“The Most Hated Team in Hockey” Circle the wagons.

[Potatoe1]

I know why the Vancouver Canucks are hated throughout the league and it isn't only because they have a good hockey team.

How come Blobcat?

Is it because our best players are Swedes, Yanks and flakey Quebecois?

Ot is it because our fairweather, bandwagon jumping fans are cockier than most despite our club's historical lack of success?

Come on herbo..... really ? I think it might have something to do with H Sedin, R Luongo, A Burrows, M Raymond, M Lapierre and R Kesler going down like they've been hit by a 44 slug each and every time they've been touched, complete with a head snap .
Maybe it's the taunting by the French Canadian players that rub some folks the wrong way, or the goalie who has the pouting look of a 12 year old kid and passes the buck quicker than a pervert at a peep show.

Or perhaps it's because we have had guys who pull hair, bite, and cry on tv about how they're being treated by NHL officials. Hey maybe Ryan Kesler's bullshit move in a fight against Andrew Ladd a couple of years ago sours some NHL fans opinions of the Canucks. Trying to slam a guys head into the ice after he dotted you with a clean punch is a classless move in any league.

I am a Canucks fan through and through but there are some guys on this team I don't like and I can sure as hell see why fans of other teams hate the Canucks.

I could write just as bad of a post about the Bruins or any other high profile team in the league.

How about Lucic and the 4 or 5 ridiculous sucker punches he threw last season. Or Chara almost killing someone last year because he got shoved after a goal the night before. Or Horton going after a fan in the walk way.

Or how about the fact 2 Bruins taunted Lappy the day after their coach said he wouldn't tolerate it. Or how about Marchand being far and away the dirtiest cheapest fucker in the final last year (by far). Or how about Boychuk coming close to ending Raymonds career with a horrible cheap shot. Or even better Horton crying in the media because Rome didn't apologise correctly.

How about Peverly with a horrible cheap shot on Beiksa then refusing to fight when challenged. Thorton shooting a puck at luongo during a pre game skate, or the fact Greg Campbells dad basically runs the refs.

The Bruins are every bit as bad and so are most high profile teams.

You think the Flyers or hawks have any less of a "laundry list" from last years playoff?

[Strangelove]

How about Lucic and the 4 or 5 ridiculous sucker punches he threw last season. Or Chara almost killing someone last year because he got shoved after a goal the night before. Or Horton going after a fan in the walk way.

Or how about the fact 2 Bruins taunted Lappy the day after their coach said he wouldn't tolerate it. Or how about Marchand being far and away the dirtiest cheapest fucker in the final last year (by far). Or how about Boychuk coming close to ending Raymonds career with a horrible cheap shot. Or even better Horton crying in the media because Rome didn't apologise correctly.

How about Peverly with a horrible cheap shot on Beiksa then refusing to fight when challenged. Thorton shooting a puck at luongo during a pre game skate, or the fact Greg Campbells dad basically runs the refs.

Exactly and yet your Vancouver Canucks are the Most Hated Team in Hockey.

And the Bruins are the NHL darlings.

THINK ABOUT IT

[Blob Mckenzie]

Hey Pot, I am with you . I hate the Bruins but when most fans/media etc and ex NHL players are going to choose sides between a team of dirty assholes who will back it up and a team of dirty turtles who can't I think we both know who most people will choose.

The Bruins are cunts for sure.... the schoolyard bully if you will and Thomas was lapping that shit up when he hammered Burrows . Someone does that to me and I'm swinging my stick like an axe. Then again I also broke my friends leg in a Midget A game 20 odd years ago so I was a bit of a loose cannon . That crap with Thomas was one of the cheapest plays i have ever seen considering we are taught at a young age to leave the goalie alone yet this ugly bearded fuck comes running out of his net like a fucking saftey blowing up a reciever.

All that shit aside people will tend to side with the guys that can back thier shit up, right or wrong.

[mathonwy]

All that shit aside people will tend to side with the guys that can back thier shit up, right or wrong.

