Spengler Cup Hockey Tournament 2007

[DeMarco]

Does anyone follow icehockey tournament? I think it's the oldest tourny in the world and it always takes part from the 26th - 31st december.

the tourny includes 5 teams: HC Davos (host) and Team Canada always take part, the other lineup changes almost every year.

this year the other 3 teams are Adler Mannheim (ger), Salavat Yulaev Ufa (russ champ) and HC Pardubice (czech).


there are some canadiens on this board. I heard some team canada games can be seen in canada, do you follow this tourny?

[Claire]

Ice hockey ain't really big over here, so no don't follow it. We do have the Belfast Giants but tbh most people couldn't really give a fuck about them

[The_Team_Nurse]

Not trying to nitpick, but it's actually the second oldest hockey tournament, after the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Anyways, ya I watch it a bit. We Canadians follow the World Junior Championships a lot more though. Here the major sport is hockey above all, and Canadian sports fans follow their favorite NHL team from October to the begining of April, when the SC playoffs start. The Stanley Cup flayoffs is the most popular and well publicized tournament here. It is a Canadian holiday season tradition though, that the Christmas holidays are for watching team Canada in the World Juniors. Those kids are our future NHL stars so the vast majority of Canadians find it more interesting than the Spengler Cup. The players that play for team Canada in the Spengler are usually players that are no longer good enough to play in the NHL or were never good enough to make it in the first place. As a result there is much less interest in a tournament that involves what most Canadians percieve to be our second tier national team. Some people also argue that it has a lot less physical type of play than the world juniors or a regular NHL game. I have not found this to be true and quite enjoyed watching team Canada win there last game. Any hockey is good hockey to me and it is nice to see some European teams that I wouldn't normally have an oppertunity to see play. Unless you have a special sports package it is difficult, if not impossible to see any Swiss League, Swedish Elite League, or Russian Super League teams. This tournament is a great opertunity for we here in North America to get a taste of some high quality European hockey. The viewing habits of the average Canadian sports fan around this time of year can usually be put in this order: 1) A team Canada game at the World Juniors 2) A game featuring their favorite NHL team. 3) Team Canada at the Spengler Cup. All of the hockey around this time of year is great, a virtual buffet of great games for the hockey fan. Plus the house league team that I play for is in a tournament; that and the upcoming Old Firm game mean that I am in sports heaven. Good luck to you an which ever team you cheer for. Which team are you cheering for btw?

[DeMarco]

Good read mate. you are right about the stanley cup, we just didn't call it a tournament, more of a franchise and playoffs :icon_mrgreen:

I find it's still amazing that you over there know about that tournament. especially when you consider the lineup of team canada. as you said there are "no stars" playing for them, most are either too old for the NHL or probably not good enough. most canadian play in the swiss league or come from an AHL team. the most famous canadian this year are probably travis green (who currently plays for my local hockey team: Zug) and curtis joseph. however some players try to shine at that tourny to get another chance in the nhl, like glen metropolit.

i have always admired the canadian style of play and because there are always 2-3 canadian playing for my local team (travis green, dale mctavish this season), obviously I want team canada to win the tournament. I dislike, even hate the swiss club, hc davos. if you think sid crosby is a crybaby, then check out a few of their players. 2 of them are to blame because the swiss have a very negative reputation in the nhl.

by the way team canada are playing ufa today! both have won every game so far. it's at 3.00 cet (in 4hours and 29 mins).

http://www.swisstxt.ch/pics/SF1/241-00.gif

[The_Team_Nurse]

Ya I saw the Canada/HC Davos game on Thursday and will proly watch the game against Ufa this morning (for me at least, it will be 9:00am here) with the Hoops streaming online on my laptop. Apparently I don't sleep when I'm on vacation so now that it's 6:00am and I haven't been to sleep yet, I'll probly just go make some coffee and stay up and watch it. Ufa seems like a tough team and I always personally like to watch the russian teams. I guess I find the Russian teams so interesting because they have always had a very unique hockey history with Canada, starting with the 1972 series and everything. Do you think that the team you follow might get invited next year? I didn't find Davos that bad myself, they kept team Canada on there toes for a good while, but I guess I'd have to watch them more often to really know. If you're worried about other Swiss players making the rest of your guys look bad to the NHL don't be to worried. Unfortunately, the prejudice morons over here like Don Cherry ect (who just make us North Americans look bad!) paint all the Europeans with the same brush and no amount of talented European players will convince them otherwise. I mean there defiantly are some subtle differences in the style of play and physicality of play between North American players and European players, but that doesn't make one type of player better than the other. Just look at Ovechkin vs Crosby. Ovechkin, I love the guy cuz he plays his guts out every night plus he's both a tank and a machine (super tough and crazy talented). Where as Crosby is a talented player that doesn't get very physical and whines all the time. Unfortunately the people that want to stereotype European players will continue to do so no matter what evidence is in front of their face, mostly because they like to stereotype European sports in general. They believe that all European sports are wimpy and that tough sporting "honour" that North American sports have, when really they just haven't taken the time to watch or understand them and it's the same with European players.

