for just about any sports team in any market.

Not any market.

Cubs, Packers, and Maple Leafs are the big exceptions here. I know that it's lame for people to show up to Wrigley just to drink, but I'm puzzled as to how the White Sox have spun poor attendance into a virtue, as if saying "we don't come when the team isn't in first" is something to be proud of.

[Red Baron 0]

You can mention a handful of hockey teams that can have poor attendence and still show up (Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, San Jose...surprisingly, Edmonton, Minnesota, Columbus). Even Buffalo now has a better attendence (largely due to the Canadian dollar).

 

Isn't it funny that back in October when Ottawa whipped Buffalo 10-4, but couldn't score ten goals against Buffalo in the playoffs

[Red Baron 0]

I go on ESPN.com for opinions and such about the NHL, and I have to agree with Bucci that adding Drew Remenda from the Sharks commentary to say, Jim Hughston on CBC would be an awesome combo.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Sabres lead 1-0, and are outplaying Carolina in the 1st. Please win.

[Guest]

I go on ESPN.com for opinions and such about the NHL, and I have to agree with Bucci that adding Drew Remenda from the Sharks commentary to say, Jim Hughston on CBC would be an awesome combo.

I don't like Remenda, but they would mesh well together.

 

Hughson is behind Bob Miller as my favorite announcer.