Church brutha. Blob speaks the truth.

There's being a bitch annoying and there's being an asshole annoying.

Nobody likes the bitch because she won't fight fair. However, she might swear at you, bite your finger and maybe even pull your hair....

However, the asshole will typically step up to the plate when push comes to shove.

So... the Sedin sisters? Burrow's finger biting, hair pulling situation? Luongo's pumping of tires? Come on... that's all bitch stuff.

I guess in a round about way, it goes back to our perceived lack of "toughness" with the Sedin speedbag being the image that is burnt into every hockey fan's mind.

We need to get a Shea Weber!

[wienerdog]

Hey Pot, I am with you . I hate the Bruins but when most fans/media etc and ex NHL players are going to choose sides between a team of dirty assholes who will back it up and a team of dirty turtles who can't I think we both know who most people will choose.

The Bruins are cunts for sure.... the schoolyard bully if you will and Thomas was lapping that shit up when he hammered Burrows . Someone does that to me and I'm swinging my stick like an axe. Then again I also broke my friends leg in a Midget A game 20 odd years ago so I was a bit of a loose cannon . That crap with Thomas was one of the cheapest plays i have ever seen considering we are taught at a young age to leave the goalie alone yet this ugly bearded fuck comes running out of his net like a fucking saftey blowing up a reciever.

All that shit aside people will tend to side with the guys that can back thier shit up, right or wrong.

Well, seeing as we're sitting in a tree, I'll give this a +1.

I also agree with pot in that other teams are more dirty than we are. The Bruins especially are full of ornery bastards that wouldn't know the word sportsmanship even if it were tattooed on their dick (spelled correctly or not).

The difference, as Blob already pointed out, is partly in the embellishment. All teams do it, but our club took it to a whole new level last season. Gillis should lock that shit down, IMO.

The other part is in the "turn-the-other-cheek" discipline that wins us games, but it doesn't win us the respect of fans, media or players. Hockey is a game of retribution, and people simply don't respect it when there's no push-back and that retribution comes 1:45 later as a goal. They want it to come 0:00.75 later as a push, a facewash or a punch. They certainly hate it when it comes in the form of bites and hair-pulling.

Thus Marchand gets the label of "good old-fashioned player full of piss and vinegar" and Burrows is a "coward". It's the court of public opinion.

Really when it boils down to it, there's only two kinds of teams in hockey.

Teams that are irrelevant and arouse no emotion, and teams that are hate-worthy.

I have no problems with the hate, I'd just rather it be for different reasons.

[Potatoe1]

Hey Pot, I am with you . I hate the Bruins but when most fans/media etc and ex NHL players are going to choose sides between a team of dirty assholes who will back it up and a team of dirty turtles who can't I think we both know who most people will choose.

The Bruins are cunts for sure.... the schoolyard bully if you will and Thomas was lapping that shit up when he hammered Burrows . Someone does that to me and I'm swinging my stick like an axe. Then again I also broke my friends leg in a Midget A game 20 odd years ago so I was a bit of a loose cannon . That crap with Thomas was one of the cheapest plays i have ever seen considering we are taught at a young age to leave the goalie alone yet this ugly bearded fuck comes running out of his net like a fucking saftey blowing up a reciever.

All that shit aside people will tend to side with the guys that can back thier shit up, right or wrong.

LOL so now people hate us because we dont fight enough....

Amazing how some here chalk all of our problems up to a lack of fighting...

Almost as fun as the folks who blame everything on Luongo....

[rats19]

After all that has been said here. Good, not so good...the one i agree on the most...is the bitch/asshole scenario. That doesnt mean i like it...it just makes the most sense to me

[Blob Mckenzie]

Hey Pot, I am with you . I hate the Bruins but when most fans/media etc and ex NHL players are going to choose sides between a team of dirty assholes who will back it up and a team of dirty turtles who can't I think we both know who most people will choose.

