NHL

Nordiques Fans to Demonstrate

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Fans of the defunct Quebec Nordiques will be making a trip down to Long Island to attend a game between the Atlanta Thrashers and the New York Islanders. A group of 1,100 Nordiques fans will be there to show support for a team to relocate back to Quebec City.

The city lost its franchise back in 1995 as the team moved to Colorado. Ever since, fans have wanted a team back. Recently, the Government of Canada and the Province of Quebec has talked about supporting the development of a new arena to possibly bring a team back.

The plan for the 1,100 demonstrators is to cheer at the 15 minute mark of each period, marking the 15 years they’ve gone without a club in Quebec City. Both the Islanders and Thrashers have been struggling at the gates, drawing fans well below the league average.

The interesting thing here is how adamant cities like Winnipeg and Quebec City have been on getting the next NHL team that happens to relocate. They really do have a tonne of fan support, but professional sports is a business. Without stable sponsorship and support from the business community in those cities, a professional hockey team can’t fly.

Derek Zona took a look at a number of markets that don’t have an NHL team and the various factors needed to support one. Arguments can go either way, but looking at these numbers, it’s hard to justify relocating a team to Winnipeg and Quebec City.

The whole debate, all of the actions and the findings has been left to fans. Not the league, not a research company and not a University of College. The actions, as planned by the 1,100 Nordiques supporters, is fan driven. That’s what makes this whole story and debate so interesting.

It remains to be seen what the final results will be. But what is clear is how hockey fans are the ones taking action here. Both online through blogs and social media, and the real world by driving eight hours to Long Island to show support for a defunct team.

*Update*

Here’s the third period demonstration by Nordiques nation. Beauty. Montreal Gazette story here.

Goal horns in professional hockey

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Since fans as a collective group has been a major focus of this project, I’ve been dissecting their experiences in relation to the game. One experience that I’ve begun to question and loathe is the goal horn in every professional hockey arena.

These tend to go off after every goal the home team scores and also after a win. But these annoying sounds didn’t always exist. There used to be a time when it was the fans in attendance that would rock the building.

I personally don’t understand the purpose. My guess it’s a way for a team to make up for the lack of noise in their buildings (ahem, Phoenix, Florida, Long Island) and make the arena seem like a wild place to be to attract new fans.

To me, these goals horns are a way for professional hockey teams to control their fans. Cheering/supporting/heckling are a few of the ways for group of fans to interact with the game. A goal horn just replaces the fans with a cheering squad hired by the team.

This really limits what a fan community can do. We’ve seen from Premier League soccer chants, goalie taunts and blogs the kind of stuff fans can come up with. When fans as a group are unrestricted, the possibilities are endless. The goal horn is just a phoney representation of what professional leagues want their fans to be. It’s an attempt to enhance an image and takes away from the genuine expression of fans.

Here’s a great goal celebration from a high school game:

The battle goes on…and on: Bloggers and MSM

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Great story about bloggers came out recently. Tyler Dellow of mc79hockey.com did some excellent research into some old emails between NHL Senior VP and Director of Hockey Operations, Colin Campbell and NHL Director of Officiating Stephen Walkom. These emails became public because of a wrongful dismissal case involving former NHL referee Dean Warren and the league. Within the emails, Dellow was able to uncover some of Campbell’s attitudes towards specific players, as well as his concern with calls made against his son, who plays in the league.

Dellow’s article can be found here.

Here’s TSN’s take on Dellow’s findings.

Dellow’s interview on The Score: http://video.thescore.com/watch/glenn-schiiler-one-on-one-with-tyler-dellow

Needless to say, Dellow got a tonne of attention for the great work he did. Whether or not you care about the findings of his research, the fact is he took the time without any monetary motivation and on his own time, to decipher through documents. He raised some really interesting questions about the league and how it handles its referees. All of this is public information. He just took the time to work with it.

