Tried to hit him with a bus, beat him high glove side =\ Though really, its not like he can work hard in practice vs Leafs forwards (these two jokes stolen from DGB;s fake brian burke twitter - http://www.downgoesbrown.com/2009/04/ar ... weets.html) I'm not a leafs fan but I live here and I actually feel bad for them
I was being facetious, but the point still stands. I live in Hamilton, and I know for a fact that hundreds of the thousands who have season tickets for the Sabres are not Sabres fans. They go mainly for the Leaf or Habs games (who are the teams like like), for the good teams (Washington, Pittsburgh, Chicago, etc.) and sell off the rest of the shitty games for people that just want to see some professional hockey that, while further than Toronto, is much less expensive. Hamilton is nowhere close to being a supporter of the Buffalo Sabres, meaning there are barely any Sabres "fans" here. The Maple Leafs dominate this area, and to a lesser extent, there are some Habs fans sprinkled in with the bandwagon jumpers (Pens, Wings fans). No one from in and around Hamilton is "cheering for the team they are close to" in Buffalo. They go because they can't get a fucking ticket in Toronto without taking a loan out from the bank. And for Hamiltonians, it's not a "few miles" to get to Buffalo. It's a 2 hour drive, and that still beats going to Toronto and paying $150 for the upper bowl.
I'm surprised there's no team in Hamilton just off of the standard league policy of "when in doubt, screw Buffalo" In other news, Sergei Kostitsyn ran away to the KHL allegedly.
Team relocation talk: Buffalo has the highest TV ratings of any NHL team. http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/61172: 8.87 is HUGE. I don't know how much of that figure comes from Canadian viewers, if at all. I was hoping someone more knowledge about it could tell me. My reason for bringing it up is that if it is mostly Canadian viewers, then people in Hamilton are already Sabres fans and don't just buy tickets to see the Canadian and powerhouse teams. If it is mostly American, then perhaps the Sabres could do fine with another team in the area. Just throwing stuff out there. Quebec and Hamilton have approximately the same people, but they're both significantly smaller than Edmonton and Ottawa. Hamilton has an advantage in that it is close to a large city, Toronto and can draw people from there. Quebec is over 2 hours from Montreal on the other hand. The other side of the coin though is that since Quebec is further away from another market, they wouldn't have to share it with anyone else. To be fair to some American markets, I still think serious consideration should be given to Salt Lake City. Obviously large/wealthy enough to support a pro sports franchise, has a history/affinity for winter sports, and you'd only have one other local professional team to compete with. Less serious but still possible choices in my mind would be Seattle and Portland. Current NHL season talk: Pittsburgh has surprised me by coming out of the gate so quickly. I thought there'd be some kind of post-championship malaise, but that certainly isn't the case. Gonchar is out 4-6 weeks though with a broken wrist. That seemed to really hurt the franchise last season, and perhaps even led to Therrien's dismissal. We'll have to wait and see how it impacts the group this year. I feel they'll fare better during his injury this time around because of how well they've already been doing and the fact that they are much more experienced. Who is Illya Bryzgalov, how is he managing a 1.14 GAA and .953 SV %, and why is he playing for Phoenix if that's the case? Old man talk: http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nhl/news/story?id=4580180 Chris Chelios has signed on with the Chicago Wolves, an AHL team. Comeon man, I know you love the game and everything, but it's time to hang up your skates. He's seemed pretty good in interviews. Put on a suit and a mic and get yourself a job in a booth somewhere. I'm sure he can get some coaching offers too.
I really think Chelios can still play at an AHL level; so I don't have any problem with him keeping it up. It's kind of funny realizing he was drafted before i was born mind you.
