Give me some explanations, why Canadian hockey fans are reacting so strange

[ponder719]

Still better than 50 countries stitched together I suppose.

Which states have you combined to account for Pennsylvania being 3 countries stitched together by itself?

 

[Look Up]

Patriotism is dumb in a club league imo. American teams winning the cup doesn't make hockey less Canadian. I have zero allegiance to Pennsylvania in this league for example. I would root for ISIS over the flyers.

Heard they were an American team as well.

 

[Coffey]

Which states have you combined to account for Pennsylvania being 3 countries stitched together by itself?

 

[DJJones]

If my team sucks, why should yours get to win?

Breaking the drought is gonna lead to bragging rights for a generation, not cheering for that.

 

[HabsQC]

It's normal that you don't understand OP, you're upside down down there in Austria

 

[BonMorrison]

At this point, we just need a Canadian team to win so all the Canadian media and casual hockey fans who slurp up this bullshit will shut the f*** up. Exhaustive over nationalism is already stupid, applying it to hockey is even moreso.

 

[ClydeLee]

I'm curious to the OP, if in world contests like olympics or otherwise, does he root for

I am a hockey-fan from Austria. And I know, my country is no big deal in hockey. But a t least in this years world cup we could go into overtime against Canada. And beat Finland. An in my part of our land (Carinthia) hockey plays an important role...

I've been following the NHL for about 25 years now. And to be honest: I was always cheering for the Canada based teams. IMHO Canada is ice-hockeys homeland. So I was always sad, when Canadian teams lost in the Stanley-Cup-finals.

What I do not understand: In all these finals - when I was going through the forums afterwards - it was strange to see, that most Canadian fans were happy, that the Canadian team lost, no matter if it was Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Edmonton.

Look, it is now more than 30 years, that the cup is away from Canada. For me that is a shame. So why do Canadian fans give the impression, that they are happy with it? Is there nothing like patriotism? No national pride? And don't tell me, that this is of no importance, because the majority of players in US-based franchises are Canadians!

I simply don't understand that inter-Canadian-hate, that self-humilitang attitude. And can anyone tell me, why there are so few Canada based franchises? Is no one in Canada, who has money interested in hockey. Who needs another team in the US? Who needs for example a Utah-hockey-club?

Back in 1987, while travelling through AUstralia, I met a Canadian guy, a huge hockey fan. I remember him telling me: "We hate the Russians, cause the beat us so often." It seems to me, there a change: Now Canadians hate themselves and love the United States.

For my part: I prefer Canada...

SO: Can anyone give me some explanations.

Greetings from Austria!

Karl-Heinz

To see where your mentality is at, I read some but not all of this thread.

In international tournaments, I know people asked about like if Barcelona would root for Madrid, etc. But would you root for a team in the Olympics or the WC that is from Europe... because they're from Europe. Like do you root for Sweden to beat Canada?

There's certainly nationalism to American sports, but it's in a different scale. But the range from Vancouver to Montreal is gigantic despite it beingb1 country.

 

[hfman]

Back in 1987, while travelling through AUstralia, I met a Canadian guy, a huge hockey fan. I remember him telling me: "We hate the Russians, cause the beat us so often." It seems to me, there a change: Now Canadians hate themselves and love the United States.


Greetings from Austria!

Karl-Heinz

Back in 1987...

Travelling through Australia. Safe bet to say you'd be a minimum of 25 years give or take old back then?

Which puts you over 60 years old right now lol.

You remember talking to a Canadian guy almost 40 years ago about Russian hockey lol. But ok.

And here you are, possibly a senior citizen right now, asking questions about Canada as if you have no idea at your age how other countries operate?

Apparently you have no idea about how North America/Canadian hockey culture works, but have a good opinion that Utah of all places doesn't need a hockey team lol. Is this your hobby or something bud?

The internet is a weird place.

Oh well. Thanks anyways Karl-Heinz

 

[GeeoffBrown]

I gotta admit if Connor McDavid is an Oiler and captain of Team Canada, it might be tempting to cheer for Finland or something...

