Even guys like Gerry Odrowski--once injured in a game playing for the Oakland Seals in NYC (against the Rangers) and forgotten by the team (he was released from the hospital and had to make his own way home. Good lord what an awful thing to do to a person)--enjoyed NHL careers.
Not Larry Mavety. Not one game. Not one minute. Oh sure, he played in the WHA (big whoop) but never played a game in the National Hockey League. He was close, by God. Larry Mavety knows it, and so do I. I followed him and cheered for him but it never came. Not one damn game.
--
I don't have much to say about Richard Petiot's two games with the Oilers this season. He looked fine to me, Gene Principe told a story about his getting to the rink just in time for warmups in his first game and he played pretty well to my eye that night.
I hope Richard Petiot is one of those guys who plays a lot in his late 20's and 30's. These players do exist, and I think they're probably better than some of the prospects who come up to the NHL and look like a deer in the headlights. He's a big guy, maybe lacks a step and doesn't appear to be a mean prick--a decided disadvantage for his chosen field--but he's certainly good enough to play pro hockey at a high level.
Just like Larry Mavety.
I don't remember seeing all these classic highlights when the Oilers made their run.
ReplyDeleteIn the preseason, Petiot looked like he earned a roster spot if places were handed out on merit alone. I'm surprised he didn't get more games. I think they wanted to keep Oklahoma as competitive as possible, and that hurt Petiots NHL totals.
ReplyDeleteHoping for a celebratory post detailing some of Vancouver's history at the outset of the Van-Boston final. You know, for good luck.
ReplyDeleteDanny
ReplyDeleteI think LT was intimating that the "reason" you are referred to as in the mix, is because you are not really in the mix. Petiot was signed for the minors, was never thought of as an NHL player and was treated as such. He's a decent AHL player
Am I the only person that has never seen 'intimate(ing)' used as a verb, meaning 'suggest' before? Thanks for the lesson :)
ReplyDeletePetiot might be indicative of why the Oil are a "soft" team to play against. He needs to hit somebody over the head to instill some fear in the opposition. He got sent back because he stood there and watched while T. Hall was getting beat up then hurt. "Pussy" might be too strong of a word, but....
ReplyDeleteAnother fortunate series of events for VAN. Everything seems to be going their way. They say you have to be good to be lucky, but VAN seems to be testing the limits of that axiom.
ReplyDeleteIt sort of reminds me of CAR in '06. They scored three straight series winning goals on powerplays awarded late in the game when the defender shot the puck over the glass in his own end to make it to the SCF if I recall.
Nonetheless, the hatred of the "dys" around here borders on irrational, or is it just me? (and based on the uniformity of that hatred, it very well might be just me :-)).
If you had your choice of one of CGY, TOR, or VAN winning the championship, who would you choose?
Ashley - It's just you. The only thing worse than the cheapest team playing in the league at the moment are their fans. They are an absolute joke to deal with. Especially at EDM-VAN games in Edmonton.
ReplyDeleteIf you had your choice of one of CGY, TOR, or VAN winning the championship, who would you choose
ReplyDeleteToronto and it's not even close.
1. Toronto
ReplyDelete2. Calgary
3. ?????
I'm sure my hate would be even worse if I hadn't been watching the last couple games on Versus. Though I did see Cherry with the guitar.
How many straight periods was that with single digit shots but they still pull out the two wins? I can't remember seeing anything like that 5-3 debacle in game 4 before and the goal to cinch it in game 5 -- after the blown icing goal to tie it up -- was absurd.
Nonetheless, the hatred of the "dys" around here borders on irrational, or is it just me? (and based on the uniformity of that hatred, it very well might be just me :-)).
ReplyDeleteIt's not just you Ashley. I don't get it either. The horrible fans reasoning doesn't hold water with me. It's just human nature to think every team other than the one you support has obnoxious fans. I live in Montreal and Habs fans are beyond obnoxious. That said, if they were the only Canadian team left in the hunt I'd support them.
I think it's fantastic that a Canadian team whose franchise hasn't touched the silver in the full 40 years of its existence may be finally do so. To gripe about that just seems like petty jealousy to me.
As far as Kesler, Burrows, Bieksa, being dicks. Name me a team that doesn't have a few? That's root-for-the-hometeam rose coloured glasses talk.
BUT, that is the great thing about the love and hatred we have for sports teams. Very rarely is it actually rational. It lives in the heart instead.
