WC Playoffs Round 1: Colorado Avalanche vs Minnesota Wild (Wild win 4-3).

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

Bah.. That could be said for 80% of nhl team fans and probably most sports. Need to win to get fans to pony up the $

Flames went about 15 years (in the dark ages between 90 and the lockout) without selling out the barn very regularly.
Shall we ridicule the Calgary fan base and call them fairweather as well?

[nmhen]

Well, I'm happy.

That series had a bit of everything.

I can't recall if it's been discussed here or not, but none of the Wild coaching staff in under contract beyond this playoffs. That tells you just how small a margin of error they've been operating with this season, and the expectations that ownership has for this team (not that they contend for the Cup, but that they keep moving towards being a contender, which I think is fair).

I think Yeo and his guys have earned new contracts and not just because of last night. The Wild has never been a very dynamic or confident team. If they got down by a goal (not to mention a couple), historically, the game was basically over.

But Yeo had them playing with poise and confidence for most of 2014, so far. These things are foreign to Wild fans. As noted by others, this is a very different Wild team. Do they play defense? Obviously. And I know some people will see any defense they play as indicative that they have NOT changed, and that's simply unfair. Consider they demonstrated more offensive depth than the Avs over the course of this series. That's not your grandfather's Wild team.

Anyway, on to Chicago (and a new thread).

[troutman]

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Flames went about 15 years (in the dark ages between 90 and the lockout) without selling out the barn very regularly.
Shall we ridicule the Calgary fan base and call them fairweather as well?

Comparing the dedication of Flames and Avs fans is a real stretch. The fan base of this team has had 1 good playoff year to celebrate in pretty much a quarter of a century and look how much passion there is still on this board and in the community. The ticket base has never dropped below 15k (yes, I know not everyone attended), and that was at it's deepest low after a decade of mediocrity.

The Avs went down to the 13s a few years ago, and have been lying about their attendance for years. This is a fanbase that never "paid their dues" before they got their Cup teams, and as soon as that gravy train was over, bailed.

Comparing Flames fans to Avs fans is downright insulting.

[$ven27]

Originally Posted by nik-

They are a fanbase that had a ready made Cup winner dropped in their laps, won two and then when the team was bad they abandoned them like they were a house on fire. I put Avs fans at the same level as Pens fans. Fairweather to the extreme.

Not really comparable to Pittsburgh. The lowest attendance the Avs have ever had is 77.5%, Pens were around 55% the year before drafting SId.

[nmhen]

This is going to sound tone deaf given my team just beat the Avs, but the middle of the bell curve of their fans are brutal. I lived in Denver from 97-01, and the average Avs fan didn't know anything about hockey. That predated the Wild's existence, so I cheered for Denver as much as any team until the Wild came along. I remember explaining why it was okay that they just cleared it down on a PK, instead of trying to skate it down to "go score".

Denver is a Broncos town, first and foremost. And that's fine. But they take a NFL mindset into hockey, which, coupled with pretty strong hockey ignorance, is an off-putting combination. I have good friends still in Denver, and some of them real hockey fans. And they continue to tell me how embarrassed most Avs fans make them.

To be fair, the middle of the bell curve of Wild fans are also obnoxious. They tend towards provincial and arrogance. That, too, is an off-putting combination. And Wild fans act that way without any real success to back it up, which is sort of hilarious.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by $ven27

Not really comparable to Pittsburgh. The lowest attendance the Avs have ever had is 77.5%, Pens were around 55% the year before drafting SId.

The only thing worse is Pens "fans" who have never lived anywhere close to Pittsburgh. They probably used to be Avs/Wings fans in the 90s.

[Regorium]

I'm glad the Wild won. They outplayed the Avs probably 6 games out of 7, and it still had to come down to OT.

The advanced stats guys for sure will tell you how dominating the Wild were. It's really only the gamebreaking ability of a player like Mackinnon that kept the series close.

[kyuss275]

That illegal hit by Cooke on Barrie was the difference. Not saying Barrie is a great dman but he was one of the better dman on the av's. Add in that Sarich played in the top 4 for av's during the season and was out with back problems. Those 2, even just one of them would have been the difference of winning one extra game.

[nmhen]

I don't know from tanking, but I do know MacKinnon is the real deal. He is just explosive from the word go. And he obviously knows what to do with the puck. Sensational player.

[Locke]

Couldnt have happened to a better group of tankers.

Maybe they forgot that they have to win the game. I could see that.

[Saqe]

The Wild are going to be really good when their young guys get 1-2 more years of experience. Granlund, Coyle, Niederreiter, Brodin and heck even Spurgeon are just getting in to the league.

[$ven27]

Originally Posted by Locke

Couldnt have happened to a better group of tankers.

Maybe they forgot that they have to win the game. I could see that.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Flames went about 15 years (in the dark ages between 90 and the lockout) without selling out the barn very regularly.
Shall we ridicule the Calgary fan base and call them fairweather as well?

People always say this, and it's so inaccurate. Not the part about not selling out the barn, but there is huge differences between what happened in Calgary when we sucked and some of the US markets in questions.

Flames still put 12K to 14K in the stands a night, most of those fans paying full price for tickets. Sure, it's not a sell out, but that's a lot different than what often happens in the non hockey markets.

There, you often get less attendance than the above, and most of it is on serverly discounted tickets.

Yes, everyone performs better with a winner, even in hockey markets like Calgary, but the impact during the lean years is a lot more muted in a hockey market.

[MrMastodonFarm]

[calumniate]

So when can Cookie come back? Game 4?

[AC]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Pathetic. Just really, really embarrassing.

[calumniate]

I swear, one of the Sedin's just morphed into an Avs jersey for a second or two

[Azure]

Tankers and divers.

Losers as well now.

[$ven27]

The amount of jealously over Colorado's talent is unbearable. Good lord