PowerPlayGoal.com – Hockey From A Different Angle

Since this is a UK based website, we would like to welcome you to this three part special of The Definitive Fan – The online guide from PowerPlayGoal.com to British fans who you’re likely to meet (or not meet) at a hockey game.
Some of these fans clearly have a true passion for the game, others, well, they are just there for something to do.

British Fan Type #2 – The Forum User

We have no idea what this fan type looks like, so here’s a random picture of a forum thread instead…

Bio:
While The Football (Soccer) Fan makes up the majority of fans of certain UK based teams, Forum Users generally make up the core fan base of other teams. They are usually like-minded and friendly, even to fans of rival teams. However, their grammar isn’t very good…

Spelling and sentence structure is usually OK, and very few Forum Users use “txt tlk”. But when it comes to referring to their team’s name, that’s when it all goes wrong. They have grown up becoming too used to Football (Soccer) teams being referred to as “*Team Name*” rather than “The *Team Name*”, so this has carried over to hockey as well. Take the following phrase for example:

“Chelmsford Chieftains is an ice hockey team.” Notice something wrong there? The more grammatically correct phrase would be:

“The Chelmsford Chieftains are an ice hockey team.”

Even when looking at North American based sports forums, you will notice that they refer to UK football teams properly, for example they will in fact say, for example, “West Ham United” instead of “The West Ham United.”

Another thing about this fan type is that they have quite a bad tendency to overuse exclamation marks, emoticons and caps lock, something a bit like THE END OF THIS SENTENCE!!!! Why they do this, we have no idea. Probably because they’re just there to use.

Unlike another fan type we looked at a while back, The Forum Complainer, The Forum User rarely whinges or bitches about their team. But when something is going wrong, like the team suffering from financial problems (which is usually the case), that is when they will overreact, posting sad emoticons, maybe donating to the team’s funds and wishing them the best for the future!!!!

Characteristics:
You’ll probably see them if you visit one of their team’s home games, but you won’t be able to tell who they are. Their age range is probably from their mid 20s and beyond, for all we know.

Favourite Team:
Always a local team, but they will only join a forum if the team has one. When it comes to the NHL, they don’t make it very clear whether or not they support a team.

Other:
A signature will usually comprise of either something pointlessly random and irrelevant, a message to show support for a team, like “COME ON YOU *team name*”, or something to rub in the face of fans of rival teams.

I’m Wildwing64, hoping you enjoyed Part 2 of this three part special of the Definitive Fan!!!!

Since this is a UK based website, we would like to welcome you to this three part special of The Definitive Fan – The online guide from PowerPlayGoal.com to British fans who you’re likely to meet (or not meet) at a hockey game.
Some of these fans clearly have a true passion for the game, others, well, they are just there for something to do.

British Fan Type #1 – The Football (Soccer) Fan

Some Football Fans CLEARLY showing support for their favourite Hockey te – wait…

Bio:
Sometimes also known as the Chav, the Football Fan has a tendency to live, breath, eat and sleep the UK’s national sport, as well as the current “gangsta” fad. The majority of them are overly violent teens, drive white vans and read a popular tabloid ‘The Sun’. Due to their hooliganism, they are often seen as the scum of British society.

When it comes to hockey, chances are they will be found at local Saturday or Sunday night “semi-pro” hockey games when their supported football team isn’t playing. With them they will bring their stupid football chants, for example the infamous “Referee’s a wanker!” as well as terminology such as “shirt” instead of jersey, “keeper” instead of goaltender, “match” instead of game, and even “half” instead of period… don’t be surprised if they leave the game after the second period has finished.

These hockey games have everything to satisfy the Football Fan, especially the cheap ass ones: tickets are usually priced at £10, or rather “Ten paaand”, and food is mostly cheap and greasy as well. Also, since this fan type’s favourite genre of music is “gangsta” hip-hop, the music played in the rink is always catered to their tastes, much to the annoyance of certain other fans present. To settle these other fans’ needs, they will play Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’, which happens to be one of the only metal songs that the Football Fan likes to hear, again, much to the annoyance of the aforementioned other fans.

Of course, in most cases the primary reason they go to a hockey game in the first place is to see a fight break out, and that’s it. No fights leads to boredom and then complete lack of interest, and chances are they may leave the game early. And with recent “Zero Tolerance” policies being placed on fighting, reducing the amount of fights to almost zero, some of these fans have stopped going to hockey games altogether.

With this type of fan, there is usually a very, very slim chance of them being an NHL fan. Sometimes if they spot you in an NHL jersey, they will instantly recognise what you are wearing, especially if it’s an old Anaheim Mighty Ducks jersey… although to them, unless they really know much about the NHL, the Anaheim part of the team’s name is nothing more than gibberish. When asked what their favourite team is, their response is more than likely to be “New York”.

And speaking of ‘The Mighty Ducks’, apparently those films are their primary source for any hockey knowledge, as after one of the films has been shown on BBC or something for the 15^th year in a row, they will claim to know everything there is about hockey, before getting bored and going back to Football yet again.

Characteristics:
Notably male – aged 13 through to their mid 20s. Sometimes they will be in their 30s or 40s as well.

Favourite Team:
They may follow their local club, but usually tend to support one of the “Big Four” Premier League teams; Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United – oh, you mean what hockey team? Again, just a local team. Or NHL teams in more well known cities like New York and Detroit. They probably won’t like them enough to actually care about them.

Other:
They occasionally see people in NHL jerseys and think that they are part of the popular “gangsta” fad, much like merchandise of certain NBA teams and the MLB’s New York Yankees have become in the UK. They may call you a “bad man”, or say “brup” – if you ever encounter one making an idiotic comment like that, proceed to kick them in the face.

I’m Wildwing64, hoping you enjoyed Part 1 of this three part special of The Definitive Fan.

Bad news for all fans of the classic Slapshot movie -  Hollywood director Dean Parisot  has been chosen by Universal Studios to help recreate what is known to most hockey fans as the best hockey film period.
The original Slapshot movie starring Paul Newman and Hanson brothers, is renowned as being a colossal success  receiving a high score of 83% on  rotten tomatoes.  this film had two sequels both of which were not met with much fanfare (the second being a known as one of the worst films ever) and the third straight to DVD release that has crept in when no one was looking (perhaps the Hanson brothers wanted some more money…).
The new film will be a remake of the original, most likely with a similar story but assumingly with new touches and different actors.
hopefully this film will not be as bad as the director’s last film “Fun with Dick and Jane”.

We will bring you more news as we hear it.

KevKev.