The Athletic article... Sabres vs Canucks: After 50 years and No Stanley Cups, who's fans have had it worse?

[ShawnAntoski]

10 hours ago, King Heffy said:

Had my suspicions then but the skate in the crease rule removed any possibility that the league was honest.  Bettman's successor will have a hell of a job trying to gain back trust in the league's integrity.

Bettmans' replacement is already being mentored by him, so the next commissioner will just be a continuation of Bettmans' iterinary; unless the owners decide to clean house - I doubt this will happen cause the league is still making money (new deal with ESPN).

Edited March 12, 2021 by ShawnAntoski

[gizmo2337]

7 hours ago, AK_19 said:

Canucks

Golden Knights

Wild

Predators

Ahh..maybe there is 5. San Jose.

[Tony Romo]

Did anyone actually read the article? It was just poking fun at how bad things happen a lot to the canucks and the sabers, was quite funny. No need for personal attacks on Drance.

[#Canucks]

For me, the closest feeling to winning a Stanley cup was when Burrows slayed that dragon. What a rush! It was a sweet sweet night! 

[Attila Umbrus]

16 hours ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Imagine how his wife must feel cozying up to this assclown.

 

 

Look at that face Phil, it just oozes with hockey knowledge...

 

His body is built like a tank under that loose fitting garment he calls a penguin suit, jacked I tell you. 

 

The facial hair... so rugged.

 

Drance is hockey, hockey is Drance....

 

FML...ok all jokes aside, this guy really bothers me. Never played a game in his life, only looks at the numbers...Panthers doing way better with out him. This guy and so many others act like they just know it all. 

[Tony Romo]

Also, he worked in PR in Florida, has nothing to do with hockey ops decisions. 
 

Just because you disagree with his opinion it shouldn’t warrant personal attacks or posting his picture to mock him. 

[PhillipBlunt]

20 minutes ago, Attila Umbrus said:

 

 

Look at that face Phil, it just oozes with hockey knowledge...

 

His body is built like a tank under that loose fitting garment he calls a penguin suit, jacked I tell you. 

 

The facial hair... so rugged.

 

Drance is hockey, hockey is Drance....

 

FML...ok all jokes aside, this guy really bothers me. Never played a game in his life, only looks at the numbers...Panthers doing way better with out him. This guy and so many others act like they just know it all. 

He's such a tool. 

[BarnBurner]

42 minutes ago, Tony Romo said:

Did anyone actually read the article? It was just poking fun at how bad things happen a lot to the canucks and the sabers, was quite funny. No need for personal attacks on Drance.

Drance, do we really need you?

[BarnBurner]

16 minutes ago, Tony Romo said:

Also, he worked in PR in Florida, has nothing to do with hockey ops decisions. 
 

Just because you disagree with his opinion it shouldn’t warrant personal attacks or posting his picture to mock him. 

The guy's a troll. Are you a 'flippin' troll?

[whirledpeas]

39 minutes ago, BarnBurner said:

Drance, do we really need you?

of course, to balance out the irrational postings of some Kool-aid drinking CDC posters,  y'all realize the bulk of the province that supports the Canucks approaches

the team with equity

 

[BarnBurner]

24 minutes ago, whirledpeas said:

of course, to balance out the irrational postings of some Kool-aid drinking CDC posters,  y'all realize the bulk of the province that supports the Canucks approaches

the team with equity

 

Go back to HF boards. There's a major difference between making a logical argument, compared to simply being an asshat and trolling. Bye.

[IBatch]

15 hours ago, fanfor42 said:

Canucks history has been an awesome story of struggle to overcome obstacles and that has led to an absolutely passionate, committed fanbase.

 

 

We are due to win the cup in the next 10 years with this current group.

 

 

When that happens the celebration is going to be the biggest in NHL history.

