Help me pick a hockey team
 

This is a request to my american/canadian cousins.

Last night i was watching the ice hockey on tv, it was Vancouver Canucks v NewYork Rangers, ive been sort if watching other games like the LA Kings, I dont understand hockey that much but I like the action in the game but without some sort of vested interest it seems pointless for me to actually sit through a whole game. so I thought I would find a team to support as to make it more exciting e.g. I hope that team loses because we play them next or they are our arch rivals etc.

So im asking for your opinions as to which team I should support and then I can look up the options.

As an insentive for your opinion I will make the person who's advice I take a honourary fan of the football (soccer) team I support which is Aston Villa, they have americans playing for them, Brad Friedel and Brad Guzan, also they are owned by Randy Lerner who also owns the Cleveland Browns. (ok you dont actually have to support them lol)

thanks

thadeas.

There is only one team...

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

so fucking obvious.

it depends on what your cable/satellite network carries, as you probably want to pick a team that you can actually watch every now and then. Based on being a Villa fan, I think you have to with one of the original 6 founding teams in the NHL.

Montreal Canadiens
Toronto Maple Leafs
Boston Bruins
New York Rangers
Detroit Red Wings
Chicago Blackhawks.


Extrapolating on what a Villa fan would like, The Rangers and Red Wings are no good, as the Rangers are in New York, which is too big of a market and the Red Wings are too much of a powerhouse and do not emphasize their junior levels.

The Bruins were great 30 years ago but since are underachievers and somehow also trade away their best talent. They are owned by the biggest cheapskate in professional sports, and have an incredibly loyal fan-base despite all that, so that probably sounds good to you. The Blackhawks are also a potential candidate for support, they always tend to do well, but only seldom do great. The colors of the Blackhawks are closest to that of Villa as well.

The other two teams are Canadian and an Englishman supporting a Canadian hockey team is just not right.

so far I have Detroit Redwings as the front runner

Was this whole post basically to rubbish Aston Villa or did I miss something?

The way I read it is that i'm a loyal supporter but my team is basically never gonna achieve anything and thus a non-runner and that I should support a team who basically plays in similar colours or is of similar stature in the given sport.

Melioris, if you follow english football (soccer) and i think you do, you will be well away that Aston Villa are currently 5th in the league tied on points with the mighty Arsenal who we convincingly beat last week 2-0, and only 2 points behind the Mighty Man-Utd who we will convincingly beat tomorrow.

Aston Villa aside I still have the Red Wings as my front runner.

OMG you are a woman.

Aston Villa are great, and I know they are having a fantastic season. The win over Arsenal was awesome, and I didn't mean to trash Villa at all. It was more trying to draw parallels as to how they are successful and to what teams in the NHL they would be similar to in that regard.

Villa has one of the deepest traditions in the EPL with a rabid fan-base. They usually groom players from within or sign younger/role players for a comparatively smaller fee as opposed to splashing around lots of cash on big name players. Usually this method works for them, but it does result in a particular type of club history that is analogous to other teams in other sports.

san jose would be my #1. one of the best fans in the league, best team.

montreal would be a close second.

rooting for red wings is like rooting for the yankees/manchester united.

Something I've always wondered about: why doesn't the state of Wisconsin have an NHL team?

same reason why winnipeg moved to phoenix/hartford moved to raleigh. not enough companies there to sell out luxury boxes.

blues = chicago cubs of hockey

fyp

cubs have too big of a fan base to justify the comparison. prolly more like minnesota teams (north stars, wild) are more comparable to cubs since the fan base is a lot bigger and blues and minnesota teams have same level of ineptitude. also minnesota has that heart break of losing a team to fucking dallas too.

/wild fan

Ok I understand it now :thumbsup:

Well the RedWings are now bottom of the list as I cant support a team that could possibly be compared to manchester united (it even felt wrong just typing that name lol).

Brewers, Packers, Bucks.... and hockey has to be bigger in Wisconsin than baseball and basketball. But, yeah, corporate sponsorship does play into it, although it wasn't as big of a deal back when the NHL first start so I still find it strange that there's no NHL team in cheese-head land. Mel?

Don't listen to him. :rolleyes:

The Red Wings are NOT the Yankees of hockey, not even close. The Wings continue to win by doing things the right way. They develop talent, spend money where needed and have a great coaching staff.

Arguably, again I said arguably they didn't have the better individual talent than my Penguins last year, but had the better team, by far.

Look at the facts, the Pens were a complete buzzsaw through the Eastern Conference playoffs going 12-2 in the first three rounds. EASILY the class of the East, but when it came to playing the Wings it really wasn't as close as 4-2.

The Wings run a class organization, their fans are loyal and understand the game, players want to play there for a reason (and it's not just money, Hossa could have got more in Pitts or Edmonton). This is in complete opposition to the Yankees organization.

Ken Holland and Steve Yzerman FTW imo.