As far as our hockey market here in buffalo: Ever since that miracle season back in '05-'06, hockey has been getting bigger and bigger every year in this city. Maybe it's partially because the Bills have sucked so bad, but I've split season tickets for years with some friends, and each year since the lockout there have been more and more people at the games, buying jerseys etc. Also This year with two Buffalo natives on the team, not to mention Pat Kane in Chicago, it's a lot more appealing to watch the games for some people here. As far as Hamilton stealing from our fan base, I really don't see it. I could see the Leafs losing fans, but they're doing that on their own with how they're playing. There are a fair number of people from southern Ontario like Fort Erie etc that are season ticket holders, but also die hard Sabres fans, and doubt they would jump ship for a Hamilton based team. Either way, I still think it would be awesome to see Ovechkin get 50 in 50 this year. The man is unreal.
What about that miracle cup final series in 99? Taylor Hall is a douche bag, I have met him a couple times, watched him play etc, and the guy would be a cancer on an NHL team. His ego is just too inflated and I'm sure some vets would try and put him in his place but being that king shit guy for so many years, bragging about netting all these goals and and being "sooooo awesome" he will find himself in a very different role.
I hope you're not serious with these points here. A quick wikipedia search on population sizes, and looking into the populations of surrounding towns will show that Hamilton is a much larger base for a team than Quebec, never mind the corporate support Hamilton would get in comparison to Quebec. And equating watching hockey games with being a fan of the team being watched makes me think you're not that big a fan of the game in general. I watch Sabres games fairly often, along with many other teams, and a lot of people watch just as much if not more hockey than I do. Does it mean we cheer for the team, or we just like watching hockey? So much was made of this in the MSM, when all it was was Wilson exhausting pretty much his last method of trying to light a fire under the asses of these bums. He's yelled and screamed, he's sat guys, he's called guys out, and he's juggled lines. I don't think it's Wilson's fault, the guy didn't forget how to coach after having a pretty good career up until his stint with the Leafs. Unfortunately this team just isn't talented. I'm already looking forward to Kessel and Kadri next year so I can actually watch players with the ability to create offense and not just punch people in the face. Oh, and speaking of DGB as per rei, I follow his twitter, and this guy pumps out gems just like on his blog. The Ducks just recalled Pogge due to Jiggy's groin problems (I think?), and he says exactly what I was thinking: "So help me, if Justin Pogge goes to Anaheim and plays great I'm going to go supernova." Knowing our past, Pogge will end up with a 50 save shutout in his first start.
True that was huge(NO GOAL), but the effects weren't as long lasting as in the '05-'06 campaign, not to mention the year after taking the presidents' trophy. That's at least in my opinion. I think part of it was in 99 we still had a decent football team that was only a few years out from its last superbowl appearance, whereas in the post lock out year no one expected anything from the Sabres and it was like a new banner to rally around and be proud to be a Buffalo sports fan.
Funny, well I looked at both Largest Canadian Urban Areas and Largest Metro Areas in Canada before writing that. Just where are you looking? Even if you look at just the city populations, they are only different by less than 15k people. Do Canadians use some kind of metric measurement of population I'm not familiar with? I may just be some dumb American whose car still gets 40 rods to the hogshead, but that's the way I likes it. Did you look at the TV numbers I gave? Did you see how much difference there was between Buffalo and every other team? Also, these are LOCAL ratings, not national. And that's what we're discussing is whether a Hamilton team would affect the local fanbase. Now yes, when I live in DC I will watch the Caps game even though I am not a fan, but you're telling me enough people do that around Buffalo to push them up to an 8.87? I don't know. Maybe they do, but that's a lot of people watching a mediocre 2008 Buffalo team just for the sake of watching hockey in general, and it's all conjecture at this point.
I think Wendel is referring to the fact that, within a 1 hour or less drive from Hamilton, you have several other large cities, including Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge (~500,000 combined), London (~350,000 people), Guelph (~150,000), etc. That is not counting the fact that a lot of people from Toronto, particularly the west end, would drive to Hamilton, as well as drawing from the Golden Horseshoe. These markets are currently only served by the Leafs and to a lesser extent, Buffalo. Quebec City just does not have the surrounding population base, in comparison. Neither does Winnipeg.