[The_Team_Nurse]

It's cool that you're cheering for Canada too by the way. Cujo is in nets for us and I really respect the guy, Joseph is a got vet. Even if he did help the Leafs knock the Sens out of the playoffs multipul times. I hopr the Canadian players on the team you support work out for you too. It's nice to see Canadian guys in the tournament, who I would not normally get a chance to see play, having success over in Europe.

[The_Team_Nurse]

Great game against Ufa, they definatly game us as much as we could handle and McTavish's goal has a hugely lucky one for us. It was an exciting close game though esspecially with the russian 6 on 4 at the end of the game.

[DeMarco]

team canada won again today and will be playing the final tomorrow at midday (cet time) vs ufa.

another impressive performance against the german champ, adler mannheim, was enough to beat them 4-2. dale mctavish scored another one :50:

I have always liked the canadian hockey team and I always root for them (if they don't play switzerland). i have grown up with players like mario lemieux, paul coffey, wayne gretzky, mark messier, patrick roy etc.

my all time fav hockey player is joe sakic

[The_Team_Nurse]

It's cool that you like Canadian hockey so much. One of my all time favorite players is Stevie Yzerman, a good ol' Ottawa boy and a great hocky leader, Messier, and of course Gretzky (aka God here in Canada Lol!). I am stoked about the game tomorow morning (Ottawa time) and hope that the Canadian bhoys can pull of another big performance. If you really like Canadian hockey you should check out the World Junior's (if you haven't already), it's really exciting. Team Switzerland is in it, they're not doing too well but it's still cool to see their rising stars. You guys play Russia on Monday the 31st at 8am our time (so 1pm your time I think) but the tournament is being hosted in the Czech Republic so I would assume it would be televised in Switzerland as well, especially since you guys are in it.

btw- Gerber kind of stunk up the place last night. He let in 7 goals (the defence wasn't always on their game last night but still) that's what most Sens fans mean by saying he's inconsistent. He can be a human wall one night and then not be able to stop a beachball the next. The Sens signed him to a huge big-money contract last year and he didn't play well at all at the start of the season. As a result people have kind of lost some confidence in the consistency of his play.

[DeMarco]

Team Canada have won the spengler cup with a 2-1 victory over Ufa! Hope you could see the goals The Team Nurse, they were brilliant and weird :84:

congrats to canada!

Curtis Joseph still got it, apparently 3 NHL clubs are interested in him.

http://is.blick.ch/img/gen/R/f/HBRfagxa_Pxgen_r_400x283.jpg

http://is.blick.ch/img/gen/M/P/HBMPa5aF_Pxgen_r_400x283.jpg

Canadian Coach Sean Simpson, he also coaches my local team EV Zug.

http://is.blick.ch/img/gen/U/z/HBUzIx44_Pxgen_r_400x283.jpg

Captain Serge Aubin


http://is.blick.ch/img/gen/4/Z/HB4ZrIe6_Pxgen_r_321x400.jpg



Team Canada vs Salawat Ulajew Ufa 2-1 (0-0 2-1 0-0)

Vaillant-Arena. -- 7146 Spectators -- SR Levonen/Vinnerborg (Fi/Sd), Wirth/Arm (Sz).

Goals: 27. Law (Aubin, Gamache) 1-0. 30. (29:25) Pereschogin (PPG) 1-1. 31. (30:05) Keller (Sarault) 2-1.

Penalties: 10x 2 mins Team Canada, 9x 2 sins Ufa.

