Just, Well, Weird

Another day in La-La Land, another day of hand-wringing about the pervasive influence of the Canadian media. Bizarre. Utterly bizarre.

Today it was columnist Helene Elliott in the L.A. Times chiding members of the Canadian media for slamming hockey interest in SoCal and supposedly favoring the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup final against Anaheim.

"The Canadian media have cast the Senators in the role of Canada's Team, even though the Ducks have more sons of the True North on their roster than do the Senators. And the label may not even be accurate.

"Maple Leafs fans rarely care about anything that happens outside of Toronto, otherwise known as the Center of the Hockey Universe, so their support of the Senators is probably minimal, if it exists at all."

This stuff is so utterly idiotic it's hard to even comment on it, particularly in a U.S. state with a larger population than all of Canada. More to the point, readers of the newspaper must be utterly confused by this silliness, which seems to roughly equate newspapers and television in Canada with state-controlled media from the old Soviet Union, thinking en masse and according to some approved national policy.

But on to more interesting stuff.

The Ducks won Game 1 last night, and deserved it. That said, the Sens weren't completely awful, just their top forwards were. Peter Schaefer, Mike Comrie and Antoine Vermette were pretty effective, while Anton Volchenkov blocked 10 shots and Chris Phillips was strong. But the nature of the Cup final is that the winner did everything right and the loser did everything wrong; such are the broad brushstrokes that color the post-match canvas.

The Ducks received a very good game from their checking line of Sammy Pahlsson between Rob Niedermayer and Travis Moen, and for that, Anaheim fans should send cards and letters of appreciation to the Calgary Flames.

It was the Flames, after all, who tired of Niedermayer partway through the 2002-03 season and sent him to the Ducks for defenceman Mike Commodore and goalie J.F. Damphousse. The Flames later traded Commodore away for little in return and Damphousse never made it, so not a great deal for Calgary.

While streaky and inconsistent throughout his career, Niedermayer has been very good for the Ducks. Moreover, if he hadn't been in Anaheim, it's unlikely his superb brother, Scott, would have signed with the Ducks last summer as a free agent.

It was Calgary that also initially drafted Moen out of the Kelowna Rocket juniors in 2000 with the 155th pick. But the Flames were on a bit of an economy kick and chose not to sign Moen, who later joined Chicago as a free agent and was eventually dealt to Anaheim.

All he did in Game 1 was score the winning goal - with assists from Niedermayer, R., and Niedermayer, S.

Interestingly, the Flames have no 2000 draft picks currently on their roster, but along with Moen, Jarrett Stoll (46th overall) and defenceman Kurtis Foster (40th overall) were players selected by Calgary that the Flames chose not to sign to contracts. Stoll went back into the draft, Foster's rights were traded to Atlanta and today all three players - Moen, Stoll and Foster - are playing in the NHL.

Comments

[Brendan]

"The Canadian media have cast the Senators in the role of Canada's Team, even though the Ducks have more sons of the True North on their roster than do the Senators. And the label may not even be accurate.

"Maple Leafs fans rarely care about anything that happens outside of Toronto, otherwise known as the Center of the Hockey Universe, so their support of the Senators is probably minimal, if it exists at all."

I still don't see anything wrong with either of those two statements, and I've read them multiple times. Canadian media is positioning Ottawa as Canada's team. And yes, I hate the Sens, being a Leaf fan. (I'm not going to become a fan of the hated Sens because they're the last Canuck team standing. I'd rather watch Toronto FC, thanks.)

Besides which, Ottawa is going to choke again, just like they always do. Why waste the warm nights?

Brendan,
Center of the Hockey Universe

[Pat]

Don't forget, Damian, it was also Calgary GM Craig Button who waved bye-bye to JS Giguere, allowing the Ducks to get him for a measley second-round pick. What a great hockey mind he has. Hmmmmm, now what kind of team would hire him after that????

[Max Zakrzewski]

The comments are 100% correct. As a Leafs fan, I've only been watching the playoffs hoping to see Ottawa lose. I've cheered for Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Buffalo and now Anaheim. It's not that I am fans of those teams, I just have a passionate hatred for Ottawa. Why would I ever cheer for them? Just because "they're a Canadian team" (as some people say)? Who cares? Any Torontonian cheering for the Senators is by no means a Leafs fan, and any Leafs fan cheering for them should be ashamed of themselves as well as disgusted with their actions. There is no chance in hell Senators fans would cheer for the Leafs, so why it is "idiotic" to think that we're not behind them. I could care less if a Canadian team (other than Toronto of course) wins the Cup. Not only to these other cities hate the Leafs, they hate Toronto even more. Why would I cheer for them? I was cheering for both Tampa Bay and Carolina, because Oilers fans and Flames fans love it when Toronto loses. Thus, screw Ottawa and screw this mentality that we should all support the Canadian teams. This is just bandwagon jumping, and anyone who does that is not a true fan, rather a sorry excuse for one. The comments are incredibly accurate.

[John Richardson]

Helene Elliot is a terrific writer but she missed the point of Roy MacGregor's column entirely.

No one would argue that the 17,000 plus fans who attended the first game aren't passionate or knowledgeable. Hell, most of them are probably ex-pats from Canuckistan.