Alright, Jeff made a good point there, so I won't go into that. But let me just say that you're using stats that are 3 years old, Hamilton is a much larger city than Quebec, and lets not forget that the average you're pointing out for the two highest teams (Buffalo & Pittsburgh) just also happened to be in the Winter Classic that year. I'm not well versed in how ratings work, so maybe you can explain it to me, but just how far does "local" stretch? Defend Buffalo 'til you're blue in the face, but the reality is, that market is mediocre to good AT BEST. I do seem to remember a certain franchise being bankrupt and primed for a relocation a few years back. That wouldn't be even a possibility in a place like Hamilton.
So I cite you the facts that you tell me to look up and then you question them b/c of their age. That's cool. I'm just going to bow out and defer. We do the relocation circle-jerk every couple of months, before we get completely derailed maybe we can go back to discussing hockey that is actually happening. For instance, Toews has missed two practices since suffering this hit: First, what a fantastic hit. Second, someone on Fark made this point and I keep milling it around in my mind is how after a clean, big hit like that guys never let the play continue anymore. They immediately go to retaliating, so the play has to stop. I'm ok with enforcing and sticking up for your star players, but what ever happened to waiting until the play reached its own conclusion or going for the guy later in the game? Finally, some don't agree with responding if it's a clean hit like this article here. I'm kind of on the fence about it, but like I said, I generally side with being able to show some muscle in order to defend your star players.
I'm a huge Canuck fan, so I obviously loved the hit. And I 100% agree with the article. I always hear people talking about hockey players being some of, if not the toughest athletes out there. Versteeg's response says otherwise. Hockey is a very physical game which means you always need to keep your head on a swivel, whether you're a goon or a star. Just because someone hits your captain or star, that does not give you any right whatsoever to try and fight him right then and there. Especially if you didn't see the hit like Versteeg admittedly hadn't. With a big hit that was clean like that, all you can do is shadow Mitchell until he gets the puck, and then drill him into next week. Just because you don't drop your gloves at the first instance of physical conduct with one of your super stars doesn't mean you're not standing up for him. It means that you're rational and thinking about your team in general, not wanting to hurt them in the long run but taking a stupid penalty.
I cant wait, that game was ridiculous; probably the most on the edge of my seat I've been since opening night.
I haven't had a chance to watch much of the other Leafs games, but last night against Vancouver they looked pretty good. Maybe a bit of the Canucks playing poorly and them playing well, but they controlled a good chunk of the game. If it weren't for Luongo looking like he's back to his normal self, and Toronto taking a handful of penalties in the first period to put them in a hole right off the bat, that was definitely a winnable game for them. Toronto fans won't have to wait much longer for the W's to start coming. Just keep playing like last night, take a few less penalties and they'll be fine.
Question: What is going on in the Western Conference this year? The standings are, give or take, completely turned on their heads. Everything is the basically the same in the East as last year, save for a few teams. But the West has teams like LA and Colorado doing infinitely better than last season, among other teams like Phoenix who charged out of the gate. Whereas teams like Detroit are, for a lack of a better word, sucking. This seems highly abnormal, even for the ever-changing NHL.
That was definitely the best they have played since opening night, if not all year. Unfortunately, the penalty situation is what keeps killing them, as their PK is just not that great and they keep taking a ton of penalties every game. This team isn't quite as bad as their record indicates, but unless they get some insane goaltending from here on in, it looks like Boston will have a high pick this year. I admit that as a (possibly delusional) Leafs fan, I tend to see things through blue and white glasses, but I actually don't mind the Kessel trade. The Leafs got a young player with a high ceiling, that was a top 5 draft pick himself. They gave up 3 potential good players. For argument's sake, let's say the pick this year is top 5 and next year is top 15, along with a 2nd rounder. Will any of those picks play up to Kessel's level? Who knows, but lots of top picks don't pan out or just don't reach that level. They got a young guy who has shown he can score at the NHL level. It's not like Kessel is 30, they potentially have him at a high level for another decade. I was just wondering what a non-Leafs fan, or at least one less delusional than I am, thought of this trade.