Rating Canada’s Fans from West to East

When Canada beat the United States of America in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Gold Medal Hockey Game, everyone (except if you’re American) rose up to their feet and realized, four years after eternal embrassment in Torino, the gold was our’s to cherish. We are a nation, of course who hasn’t won the Stanley Cup in 17 years.

Fans in Canada are loud, proud, and always stick with their team through thick and thin. They are all the same. However, I’ve decided to rank the fans of very Canadian team, and come up with a victor—the team with the best fans in Canada!

And please, if you’re a fan of any of the teams below, do not get offended. These are my views, and they may not always be right!

Click “Continue Reading” to find out which NHL team in Canada has the best fans!

 Vancouver Canucks

Face it, Canucks fans are always in your head. They cheer on their team even when they lose a mounted 7-4 game. A couple of seasons ago, when the Sedin twins were losing their magic, they never ran them out of town. How did that work out? And the best thing, Vancouver fans are all across Canada. Either than the Leafs, Toronto natives find the ‘Nucks as their favourite team.

When there’s positive, there’s negative. Canuck fans seem to enjoy themslves too much. They think every year is “the year”, and it’s time to show it. Don’t talk about being rude, when Patrick Kane came into town for the playoffs, newspapers started warning cabbies of Kane. What did Patrick do? Oh yeah, score the Stanley Cup-winning goal. Believe it or not, the two last playoff seasons, Vancouver fans celebrated their first-round victories in riots. So, you win a round against the Blues and you’re partying like it’s 1994? Not good in my books. The worst thing I find is the Internet scamming. Every competition involving the Canucks or its players, they always win cause of vote flooding. The case can be made in the TSN Play of the Year Showdown, where Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin won the award by beating Steven Stamkos’ wonder goal against the Anaheim Ducks. Seriously, Calgary didn’t give two shits in that game.

Score: 5/10

Edmonton Oilers

If there’s fans more knowledgeable than Edmonton Oiler fans, I’ll buy a lottery ticket the next day. The Oilogosphere is the best set of sports blogs bar none, all coming for James Mirtle and Greg Wyshinski. When Edmonton sucked mightily this season, fans still came to games in sell-out numbers, and cheered on loudly when they drafted Taylor Hall. The fans there never run a person out of town, and instead wait and wait, unless you’re name is Sheldon Souray. And the best thing in Deadmonton, exhibit the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The passion, pride, everything was on the line at Rexall Place and they nailed it. In the second-smallest market team in professional sports, Edmonton lives up to the billing quite well.

One thing people complain of Edmonton fans are their brash abrasiveness. Their arena is dead-old, yet nobody looks to be supporting Darryl Katz’s new plan. As well, the team’s fans went to another level when Taylor Hall was drafted, some even planning next year’s Cup parade. Hold on folks, this is still a team in need of change, and big change. Other than that, nothing bad really to report.

Score: 8/10

Calgary Flames

Flame fans are one of the quietest bunch of all. They seem to go under the shadow, but when their team is succeeding, their word is heard all around the country. They support their management, even when Darryl Sutter is making stupid moves like he is now. Their arena is the best-kept one in Canada, according to a recent report from ESPN. Dion Phaneuf said he loves the city and it’s fans, who welcomed him with open arms when drafted. Even though Olli Jokinen won’t be getting any praises from them anytime soon, every player will be, and to see Calgary Fans cry when Theoren Fleury scored the shootout
-winning goal in the pre-season, is a thing of beauty.

Calgary has one big thing on the minus side: it’s rivalries. It seems to me they don’t care about the Battle of Alberta anymore, and are more interested in making some dough. The fans like to keep it down during games, likely letting the players play. But that’s what they need, a good awakening from the fans themselves! Harvey the Hound, Calgary’s mascot had his tounge taken from Craig MacTavish, then-coach of the Edmonton Oilers. It was told fans told Harvey to go there and disrupt the Oiler bench, which isn’t cool at all.

Score: 6/10

Ottawa Senators

Canada’s newest team obviously has some problems in fandom being overshadowed by the Canadiens and Leafs, but it’s quickly rising into one of the best. Sens fans are unique, outrageous, yet the blogosphere is very knowledgeable. Except for this past season, every season has been sold-out and Season Ticket Holders are the third highest in the country. When Ottawa missed out on the playoffs in 08-09, Bytown still ranked in the top three in attendance figures. It just goes to show, the fans will come, and they’ll come in numbers.

Being a relatively new team, passion isn’t as high in games. Some people may like to call it a “ghost town”. Fans seems to bandwagon a lot, especially when times are difficult. The biggest negative of Senator fans is the fact that they literally run players out of town. From Zdeno Chara to Joe Corvo, they can’t handle themselves on the criticism sometimes. Look what’s happened this off-season with Jason Spezza. No wonder we’re a goaltender graveyard.

Score: 6/10

Toronto Maple Leafs

While the team hasn’t made the playoffs since the lock-out, fans of the Maple Leafs seem to remain up-beat. Toronto’s the most expensive franchise in the league, and there’s a reason for that. Every game is sold-out, regardless of the result. One big reason I partially like Leaf fans is their humour. They are one of the funniest bunch ever. They never bandwagon to another team, and always stick with the blue and white.

One thing comes after another, though. Fans in Toronto seem to be stuck in the past, focusing on 1967 than today. They are also one of the most arrogant bunch in the league. They seem like there’s nothing but Toronto at the centre of the hockey universe. Tomas Kaberle speculation this off-season is something nobody cares about, yet everyone in Toronto wants to find out what he was eating last night. It also catches on with networks such as TSN and Sportsnet, which is very irritating.

Score: 6/10

 Montreal Canadiens

The century team, and the team with the most Stanley Cups in NHL history, 24 to be exact, obviously must have the most passionate fans in the hockey world. Every game since 1979 has been a sell-out at the Montreal Forum/Bell Centre. It’s a record that will likely never be broken. The chants of Ole Ole Ole, they show how much the fans care about hockey. It’s a religion there, something that no other team can claim.

However, going back the Ole Ole Ole chants, they can become very annoying. They cheer that when the defender starts skating the puck, when the Habs are up 1-0. A bit premature, eh? When fans come to other arenas in the NHL, they seem to think they are the masters, and Montreal is the best bar none. And like the Leafs, they think the Habs of past is what they should be gloating about.

Score: 7/10

So, the final rankings of Canada’s best fans are:

1. Edmonton Oilers- 8/10
2. Montreal Canadiens- 7/10
3. Ottawa Senators- 6/10
4. Toronto Maple Leafs- 6/10
5. Calgary Flames- 6/10
6. Vancouver Canucks- 5/10

Congratulations to Edmonton Oiler fans! Jeers for Vancouver Canucks fans! But hey, this is democracy at it’s finest!