2014-15 NHL Season

[clenz]

I hear Quebec City is a nice place that would like hockey...

[GannonFan]

I hear Quebec City is a nice place that would like hockey...

Imagine the outrage in Quebec City if they do move a team to Canada, but put it in Hamilton instead. The cuss words in French would be flying fast and furious.

[clenz]

I hear Quebec City is a nice place that would like hockey...

Imagine the outrage in Quebec City if they do move a team to Canada, but put it in Hamilton instead. The cuss words in French would be flying fast and furious.

Maybe I'm naive to how much Canada loves hockey but I can't imagine there's much room for a large fan base in Hamilton. Between downtown Buffalo and Toronto being an hour by car and essentially 100% connected by city between the two and Detroit less than 200 miles to the West I can't imagine there isn't a hockey fan that isn't already pretty attached to a team. It's why I don't see a second Toronto team as a true option.

Again, maybe I too removed from the area and sport to know for sure though

[89Hen]

Maybe I'm naive to how much Canada loves hockey but I can't imagine there's much room for a large fan base in Hamilton. Between downtown Buffalo and Toronto being an hour by car and essentially 100% connected by city between the two and Detroit less than 200 miles to the West I can't imagine there isn't a hockey fan that isn't already pretty attached to a team. It's why I don't see a second Toronto team as a true option.

Again, maybe I too removed from the area and sport to know for sure though

I don't thnk Hamilton will get a team but FWIW...

Maple Leafs = 19,000
Toronto Marlies = 5,300
Hamilton Bulldogs = 4,400

If NYC can have three teams, there are certainly enough fans there to have two.

[89Hen]

How long will the Coyotes be in Phoenix (or really Glendale)?

Apparently, the city council of Glendale voted to cancel the Coyotes lease because the Coyotes hired the former Glendale city attorney in 2013 supposedly in conflict with an Arizona statute that allows an agency to cancel a contract if an employee significantly involved in a contract becomes employed with the other party. This obviously is posturing as the city wants the Coyotes to renegotiate the Lease that is only a few years in but will be interesting to see where it goes.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/13055 ... api_public" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Paging Jon and Z.

[clenz]

Maybe I'm naive to how much Canada loves hockey but I can't imagine there's much room for a large fan base in Hamilton. Between downtown Buffalo and Toronto being an hour by car and essentially 100% connected by city between the two and Detroit less than 200 miles to the West I can't imagine there isn't a hockey fan that isn't already pretty attached to a team. It's why I don't see a second Toronto team as a true option.

Again, maybe I too removed from the area and sport to know for sure though

I don't thnk Hamilton will get a team but FWIW...

Maple Leafs = 19,000
Toronto Marlies = 5,300
Hamilton Bulldogs = 4,400

If NYC can have three teams, there are certainly enough fans there to have two.

Rangers have been around 90 years
Islanders have been around 43

They've existed for decades and there wasn't nearly the competition for fan bases at that point.

To just add a team, from no where, right in the middle of Buffalo, Toronto and Detroit seems like failure from the start

[Gil Dobie]

I could see Quebec, Houston or Hartford.

[tribe_pride]

I could see Quebec, Houston or Hartford.

Like Quebec or Hartford (but for some reason, each has lost a team before) but why Houston? We don't need more hockey teams in warm weather areas.

[Grizalltheway]

I could see Quebec, Houston or Hartford.

Like Quebec or Hartford (but for some reason, each has lost a team before) but why Houston? We don't need more hockey teams in warm weather areas.

Exactly. Seattle is looking to build a new arena and there would be an instant rivalry with Vancouver.

[clenz]

Like Quebec or Hartford (but for some reason, each has lost a team before) but why Houston? We don't need more hockey teams in warm weather areas.

Exactly. Seattle is looking to build a new arena and there would be an instant rivalry with Vancouver.

Would NHL help or hurt the NBA efforts?

Obviously it would help with the arena piece I guess

[Grizalltheway]

Exactly. Seattle is looking to build a new arena and there would be an instant rivalry with Vancouver.

Would NHL help or hurt the NBA efforts?

Obviously it would help with the arena piece I guess

I'm not sure, but I do know the guy willing to put up money for it is a huge hockey fan, so I think an NHL team would take priority over an NBA one for him.

[89Hen]

Rangers have been around 90 years
Islanders have been around 43

They've existed for decades and there wasn't nearly the competition for fan bases at that point.

To just add a team, from no where, right in the middle of Buffalo, Toronto and Detroit seems like failure from the start

Not sure I follow you. Leafs and Red Wings are as old or older than the Rangers and Sabres are older than the Islanders. Not sure what that has to do wtih anything.

[Gil Dobie]

I could see Quebec, Houston or Hartford.

Like Quebec or Hartford (but for some reason, each has lost a team before) but why Houston? We don't need more hockey teams in warm weather areas.

Houston does have a history with Gordie Howe and the WHA. In 2013, the Wild moved the AHL Aeroes to Des Moines.