Aside from questioning whether or not Campbell should keep his job, a lot is being discussed about the relationship between bloggers and MSM. Talk of how one is better than the other or how bloggers will take over the jobs of MSM, to me, is a big stretch. Questions have been raised about why it took a blogger to dig out this stuff and what role sports journalists have.

How social media destroyed the NHL All Star Game.

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The NHL is in the midst of reviewing the state of the game. Managers have lots to discuss but the two topics that are interesting are the All Star Game festivities and the leagues development of a social media policy. TSN’s Darren Dreger is covering it here.

Over the course of a weekend, the All Star Game, including the skills competition, is a great way to promote the game and showcase the best talent in the league. But the whole event has gone stale. The game itself is pretty meaningless as the players don’t really compete during the game to avoid injury. The games format (East vs West, North America vs The World) has changed in the past but really there is no significance to it. Fans do get to vote on the starting lineup, but besides that, there isn’t a way for fans (or potential fans) to get involved

Social media and evolving technologies has really changed the attitude towards the NHL’s showcase event. Hockey fans have found other ways to interact with the game and learn more about it.

In the past, seeing a player that plays for a different team was rare. So when they did show up, it was a big deal. But now, every game is available anytime, anywhere. Both TV and mobile technology ensures fans don’t miss a second of marquee games. It’s not as big of a deal now when these superstars come into town.

Game highlights and stats are readily available on the web soon after, which can be shared, analyzed and commented on. Fans can then head to message boards and blogs to interact with others. All this promotes the game and keeps people engaged.

Fantasy league hockey lets fans create their own list of all stars to compete with friends and other poolies. Prizes and bragging right at the end make it even more interesting. This generates a lot more interest in less important games.

Video game such as the EA Sports NHL series gives fans the opportunity to experience players and see the matchups they envision. Gaming is a great way to get involved and learn more about hockey. Why watch a meaningless game when you can experience the game with the all stars.

Fans don’t just consume the information and entertainment. Instead they take it and do something else with it. This is something the all star game does not allow. Fans in the mean time, have found other ways to learn about the game and get more from it.

Lets hope the NHL gets a social media policy in place so some of the more interesting characters of the league can get more exposure and give fans what they really want.

Bloggers analyzing 1972 Summit Series

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The 1972 Summit Series between Canada and Russia will forever be remembered as one of the greatest events in hockey history. The Canadians stacked with the top NHL players were expected to roll over the unknown Russian squad. Instead, they needed a final game to decide the winner. Legends were made for sure, with one of the most memorable goals of all time being scored to win it for Canada.

You can read up on all of the history, players and storylines at Joe Pelletiers excellent website.

As a project, blogger Pat Maclean of Black Dog Hates Skunks is applying modern methods of hockey analysis to each game of the Summit Series. Not an easy task considering how old the footage is and the lack of instant replay. There’s not a lot of people out there to bounce ideas off of, no Youtube and not a whole lot of stats. He does an amazing job regardless and provides detailed analysis of players, events and the coaches decisions.

I’m also in the midst of reading Ken Dryden’s “Face off at the Summit”. Dryden played goal for Team Canada and kept a journal of his thoughts during the series. After losing game 1 against the Russians, Dryden (1973) writes:

I’m afraid that this series will be analyzed and analyzed ad nauseam. People in the street. Cab drivers. Bellboys. Waiters. Writers. Coaches. League presidents. Prime ministers. Everyone. They all have a theory. They all picture themselves as a coach or a player, and they become theoretical and hypothetical. It’s so much bull, believe me. They’re all sitting there and playing verbal games to make themselves sound important. We have to play the real games. We know what we have to do. Or do we? (p. 64)

Fan analysis has always been around. It’s just with more people online, and more tools readily available for fans to contribute, the analysis has increased significantly. The community online is stronger and the amount of information available continues to grow. Gotta wonder what Dryden thinks of today’s fans compared to those in 1972.

Dryden, K. (1973). Face-off at the summit. Toronto: Little Brown.