Medical emergency in VanCity as entire team shortlisted for a horseshoeoscopy
ReplyDeleteFurther to my previous post, I work in a company that was originally based in Vancouver so its certainly staffed with its fair share of Canucks fans. And I see no evidence of them being anything other than passionate, knowledgeable hockey fans. In fact, many of them cheer for the Oil as their 2nd favorite team as I do the Canucks when the Oil are not in contention.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the possible explanations of the hatred towards the Canucks on the site is the classic big city v small city conflict/inferiority complex.
I don't think it's so much the large vs. small city dynamic (I always thought of Vancouver as being a small to mid-sized city -- Tokyo and Mexico City being large) it's more the *smugness* of Vancouverites. Most people from the prairies are pretty humble and self-deprecating.
ReplyDeleteI'm "originally" an Edmontonian living in Victoria. I find the smugness of Victorians and Vancouverites quite grating. Many of them have never been east of the rocky mountains and they have endless bad things to say about Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, and on and on. There's this delusion of this area being paradise on earth, but it's more the locals have never experienced anything else. Victoria in many ways is a collection of people from small towns on Vancouver Island, so this is all they know.
And speaking as someone that cheers for anyone playing against the Canucks, I notice the fans here get really limp and soggy when I do this. If I cheer for the Oilers in Calgary, I at least get a reaction, usually a pleasant antagonism.
As someone who has lived in all 3 of Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, I can personally attest to the fact that Dys fans are the worst.
ReplyDeleteThere has been hate for them since many act like their GM. They invented hockey and no one else matters. They can't wrap their head around the fact that they have never won anything.
Now that the apocalypse is coming and the Dys might actually win something, there is very black feeling in some of us, because we will never be able to say "But your team has never won anything?", again.
If the Dys win the cup I will be mourning the loss of easy snappy comebacks like "You have just as many cups as Phoenix, and its only taken you 40 years!"
No longer will I be able to easily ridicule their first round parade routes.
No longer will I be quick to laugh at their retiring of jersey's of non hall-of-fame players. (The easiest pro hall of fame to get into)
No longer will I be able to sneer at CBC's "CANADA'S TEAM" ads that feature 2 Swedes and an American.
No longer will I be comfortable in the long term superiority of the once great Oiler franchise.
I will wear a black armband for a week if they win as part of my soul will die.
Yes, I dislike them that much.
"It's not just you Ashley. I don't get it either. The horrible fans reasoning doesn't hold water with me. It's just human nature to think every team other than the one you support has obnoxious fans."
ReplyDeleteThis is not it at all. Go to games. They are the worst to deal with. Calgary fans are actually pretty decent. Toronto fans are passionate but almost induce pity (almost). Montreal fans are arrogant to the point of ridiculousness, but still, not near as bad as Vancouver fans. (and at least they have some titles to back it up)
And no, this has nothing to do with "Big City" dynamics. Nothing whatsoever. It's literally that they are THAT BAD to deal with. I've encountered them over 20 times now. They're horrible.
i feel the same way, Clarkenstein.....some say it was good for Hall to fight so it'll toughen him up, but when Petiot was the closest guy there and didn't step in right away to rescure our franchise player, i lost a ton of respect for him...pussy indeed!
ReplyDeleteI really don't get this "must cheer for Canadian team" bunk. That's like asking a Mets fan to cheer for the Yankees or a Arsenal fan to cheer for Spurs. What good are these carefully constructed regional identities if they can be so easily cast aside in favour of some inadequacy-driven faux nationalism?
ReplyDeleteAnd the terrible fan thing? Absolutely right. Toronto fans by and large seem like decent types, as disillusioned and beaten as any of us. Habs fans are pretty annoying too, but at least they know the game. Canucks fans? Smug and full of shit talk when they win, but the second things get rocky, they can't get to yoga fast enough.
As someone who has lived in Northern BC for the better part of the last thirty years as an Oilers fan, it is really hard to put an exact reason as to why Nucks fans are so annoying. I guess my reasoning is this: go to Edmonton any time of the year and there is always evidence that the city has an NHL team and fans that are hardworking, tough, and committed to their team (EIG as exhibit A). Go to Vancouver any time the Canucks are not playing and you'd never know that an NHL: team existed. Bandwagon fans to a T, and pretty ignorant ones at that.
ReplyDeleteI mean really who retires the numbers of guys like Smyl and Linden? Both guys would have been fourth line pine riders anywhere else in the league but somehow they are lauded are being hard working honest players. Hard working?
My washing machine works hard but it doesn't deserve to have it's number retired.
@CrazyCoach....live in Northern BC for the last 30 years? should i congratulate you or say you poor guy? :-p
ReplyDeleteI like the City of Vancouver.