 

 

 

 

I will probably cry a lot when it happens. Like a lot.    It's like a movie and we are in the third act ... girlfriend is lost and going back to her ex... protagonist has had the worst go of it ever.    Right now the team is getting in the car and going to the airport to get their girl... at least i hope so. 

[oldnews]

23 hours ago, UnkNuk said:

Wow.

 

Having followed the Canucks since they came into the NHL I knew they had a poor history.  But this bad?  

 

On the other hand, doesn't this make Canuck fans the most loyal fans in the NHL?

Winnipeg's are pretty loyal I'd have to say (a bit of a prairie thing - not unlike Saskatchewan of the CFL - who could go 2-14 (ish) for years - and in spite of being the worst team in the CFL, they'd sell out and the fans were rabidly behind them.  

And Winnipeg got jobbed by the league, who poached their entire franchise....

 

We can't necessarily 'expect' that kind of unconditional "they are our boys" kind of thing in the modern context - it is less an "identity" thing and more a 'consumer' thing in the 'modern' context imo - and people have a right to be critical (it's part of the gig) - but at the same time sport 'culture' has changed in many ways, and not necessarily for the better imo. 

 

I find a bit too much 'entitled' mentality - people that seem to believe they 'deserve' a winner, or have somehow 'earned' a winner by virtue of tuning in....Perhaps that's the consumer mentality leaking in - ie I pay good money, I 'deserve' the best product.   The NHL to a certain extent has reduced itself in many ways to commodification - losing some of the grounding it's built upon imo - and particularly with the constant sidetrack of expansion after expansion, and desperate drive to woo American viewers.

 

But from my viewpoint, particularly with the 'entitlement' issue - folks that barely know the game (but nevertheless believe they know better than NHL franchises) - that grows annoying in a hurry (and I probably don't have a great deal of tolerance for the 'consumer' perspective (although it's more and more 'valid' as the game 'evolves' - or devolves, depending on how you see the relation of the 'fan'/consumer to the 'team'/product. 

 

I also think that the fairly novice 'science' of analytics - while providing a lot of useful tools - has also lead to a pretender class of pseudo 'experts' who have peddled 'advanced stats' in some really simplistic and reductive ways - ie the corsi-gazing that has lead to the sandbagging of virtually all the defensive players in the league - has anything but enhanced an understanding of the game.  What can be useful statistics, often become goobledygook that is used to beat players/the game to death.  I doubt the majority of viewers give a shizz about most of it - but you still see the Drances prattling on and on intermission, with keyword pedantry/smarm - that a very small fraction of the millions viewing would likely give a crap about.

 

And social media - while it's great that everyone can participate- can discuss and share their thoughts - their happiness or frustration, or whatever - has also lead to so much noise - and so much twittiocy - that it's hard to assess whether it's enhanced anything whatsover.  I like to come in here and discuss hockey - but at other times, I much prefer to tune out all the peripheral noise and just watch a gd hockey game.   Sometimes this feels like a fun community to tap into - at other times it just brings out the worst in me and I need to step back.  It can be challenging to 'moderate' the whole, for sure.  In fairness to the present media and social media, though - even before the twitter era - Vancouver had it's share of miserable asshats that peddled anything for desperation of attention - so that's not a new thing.

 

But back to the point of Vancouver's commitment to the team - I would agree in general - while at the same time, going to a game in the 1980s or 1990s - had a different feel to it - that I would not trade for the present.

[DSVII]

3 hours ago, #Canucks said:

For me, the closest feeling to winning a Stanley cup was when Burrows slayed that dragon. What a rush! It was a sweet sweet night! 

For me it was Lappy's happy dance scoring the OT winner in game 5.

 

[alt kilgore]

5 hours ago, BarnBurner said:

I can agree that it's all true, nonetheless. 

 

The problem I have, and I'm sure many do as well, is, it's the way these 'journalist's' spin the article in a negative way to gain traction. Kind of like clickbait kinda' crap. 

That doesn't make sense.

