How do you choose the team you root for?

As a kid living on the west coast during the original six it was pretty much which player was our favourite on HNIC. We saw a lot of Leafs and Habs games. So lots of Leafs and Habs fans. For myself, it was Dave Keon and the Leafs.
 
I don't know if there is still something like NHL on the FLY. They would swap between every game and show 3-6 minutes at a time + goal updates. I would just try to watch all the superstar players without necessarily committing to the full 60 minutes, swap between games. But you said Montreal a few times XD.
 
It's obvious that one of the main reasons for people to root for a team in NHL is because it's their home town's or home state's team. But is there something else that gets overlooked?

I live in northern Europe (Finland) so for me it's not clear at all. I've been following NHL for about a year now, since last playoffs, and I've basically followed teams because of few individuals: Pens because of Crosby and Stars because of the newly formed Finnish mafia. With lack of geographical connection the hierarchy of emotional connection to a team when it comes to different type of factors goes something like this for me:
  1. Admirable player on and off the ice (Crosby)
  2. Fellow countrymen in the same team (Dallas/Florida)
  3. Highly skilled gameplay (McDrai/MacMak/MarMatt)
  4. Underdog (St. Louis, Montreal)
  5. Great fan culture / history (Toronto, Montreal)
  6. Youthful team/bright future (Sharks, Montreal)
  7. Aesthetics of jerseys (Red wings, Canucks)
But now I'm in a pickle because come next saturday Stars and Pens will face each other. And so I'm thinking "who should I root for here?". Obviously a win doesn't matter for Pens at this point. But I do respect Crosby the most out of anyone on those two lineups. But then again Stars have five of my countrymen on their team and they deserve to win as they have won 7 games in a row, so I'll probably root for Stars.

How do you choose which team(s) to root for?
If it was not for crosby, I litteraly hate the penguins, penguins = mario, penguins = crosby, a few years back would have added matt cooke Pejorative Slured behavior as a little spice up to the team, and laracque too, more respecfully, and I may be forgetting some (no need to mention geno and his breakway slapshots) but IDK if you go for penguins, I can assume with little to no doubt that once crosby retire, they will be shit for a long long period until they win the powerball again

Toronto, you have no reason to pick them if you dont live there :laugh:

Dallas are good, personnaly I think hintz has a soft play, but they are really strong overall, always liked duchene,

Florida, well you can hate them just because of tkatchuk, but bennet is a stud IMO, always pulling it when all they other big piece are not, that and he rarely is on the first line, I could advance never but there were probably a few times during injuries

oilers is defenitly a go for, you root for a canadian team, which is for sure a win, and then they are very strong, feels really bad they got ditched by broberg and holloway, those too are blooming quick in st louis, so there is st- louis next,

st louis was going no where for a while, after the tarasenko, bouwmester, pietrangelo, and backes era, but now, defenitly a team to root for

Montreal well, spoiler alert! they will win the stanley cup this year and a young russian who is tearing the KHL will make the team next year, another spoiler alert probably the best rookie in the league next season, other than that, I think our goaltending is average, but there is a youn guy coming up in the system, last spoiler alert might become one of the best in the league, defense is growing strong but still young, same for our offense, but it's close to something really strong like the blues, so another good team to root for,

I seriously would avoid any US teams, I would have said the coyotes, but sadly they became the mormons of utah, so ... so you may consider the cannucks, or not because petterson seams to be a smuck, boeser will leave, and hugues will be left alone to carry, I retake, petterson (F) is still young, but he's strowing away some bad vibes, they had potential for some time and everytime you thought well the canucks are for real... nope

You could go for the jets, if you like boring teams, calgary are hot IMO even if they lack high end talent, some may argue they have kadri " ъуъ ", I really like huberdeau, I think he got fleeced from a stanley cup, it took a year but now he's finding his touch in calgary

colorado is one of the US teams I could root for

anaheim, san jose, and chicago
 
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I don't know if there is still something like NHL on the FLY. They would swap between every game and show 3-6 minutes at a time + goal updates. I would just try to watch all the superstar players without necessarily committing to the full 60 minutes, swap between games. But you said Montreal a few times XD.
there is with amazon prime, only on thursday tho, so not really worth it
 
I’ve always liked answering this question because I root for the Blues, despite every other team I root for being Chicago based.

My family have always been Cubs/Bears/Bulls fans, so I picked that up from them.

For hockey though, my family had season tickets for my entire childhood for the local minor league team, the Peoria Rivermen.

From before I was born until 2013, they were always a Blues affiliate (even with them playing in all of the IHL/ECHL/AHL during that time frame). I made the executive decision from a very young age that I could never root against my guys if they made it to the NHL.

I will say having legends like Gretzky(briefly), Hull, Pronger, MacInnis, etc. also helped lol.
 
Columbus - I moved there 2 years before Columbus got the Jackets. Went to the first ever game and had season tickets for years.
Here's the thing about Columbus fans...we love hockey and the Blue Jackets. The organization has been so bad for so long and have had multiple tragedies that we have no fairweather fans. The tragedies are 2 active players killed and a young girl killed in the arena from a flying puck.
There is no such thing as a bandwagon Jackets fan. We are often the butt of jokes from every other fanbase, but I still wouldn't be anyone but a Jackets fan. Although my faith does waiver from time to time.
That is the best sales pitch I have to be a Jackets fan. Come on in...The water is freezing.
 
