Canadian world junior fans criticized in Buffalo

[Dgill]

There's a reason HSBC Arena security guards were coming up to my friends and I looking for high-fives after the Russians took the lead in the gold medal game.

The number of drunk jackasses outnumbered the number of nice, civil people. As one arena employee joked to me, "Do they realize these are 19 year olds playing hockey?"

What does that arena employee think about the fans at college football games in the states?

 

[Chainshot]

Up until the bronze game they were cheering against the USA. Its was ugly and unfortunately my daughters had to be subjected to it. SInce we attended many games.

I could care less about cheering for Finland, Germany, etc. But the foul mouthed tirades from the mutlitude of drunken asshats was something that ruined the experience for my daughters.

The worst game was Finland/USA. When we (myself and my 12yr old daughter) had a dozen or so guys in Team Canada jersey's behind us bragging about getting tossed from the Bills game earlier in the day. I knew it was going to a "fun" game.




I'm pretty confident its the same folks. They just switch Jerseys before the ride down. Basically a portion of Leaf's nation is ruining the rep of the rest of Canada. Just one more reason for the rest of Canada to hate'em .

Yeah, I thought the USA-Finland game was the worst one I was at too. Security was going about weeding out some of the problem children but it was the start of the tournament, on a weekend, with many of the attendees staying over and having partied it up after the Canada win and some clearly had the earmarks of some hardcore pre-game drinking. There was one row of guys in 115 that barely moved for the entire game -- two were clearly passed out. But take testosterone laden young men in their early 20's or late teens and mix liberally with alcohol... it's not a family friendly environment, that's for sure.

That said, there were plenty of reasonably cool Canadians up in the upper bowl near where I had my seats (GAF and HG's tix) most nights. My son shamed a number of them by avidly rooting for Canada in the NYE Sweden-Canada game and when asked, he said "They're our friends!" to which many a red-sweatered, tipsy viewer got very sober looking and in several cases, clearly ashamed of themselves. It was great.

Granted, he was rooting for Russia in the final -- his allegiances to his teacher (Russian born) outweigh his allegiances to some of his parents' friends.

 

[Chainshot]

What does that arena employee think about the fans at college football games in the states?

Locally? They don't serve at the D1 games (except in the Blue and White Club), so probably "man, UB made it close but they lost again." As for major programs that I've attended... the amount of stupid drunkeness at NC State, Duke, or USC games is very, very limited, not just in comparison to NFL games but overall. They're well attended and there is a party atmosphere, but it isn't an excuse to go puke in public like so many Bills games are.

 

[SupersonicMonkey*]

Nobody "owns" hockey.

Just like humans don't "own" the planet.

Humans as a species have a real false sense of entitlement.

The game wasn't invented on this side of the planet, either. It originated over 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia as a form of hurley...

The Stanley Cup isn't even from this side of the planet...it was mended in Great Britain.

I think everyone needs to step back. Heathy rivalry is good. What we seem to be doing is unhealthy.

 

[bert]

Ah yes, Stereotypes. B/C A few Canadians are bad tippers, I'm sure they're all bad tippers. Just like all Americans are great tipper! Same goes for drunks, Americans never get drunk.

Funny you say that I ordered two drafts in Buffalo after waiting a good 5 to 7 minutes for a homely woman bartender to finish hitting on her one other fat customer and take serveral shots in the process. She demanded I pay 8 dollars I handed her a 10 and a 5. Before I continue I would like you to understand I bar-tend. She goes to her cash puts all of the money in (i guess they just pull the difference between her read and her cash count however she didnt punch anything in a computer either) anyways after putting the money in the till she proceeds to pour two shots right beside her register and goes back to the guy she was flirting with. Now because I am a bartender I usually over tip even if the service is terrible, I dont know why but I do. I waited for another 5 minutes expecting her to come back with my change so i can tip her accordingly. It did not happen, I expect a normal customer would have not tipped at all and even possibly filed a complaint. Eventually I requeseted my change and still tipped her 3 dollars.

HEY MAYBE NO ONE WAS TIPPING BECAUSE THE SERVICE WAS BEYOND TERRIBLE. I know 5 years ago before I started bartending I may have left a nickle for that BS.