Its true, but you don 't like the way he "spins" it?  You want him to not hurt your feelings?  It seems like it was written pretty even keeled, going through things consecutively . Its just that the facts are hard to hear.  Some can't handle the truth, I understand.  Probably especially as the team stands today out of the playoffs. So they attack the messenger. 

 

I'm not sure what that accomplishes. If you get enough others to support the piling on, it feels you have negated all the facts in the article? Saw the same crap against Jason Bochford in here. Some here just want to read about rainbows and unicorns.

 

Did Drance have to write this NOW?  Rub it in so to speak? No. But then again you don't have to read it.  Its probably not great mentally as a Canuck fan to once again be reminded of our 50 years of bad decisions and bad luck. But for those of us that can take it, its interesting to look back and compare our advancement with our sister team in Buffalo, at least every 5 or 10 years.  And for me I want to hear all the gory details of the past, if only to be informed. I learned a couple more things I didn't know from that article.  Just because I read about past ineptitude and bad luck, I can still be optimistic about the future. In fact, being well informed of how much we have struggled, it will be all the sweeter when Petey finally lifts the Cup!

 

 

[hammertime]

Sabres fans have had it worse they have just plain been awful 

[zimmy]

17 hours ago, King Heffy said:

Rule was garbage but the SCF deciding goal is not the appropriate time to correct it.

Perhaps, in the end, the fact that the goal was allowed and it was a cup clincher was the impetus for the rule being abolished. Don't remember the actual chronology but do remember not feeling even slightly bad for the Sabres as I saw it as a deserved goal from the run of play. If I was a Sabre on the ice at the time my first instinct would have been consternation for not doing a better job of defending, not looking for the refs/league/rules to bail me out. 

 

In addition, there was no chance of pulling for Buffalo to win a cup before we did. No chance.

[King Heffy]

20 minutes ago, zimmy said:

Perhaps, in the end, the fact that the goal was allowed and it was a cup clincher was the impetus for the rule being abolished. Don't remember the actual chronology but do remember not feeling even slightly bad for the Sabres as I saw it as a deserved goal from the run of play. If I was a Sabre on the ice at the time my first instinct would have been consternation for not doing a better job of defending, not looking for the refs/league/rules to bail me out. 

 

In addition, there was no chance of pulling for Buffalo to win a cup before we did. No chance.

People already hated the rule long before that goal.  Personally, I was pulling for Buffalo as I enjoyed watching Hasek in his prime and there was zero chance of my cheering for Brett Hull after he betrayed Canada and played for the USA internationally.  I don't recall us thinking the SCF final was the right time to crack down on interference after Rome drilled Fakin' Horton.  Make sure everyone knows what the rules are and apply them equally.

 

[zimmy]

3 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

People already hated the rule long before that goal.  Personally, I was pulling for Buffalo as I enjoyed watching Hasek in his prime and there was zero chance of my cheering for Brett Hull after he betrayed Canada and played for the USA internationally.  I don't recall us thinking the SCF final was the right time to crack down on interference after Rome drilled Fakin' Horton.  Make sure everyone knows what the rules are and apply them equally.

 

If only for that kind of transparency! 

[higgyfan]

Nothing in the article that Sabres or Canucks fans don't already know.  Both teams have had more than their fair share of bad luck, bad management and bad teams. Let's face it, more recent expansion NHL teams get a way better deal  than what the Nucks/Sabres had.

 

Looking at the regular season stats for both teams, one realizes that the Sabres had a better record in the earlier years, whereas the Canucks were better in the later years.  If you're a boomer, your memory of those endless years of no playoffs or the inevitable 1st round losses.  If you are a millennial and have been watching the team for the past 20 years, the team probably doesn't look near as bad.

 

Regardless, never winning a Stanley cup for 50 years is pretty f@$#%@g bad!

 

Found it amusing that the writer is a leaf fan though.  I mean, lots of cups when NHL had 6 teams, but none since.  53 years. And then there's the more recent 15yr rebuild.  Fascinating.