 

[OWI]

'Canada' is not a unified country. Its history is rife with infighting, separatist movements and regional resentment toward Toronto/Ottawa. I have traveled to every province and lived in Winnipeg, Victoria and Vancouver. Canada is actually 7 countries stitched together.

Given the right political crisis, Canada is weak and fragile and could break up into pieces.

A lot of Canadians will be angry with this, but given the times now is the time to speak the truth, not sugar coat it. All of this spills into other parts of the culture.

This is one thing I definetly learned in this dicussion. I always thought, that Canada is similar to the USA. They have a very large country too. But there seems to be a lot of national pride. At least this is what they seem to transport.

But okay: I have to change this point of view a bit. And then it is mor understandable for me, how Canadian fans think...

 

[OWI]

• Back in 1987, while travelling through AUstralia, I met a Canadian guy, a huge hockey fan. I remember him telling me: "We hate the Russians, cause the beat us so often." It seems to me, there a change: Now Canadians hate themselves and love the United States.
  
  
  Greetings from Austria!
  
  Karl-Heinz

  Back in 1987...
  
  Travelling through Australia. Safe bet to say you'd be a minimum of 25 years give or take old back then?
  
  Which puts you over 60 years old right now lol.
  
  You remember talking to a Canadian guy almost 40 years ago about Russian hockey lol. But ok.
  
  And here you are, possibly a senior citizen right now, asking questions about Canada as if you have no idea at your age how other countries operate?
  
  Apparently you have no idea about how North America/Canadian hockey culture works, but have a good opinion that Utah of all places doesn't need a hockey team lol. Is this your hobby or something bud?
  
  The internet is a weird place.
  
  Oh well. Thanks anyways Karl-Heinz

 

[OWI]

I always find that in Europe, there is also a lack of understanding of scale in North America. Each of the US and Canada is enormous, continental in scope. You have a lot less in common with someone in a state or province halfway across the country than people across many smaller European countries have in common with one another. It takes six hours to fly across the country. LA and NYC is like Lisbon to Istanbul. So are Halifax and Vancouver. That may help explain regional rivalries.

I do understand this now..

 

[OWI]

Travelling through Australia. Safe bet to say you'd be a minimum of 25 years give or take old back then?

Which puts you over 60 years old right now lol.

You remember talking to a Canadian guy almost 40 years ago about Russian hockey lol. But ok.

And here you are, possibly a senior citizen right now, asking questions about Canada as if you have no idea at your age how other countries operate?

• Im am exactly 60 years old.
• I did not want to attack You Canadians in any way, really. I just wanted to understand.
• I have only been once in Canada - 1982. I was 18 years then. But I just swa a liitle bit of Alberta (Glacier and Yoho National Park. And a bit of B.C. Vancouver Island above all. I guess I was too young then and not interested in "deeper understanding". I just liked the countryside. And it was simply coll for me, to be 18, far away from home and driving a car.

So all in all: Don#t be too harsh with me...

I'd quibble with this interpretation for a couple of historical reasons. The Stanley Cup was originally a gift to the country of Canada and had nothing to do with professional or even world hockey supremacy. The NHL was originally founded as an all-Canadian league; what nation did you think the "N" stood for? The NHL didn't even gain exclusive control of the Cup for some years after it was founded.

Now, those initial conditions have long passed us by, but even after those things were no longer true, you still have the Cup and ice hockey holding a place in Canadian lore that go beyond it being a simple "club level competition." Very few people in Montreal from the 1950s to 1970s would have felt that way about it for instance.

So we end up with the two sets of fans: those who look at the Cup as just the club level competition, who care little who wins it if their own team doesn't, and those who do view it through the old Canadian lens and would like to have the Cup spend at least one year in the custody of a Canadian team after its three decade stay south of the border.

Thank you for this post also. I would say that I belong to those, who see it "through the old Canadian" lens...

 

[The Marquis]

Back in 1987...

Travelling through Australia. Safe bet to say you'd be a minimum of 25 years give or take old back then?

Which puts you over 60 years old right now lol.

