Minnesota Wild General Discussion 2024-25

[Spurgeon]

I never understand why players mention the X being a tough environment to play in. Must just be paying lip service to the fans because it’s hard to even get a “Let’s Go Wild” chant going in there for most games.

 

[AKL]

I never understand why players mention the X being a tough environment to play in. Must just be paying lip service to the fans because it’s hard to even get a “Let’s Go Wild” chant going in there for most games.

The crowd at the Frost game was way more involved than I've ever seen at a Wild game. Lots of chants happened there.

 

[Sweetnut]

Yeah...I'm not feeling the Hinostroza hype the rest of you guys do.

 

[MK9]

I never understand why players mention the X being a tough environment to play in. Must just be paying lip service to the fans because it’s hard to even get a “Let’s Go Wild” chant going in there for most games.

Are you the gomer that keeps trying to start that up? Cut that shit out. Do less. I'm not getting off my ass during a game to bellow inane crap at people who drown everything not on the ice out anyways.

 

[MK9]

Yeah...I'm not feeling the Hinostroza hype the rest of you guys do.

The most disease sounding name since Kasparaitis.

 

[57special]

I think the X has a decent atmosphere. You should've gone to Maple Leaf Gardens during the Ballard years. Like being in a Trappist monastery.

 

[Puhis]

Are you the gomer that keeps trying to start that up? Cut that shit out. Do less. I'm not getting off my ass during a game to bellow inane crap at people who drown everything not on the ice out anyways.

And this, right here, is an actual problem with US supporter culture (and NA, to an extent). Doubly so in the major leagues. You've got people like you, entitled to your opinions of course, who just look and shake their heads when someone tries to rally the crowd. Having fun. Supporting their troops. Yeah they might look like they're drowning it out, but ain't nobody shutting their ears to 18k people chanting and singing in an enclosed space. It's part of the deal, at least to me it is.

In Europe, we have fan clubs. We have specific end stands for home fans. We got chants, we got songs, we got tifos (large prints/arts that are thrown over the entire section before the game). There's the usual flags, scarves, banners, signs too. People live the game, and they're with the team. Not saying you lot ain't, but it seems more... subdued in a lot of ways.

You guys have that in college/uni games too, HS sports as well. Is it just that NHL is so corporate and so "plastic" in a sense that you don't get the same culture, or is it more like lack of organised fan culture? Ticket price issue? Playoffs seem to be the exception, but they better damn well be.

I think the X has a decent atmosphere. You should've gone to Maple Leaf Gardens during the Ballard years. Like being in a Trappist monastery.

I remember watching Game 4, Wild vs. Avs on the wee hours from a stream. The place was absolutely UNGLUED during those final minutes, especially that last PK. "BLOCKED BY GRANLUND" is one of my favourite Wild memories for a reason; not only the occasion of tying up the series, but also the atmosphere which was felt even through the screen.

 

[NHL1674]

The most disease sounding name since Kasparaitis.

Kasparaitis!!! Now there is a blast from the past!!!

 

[BagHead]

And this, right here, is an actual problem with US supporter culture (and NA, to an extent). Doubly so in the major leagues. You've got people like you, entitled to your opinions of course, who just look and shake their heads when someone tries to rally the crowd. Having fun. Supporting their troops. Yeah they might look like they're drowning it out, but ain't nobody shutting their ears to 18k people chanting and singing in an enclosed space. It's part of the deal, at least to me it is.

In Europe, we have fan clubs. We have specific end stands for home fans. We got chants, we got songs, we got tifos (large prints/arts that are thrown over the entire section before the game). There's the usual flags, scarves, banners, signs too. People live the game, and they're with the team. Not saying you lot ain't, but it seems more... subdued in a lot of ways.

You guys have that in college/uni games too, HS sports as well. Is it just that NHL is so corporate and so "plastic" in a sense that you don't get the same culture, or is it more like lack of organised fan culture? Ticket price issue? Playoffs seem to be the exception, but they better damn well be.



I remember watching Game 4, Wild vs. Avs on the wee hours from a stream. The place was absolutely UNGLUED during those final minutes, especially that last PK. "BLOCKED BY GRANLUND" is one of my favourite Wild memories for a reason; not only the occasion of tying up the series, but also the atmosphere which was felt even through the screen.

Quiet, the golfers are hockeying!

But a serious answer to your question, I think it's a combination of the low-stakes that any given regular season NHL game has, combined with the size of the audience. A single voice, or even a handful of voices, is a tiny ripple of water in a sea of 18,000; it's hard to get anything going unless the crowd is already "excited" (in the scientific sense rather than the emotional sense, but they're closely related here). If the stakes are high, the crowd is much easier to get cheering.

Universities play bout 40-50 games per season, so the games mean twice as much as NHL games do. High school games play ~30. Each win or loss matters quite a bit more, the crowds are smaller and more intimate, often the opposing team's fans will be sitting right across the rink from you, and you can hear individual shouts, spurring you to combat them (with cheers, not weapons).

MN Vikings games are far more rowdy in spite of the crowd size being far larger, but there are only 17 games so each one matters a lot. I think the NHL has just diluted the stakes out of their own games in the name of "marathon".