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Minnesota Wild General Discussion 2024-25

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Spurgeon said:
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.
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The crowd at the Frost game was way more involved than I've ever seen at a Wild game. Lots of chants happened there.
 
Spurgeon said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
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.
 
MK9 said:
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.
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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.

57special said:
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.
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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.
 
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Puhis said:
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.
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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".
 
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57special said:
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.
Click to expand...

Toronto fans are still among the quietist in the NHL.....I've heard that it has to do with the large number of corporate season ticket holders compared to other franchises.
 
Spurgeon said:
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.
Click to expand...
Having been to more games than i can count, including the insane 2003 run... when the Wild play well, the building gets as loud as any in the league. It's just that the crowd at the X wants to see something to be worth cheering for early, so a slow starting team will result in quieter crowds at the X on average.

The Wild crowd tends to be selective. I agree, the marathon nature of the NHL has a huge impact.

Having traveled to watch the Wild quite a bit... the X isn't alone when it comes to fans wanting to see reasons to cheer before letting loose.
 
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