The treatment by the security after the gold medal game was also in my opinion unacceptable. Our friend got lost and we were waiting in the lobby attempting to find and reach her as we did not want to leave anyone behind in a foreign city. Security basically picked a fight and attempted to physically remove us into what was a freezing cold buffalo night.

 

[CanadianHockey]

Honestly, I can understand why I'd be pissed. It's one thing to joke about how good your team is, it's another to blatantly stroke your own ego out of some ridiculous self-defence. The "Canada's game" mentality is really starting to bother me. Being proud of Canada's role in the game doesn't mean you have to be an obnoxious a-hole about it. Just be humble and respectful. Appreciate the game for what it is.

(Ironically, Canada's motto was be humble... getting away from that cost the team the Gold medal and then gave us a bad rep as a fanbase...)

 

[Towers]

 

[Gump Hasek]

Meh..

The irony is that American style patriotism has caught on with the newest generation of Canadians and the first people to complain about it are the Americans...

This.

It seems some Americans are in favour of the expression of patriotism, that is however until until those expressing patriotism happen to be from another country.

 

[Hivemind]

http://www.thestar.com/sports/hocke...adian-world-junior-fans-criticized-in-buffalo in response to http://www.buffalonews.com/city/columns/donn-esmonde/article307005.ece

Based on the Canadian article, I've formed a new stereotype of Canadians. They don't realize you need to wear some sort of codpiece undernearth thsoe spandex suits.

 

[SpitsOHL89]

I actually feel bad for that Buffalo columnist for embarrassing himself like that...pure trash.

 

[Michigander88]

Canadians need to realize that Americans never get drunk or obnoxious, and they always display utmost courtesy and certainly ALWAYS tip very generously in resaurants/bars

In all seriousness, some Canadians are jerks, some Americans are jerks, I just lump them all in one and forget about 'em. I still think the tournament looked great and wish I could've been there

 

[bpc2083]

You guys do realize that if Buffalo wasn't on the Ontario border that the WJC wouldn't have been here right? The organizers knew that the place would be filled with the only people on earth that give a crap about this tourney. If Buffalo was located in Arizona, the tourney would not have been there. So save your "if it wasn't for us, you tourney would have been a failure" crap. We don't care.

 

[bpc2083]

Funny you say that I ordered two drafts in Buffalo after waiting a good 5 to 7 minutes for a homely woman bartender to finish hitting on her one other fat customer and take serveral shots in the process. She demanded I pay 8 dollars I handed her a 10 and a 5. Before I continue I would like you to understand I bar-tend. She goes to her cash puts all of the money in (i guess they just pull the difference between her read and her cash count however she didnt punch anything in a computer either) anyways after putting the money in the till she proceeds to pour two shots right beside her register and goes back to the guy she was flirting with. Now because I am a bartender I usually over tip even if the service is terrible, I dont know why but I do. I waited for another 5 minutes expecting her to come back with my change so i can tip her accordingly. It did not happen, I expect a normal customer would have not tipped at all and even possibly filed a complaint. Eventually I requeseted my change and still tipped her 3 dollars.

HEY MAYBE NO ONE WAS TIPPING BECAUSE THE SERVICE WAS BEYOND TERRIBLE. I know 5 years ago before I started bartending I may have left a nickle for that BS.

The treatment by the security after the gold medal game was also in my opinion unacceptable. Our friend got lost and we were waiting in the lobby attempting to find and reach her as we did not want to leave anyone behind in a foreign city. Security basically picked a fight and attempted to physically remove us into what was a freezing cold buffalo night.

I've been to way more bars in Buffalo than you have and have never had problems with service. Maybe you were dressed in your jersey and acting rude like most of you were. Therefore you were ignored. The fact you went out of your way to personally insult the woman and call her "homely" speaks to your maturity.

 

[wjhl2009fan]

I've been to way more bars in Buffalo than you have and have never had problems with service. Maybe you were dressed in your jersey and acting rude like most of you were. Therefore you were ignored. The fact you went out of your way to personally insult the woman and call her "homely" speaks to your maturity.

Stop making it one sided and stop making it seem that everyone was rude.

 

[bpc2083]

Stop making it one sided and stop making it seem that everyone was rude.