ReplyDeleteI hate the current version of the Canucks. It has nothing to do with envy. It has everything to do with Brian Burke, the mulitple times the Oilers play them every year, cheap players like Bieksa and Kesler, and yes, the extreme way their fans jump on and off the bandwagon.
I used to tolerate them in the Kirk MacLean, Linden, Morrison era, but I hate this current crop.
Would I take them winning over CGY or TOR? Yeah probably. But thats like saying I would prefer bamboo shoots shoved up my fingernails instead of glass being embedded in my eyes. Just a different form of torture.
Doug Murphy perhaps you could find me the number of a good local shrink. ha ha ha ha
ReplyDelete1. Smugness of vancouverites especially in relation to prairie folk (but most vancourites are just as parochial)
ReplyDelete2. High concentration of dicks on the team and a real talent for embellishing
3. Homer hughson and the cbc crew
4. The fans act as if they had 24 cups; Montreal fans are at least arrogant for a reason
5. Bandwagon town
6. I could go on but ill close with this: #1 often leads to poor fan behaviour in Edmonton/Calgary rinks
Sure hope they win the cup because their celebration at winning the WCF's is gonna look pretty stupid in hindsight
ReplyDeleteLee:
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with your assessment... Edmonton is one of the smallest cities with an NHL team, and by your logic, fans from Edmonton would hate the teams from all of larger cities (not just Vancouver).
Personally, I just don't like many of the players on the team.
I respect how the team has been structured and built (i.e., if they win this year, I don't believe they're screwed next year like Chicago) but I'm still not cheering for them.
LMHF#1
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it with your assessment of the fans. I cannot stand going to Edm/Van games purely because of the fans. Yes a little fun ribbing here and there is fine, but you dont go into someone elses barn and talk shit about the team, players, city, fans, etc for a full 2 and half hours.
Some Oiler news from Matheson today
ReplyDeleteSome talk on Souray, trading Stortini, the scouting meetings (Murphy is in the conversation?), Moran, Giroux, McDonald, Bigos and Hesketh.
phleadot: all that's left after your biggest star falls off the trapeze at the phlea circus.
@crazy coach
ReplyDeleteMy washing machine works hard but it doesn't deserve to have it's number retired.
Thanks for the chuckle.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnytime Hockey Guy.
ReplyDeleteI have to muzzle my hatred of the Nucks in this province these days lest I act like a Nucks fan anywhere but BC.
This is my outlet.
But isn't saying most Vancouver fans are insufferable at best a largely subjective conclusion and at worst a gross generalization? This community prides itself on unbiased evaluation of hypotheses based on solid empirical evidence. I don't see that same level of intellectual rigor being applied in this instance.
ReplyDeleteMost importantly, my primary point isn't that this is right or wrong. Everyone's got the choice between hot dogs and hamburgers. It's just that justifying this response as rational seems to me the ultimate example of skewing observation to support an opinion as opposed to the converse.
I HATE Calgary sports teams and their fans but at least I acknowledge the irrationality of that position. Most importantly, I realize how irrational it is that I've managed to indocrinate my sons into having similar beliefs and am quite happy about that. lol My wife on the other hand claims they've been 'brainwashed' ;)
Lee:
ReplyDeleteLast night they had a celebration for the 17th anniversary of LOSING in the SCF and followed it up by spraying confetti all over the ice for making it to the SCF.
Meanwhile CBC flashed every OT goal the Canucks have ever got in the playoffs before OT started and we got to listen to Hughson tell 'ole timey stories about how Sedin tackling Heatley is a somehow a good hockey play.
Fuck.
EDM - statue of Gretzky holding up the holy grail
ReplyDeleteVAN - statue of Roger Neilson holding up a towel
I watched an Oilers/Detroit game during the 2006 run in a Vancouver restaurant. Dys fans were booing the Oil, mid meal. Not all Vancouverites are asshats but a vocal minority leaves a lasting impression. Best place on earth indeed...
ReplyDeletepholicke: xxx soup
If something like a penant was awarded in hockey, as some great minds have suggested, would it then be more reasonable for the Canucks to be celebrating 1994? :D
ReplyDeleteVancouver as “best place on earth” – hardly – but understandable when all you ever do is compare yourself against the rest of western Canada which is all west coasters ever do. I lived there for 10 years after leaving EDM and the place is so navel gazing it’s silly. Reality is that Vancouver is a pretty little town (well at least the parts that don’t look like a 3rd world crack ghetto) with awful weather for 10 months of the year and little high culture to speak of. Some day it may grow up and compare itself against really interesting cities or places with a decent climate – but that day is not coming too soon. Interesting enough for a weekend on the way to the ski hills – but there are many, many more interesting places in the world that have more than 1 hour of sunshine a month for half the year.