You remember talking to a Canadian guy almost 40 years ago about Russian hockey lol. But ok.

And here you are, possibly a senior citizen right now, asking questions about Canada as if you have no idea at your age how other countries operate?

Apparently you have no idea about how North America/Canadian hockey culture works, but have a good opinion that Utah of all places doesn't need a hockey team lol. Is this your hobby or something bud?

The internet is a weird place.

Oh well. Thanks anyways Karl-Heinz

To be fair, I also remember a very old conversation (1998) I had about hockey while travelling in Canada. It's notable to remember this stuff as a non-Canadian because it's one of very few places on the earth where people are actually ready, willing and able to talk about hockey with you to a greater extent than regurgitating whatever the most recent headline was... which is usually... how about them (Stanley Cup Winners). The conversation was had in Stanley Park with an older dude (like 60's or 70's), and we spent like 20 minutes talking about Scott Stevens.

 

[93LEAFS]

The Oilers are Edmonton's team, not Canada's. I'll cheer for the national team, but I don't care about another cities team, just like most of the other fanbases would hate to see the Leafs be successful. I hear more crap from Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg fans than I ever hear from the other teams except maybe Buffalo or Detroit due to proximity.

Would a Manchester United supporter cheer for Liverpool in a CL final cuz they are English? No.

 

[OWI]

Because many stressed the fact, that Real Madrid fans would never cheer for Barcelona...

That is true, but not to the extend like in Your case.

I repeat: If Rapid Wien would be in the Campions League final, than probably the majority of Austria Wien fans would not cheer for them. But the rest of country would at least for 90 Percent.

Also: When in the Fottball (Soccer) World Championchips there is a final between a European country an one from Latin America, I hope, that Europe win. With just one exeption: Austrians do not alwasy suppor Germany and vice versa. But when Germany beat Argentina in the World Championchip finale in Brasil, I cheered for them.

And last year of course I hoped for France, not for Argentina.

 

[93LEAFS]

Because many stressed the fact, that Real Madrid fans would never cheer for Barcelona...

That is true, but not to the extend like in Your case.

I repeat: If Rapid Wien would be in the Campions League final, than probably the majority of Austria Wien fans would not cheer for them. But the rest of country would at least for 90 Percent.

Also: When in the Fottball (Soccer) World Championchips there is a final between a European country an one from Latin America, I hope, that Europe win. With just one exeption: Austrians do not alwasy suppor Germany and vice versa. But when Germany beat Argentina in the World Championchip finale in Brasil, I cheered for them.

And last year of course I hoped for France, not for Argentina.

Most of England who weren't already Manchester United fans would never cheer for them, especially the large fanbases of Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool. If the Leafs are the last Canadian team remaining in the playoffs I doubt the rest of Canada would unite behind us, just like I wouldn't unite behind any of them.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

I don't think this is that hard to understand or even down to some massive difference between Europe and North America. I know Austrians who would never cheer for Red Bull Salzburg, ever.

If Edmonton wins the Cup, no-one in Canada outside Edmonton gets anything out of it, nothing. It's a club competition and on a fan level quite typically a city competition. There are many Canadians who follow U.S.-based teams (common with Bruins in the Maritimes, Wings in SW Ontario, Sabres in the Niagara region), so that alone shows you it's not a national thing. The Canadian media promotes the idea of "Canada's Team" because they need to sell commercials for broadcasts at a certain price that requires non-fans to tune into those games, that doesn't mean people need to buy in.

 

[gretzkyoilers]

"bring the cup home to canada" is an asinine thought

It is also the fact that other than the Toronto Blue Jays and the Raptors, the only major sports teams are in the NHL. However, MLS is now picking up steam but only Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver have teams.

What are Americans and Canadians saying about the Raptors winning is 2019? Only one Canadian team out of 30...

