PowerPlayGoal.com – Hockey From A Different Angle

Welcome to The Definitive Fan – The online guide from PowerPlayGoal.com to the types of fans who you’re likely to meet (or not meet) at a game.
Some of these fans clearly have a true passion for the game, others, well, they are just there for something to do.

Fan Type #2 – The Forum Complainer

Artists Impression of a Forum Complainer

Bio:
Not to be confused with forum trolls, the Forum Complainer fans exist primarily for one reason, to whine, moan and bitch about their chosen team – only on web forums.
No matter how great the team they “support” is doing, they always seem to find something to complain about, be it a player, a coach or the teams newest jersey.
The typical Forum Complainer doesn’t have the best Hockey knowledge, and is often led to believe eccentric rumors started by forum trolls. Their usual analysis of a player is to look at how many goals they have scored, rather than effort – and when it comes to evaluating a coach, they simply look at the amount of wins the team has had.
They will often post wild and stupid ideas for the team, such as why the team needs to trade their All Star player, or why there’s going to be “insert name” playing for them next season, with totally unjustifiable reasons.

Characteristics:
Notably male – aged 15 through 20

Favourite Team:
So long as the team has a forum, they will choose to support that team. Notably, this fan will support a team in any league, from the NHL, to the UK’s Elite League and even small peewee kids Hockey leagues.

Other:
As annoying as these people can be, they sometimes provide a little bit of light humor to a forum, allowing members to find pictures such as “Aw geez, not this shit again”, to pictures of rabbits with pancakes on their heads.
These people often get driven out of forums by strong groups of members who simply cannot stand them, however, they simply find another forum to post their rubbish analogies on.

I’m KevKev, and this is PowerPlayGoal.com

Part 5 of The Aftermath series will cover the Northwest Division.

Calgary Flames

Final standings: 42W, 30L, 10OTL, 94 points, 3^rd Northwest, 7^th Western Conference, 14^th NHL

The Calgary Flames entered the 2007-08 season as a favourite by some to win the Stanley Cup (Or at the very least, just me. Only because of a strange pattern I noticed with recent Stanley Cup Champions*). They started off by demoting former head coach Jim Playfair to associate coach, and replaced him with Mike Keenan. During the season, Flames captain Jarome Ignila set both personal and franchise records when he played in his 804^th game on November 29^th, setting a franchise record for games played in a Flames uniform, and then scoring his 700^th career point two nights later against Columbus, and then scoring his 365^th goal on March 3^rd, surpassing former Flame and NHLer Theoren Fleury’s record of 364, to become Calgary’s all-time scoring leader. In December, the Flames also became notable by becoming the third team in NHL history to win every game of a six game road trip. Calgary made the playoffs in the end, going up against the San Jose Sharks in the first round, and for the third straight year, they were unable to make it past the first round as the Sharks defeated the Flames in seven games.

Colorado Avalanche

Final standings: 44W, 31L, 7OTL, 95 points, 2^nd Northwest, 6^th Western Conference, 10^th NHL

To begin the season, the Avs signed free agents Scott Hannan, a defenceman, and Ryan Smyth, a left winger, who were both expected to help the team make an impact in the playoffs. Colorado had a good season, and there wasn’t a month when their losses overtook their wins: in November and February, Colorado’s worst months, the number of wins matched that of the losses, and their records for both months were 6-6-1 and 6-6-2, respectively. In February also, the Colorado Avalanche signed free agent and former long-time Av Peter Forsberg, signing him for the remainder of the season. They also acquired Adam Foote from Columbus and Ruslan Salei from Florida. The Avs made it to the playoffs when in the first round they went up against division rivals Minnesota, beating them in six games. They then moved on to the second round, where they were swept by long-time playoff rivals Detroit, who went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Edmonton Oilers

Final standings: 41W, 35L, 6OTL, 88 points, 4^th Northwest, 9^th Western Conference, 19^th NHL

After losing several key players, becoming one of the worst teams in the league and missing the playoffs last year, the Edmonton Oilers went into a mass rebuilding session. They made many changes before the season started, with one of the most notable being the controversial signing of former Anaheim forward Dustin Penner, who was offered a 5 year, $21.25 million contract: the offer was heavily criticised by the media, as well as and especially Anaheim Ducks GM Brian Burke, due to him only being in his second NHL season and being overpaid. Despite this, he went on to become the Oilers leading scorer this season: he scored 23 goals. The team’s performance throughout the first half of the year was poor, and they lost the majority of their games. After December, however, the team turned things around, and improved their performance by winning more games. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough for them to make the playoffs, and they missed out for the second straight season. Edmonton fans do have some positives to look back at though, such as Denis Grebeshkov scoring the franchise’s 8,000^th goal, as well as the Oilers’ setting of a new NHL record of 13 shootout wins in a season, a record previously held by the Dallas Stars at 12 wins.

Minnesota Wild

Final standings: 44W, 28L, 10OTL, 98 points, 1^st Northwest, 3^rd Western Conference, 7^th NHL

The Minnesota Wild had an overall successful 2007-08 campaign. Building on their franchise-best record of 104 points last year, the Wild ruled the Northwest Division and clinched their first Division title in franchise history. The Wild started off with an eight game points streak, including seven wins and one shootout loss, and then went into a 14 game slump in which they went 4-9-1. Afterwards, it was pretty much solid hockey for the rest of the season except for two winless streaks that took place in February and March: a four game one in which they lost in a shootout and lost in regulation for three straight games, and a five game one in which they lost twice and then lost in 3 consecutive shootouts. The Wild went into the first round of the playoffs and faced division rivals Colorado, however Minnesota would end up losing to the Avs in six games.