Team Canada: Joseph; Tremblay, Giordano; Murphy, Heins; Benoit, Syvret; Siklenka; Law, Aubin, Gamache; Vigier, Green, McTavish; Pecker, Chouinard, Pittis; Sarault, Murray, Keller; Jackman.
Ufa: Jeremenko; Philipp, Kirill Kolzow; Twerdowski, Blatak; Kutejkin, Proschkin; Boykow, Tschernow; Pereschogin, Tereschenko, Tschistow; Antipow, Mikeska, Konstantin Kolzow; Sidjakin, Taratuchin, Nurtdinow; Schkotow, Medwediew, Wolkow.

[The_Team_Nurse]

Ya it was a good game to watch and I'm glad the Canadians one. I think our boys played really well the whole tournament and deserved the win. Rumour has it that one of the teams interested in Cujo is the Sens. We will eventually have to trade either Gerber or Emery cuz we don't have enough salary cap room to keep them both and the consensus is that Cujo would be a good vetran back-up plus he played really well in the Spengler. There are other teams interested in him too though, so we'll hasve to wait and see. Thanks for posting the pics too. Were you able to actually go to any of the games?

[BCceltic]

do all European club teams have that many sponsors/advertisments on their jerseys? I've never followed this tournament too much, but thats definitely one thing I notice whenever seeing highlights onthe news or sports report

[The_Team_Nurse]

do all European club teams have that many sponsors/advertisments on their jerseys? I've never followed this tournament too much, but thats definitely one thing I notice whenever seeing highlights onthe news or sports report

I don't watch a lot of European hockey, but from what I have seen most of their teams do. Maybe it has something to do with a small fanbase, so they need to get as much sponsorship as possible? I don't really know, maybe one of our European hockey fan friends could enlighten us. I don't like to speculate to much and have people think I'm judging one way or the other.

[DeMarco]

I don't know how's the situation in sweden and finland, but in switzerland and germany it's pretty common.

that's my local team
http://www.sf.tv/webtool/data/pics/spak/eh_evz_lakers_szq.jpg

http://presse.evz.ch/20070921.jpg


unlike in the NHL, we don't have rich chairmen in switzerland or other rich persons giving much money to the clubs. now and then some people sponsor certain players, but that's it. sponsoring is a very important part if you want to compete for the title. HC Lugano is the richest club in switzerland and they have a budget of 11.5 CHF (about 14 mio $)

[DeMarco]

we don't have huge stadiums in switzerland, except in bern with a capacity of 16000 (soldout almost all the time), but according to joe thornton, rick nash etc the atmosphere is much better than in the NHL.


some vids from swiss hockey grounds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9477MEsT8T8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cepd5lfNLE8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFR5FfClnfE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFC5eZmrcBg

[The_Team_Nurse]

Ya the arenas here are much bigger. Though when they started the Sens didn't get that many fans in the stands, now we have an average attendance of over 20,000 fans per game and SBP is supposed to have a max capacity of 19,500. How that works out I'm not quite sure but they now sell "standing" tickets to all games. Canadians, maybe arrogantly consider hockey to be our game and put a heck of a lot of passion into it. As I laugh about frequently, we are so obsessed with our national sport that we even have it on our money:http://store.banknotes.com/images/T/t-16431-292.jpeg Lol! As far as the atmosphere goes, remember that both Thorton and Nash play for teams in traditionally non-hockey markets. The atmosphere in most Canadian areans is better and could proly give the swiss areans a run for their money. Here is a link to a video of Sens fans singing the anthem before a final game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC_lZJT5rx0 sorry about the poor quality. I would like to go to a Euro hockey game though cuz as you say, the atmosphere is supposed to be good. Most NHL teams, as you say, have wealthy owner, plus television contracts and much larger fan bases to generate revenue. The sponsor that the teams get are also major corporations. The Senators areana is sponsored by Scotia bank, one of our biggest banks. Merchandiesing also helps, like with major football teams over in Europe, the jerseys are ment to look fasionable so that the fans will want to by them and wear them. Do a lot of swiss hockey fans wear their local team's jersey? A lot of people over here make fun of those team's jerseys as just being big cotton billboards, but if I really liked one of those teams I'd wear the jersey and support them regardless. I am a bit of a bad example when it comes to Sens merchandise though, all my friends joke that my appartment is a shrine to the Sens and so is half my wordrobe. lol My dad jokes that I could pay the boys salary with all the crap merchandise I have alone. Do your teams do a lot of merchandising like that?

