3. Edmonton(Arena remained full for some TOUGH times between 2006-2016)
5. Calgary(Also loyal, although didn't endure what Edmonton had to)
You sure about that? Not everything is measured in wins and losses.
Calgary had to ensure some damn tough times. In the early 90s we couldn't afford to keep together a cup / president's trophy winning core that featured guys like Nieuwendyk, MacInnis, Gilmour, in their absolute primes. In the early late 90s 2000s we had inept management that traded away Marc Savard for a fringer KHLer, bought out Martin St. Louis, thought Craig Anderson wasn't worth signing to a contract after being OHL goaltender of the year, and generally drafted extremely poorly.
In 2004 we made the playoffs for the first time in ages and it was the most crazy you can imagine.
And then we were a good team for the next five seasons, but couldn't get over the hump. Okay, **** happens. In 2010 we missed the playoffs as the 16th best RS team in the NHL (Montreal was 17th, but made the playoffs in the East.. yeah.. that year they made the ECF off the back of Halak). Tough pill to swallow with an old team with its cup window dwindling away. But what was an even tougher pill to swallow? Obnoxious Oilers fans already proclaiming their team a future dynasty off the back of
The Fall For Taylor Hall. That was the same year we traded our first round pick for
Olli Jokinen.
You can call the Edmonton fans loyal, but make no mistake, they were being sold on nothing less than a tank job. A tank job that got them three first overalls, then a seventh overall, then a so-called NHL-rady 3rd overall, and then eventually, Connor McDavid...
So if you want to talk about loyalty through tough times, you have to factor in media narratives. Oiler fanss, over the 2010-2016 stretch, never once heard about how they weren't going to be a future dynasty. Whether it was Hall-Hopkins-Eberle, or "NHL-ready 2C Draisaitl, or Future Norris Winner Justin Schultz, or "I know a little something about winning" from their president/GM... they were consistently fed a tale about how their tanking would pay out.
Flames also missed the playoffs in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014... know what we had to hear?
Core Too Old and Finished (Iginla, Kiprusoff, Bouwmeester, Cammalleri)
Can't score now, how will it look when these guys are gone (the Brent Sutter Flames played BORING hockey)
No Future (Despite Backlund, Despite Brodie, despite Baertschi, despite Gaudreau, Despite Monahan... every year it was all about how Hopkins, Eberle, Hall, Yakupov, Schultz, and Dubnyk were going to tear the NHL apart.. 1st Overalls are the only way to replace Iginla and only the OIlers got them)
Roman Cervenka is the saviour.
Reto Berra is the saviour.
Feaster is an idiot for that ROR offer sheet.
I maintain that it was tougher to be a Flames fan at the climax of the Brent Sutter era (2012 or so) than it was to have hope fed to you by the media, and that's what the Oilers had. Bad in the standings, but they had no doubt they were destined for 80s Islanders status at minimum. We had to hear doubts about whether we would see a playoff game again this decade.
So what's a tougher time. Perennially 17-to-18th place with no perceived future, or perennially 25th-30th place with the promise of greatness to come?
Despite all that, I challenge you to show me a single fanbase's non-HF fan forum that is as active as Calgarypuck. Calgary's few HFBoards members may not go there, for reasons, but that's probably the most active hockey website after HFBoards. Compare to a website like Leafsconnected.
Most active users online in one day at Leafsconnected - 679.
Most active users online at Calgarypuck in one day - 1,717
Now consider the population difference between Southern Ontario and Southern Alberta.