Vancouver Canucks

Final standings: 39W, 32L, 10OTL, 88 points, 5^th Northwest, 11^th Western Conference, 21^st NHL

The Vancouver Canucks started by introducing a new (sort of) look to fit with the league-wide change to the RBK EDGE uniform system: they blended a mix of old and new, using their original colours of blue and green, and then a recoloured version of the Canucks’ most recent primary logo, along with an arching ‘Vancouver’ that didn’t go down too well with some people. The 2007-08 season however did not go too well for the ‘Nucks, starting with injuries that would hurt the team’s performance in October. November was a better month however, in which they went 9-2-2, earning the best record in the league during that month. After December however, the team would go on a bumpy road for the rest of the season, resulting in the Canucks missing the playoffs for the second time in three years, and General Manager Dave Nonis being fired and replaced with Mike Gillis.

For the sixth and final part coming up next, the Pacific Division will be covered.

(*And the aforementioned pattern I noticed? Here we go: Carolina lost in the 2002 Finals, Anaheim lost in the 2003 Finals, and then Calgary lost in the 2004 Finals. After the lockout, Carolina won the Cup in 2006, Anaheim won in 2007, so I was expecting Calgary to win it this year. I was wrong.)

For the final three parts of the Aftermath series, the Western Conference will be covered, starting with the Central Division.

Chicago Blackhawks

Final standings: 40W, 34L, 8OTL, 88 points, 3^rd Central, 10^th Western Conference, 20^th NHL

The Chicago Blackhawks began the season mourning the loss of long-time owner Bill Wirtz, who died on September 26^th, 2007; he was succeeded by his younger son, Rocky Wirtz, who has since sought to make big, positive changes to the team. His statement was reflected by the fact that the Hawks had their first winning season since 2001-02, winning nine more games than in 2006-07, and losing eight less. They also made a big improvement in the overall league standings, by jumping up from 26^th last season to 20^th this year. However, the Blackhawks once again were unable to make the playoffs for the fifth straight season, but the future is looking brighter for this franchise.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Final standings: 34W, 36L, 12OTL, 80 points, 4^th Central, 13^th Western Conference, 25^th NHL

The 2007-08 campaign for the Columbus Blue Jackets saw them attempt to make the playoffs for the first time in team history (and fail). Columbus also made a change in management with a new General Manager, Scott Howson, replacing Doug MacLean. The Jackets had a fairly good start in October, going 7-3-1, but afterwards the team’s usual habit of suffering from a bad season began to kick in. What didn’t help was that the team’s number one goalie Pascal LeClaire was injured in March, and the team lost the majority of their final 16 games, going 4-9-3, and thus they missed the playoffs once again. A positive thing for the team to look back on is that their mostly better play resulted in them having the most successful season record in franchise history, earning at least 80 points for the first time.

Detroit Red Wings

Final standings: 54W, 21L, 7OTL, 115 points, 1^st Central, 1^st Western Conference, 1^st NHL

After making it only as far as the Conference Finals last year, the Detroit Red Wings came right back and went all the way, defeating Nashville, Colorado and Dallas in the first three rounds and then winning in the Stanley Cup Final in six games against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, making it the second time the Wings have won the Cup this decade. The Red Wings also won the Presidents’ Trophy for the sixth time: their Cup championship made it the seventh time that a team has won the Stanley Cup after winning the Presidents’ Trophy, a rare occurrence considering that the trophy has been around for 22 years, and some hockey fans consider it to be cursed. Not much else can be said about Detroit for this year, although the only bad time of the year, which was particularly bad, happened in February, when the Wings went into an eleven game slump, in which they went 1-7-3.

Nashville Predators

Final standings: 41W, 32L, 9OTL, 91 points, 2^nd Central, 8^th Western Conference, 17^th NHL

The 2007-08 Nashville Predators season began with a new owner. After Jim Balsillie failed in his attempt to buy the franchise from Craig Leipold, and instead the team was sold to a group led by local businessman David Freeman. The team had a bad start in October when after their first two games they went into a six game losing streak. They did better in November, and then went on another slump in December, when they lost 9 out of 15 games. They played fairly good hockey for the rest of the season, and beat out Edmonton, Chicago and Vancouver in clinching the number 8 spot in the West. Naturally, as the number 8 seed, they went into the first round as the underdogs, and lost to division rivals the Detroit Red Wings in six games.

St. Louis Blues

Final standings: 33W, 36L, 13OTL, 79 points, 5^th Central, 14^th Western Conference, 27^th NHL

The St. Louis Blues started off by introducing their new mascot, Louie, a blue bear with sunglasses. He was named following a ‘name the mascot’ contest that the team held. The Blues performed fairly well early on in the season, but after November they suddenly went downhill as they lost the majority of their games for the rest of the season. They failed to qualify for the playoffs for the third straight season, and had a worse season than in 2006-07. Despite all this, the team saw a massive increase in attendance, filling approximately 92% of their capacity, whereas last year they only filled about 59%.

Coming up next in part 5 will be the Northwest Division.