[The_Team_Nurse]

I like the look of all the flares in on of the videos you posted. We aren't allowed those in our arenas though. We'd get kicked out instantly:54:.

[DeMarco]

Well I don't know about merchandise, as you said our fanbase is much smaller than yours and therefore the clubs don't get much money from shirts, hats etc. these guys with the flags, flares and choreos are known as the "ultras" (organised group of supporters) and they very rarely wear any hockey shirts. it ain't allowed either here but the cops can't stop them. they arrest some and ban them from the grounds but that doesn't really work out for the police :icon_mrgreen:

the national hymn was quite impressive and I heard it as well before the game when the oils played the canes (not sure) in the stanley cup final. we don't get to hear the national anthem before games over here, but we make our own noise. I think the difference is you sing especially before the games and when the lyrics appear on the big video screen. in switzerland every team has got about 5-6 songs plus 10-20 neutral songs and the fans sing them before, during and after the game.

you have to see our arenas are pretty small (average capacity around 6000-8000 I guess) and there are only a few seats, so most fans are standing and that really improves the atmosphere. every team has got it's "stands", always the same place where the ultras and other passionate supporters stand and they are responsible for the atmosphere. there's always a guy, known as "capo", a chief, leading the whole stands by choosing which song to sing and when. he basically organises the homogenous support.

[xxSoccerxx]

Wow, look at all the advertisements! That would never fly here.

[The_Team_Nurse]

Wow that pretty intense. We don't really have ultras or anything like that over here. We have organized fan clubs, but they don't usually break any rules, or the ones that do are so few that the security can deal with them. They always say that they want to make sure there is a good family atmosphere, so even with the drunks there is usually few problems. If someone starts swearing a lot during a game, or doing something dangerous, another fan will usually be quick to point out that there are kids around. The majority of the fans also have seats (a couple thousand might have to stand in SPB depending on the number of tickets sold) because it gives the kids a chance to see better. I have thought a lot about how north american sports fans differ from european ones and I would say that we are no less passionate as fans, but that we express it in a more individual way. I think that either way you do it is cool, as long as you support your team and don't hurt anyone else. We have a few generic hockey songs that we sing during a game (without the lyrics on a screen) but not nearly as many, and there is proly only a couple of songs specifically about the Sens. For some reason singing songs during games isn't that popular, we tend to chant more, like a chant that makes fun of the other teams goalie and tries to get him off of his game or some other chants like that. I think the sound of the whole crowed singing one song, like you guys do, sounds really cool, but for some reason at our games it isn't done that often. As far as the Canadian anthem goes, the lyrics are really more for fans visiting from outside the country. The vast majority of Canadians with the ability to read the lyrics, can also sing O Canada by heart. Also, if your are from my generation, usually have the lyrics to the anthem memorized in both languages (if you live in Ontario on Quebec atleased). When I say that we express ourselves as fans, more individually I guess I mean we are less organized. We don't have large groups of fans that organizes songs to sing, it usually just happens spontaniously, like with the chants. Fans here in Canada almost always deck themselve out in their team's jersy and colors and if it is playoff time it seems to be "licence for grown men and women to dress up like crazy people." We have a bunch of these guys that go to every game dressed in full Roman Senturian armour ( can't even imagine how long it took those guys to make those outfits). During the playoffs everyone seems to do it. From people going to the games and pubs dressed as Senturians, or guys dressed as a red sasquatch covered in Sens logos, or dressed as life sized stanley cup (sadly I'm not kidding), or dressed as gladiators, any sens themed costume will do. Others like me who aren't keen to go so overboard will wear our jerseys, Sens hats, and paint our faces and heap on temporary tatoos of or teams logos. At one of the playoff games I went to in early april (it was only about 12 degrees celcius) there were about a dozen teenaged guys in nothing but Senators shorts with their paces painted up with the Sens logo and their whole bodies dyed red.
Sorry for making this a long post, I guess it just got me thinking about the different ways that fans show their support for their team. I have been to New Zealand during the rugby tri-nations and Australia during the Rugy and Aussie rules grand final, been to football, baseball, basketball, and hockey games over here in North America, and have seen european football games on tv, and on an average game night, as far as level of noise form the fans is concerned the European fans could proly beat us. Maybe it's because of the great distances between our major cities over here, ex the closest NHL team to Ottawa is Montreal, which is about 3 hours away, and our archrivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs are about 5 hours away. As a result their is not usually ar tone of opposing fans in the home team's arena and their for less noise compitition. Unfortunatly for us Sens fans, whenever we play the Leafs, their fans still make up about 1/4 of the crowed they tend to like to boo our captain every time he touches the puck and so as good Sens fans, we cheer as loud as we can everytime he has the puck, to drown them out and boo their captain ever time he has the puck. So I think, as much as we Sens fans say we hate it, having some fans of the other team in the building really helps with the atmosphere. We have fewer teams in the league, so less compitition between fans in each building. You guys have more teams in a closer area so you probably get more opposing fans at your teams games, and therefore make more noise.
During Playoff time here, the atmosphere is very different, our city only has one NHL team in it and the vast majority of people living in Ottawa are Ottawa Senators fans. The whole city gets involved, it's really cool to see. The Sens made it to the Cup final year, everyone says that the whole of Ottawa came togther and came alive like never before. It sounds cheesy but it's true. Most people had there houses decorated with Senators banners, poster, signs, and lights in the team's colours. Many of the balconies in my appartment building had banners hanging off of them and people had Sens flags flying from their car windows, many even painted their cars with Sens themes (with removable paint for the most part). Buisnesses flew Sens flags from their roofs and City hall was even covered in giant Sens banners. On game days major parts of downtown Ottawa (like Elgin street aka Sens Mile, and the Byward Market area) were closed off to vehicles so thousands of people could party on the streets and watch the games. Even one of the restaurants I work at downtown which is normally a fancy steak house, was transformed into a sports bar for the final few rounds of the playoffs. City hall's festival plaza was filled with more thousands of fans watching the game on giant projection screens. Even if people weren't hockey fans, like for example my sister, they still went out to watch the games and be part of the massive parties that consumed most of downtown Ottawa for the rest of the night.
I guess their are a tone of different ways that fans can show their support for their team. Sorry for this essay sized rant, but this thread just got me wondering why fans over here in Canada don't act more like fans in Europe. I guess it come from different histories and different sporting traditions. I gotta say, that on a normal game night Celtic fans could take Sens fans in the noise department but when it comes to championship time, I don't think it matters where you are or what team you cheer for, the atmosphere for a fan will always be out of this world.

