SportingNews: Best NHL City

[precursor 0]

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=249329

[Deerok 3]

Maybe best NHL city in the US.

I would have to say Toronto and then very close behind, Montreal as the best NHL cities.

[willy0314 0]

it was pretty cool when there was 30,000+ people down at the arena for the end of the playoffs, but I would think that most of the cities in Canada would beat out Buffalo as far as best "hockey town". Its just different up there.

[Powerfibers 8]

Buffalo is crazy for hockey. You won't believe the kids who never have an off season, even though it was 90 here today. My 6 yr old and I were out in the driveway shooting pucks, and I get to skate tonight late.

As a Sabres fan, I have to say that it is almost a shame that the average guy like myself has to shell out tons for tickets. I paid $100 a seat for last years playoffs in the upper deck, and that was with already having a 2 seat 10 pack for the regular season. $3 off face value.

Sometimes it sucks to be so popular.

[Ngo_35 1]

haha try buying Leafs tickets my friend. You'll feel like a king for the price you paid watching the Sabres.

[Powerfibers 8]

Ngo,

Point well taken, but we are a small blue collar city, not a megapolis like TO (which I love). No one here makes big cash, and the cost of living is a lot lower than TO or NY.

As I write that, I guess $100 ain't that bad, but you realize that I said I had a mini-pack, these aren't street prices. Season ticket holders who get all 41 games could make almost all their money back selling the Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa tickets to Canadian fans coming down.

[willy0314 0]

Buffalo has the cheapest tickets in the league........

Playoff tickets were kinda pricy if you didn't have seasons, But those extra tickets never made it on sale to the public anyways. Just have to be careful to make sure you don't get screwed.

Last year I made all my money back selling off tickets to the more popular games. Its pretty easy to get $125 for a ticket to a toronto game. I only ended up going to about 25-30 games, but really 41 games is alot.

[Vapor 0]

there were 55 season ticket holders a couple of years ago... great hockey town

[willy0314 0]

actually the number was 55.75, one lady was 6 months pregnant.

the fact is the fans walked away from a team that was plain bad, couldn't afford to keep its fan favorite players, and was being run into the ground by a screwy owner using the team and his cable company to finance his personal golf course. Aside from that period of the teams history, they have always had alot of support.

also, if you read the article, the author makes point of how much higher the TV ratings were in buffalo for the playoffs vs the rest of the nation....for the games that buffalo wasn't playing in.

As for the area in general, hockey is a very big part of the community.

[DarkStar50 679]

TV ratings are nice but I would rather be in Montreal in January on a Saturday night to take in the Habs. It really doesn't matter to me how cold it is, either. The best place in the world to watch a hockey game and totally soak up the atmosphere was the Montreal Forum. The ghosts of the greats were everywhere, on the ice and in the hallways staring down at you from old team photos. From the hustle on St. Catherine from the ticket scalpers to the buzz all around the building on the street, this is what made Montreal the best NHL city. I have sat down low at the Forum and I have sat in the last row at the Forum. It didn't make a difference. It was the true St. Peter's Basilica of hockey. Montreal for hockey and I don't even speak French.

[Vapor 0]

actually the number was 55.75, one lady was 6 months pregnant.

the fact is the fans walked away from a team that was plain bad, couldn't afford to keep its fan favorite players, and was being run into the ground by a screwy owner using the team and his cable company to finance his personal golf course. Aside from that period of the teams history, they have always had alot of support.

also, if you read the article, the author makes point of how much higher the TV ratings were in buffalo for the playoffs vs the rest of the nation....for the games that buffalo wasn't playing in.

As for the area in general, hockey is a very big part of the community.

Thats exactly the point, they are fair weather fans.

[M-Cohen 0]

actually the number was 55.75, one lady was 6 months pregnant.

the fact is the fans walked away from a team that was plain bad, couldn't afford to keep its fan favorite players, and was being run into the ground by a screwy owner using the team and his cable company to finance his personal golf course. Aside from that period of the teams history, they have always had alot of support.

also, if you read the article, the author makes point of how much higher the TV ratings were in buffalo for the playoffs vs the rest of the nation....for the games that buffalo wasn't playing in.