[Grizalltheway]

Exactly. Seattle is looking to build a new arena and there would be an instant rivalry with Vancouver.

Would NHL help or hurt the NBA efforts?

Obviously it would help with the arena piece I guess

So it looks like it's actually the other way around.

RayBartoszek, a Connecticut-based investment banker, is one of the key figures in the proposed Tukwila arena, which could conceivably move forward much quicker than Chris Hansen’s Sodo arena plan, which has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Seattle that requires securing the rights to an NBA franchise to move forward with public financing.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/sonics/2015/0 ... 32980101=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[clenz]

Would NHL help or hurt the NBA efforts?

Obviously it would help with the arena piece I guess

So it looks like it's actually the other way around.

RayBartoszek, a Connecticut-based investment banker, is one of the key figures in the proposed Tukwila arena, which could conceivably move forward much quicker than Chris Hansen’s Sodo arena plan, which has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Seattle that requires securing the rights to an NBA franchise to move forward with public financing.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/sonics/2015/0 ... 32980101=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd like to see a Seattle basketball team for many reasons. The biggest one right now is a chance that it moves the Wolves to a better geographic fit of a division and maybe the East. Get in a division with Chicago and Milwaukee

[Gil Dobie]

Hawks could be celebrating at home for the first time since 1938, if they win.

[clenz]

Hawks could be celebrating at home for the first time since 1938, if they win.

I hope they don't for no other reason than their fan base is a bunch of ass bag fuck heads.

It's the same thing with them every year. They don't exist until the conference semi-finals. Then some of them show up and start beating their chest about how great Johnathon Kane and Patrick Crawford are. How hardcore their fan base is, etc... Then come conference finals time 900000000 of them show up beating their chests about how great they are talking about Marian Keith, Brent Saad and Duncan Hossa are...

At this point I'd pay money to get them to shut the fuck up.

It has nothing to do with the players. There's nothing about the team itself I have an issue with.

[tribe_pride]

It's been a great series as all games have been decided by 1 goal. Only difference last game was Bishop paid for his stupid mistake of chasing the puck outside the crease in the 1st period while Crawford got very lucky 1 minute earlier when he passed to a Lightning player when he was outside of the crease and didn't pay for his mistake.

Hoping for another good game today (and Wednesday) - 7 game series are fun if you don't have a rooting interest

Can't wait to hear what Bishop's injury is once the series is over. Obviously it is something since he missed Game 4 and looked iffy moving around during Game 3 so it will be interesting to see what the injury is.

[Gil Dobie]

Hawks could be celebrating at home for the first time since 1938, if they win.

I hope they don't for no other reason than their fan base is a bunch of ass bag **** heads.

It's the same thing with them every year. They don't exist until the conference semi-finals. Then some of them show up and start beating their chest about how great Johnathon Kane and Patrick Crawford are. How hardcore their fan base is, etc... Then come conference finals time 900000000 of them show up beating their chests about how great they are talking about Marian Keith, Brent Saad and Duncan Hossa are...

At this point I'd pay money to get them to shut the **** up.

It has nothing to do with the players. There's nothing about the team itself I have an issue with.

Send me a check at............................

[SDHornet]

Blackhawks win it in 6.

I saw a few games and they were pretty entertaining. TB hung with them, and for entertainment purposes I was hoping for a game 7. The final game was the only game in which a team led by more than 1 goal.

[bandl]

I was happy Chicago won because Clenz.

[Gil Dobie]

The Game Winner
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zFRO1g0jzk[/youtube]

[Ivytalk]

I was happy Chicago won because Clenz.

That says it all!

[bodoyle]

As a Hawks fan I take offense to this.

1) 99% of games were not televised since I grew up until, what, 2007? Hard to pay attention to a team when you have no idea who the players really are and couldn't recognize them on Michigan Ave.

2) The fans don't come out of the woodwork. The Blackhawks have led the NHL in attendance every year since 2008. Basically since Billfold Wirtz bit the dust and Rocky took over. Old Man Wirtz's whole MO was he didn't want to put the games on television because then no one would show up at the Chicago Stadium/United Center. Obviously he was delusional and senile since once Rocky took over and games were on WGN and Comcast SportsNet Chicago fans started to show up in droves. And before you say it, no, it definitely didn't hurt to have Toews and Kane get drafted around that time either.

3) I'm not sure if you are from one of the towns that have to create specific ticketing systems to stop all the Blackhawks fans from over-running their arenas like Nashville where the Hawks fans drank the bars dry 2 years ago and the Preds had to try and keep the Hawks fans out of their Stadium in the playoffs this year (and failed), or in Anaheim where 40% of the fans at the game were Hawks fans, or maybe a Minnesota fan who can't get over the hump that is the Hawks, or Tampa where they have to do the same thing as Nashville, but wherever you're from, you don't know a lot about the Blackhawks and where they came from.

[Grizalltheway]

2) The fans don't come out of the woodwork. The Blackhawks have led the NHL in attendance every year since 2008.

You mean since they started being good again? That's pretty much the definition of coming out of the woodwork.