[The_Team_Nurse]

Wow, look at all the advertisements! That would never fly here.
True, other than the logo of the company that made the jersey, I don't think you are even allowd to put sponsor avertisements on Pro teams uniforms over here. But, then gain like Bonjasky said, most of our Major league teams don't have the financial constraints that their teams have, therefore our teams have no real need to use sponsor logos on their jerseys.

[DeMarco]

That was a great read and I'm a bit ashamed my reply's gonna be much shorter.
I think you put it well when you said "They always say that they want to make sure there is a good family atmosphere". I think there lies a big difference between euro and north american supporters. to some of us, football means war, means aggression (not hooligans). when you are at a swiss game, all you hear is dirty words, there are some songs going like "referee you son of a bitch" etc. people really express their feelings over here. the atmosphere is hot sometimes, and the things on the pitch can make it to a witch's cauldron. our supporters don't only scream, shout, swear, sing etc, a minority is pretty violent too. especially after the game you get to see a few fights.

I think you shouldn't take a celtic homegame as a comparison. sad but true but at an average spl game the atmosphere is like on the moon - inexistent. except during an OF or champs league game.

There are various reasons for that, e.g. an allseater really destroys the atmosphere.

there aren't only differences between european and north american support. there are huge differences between uk and continent support too.

flags, flares, choreos etc come from italy and you should visit a game in italy once if you got the opportunity. that means there was a possibility for you to travel through switzerland though :icon_mrgreen: and pop up for a game too

[GuitarBhoy]

best atmosphre in the NHL is the Canucks

tysbTyRIqR8

[The_Team_Nurse]

best atmosphre in the NHL is the Canucks

tysbTyRIqR8

I have to argue you on that one, Ottawa all the way, us being stuffy government fans is total BS from jelous Toronto fan. But I also strait up admit that I am bias. Given that I have never been to a Vancouver game during the playoff and I am assuming that you have never been to SBP during the playoffs I will reserve judgment. I think that in the SC final anyone of the 6 Canadian rinks could have the bet atmosphere in the NHL, cuz all Canadian fans are hockey nuts.