I didn't say everyone was rude. The group I was with at some of the games actually had a good time talking to Canadian fans. However, the majority of them for some reason mocked the fact we were given American flags at our games. And then rooted clearly against the US when we played and after the games the majority of Canadians I saw out were acting like the were saving our city by spending money here. Not all of them, but a great number.

 

[wjhl2009fan]

I didn't say everyone was rude. The group I was with at some of the games actually had a good time talking to Canadian fans. However, the majority of them for some reason mocked the fact we were given American flags at our games. And then rooted clearly against the US when we played and after the games the majority of Canadians I saw out were acting like the were saving our city by spending money here. Not all of them, but a great number.

Again with the rotting the states this has been going on for years and yes american root aginst canadian team as well.As for them saving the city while they should not gloat in some ways they did save the tournemant.

 

[The Sweetness]

Meh..

The irony is that American style patriotism has caught on with the newest generation of Canadians and the first people to complain about it are the Americans...

Actually you'd be surprised how many Swedes and Finns here in Scandinavia root against Canada in hockey. Not sure when the shift happened, but it is pretty clear change in general attitudes among hockey fans here.

And I'm not sure if American style patriotism is the right term either. Unless you mean an attitude of clear superiority that needs to be on constant display. This attitude does exist among too many (ignorant imo) Americans, but rarely if ever in sporting terms to the extent shown by many Canadian ice hockey fans.

The only fans that might be close to as bad as Canadian ice hockey fans are Australian swimming fans. Also horrid.

 

[drew5580]

my experience was pretty bad. ive lived in Buffalo my whole life so ive had close interactions with Canadiens almost every day. ive never had a problem untill this tournament. I went to every game at HSBC and the things i saw and heard nearly ruined the whole tournament for me. booing injured kids (i say kids cuz these are not NHL millionaires), disgusting comments towards opposion fans, smashed out the windows in a downtown hotel that the Swedes were staying at. and that group that burned the U.S. flag. completely unacceptable. that isnt to say that i didnt get to meet some very nice ones but the bad ones seem to out number the good. I cheered for Canada when they werent playing the U.S. (even in the gold medal game) and i was screamed at for it BY CANADIENS!!

i want to say that they were cool and i enjoyed it but i didnt.

i dont think we were bad hosts but i wish i could say they were good guests.

 

[TreeSapLlama]

Based on the Canadian article, I've formed a new stereotype of Canadians. They don't realize you need to wear some sort of codpiece undernearth thsoe spandex suits.

Disagree completely. The beauty of the suit is an embarrassingly thin layer of underwear! Although the white color shows a lot more then the green ones.

 

[wjhl2009fan]

my experience was pretty bad. ive lived in Buffalo my whole life so ive had close interactions with Canadiens almost every day. ive never had a problem untill this tournament. I went to every game at HSBC and the things i saw and heard nearly ruined the whole tournament for me. booing injured kids (i say kids cuz these are not NHL millionaires), disgusting comments towards opposion fans, smashed out the windows in a downtown hotel that the Swedes were staying at. and that group that burned the U.S. flag. completely unacceptable. that isnt to say that i didnt get to meet some very nice ones but the bad ones seem to out number the good. I cheered for Canada when they werent playing the U.S. (even in the gold medal game) and i was screamed at for it BY CANADIENS!!

i want to say that they were cool and i enjoyed it but i didnt.

i dont think we were bad hosts but i wish i could say they were good guests.

Were some bad maybe i did not hear about the burning of the flag etc if thats true yes its not right but don't stero type everyone.It just amazes me some would perfer to have very empty arenas vs having canadians ther ebuy up the tickets.

 

[Mikey71]

I just got back from a Florida vacation and took in the Boston in Tampa game. My family, including 2 girls ages 8 and 6 were sitting in section 106 if that matters at all. Obviously neither team is Canadian. Also, with the accents, it was clear they were American. There was a group of 4 people in the seats directly behind us, mid 30s I guess. All 4 were drinking all game and wasted before the 1st period was 1/2 over. The 1 guy in particular was screaming and swearing the entire game. A few times his girlfriend(or wife) whispered to him to cool it since there were small kids around, as there were other small kids close to us too. He would say sorry and do it again a play or 2 in the game later. My wife turned around and politely told him he can yell and scream all he wants, but cool it on the swearing. I too turned around and asked him to stop the swearing. He said sorry again and that he loved his Bruins and was getting too wrapped up in the game. Security did nothing. I know they knew about it as one of the times I turned around, I looked up at security, shook my head, and they acknowleged seeing his actions. Now, I had quite a bit of size on the guy and with my "background" could have really taught him a lesson in life, but would never go down that road in front of my kids and it wouldn't have really accomplished much anyway.