 

[Fig]

Okay, thank you all for your answers. I learned the following:

1. This is a forum of "die-hard-fans". For the vast majority of them only their team counts.
2. Basically every die-hard-fan hates nearly every other Canadian franchise.
3. And every die-hard-fan from Canada fears the most, that some other Canadian team breaks the drought, so the breaking of this drought - if ever it happens - will upset the majority of them.
4. The casual hockey fans in Canada is different and much more hoping, the Cup will come home.
5. There is no additional franchise in Canada, above all in Quebec, because the NHL is not interested. This is unfair. IMO typical for USA tactics.

So I respect your points of view, maybe exept the hate-issue. And I hope at least, I will see another Canadian team hoist the Cup until I am 80 (now I am 60).

I read the whole thread and I think that you asked your question in a way that is getting some strange responses. A question well posed is a question half answered. I understand that English likely isn't your first language. I'm not blaming your question, just saying that if we re-frame the question, it may help to get better answers.

EDIT: It seems that a few things were addressed by other posters after I left for a few hours before finishing my post.

I think the crux of the issue is that there is a major difference to geography and NHL vs other professional sports leagues that causes this "strangeness" you've identified. This is obvious to most Canadians and Americans because the understand the scale that the NHL operates on, but the scale might not be as obvious for someone in the EU.

I'll start with geography. Many Europeans (not sure if you're counted in that group) do not realize how big Canada and the USA are. Every Province in Canada is large enough to fit several if not half a dozen EU countries into it and also large enough to fit several US states into it. The comments about how you might not cheer for different teams in Austria doesn't fully answer something that might seem obvious to Canadians and Americans... the size disconnect of our countries.

Imagine this (or look at the maps):

Austria's land size - ~84,000 KM2
British Columbia land size (Province Canucks play in) - ~945,000 KM2 (11x Austria)
Alberta land size (Province Flames and Oilers play in) - ~662,000 KM2 (7x Austria)
Ontario's land size (Province Senators and Leafs play in) - ~ 1.076 million KM2

California land size (State that Sharks, Kings and Ducks play in) - ~ 404,000 KM2 (4x Austria)
Florida land size (State that Bolts and Panthers play in) - ~ 170,000 KM2 (2x Austria)
New York State land size ~ 141,000 KM2 (Where Sabres, Isles and Rangers play)
Massachusetts land size ~ 27,340 KM2 (Where Bruins play)
New Jersey land size ~ ~19,050 KM2 (Where Devils play).

Now imagine that between Boston and Philadelphia, with a range of around 550KM, you have the following teams in that range: Bruins, Isles, Rangers, Devils and Flyers. Other than perhaps another small pocket in California, most other teams are 800-several thousand KM away from each other. This is a scale that might surprise many EU residents.

After that, we have the fact that most NHL rosters are made up of many different nationalities.
Breaking down each NHL team's roster by nationality: 2023–24 season opening rosters - The Win Column

Every team has multiple countries, so the fact that Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal etc. are all in Canada doesn't mean nationality wise they're "Canadian". The fact the team is located in Canada means only a physical regional attribute. Add in the differences of how other sports in the EU are organized, the NHL teams do not really have a nation type of attribute that is as possible in a landmass like the European Union. Population densities also vary wildly between NHL cities with significant (lack of) population variances if (arbitrarily) looking at 250KM in all directions from the city.

Winnipeg is maybe a million people total if looking at a 250KM radius around that city. Then there's huge differences in 250KM population between somewhere like Chicago, Toronto/Buffalo, Ottawa, Edmonton, Columbus, LA, New York etc.

Another point I didn't think get touched upon that much in previous posts, individual player investment/rivalries. As mentioned, NHL isn't nation separated like Olympics and international tournaments, so that doesn't work. But this discrepancy also perhaps adds to the segregation of fandom for many of the fanatical or casual fans as well. Think the ultras, but less physical violence and more philosophy/verbal.

You rarely have an NHL fan being a fan of multiple teams, especially rival teams. It's a lot more work to keep track of multiple teams and teams are actively working against each other in a conference system. So Calgary/Vancouver/Edmonton for instance, most fans will hope for their team to win, but either ignore the success of their rivals, or cheer for the failure of their rivals in the hopes that their team comes out on top (ie: More points in an 82 game season than rivals to have highest chance of playoffs). It's hard to have a "collective we of a country" if the success of the other teams in the same country often have a negative effect against your own team. This is not unique to Canada for the NHL, the same occurs in the USA as others have mentioned. If you invest in your team (ie: Calgary for me), then the investment of cheering for Vancouver/Edmonton will automatically be lower by default due to the NHL system in place.