[T.D.]

Hello the NHL players voted us the most intimidating fans. And I think they have the best opinion since they actually travel to all the cities.

[The_Team_Nurse]

Hello the NHL players voted us the most intimidating fans. And I think they have the best opinion since they actually travel to all the cities.
The players voting your fans the most intimidating doesn't mean those fans create the best atmosphere, it just means you fans scare the s*** out of more opposing fans.

[GuitarBhoy]

The players voting your fans the most intimidating doesn't mean those fans create the best atmosphere, it just means you fans scare the s*** out of more opposing fans.
they probably all have thier guns

[The_Team_Nurse]

they probably all have thier guns
:56: haha that must be it, but if that's the case I'm surprised it's not Detroit they chose. Only been to Detroit a few times but some of their football fans scared me well enough. Lol

[T.D.]

Hmmm what would the fans rather have. Have the players intimidated by them or have a good atmosphere. Thats the fans goal when they yell stuff ffs. I matter as well go out to a fancy restaurant because it has a good atmosphere.

[GuitarBhoy]

Hmmm what would the fans rather have. Have the players intimidated by them or have a good atmosphere. Thats the fans goal when they yell stuff ffs. I matter as well go out to a fancy restaurant because it has a good atmosphere.
how can you be intimidated by a restaurant?

[The_Team_Nurse]

Hmmm what would the fans rather have. Have the players intimidated by them or have a good atmosphere. Thats the fans goal when they yell stuff ffs. I matter as well go out to a fancy restaurant because it has a good atmosphere.
Personally I couldn't give a rat's a** how intimidating the fans are, as long as I am provided with a good fan experience when I go to the rink, both in the stands and out of them. I could sit in a section filled with the Hell Angels and that section would have a pretty intimidating atmosphere, but might necessarily have the most exciting atmosphere. Remember the players only voted you guys most intimidating not most exciting. When they were talking on FSN (an American channel) about the possibility of Buffalo over throwing Detroit for the title of Hockey Town, a title awarded to Detroit in part for its great fan atmosphere, the announcer ( also American, so no pro-Canada bias) reminded viewers that the title of hockey town meant hockey town U.S.A., as the rinks with the best fan atmosphere were, in no particular order: Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver.
The whole idea of the fans being the "seventh man on the ice," is for the home fans to cheer so loud and create such a great atmosphere for the home team that it gives them an emotional lift to play harder. I would rather be a part of a crowed that is positively oriented and spends most of the fans energy cheering their team like crazy and trying to have fun, than spend most of my time and effort booing the other teams players(every once in a while it's fun ) My point is simply this, being voted the most intimidating fans by the players does not in any way equate to being the best fans. Intimidation can be a factor in making great fans, but so is loyalty, passion, creativity, volume, friendliness between fellow fans, and pure support for the team from the community. Everyone has a different opinion on what makes a good fan a good fan and most people like to think that their fans are the best. I don't think we can ever really say which team in the NHL has the best fans, so many of the teams are so different, with different histories, and the way their fans support them is equally as varied. I think it is all a matter of personal taste as to how you choose to support your team and what you think is the best way to be a fan. The fact is that virtually every passionate fan thinks their is something about their fan base that sets them apart, as an Ottawa fan I'd say that the thing that sets Sens fans apart is how integrated our team is in our community. As a few of our new players have said, in Ottawa the players really are celebrities, you can't walk two feet down the street without seeing something Sens. The players are really involved to, like with everything that happened with poor little Elgin Fraser. They boys were in the Eastern conference final and still went out of their way individually to help the little boy any way they could. The whole city got involved in trying to help the boy and his family as a result of things the Sens did. Every team means a lot to their town but we in Ottawa literally have no other team, not even a CFL team and as a result fans are absolutely fierce about their team. When the Sens lost in the final, over 5000 fans still showed up at the airport to cheer the guys on and thank them for the wild ride. Obviously I am bias towards Ottawa and the way we support our team and you are bias towards Philly and the intimidation your fan base displays. If I am honest I will say that it really is impossible to say what makes a group of fans "the best" but there are a lot of NHL teams with amazing fan bases that live and die for their team and that’s part of the hockey passion that makes me love the whole sport so much. I see that same passion in Celtic and Hoops supporters and I think that is one of the things that first drew me to the team.