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It's obvious that one of the main reasons for people to root for a team in NHL is because it's their home town's or home state's team. But is there something else that gets overlooked?

I live in northern Europe (Finland) so for me it's not clear at all. I've been following NHL for about a year now, since last playoffs, and I've basically followed teams because of few individuals: Pens because of Crosby and Stars because of the newly formed Finnish mafia. With lack of geographical connection the hierarchy of emotional connection to a team when it comes to different type of factors goes something like this for me:
  1. Admirable player on and off the ice (Crosby)
  2. Fellow countrymen in the same team (Dallas/Florida)
  3. Highly skilled gameplay (McDrai/MacMak/MarMatt)
  4. Underdog (St. Louis, Montreal)
  5. Great fan culture / history (Toronto, Montreal)
  6. Youthful team/bright future (Sharks, Montreal)
  7. Aesthetics of jerseys (Red wings, Canucks)
But now I'm in a pickle because come next saturday Stars and Pens will face each other. And so I'm thinking "who should I root for here?". Obviously a win doesn't matter for Pens at this point. But I do respect Crosby the most out of anyone on those two lineups. But then again Stars have five of my countrymen on their team and they deserve to win as they have won 7 games in a row, so I'll probably root for Stars.

How do you choose which team(s) to root for?
I couldnt choose because i just enjoy the game of hockey. I have fave players, but no favourite team, Im just an objective and neutral hockey fan
 
A lot of non-local Montreal love comes from the fact that they're the most successful NHL franchise with the most knowledgeable fanbase and the only true NHL team that's been around since day one of the NHL. Their pedigree is unmatched and will never be surpassed.
 
My favorite player used to be Ilya Kovalchuk, so Atlanta was my favourite team, I tend to like underdog players in every league, or players who are extremely skilled but haven't necessarily won anything, ie, Cardinals are my favourite football team and Legend Larry was my favourite player, T Mac was my favourite NBA player. Kovalchuk , T Mac and Larry have a total of 0 championships, but have arguably the nastiest attributes individually.
My favourite team now is Minnesota, mainly because of Kirill, but I do like the support and culture wild fans have for our team!
 
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Native Cheesehead - despise Chicago.

As a kid in the 70s I was gifted Milwaukee Admiral tickets - got me hooked.

Buddy in high school several years later taped some NHL games on VHS - the difference was evident - I neeeded to follow an NHL club.

1984 - teenage me - loved muscle cars - hated Chicago based teams - loved tough hockey and skilled players…Local Waldenbooks shop carried The Hockey News - some guy named Yzerman apparently could score a lot - Probert and Kocur punched many faces - kick ass colors and logo is the best hands down in pro sports - I’m in!

Paper route money was used to pay for cable tv (parents were cheap) so I could watch a few games a week ( mostly non Red Wings games but oh well).

:wings
 
Driving around Queens aimlessly one fall evening.

Drove into LI and ended up in Hempstead.

Bought a bag of what I thought would be some nice vegetables for my chicken marsala from a friendly fellow in Hempstead.

Walked around for hours amazed at all the colorful shapes that floated around the sky in Nassau County.

Had an intense discussion with a man in a dragon costume in Uniondale outside of some arena. I can't remember much, he kept talking about some island. Meanwhile I was attempting to discuss with him the historical accuracy of dragons, whether mythical or real, and whether some knight could actually defeat one.

Wake up the next morning in the fetal position.

Look up, and see "Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum" and next to it "Home of the NY Islanders."

The rest is history.
 
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Dad cheered for Leafs and lived a few hours away from Toronto although Ottawa and Mtl were only an hour to two hours away.
 
Driving around Queens aimlessly one fall evening.

Drove into LI and ended up in Hempstead.

Bought a bag of what I thought would be some nice vegetables for my chicken marsala from a friendly fellow in Hempstead.

Walked around for hours amazed at all the colorful shapes that floated around the sky in Nassau County.

Had an intense discussion with a man in a dragon costume in Uniondale outside of some arena. I can't remember much, he kept talking about some island. Meanwhile I was attempting to discuss with him the historical accuracy of dragons, whether mythical or real, and whether some knight could actually defeat one.

Wake up the next morning in the fetal position.

Look up, and see "Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum" and next to it "Home of the NY Islanders."

The rest is history.
Were mushrooms involved?
 
I was young wanted to rebel by cheering for a different team than my dad (the Canucks). I found the Avalanche while scrolling through teams on NHL99 and I liked their colours so I chose them every time.
 
When my nephews were young I just kept giving them Oiler themed gifts even though they lived in Calgary. Now that they’re older they became Oiler fans.
I remember when I was little (5 I think) my parnets got me a pair of Canuck pajamas. I have no idea why because my mom was from Montreal and my dad grew up near Edmonton. I did liked them and thought the orca logo was pretty cool though! :laugh: Time passed and I out grew them of course but I never really thought about them after that nor did I get into hockey at that point. I would never wear such a thing today but I was nearly "corrupted" at a young age.
 
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Everyone around me growing up was a fan of the Leafs. Every single one of them is stupid so I cheered for Ottawa.
 

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