Then to further complicate but clarify this process, many NHL fans are fans of specific players. For instance, I as a Calgary fan can be a rival of the Oilers, hate nearly all things Oilers, but be a fan of Connor McDavid. Similarities, but different. Like the squares vs rectangles saying (ie: all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares). Calgary fans can be a fan of a generational talent in McDavid and hopes he wins a ton of accolades and without being contradictory, hope that the Oilers do not perform well to be superior to the Flames (yes, I know it's sorta contradictory and dumb when the Oilers just were in the Finals and the Flames are crappy right now). In general, following more than one team is kinda exhausting and only fanatical fans will do this. Following players no longer on your team is also kinda exhausting, but not the same level as following an entire team. I believe many EU hockey fans would be fans of NHL teams where one of their star players on the world stage played. Some started that way and just stayed (ie: Finnish Kiprusoff fans sticking around as Flames fans after he retired). Others are active (ie: German fans and Oilers because Draisaitl)

What this meant in this years final, was that as a Flames fan there was an added bonus. In other years, I would perhaps just barely follow the highlights. This year, it was more personal and I followed the finals a lot more and watched the games from beginning to end vs barely touching highlights and scores.

The reason for this is that from a Flames perspective, there were several players that grew up in our system and played for us for many years that some Flames fans became attached to. So the fact that Bennett and Tkachuk spent so much time in our system (5+ years for both) and we were invested in seeing them succeed for so long caused us to have attachment to them. Lomberg as well as a feel good story, but he was only here a few years. This might have meant that our investment in seeing these players succeed caused us to also carry forward that success to hoping for the absolute pinnacle success an NHL player could accomplish. That is to win the Stanley cup. This spill over of player investment and then naturally turned to hoping for the Panthers to win from some of us Flames fans. Former Flames on the Oilers roster were like Kulak, Ryan and Stetcher. Most of which only spent a few years here (less than 3-4 seasons for each IIRC and lesser role players/not grew up in our development system with less attachment).

A similar thing happened when it was Vancouver vs Edmonton in the playoffs. Quite a few Flames fans hoped for Vancouver over Edmonton. Again, it was due to rivalry (even though much less of a rivalry emphasis in recent years, Battle of Alberta is still bigger than Calgary/Vancouver rivalry), but the biggest thing that may have trumped that indifference was that Calgary/Vancouver had swapped many players in the last few years and thus we had many crossover players for which many of us had somewhat of an emotional attachment to vs barely any attachment to for other teams. (ie key players like: Lindholm, Zadorov).

Keep also in mind that there are many different fans. Some are combinations of the above. Some are none of the above.

Sorry for all the words. Hopefully it was a little helpful in understanding this attribute of NHL fandom and realizing that it's not strange from a North American perspective, but I can completely understand why it's strange from an EU one.

 

[Jeune Poulet]

Never understood Canadian idiots who rejoice at Canadian failure.

Players and agents talk. They know about the taxes and the lack of anonymity in Canada. They know because of that, it's harder to assemble a winning lineup in a cap environment. More and more players are avoiding Canadian markets as UFAs and are putting Canadian teams on their no trade lists. The overwhelming evidence is in the players faces: Canadian teams don't win. Avoid them if you are a winner.

Canadians who celebrate Canadian failure are simpletons who celebrate their own demise. Then they cry when their own teams have to overpay 2 millions on a free agent and don't understand what the f*** is going on. "wHY Iz All tEH cannaddiuns GMs bAd ThO??"

 

[JPeeper]

Never understood Canadian idiots who rejoice at Canadian failure.

Players and agents talk. They know about the taxes and the lack of anonymity in Canada. They know because of that, it's harder to assemble a winning lineup in a cap environment. More and more players are avoiding Canadian markets as UFAs and are putting Canadian teams on their no trade lists. The overwhelming evidence is in the players faces: Canadian teams don't win. Avoid them if you are a winner.