The point is that other than those folks. no one in the area probably even knows the games are on.

It's like that old cliche about Chicago Black Hawks fans: there are only 20,000 of them but they all show up (or used to, anyway) for the games.

I think I may be in the minority about this Final.

I'm a Leafs fan but I'm taking the Swiss position about the whole affair. All I'd like to see is a great 6 or 7 game series.

That said, a monster rally on Parliament Hill would be cool.

[OddyOh]

I too, find those comments accurate. Some stuff in Canada is very very much Soviet...CRTC anyone? Actually, it's more like China.

I'm a Leafs fan out west, I can't really decide who to cheer for. What I do know is I would pay money to see Saturday's game go into such a long overtime that NBC has to bail for Saturday Night Live...the more Bettman looks the fool, the happier I am. :)

[Bryan]

I agree with what has been said but one has to keep in mind that maybe more than 70% of Hockey media content is based out of Toronto in Canada. Keeping that in mind everything is pro-Leafs. Calgary and Edmonton had great followings here during their Cup runs because they are as far away from Toronto as possible. Nobody brings up Montreal in 93' because it really isn't in recent memory. Ottawa was unfortuante to be located between Montreal and Toront so there is no way they can win fans over. Locally...yes. In some of the Canadian cities maybe a number of fans, but those who grew up with only knowing Toronto will never switch.

And to call Ottawa choking in the Cup final. That is a laugh. To never even get into a Final since the league expanded past the original 6 teams.....never mind pathetic but that is a dictionary entry waiting to happen with the work CHOKE!

GO SENS!

Bryan,
Centre of the Hockey Universe

[TAPETOR]

There is only one canadian team and it is the national team. Cities have teams, nations produce players...support good hockey by all means and the senators play excellent hockey. but read the hockey sweater by roch carrier and tell me that we shouldn't revere our teams and hate our rivals. and (last i checked) the sens/leafs are a big rivarly and 25% of the country are leafs fans. the sens are a pretty new team with a history tarnished by sandbagging and losing to teams that are supported by GOD...ie the leafs. haha, artificial pride is my favourite!

And gary bettman is very smart...hard to argue, but american culture has a natural animosity towards things that are not american...unless hockey can be swept up by cool, the nhl should formally pander to the market that is interested, but instead the nhl treated/treats canadian demand as a constant. The fact that throughout the playoffs the sens' games haven't been shown in CBC favoured timeslots (let's see what nbc wants first and then we'll schedule) has contributed to a lack of public interest...they haven't been on tv the way "canadian" teams have been in the past, so their following has suffered; even when there were no leafs games to compete with...

[TheRocket]

The only reason I see "leaf nation" not cheering for the Sens is most likely out of sheer jealousy. After all, The Sens have accomplished what the great Toronto Maple Leafs haven't in over 40 years, which is simply make the Stanley cup finals (Never mind winning the damn thing!). All this in a 15-year span? They obviously don't deserve to be where they are right now; it's a fluke, a Cinderella run that will end in their demise. How can this Toronto centric media claim with misleading polls that the Maple Leafs are "Canada's Team" when their fans can’t even cheer for the last Canadian team left in the hunt for the holy grail that is the Stanley cup? "Centre of the hockey Universe" you say? Say's who, you? I say classless, gloaters with nothing to gloat about.

[NRS]

Elliott is mostly bang-on. Case in point: Why are so many columnists who one would think know better going out to the beach in California and asking people who the Ducks are playing? So they can service the great Canadian inferiority complex toward the United States.

If you want to be honest about it instead of condescending (to both Canadians and Americans), consider that there are probably about the same number people on each side of the border who follow hockey. Suppose two-thirds of Canadians are hockey fans; that's 22 million out of a population of 33 million.

Now suppose eight per cent of Americans follow hockey; that's 25 million out of 300 million. They're just more spread out, more nichey, but you never hear them interviewed by Canadian journalists. No, all we hear from are the people who aren't paying attention. Well, that's general ignorance talking -- some of those people, God love 'em, probably also couldn't name their representative in Congress, what time zone San Antonio is in, who the L.A. Angels or Dodgers are playing that night, or remember the last book they read.

It would be a lot more interesting to read about the people in SoCal who do get hockey and how they get into it instead of reading another pathetic facts-plus-fiction column intended to help Canadians thrive miserably in the belief that we're inherently superior to Americans. We're not.

[Johnny the Juise]

Damien,

Both comments are correct, and most of these posters agree. Please explain your strong feelings on the issue in calling same "utterly idiotic"

Cheers

[Johnny the Juice]

NRS and Max...both of you should have a column in the Star instead of Damien here. Very insightful arguments vs. Damien's "utterly idiotic" banalities.

Cheers!

[Brendan]

So it's OK for Ottawa to constantly bash Toronto, and we're supposed to be good natured about it when they advance to the next round? Get behind them and call them 'Canada's Team' when they make it to the finals? Ya... Yet another fantasy from our friends in Ottawa.

Choking is playing over 100 hockey games and then forgetting which end of the ice you skate towards when it counts. Ducks in 5.

Learn to choke in the pre-season. It hurts less in the long run. Trust us. We know.

B