As for the area in general, hockey is a very big part of the community.

Yes, but as you said "the fans walked away from a team that was not very good" as a Toronto fan, in Toronto we haven't been in the championship in YEARS, but fans don't walk away. Their is no way any American city could beat out Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa or especially Montreal and Toronto as top NHL cities.

[willy0314 0]

it was pretty cool when there was 30,000+ people down at the arena for the end of the playoffs, but I would think that most of the cities in Canada would beat out Buffalo as far as best "hockey town". Its just different up there.

Thats exactly the point, they are fair weather fans.

dont make a fair weather fans point when attendance dipped for a few years out of 30+ because the owners ran the team into the ground as they embezzled money

can you point out a pro sports team who's fans show up and sell out games and cheer on the team and never boo...even though the team is brutal and the fans hate the owner?

If you want to say that the home town fans of pretty much any canadian team are "better" then your prolly right. Some of those cities live and die by their hockey teams.

As far as american cities go, then buffalo is prolly the best hockey city, at least lately. Teams in the league can't even sell out playoff games, but tickets never even went on sale here. Tv ratings, merchandise, everything.

[Vapor 0]

The New York Rangers? They sure were brutal.... That is the exact definition of a fair weather fan, someone who dosent support the team while they are down.

Even the Bruins still have season ticket holders in the 4 digits... and that town HATES their owner.

[sabre09923 0]

...And their new GM that wasn't any better than the last one.

[precursor 0]

I will agree - there are definitely SOME fair weather fans in Buffalo, but there are also TONS of people who have always loved hockey and the Sabres who lost touch during the Adelphia scandal years. Saying that the Bruins or Rangers fans are anywhere close to the same boat is really absurd. Both cities are exponentially larger than Buffalo, and while the owners and GMs may suck, they didn't ruin the lives of people in the city. I personally know (and was one of) many people who got killed financially by the Adelphia scandal. Who would support that?

Now, with Tom G. at the helm, and his actions that he took, the town responded huge. That is really what matters.

Now, I will agree that US vs Canada is completely different when it comes to being a hockey town. But for the US, Buffalo is hard to beat right now.

[Vapor 0]

The fact that they stopped following the team shows they are not true fans. Now that they are good again, they have fans, woo hoo!

[willy0314 0]

so because I'm a season ticket holder, I'm a better fan then someone who isn't? But not as good of a fan as someone who has had season tickets for 30 years? Since when do you have to buy tickets to be a fan of the team?

Not every team is located in NYC where you can sell out games with just walk-ups.

[QandA 0]

I believe what he, vapor, is saying is that when the team's hot, making the playoffs and what not, they're fans. WHen the teams struggling and not winning, they tend just not care about the team, whereas a true fan would stick with his team through the good and the bad...

[willy0314 0]

I can agree to that, but I don't think you can apply that to buffalo when your only point is well the team was bad and their attendence went down..... so they are fair weather fans - when at the same time the entire leagues attendence went to hell. It wasn't only buffalo with attendence problems a few years ago, people walked away from the entire league, not just the fans in buffalo. Over the teams history, the sabres have always had strong attendence and crazy high local TV ratings.

[LkptTiger 1]

Dude, don't even try. I'd say 65-70% of the people in this area who profess to be "die-hard Sabres fans" had never really paid any real attention to the team (or the game, in general), until about two years ago. The team started winning, and then going to/watching games became "cool" and Sabres merchandise became "fashionable." Have you tried having a hockey-related conversation with any of these people? Its an infuriating experience.

That's not to say that there aren't real, knowledgeable Sabres fans out there - they're just in the minority (and greatly so) where the bandwagoners are concerned.

That said, the few who really know hockey in this area REALLY know the game, and many kids (including myself) have grown-up on the ice; and, as a result, there is some very good hockey to be played here. I've played on some terrific, extremely talented teams with guys who have been drafted into the NHL and/or have NHL pedigree - teams which could hang with the best in the country each and every year.

There are many people who care deeply for this game in this area. There are a great deal more who simply act this way because it has become "socially acceptable" or maybe even "expected."