Canadians who celebrate Canadian failure are simpletons who celebrate their own demise. Then they cry when their own teams have to overpay 2 millions on a free agent and don't understand what the f*** is going on. "wHY Iz All tEH cannaddiuns GMs bAd ThO??"

L Take

Remind me when the Canada Canada's play in the NHL. No one is rejoicing in Canadian failure, we're rejoicing in the failure of the Edmonton Oilers.

Is Aaron Ekblad not Canadian, are the two goal scorers for in game 7 for Florida not Canadian, is Florida's head coach not Canadian?

 

[Classicnamesup]

There is major rivalries between these teams. I think it's really that simple. I'm sure there were lots of eastern Canadian fans cheering for Edmonton. A lot less western Canadian non-Oiler fans cheering for them, but some.

I don't think people really care that a Canadian team hasn't won in 30 years. It's an interesting statistical anomaly, plus plenty of Canadian teams have been mismanaged and also have some disadvantage financially. People don't want their rivals to win and would cheer for anyone but the rival. Seems normal to me.

 

[hfman]

I read the whole thread and I think that you asked your question in a way that is getting some strange responses. A question well posed is a question half answered. I understand that English likely isn't your first language. I'm not blaming your question, just saying that if we re-frame the question, it may help to get better answers.

EDIT: It seems that a few things were addressed by other posters after I left for a few hours before finishing my post.

I think the crux of the issue is that there is a major difference to geography and NHL vs other professional sports leagues that causes this "strangeness" you've identified. This is obvious to most Canadians and Americans because the understand the scale that the NHL operates on, but the scale might not be as obvious for someone in the EU.

I'll start with geography. Many Europeans (not sure if you're counted in that group) do not realize how big Canada and the USA are. Every Province in Canada is large enough to fit several if not half a dozen EU countries into it and also large enough to fit several US states into it. The comments about how you might not cheer for different teams in Austria doesn't fully answer something that might seem obvious to Canadians and Americans... the size disconnect of our countries.

Imagine this (or look at the maps):

Austria's land size - ~84,000 KM2
British Columbia land size (Province Canucks play in) - ~945,000 KM2 (11x Austria)
Alberta land size (Province Flames and Oilers play in) - ~662,000 KM2 (7x Austria)
Ontario's land size (Province Senators and Leafs play in) - ~ 1.076 million KM2

California land size (State that Sharks, Kings and Ducks play in) - ~ 404,000 KM2 (4x Austria)
Florida land size (State that Bolts and Panthers play in) - ~ 170,000 KM2 (2x Austria)
New York State land size ~ 141,000 KM2 (Where Sabres, Isles and Rangers play)
Massachusetts land size ~ 27,340 KM2 (Where Bruins play)
New Jersey land size ~ ~19,050 KM2 (Where Devils play).

Now imagine that between Boston and Philadelphia, with a range of around 550KM, you have the following teams in that range: Bruins, Isles, Rangers, Devils and Flyers. Other than perhaps another small pocket in California, most other teams are 800-several thousand KM away from each other. This is a scale that might surprise many EU residents.

After that, we have the fact that most NHL rosters are made up of many different nationalities.
Breaking down each NHL team's roster by nationality: 2023–24 season opening rosters - The Win Column

Every team has multiple countries, so the fact that Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal etc. are all in Canada doesn't mean nationality wise they're "Canadian". The fact the team is located in Canada means only a physical regional attribute. Add in the differences of how other sports in the EU are organized, the NHL teams do not really have a nation type of attribute that is as possible in a landmass like the European Union. Population densities also vary wildly between NHL cities with significant (lack of) population variances if (arbitrarily) looking at 250KM in all directions from the city.

Winnipeg is maybe a million people total if looking at a 250KM radius around that city. Then there's huge differences in 250KM population between somewhere like Chicago, Toronto/Buffalo, Ottawa, Edmonton, Columbus, LA, New York etc.