ReplyDeleteAs for their team – I like the GM – solid hire. Too bad we didn’t get him and let the Dys keep Tambo the chai wallah. Think the franchise would be where it is if that happened ☺
I thought it was Vandermeer and not Petiot in observation mode while Hall was becomming a man that night.
ReplyDeleteDon't want Vancouver to win the cup, but also not thrilled about seeing Seguin raise it over his head. Torn.
I wouldn't count Tampa out so quickly. They're good enough to beat Boston.
ReplyDeleteThe Jim Rome show this evening had a segment about Canada not cheering for the Canucks. It's unanimous.
Last night they had a celebration for the 17th anniversary of LOSING in the SCF and followed it up by spraying confetti all over the ice for making it to the SCF.
ReplyDeleteVAN - statue of Roger Neilson holding up a towel
All completely understandable if you're a hockey mad market absolutely desperate for a winner. I would daresay Edmonton would act similarly if our team was as unfortunate to have never won anything of significance. You see evidence of this in the way that many younger Oiler fans who didn't experience the Dynasty years first hand exalt Marchant's OT winner against Dallas as if it was the 2nd coming of Bobby Baun scoring the Cup winner on a broken leg. Memorable goal without a doubt but at the end of the day it was a first round series upset and nothing more.
It's like the argument is "Vancouver fans would be fine if they just keep their mouths shut, stay humble and remember they've never won anything worth winning." Kind of goes against the grain of what a fan (fanatic) is.
All a matter of perspective?
It's just that justifying this response as rational seems to me the ultimate example of skewing observation to support an opinion as opposed to the converse.
ReplyDeleteExcept I haven't seen anyone here "justifying this response as rational."
Still, it's a little bit interesting that so many people from disparate backgrounds and different experiences keep having similar experiences viz Canucks fans...
The knob-gobbling by the Canadian MSM is the icing on the cake.
All I'm saying is the residents of any city dubbing itself the self proclaimed 'City of Champions' should probably look at themselves in the mirror before accusing others of excessive hubris.
ReplyDeleteAs far as media bias, it's called Hockey Night 'in Canada' for a reason.
Lee if you must know the "City of Champions" label was given by the former mayor of the city who said the city was full of champions for the way they reacted to the victims of the tornado of 87(?). It had nothing to do with any of the sports teams, but rather the generosity of the citizens.
ReplyDeleteThat may not seem a definition of champion to you but to those who went through that tornado, it certainly did.
Somebody is actually comparing Seguin winning the Cup to those fucking Dys *spits* rubbing it in?
ReplyDelete@Crazy Coach, I was living in Edmonton at the time and well aware of the events surrounding the proposal of that moniker and the controversy it engendered at the time. There were MANY Edmontonians, myself included, who felt it was a bit much. Further, you'd have to be more than a little naive to think the Oil being in the midst of their Cup run and the Esks being a few years removed from their 5-in-a-row run didn't factor into the slogans being considered.
ReplyDeleteI think Lee makes some good points but I can only defend myself and I'll do that by saying I was actually cheering for Van to win the Cup in '94 and even when their opponents housed a lot of former Oilers including one of my favs - MacT - and my ultimate favourite: Messier.
ReplyDeleteI would say I began to really dislike them when they had Cloutier and Bertuzzi and Hughson was their local bcaster and a few Dys fans would show up on those old messageboards of yore.
Now I really dislike them because of the arseholes they have playing for them - and you can say all teams have jerks but on that '06 Oilers club everyone was pretty likeable outside of Pronger - the way CBC fetes them on a nightly basis also isn't helping matters.
In one respect I think the CBC really does feel that happy that a long suffering franchise is about to win but in another way I think they're trying to pump up the ratings because overall I don't get the feeling that Canadians en masse are jumping on the bandwagon.
All my good friends are huge hockey fans and not one of them are hoping Van wins. And maybe it's because their games run so late that you don't build up the relationship or maybe it's because the unlikeable outshines the likeable - which always happens - and that Hughson's misplaced glee is apparent every goddamned night.
By all accounts, the current Oilers are all pretty nice guys. Hence the cliche, 'Nice Guys Finish Last!'
ReplyDeleteI think this current Oiler squad could stand to add a few more a-holes (i.e. guys with some edge). I like Peckham from that perspective and Vandevelde may have some potential there too.
Further to my previous post, in their heyday the Oil had a pretty impressive a-hole contingent: Semenko, McSorley, Lumley, McLelland, Hunter, etc.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I loved about those teams. They could beat you with skill AND they could beat you with physical play.