No question... I was born in Toronto, so I support the Chicago Cubs of hockey. There is something special about cheering on the Leafs. It starts early in the year with all the optimism, and continues throughout the year while the team starts to do well, and local papers dissect every little detail about the team, publishing lenghty articles about 4th line scrubs and the waterboy and convincing Leafs fan that they live in the center of the hockey universe. The Leaf experience continues late into the season, as you figure out who the Leafs will play in the playoffs, and then what round they will lose to New Jersey or Philadelphia. Finally, the Leaf fan experiences raw emotion like no other team can provide as he or she has their heart ripped out for the 10th year in the row when the Leafs lose in a series where they could easily won. Each season feels like Groundhog Day, but you still watch. The highs and lows are too good to pass up, and usually we have a mix of great players and guys you would hate if they werent on your team. Finally, the number one reason to support Toronto: they arent from Montreal, and they arent responsible for killing excitement in hockey, which is directly the fault of the New Jersey Devils
I support the Detroit Red Wings, cause I went to high school in Michigan and got really into hockey and they were the team that I got to see the most and had my favorite players on it.
I was a Caps fan from '74-75 until last year when I was so turned off by the organization, the owner getting in a fight with a fan and later selling off every decent player. It was depressing doing to a game at MCI Center in February and March. If/when the lock out ends, I think my allegiance goes to the Toronto Maple Leafs. I have family in Toronto, I've been to the city and the Hockey Hall Of Fame. I have enjoyed the times my wife and I spent there. I got engaged there in 2001. At least I'll start fresh with a new team to root for and I can follow the Leafs via Center Ice. Hopefully I'll get to a game at Air Canada Center if there is a season this year. As for the Caps, I tried for thirty years. Good luck with the rebuild if the team even remains in DC.
Yes, It carries the Full CBC broadcast (both games) every Saturday night. They also carried the outdoor game in Edmonton last year. HNIC alone is worth the package price.
I always remember there being a large French community in Holyoke. I guess a lot of those froggies liked the Canadiens too. Scum.
There's a ton of French Canadians throughout New England. I was a Hartford Whalers fan, before Gary ************face stole my team, so I became a Habs fan, because that's my father's team.
I like the canadiens because of Bob Gainey taking over as GM. They made some good moves and look like a pretty soild team. But if it comes down to Leafs v Canadiens, I take the Leafs
Hartford got screwed. Carolina is a pathetic hockey market. If Columbus & Nashville can have teams why cant Hartford?
Im not knocking Columbus. I realize they sell out and have a great building, but you cant tell me thats any better of a hockey market than Hartford.
I could tell you that. Hartford was a @$%& hockey market, stuck between two great hockey markets. It was a small television market that didn't serve the good of the league at all.
Served the good of the league a lot more than the American South. The Civic Center was full, or nearly full, every night with a consistently terrible Whalers team. But Hartford wouldn't pony up for a new arena, so Karmanos went to Carolina, where they can't sell out Stanley Cup final games. There's a million people (edit: a million RICH PEOPLE) who don't watch hockey anymore.
You know, Connecticut lost a Representative when the Congressional district were redrawn. That's because its population is dropping, like a lot of states in the Northeast. This is not true of North Carolina, in particular the Research Triangle. Hartford averaged around 13,000 its last five or so seasons, not sellout crowds at all. If you draw 2-3,000 below the league average, it's hard for you to claim that you're a good hockey market. Connecticut is a state without an identity, bordered by two states with very distinct identities. It's population was always being pulled at by Boston and New York. Placing a club in a situation like that would display bad foresight, except that the Whalers began life in a rival league.
I know little or nothing about ice hockey (except that when it's on TV the puck is moving so quickly you can't even see it). Still, I keep an eye out for the Philadelphia Flyers results because they used to have a superb player by the name of Eric Lindross who I think was a bit crazy. Don't know what he's up to now, I'm not sure if I dreamt it but I though I'd heard that he had transferred to another team, then got badly injured. Who knows? Being a Rangers FC supporter, I also expect the New York Rangers to be doing a respectable job in the name of the red, white and blue! Having said that, I'm not mad keen on the Texas Rangers baseball team, they bring great shame upon the Rangers name with their George W connections...
Why dont you keep your political leanings off this board. Great shame??? Hardly. We can agree to disagree on this. -Young Texas Republican
You were very diplomatic in your response. I would've said something like, "Eat @#$% limey! Why don't you @#$%&*! @#$%& get the @#$% out of Ireland!" But your response was better, so I'll bite my tongue. Sincerely, An Irish American from Massachusetts who registered as a Republican the day he turned eighteen and will be casting his vote for another four-year mandate for our illustrious President
Hartford was a bad team the last five years. So therefore since they drew below average attendance they don't deserve a team. Mm, okay. I don't care how many people the Research Triangle has. THEY DO NOT SUPPORT HOCKEY. They've had a team for 6 years. A team that made the freakin Finals once. And they get horrible, pathetic crowds. This is what the NHL does not get. It's a regional sport. With a few exceptions, the only cities that support hockey happen to be cities where it snows. I'm not too familiar with Carolina climates, but I doubt it snows much, if at all. As for Connecticut being a state without an identity, you seem to convienently forget Husky basketball, which is by far the most popular sports team in Connecticut. Amazingly, they happen to represent..Connecticut. They don't care about their identity, right? If they had no identity, they wouldn't be Huskies fans. I would've said something like, "Eat @#$% limey! Why don't you @#$%&*! @#$%& get the @#$% out of Ireland!" But your response was better, so I'll bite my tongue. He's got more of a right to be in Ireland than you do. Now go run off and donate to the IRA or something.
Go Leafs Go! I live in the Toronto area and have supported the Leafs all my life. I think some of these posts have been bang on with regards to the situation with non-hockey markets hosting NHL teams. It may well indeed be irrelevant considering that the lockout is expected to cause serious if not irreparable damage to these teams, resulting in their relocation to better markets or perhaps contraction. Whatever happens, I am ironically happy about the strike because (at least in Canada) it has fostered a greater appreciation for minor and semi-pro hockey, and perhaps it has also created some hope for former NHL markets who could not sustain themselves in the old economics of the NHL. The obvious three that come to mind are Winnipeg, Hartford, and Quebec City. Houston is also mentioned as a possible expansion site, however, cities that actually have snow/winter make more sense (Seattle, Cleveland, Portland, Milwaukee, etc., although the three that lost teams most recently perhaps have a better chance at survival in the long term). Note: I realize that Seattle and Portland may not have a bona fide "Canadian style" winter, but they don't need air conditioning in their arenas in January in order to maintain an ice surface (what the fv(k is that?)