Another point I didn't think get touched upon that much in previous posts, individual player investment/rivalries. As mentioned, NHL isn't nation separated like Olympics and international tournaments, so that doesn't work. But this discrepancy also perhaps adds to the segregation of fandom for many of the fanatical or casual fans as well. Think the ultras, but less physical violence and more philosophy/verbal.

You rarely have an NHL fan being a fan of multiple teams, especially rival teams. It's a lot more work to keep track of multiple teams and teams are actively working against each other in a conference system. So Calgary/Vancouver/Edmonton for instance, most fans will hope for their team to win, but either ignore the success of their rivals, or cheer for the failure of their rivals in the hopes that their team comes out on top (ie: More points in an 82 game season than rivals to have highest chance of playoffs). It's hard to have a "collective we of a country" if the success of the other teams in the same country often have a negative effect against your own team. This is not unique to Canada for the NHL, the same occurs in the USA as others have mentioned. If you invest in your team (ie: Calgary for me), then the investment of cheering for Vancouver/Edmonton will automatically be lower by default due to the NHL system in place.

Then to further complicate but clarify this process, many NHL fans are fans of specific players. For instance, I as a Calgary fan can be a rival of the Oilers, hate nearly all things Oilers, but be a fan of Connor McDavid. Similarities, but different. Like the squares vs rectangles saying (ie: all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares). Calgary fans can be a fan of a generational talent in McDavid and hopes he wins a ton of accolades and without being contradictory, hope that the Oilers do not perform well to be superior to the Flames (yes, I know it's sorta contradictory and dumb when the Oilers just were in the Finals and the Flames are crappy right now). In general, following more than one team is kinda exhausting and only fanatical fans will do this. Following players no longer on your team is also kinda exhausting, but not the same level as following an entire team. I believe many EU hockey fans would be fans of NHL teams where one of their star players on the world stage played. Some started that way and just stayed (ie: Finnish Kiprusoff fans sticking around as Flames fans after he retired). Others are active (ie: German fans and Oilers because Draisaitl)

What this meant in this years final, was that as a Flames fan there was an added bonus. In other years, I would perhaps just barely follow the highlights. This year, it was more personal and I followed the finals a lot more and watched the games from beginning to end vs barely touching highlights and scores.

The reason for this is that from a Flames perspective, there were several players that grew up in our system and played for us for many years that some Flames fans became attached to. So the fact that Bennett and Tkachuk spent so much time in our system (5+ years for both) and we were invested in seeing them succeed for so long caused us to have attachment to them. Lomberg as well as a feel good story, but he was only here a few years. This might have meant that our investment in seeing these players succeed caused us to also carry forward that success to hoping for the absolute pinnacle success an NHL player could accomplish. That is to win the Stanley cup. This spill over of player investment and then naturally turned to hoping for the Panthers to win from some of us Flames fans. Former Flames on the Oilers roster were like Kulak, Ryan and Stetcher. Most of which only spent a few years here (less than 3-4 seasons for each IIRC and lesser role players/not grew up in our development system with less attachment).

A similar thing happened when it was Vancouver vs Edmonton in the playoffs. Quite a few Flames fans hoped for Vancouver over Edmonton. Again, it was due to rivalry (even though much less of a rivalry emphasis in recent years, Battle of Alberta is still bigger than Calgary/Vancouver rivalry), but the biggest thing that may have trumped that indifference was that Calgary/Vancouver had swapped many players in the last few years and thus we had many crossover players for which many of us had somewhat of an emotional attachment to vs barely any attachment to for other teams. (ie key players like: Lindholm, Zadorov).

Keep also in mind that there are many different fans. Some are combinations of the above. Some are none of the above.

Sorry for all the words. Hopefully it was a little helpful in understanding this attribute of NHL fandom and realizing that it's not strange from a North American perspective, but I can completely understand why it's strange from an EU one.

lol wth

can no one tell the difference between a legitimate topic and a troll topic?? good lord

 

[MessierII]

Don’t use online as a reflection of the demographic. People all over the country were cheering for the oilers.