My point in all of this is that ignorance and disrespect can come from anywhere. Any time, even in a non-sporting event, there is bound to be trouble when the crowd is big enough and passion is involved. Alcohol is usually, but not always involved. Think of it as a village at each game. Every village has it's share of idiots. While I hated the swearing environment for my kids that game, I won't let it alter my thoughts of my experience, outside of those 4 people and Tampa security. Unfortunately though, when I do think back about the game, that crowd stuff is the first thing that pops into my head and not the game itself or the arena. I guess it is just human nature to remember the few idiots the most.

 

[doggietown]

Anyone see this apology written to the Buffalo writer?

http://www.blogstantino.blogspot.com/

 

[SpitsOHL89]

Funny you say that I ordered two drafts in Buffalo after waiting a good 5 to 7 minutes for a homely woman bartender to finish hitting on her one other fat customer and take serveral shots in the process. She demanded I pay 8 dollars I handed her a 10 and a 5. Before I continue I would like you to understand I bar-tend. She goes to her cash puts all of the money in (i guess they just pull the difference between her read and her cash count however she didnt punch anything in a computer either) anyways after putting the money in the till she proceeds to pour two shots right beside her register and goes back to the guy she was flirting with. Now because I am a bartender I usually over tip even if the service is terrible, I dont know why but I do. I waited for another 5 minutes expecting her to come back with my change so i can tip her accordingly. It did not happen, I expect a normal customer would have not tipped at all and even possibly filed a complaint. Eventually I requeseted my change and still tipped her 3 dollars.

HEY MAYBE NO ONE WAS TIPPING BECAUSE THE SERVICE WAS BEYOND TERRIBLE. I know 5 years ago before I started bartending I may have left a nickle for that BS.

The treatment by the security after the gold medal game was also in my opinion unacceptable. Our friend got lost and we were waiting in the lobby attempting to find and reach her as we did not want to leave anyone behind in a foreign city. Security basically picked a fight and attempted to physically remove us into what was a freezing cold buffalo night.

This is actually a very legitimate example. In Canada, bar-tending and waitressing is a respectable job which pays well regardless of tips, so bar-tenders and waitresses in Canada are generally well-educated people and the customers don't really feel the need to tip as much. In the States this is not really the case and that is therefore the reason why they expect and receive better tips.

 

[bert]

I've been to way more bars in Buffalo than you have and have never had problems with service. Maybe you were dressed in your jersey and acting rude like most of you were. Therefore you were ignored. The fact you went out of your way to personally insult the woman and call her "homely" speaks to your maturity.

Your right not all the bars were like that, I was served by one bartender that was fantastic. However you clearly didnt read my post very closely you jumped to your own conclusions in a hurry. I am a bartender and understand the etiquette as well as anyone. I was the furthest thing from obnoxious disrespectful or rude. I guess discriminating against me due to my Canadian jersey is a viable excuse to show little to zero courtesy.....? That was the worse service I have ever had in my life. Waiting at a bar to pay for a drink and generously tipping is your definition of rude? No wonder you are so sensitive, had the woman bartender been anything close to polite kind and not disrespectful this post never would have happened. Maybe her homely look was due to her being so inebriated behind the bar.... I am not sure.

As for the 'Canada's game' and 'our game' comments they are outrageous, this is the worlds game I dont think any real canadian hockey fans believe this...

 

[bert]

This is actually a very legitimate example. In Canada, bar-tending and waitressing is a respectable job which pays well regardless of tips, so bar-tenders and waitresses in Canada are generally well-educated people. In the States this is not so much the case and that is therefore the reason why they expect and receive better tips.

I wish that were the case I get servers wage I totally rely on tips. I totally understand the frusteration and dissapointment of being tipped poorly. I can relate to the Buffalo bartenders in this instance and if we canadians were actually bad tippers im very disappointed. Especially considering how much less expensive the alcohol is over the boarder.