The Bruins are cunts for sure.... the schoolyard bully if you will and Thomas was lapping that shit up when he hammered Burrows . Someone does that to me and I'm swinging my stick like an axe. Then again I also broke my friends leg in a Midget A game 20 odd years ago so I was a bit of a loose cannon . That crap with Thomas was one of the cheapest plays i have ever seen considering we are taught at a young age to leave the goalie alone yet this ugly bearded fuck comes running out of his net like a fucking saftey blowing up a reciever.

All that shit aside people will tend to side with the guys that can back thier shit up, right or wrong.

LOL so now people hate us because we dont fight enough....

Amazing how some here chalk all of our problems up to a lack of fighting...

Almost as fun as the folks who blame everything on Luongo....

The Canucks likely wouldn't need to fight back if they didn't get involved or initiate the scrum bullshit. I never said i hate the Canucks but I understand why others do. Furthermore I don't remember chalking up all the teams problems to a lack of fighting. I just said i get why people hate this team and most objective people should be able to understand that.

Not too sure what Luongo has to do with my point.

[dhabums]

Blob and Weiner sittin' in a tree....

Is that better than weiner sittin in dhabums ?

Better for weiner, not for me.

[Listercat]

Blob I believe you are right about "why" the Canucks are hated. Alex Burrows has been involved in 3 incidents that have enhanced that feeling. The Auger thing, the hair pulling with Duncan Keith and now the so called bite on Bergeron. That coupled with the embellishment on penalties and the yapping. Ryan Kesler and Luongo are also guilty of embellishment. Henrik and Raymond are not in the same league with the aforementioned.

That is "why" people love to hate the Canucks and it will take some time for fans and the NHL officials both on and off the ice to mitigate that providing the embellishment stops.

I also believe that Patrice Bergeron knowing full well Burr's rep embellished the so called "bite". In fact it was Bergeron who initiated that scrum and then he tried to hide when Burr came after him. He is as much of a puke as Marchand. Speaking of sucker punches and Lucic what about the shot to Burr's head in Game 3 , I think it was?

The slash that Thomas gave Burrows across the ankle was reminiscent of Bobby Clarke on Valeri Kharlamov. Deliberate attempt to injure. Rich Peverley's slash on KB3 was another. Either of those could have been season ending. Was it not Peverley who skated to Hammer when he was down injured and gave him a shot? Another gutless exhibition.

In reality for every so called cheap infraction supposedly committed by the Canucks there were at least as many if not more serious infractions on behalf of the B's. The Rome hit on Horton was IMO a good hit but because of the injury the NHL had to "appear" to be policing it's players because of all the publicity about Chara's hit on Pacioretty, Syd the Kid's concussion and Matt Coole's hits on everybody. Rome was the sacrificial lamb and Horton's whining about a text message was no better than Burr's complaint about Auger.

That series was allowed to get out of control by the officials. The scrums could have been stopped in Game 1 had they told the teams that penalties were going to be assessed for any extra curricular activity after the whistles. They did not and the series degenerated from there.

[Rumsfeld]

Good discussion guys.

They did not and the series degenerated from there.

Haha, well from our perspective it degenerated. For the Bruins it got steadily better. I can't imagine how appalling that Final must have been for first-time 'Merican hockey fans.

It still really pisses me off how the refs gave our opponents carte blanche to cheapshot our top players throughout the playoffs. It culminated in the Final with an absolute clusterfuck of dirty bullshit that we really had no answer for once our PP dried up.

[coco_canuck]

That series was allowed to get out of control by the officials. The scrums could have been stopped in Game 1 had they told the teams that penalties were going to be assessed for any extra curricular activity after the whistles. They did not and the series degenerated from there.

Bang on post.

It culminated in the Final with an absolute clusterfuck of dirty bullshit that we really had no answer for once our PP dried up.

Which is precisely why the Canucks had no business getting involved in all the after-the-whistle bullshit.

All year, to fabulous success, they avoided that part of the game, but at the very end they couldn't control their emotions.

Granted, the Bruins did a lot to goad the Canucks in, and it's easy to get lost in the emotion of the Stanley Cup Fucking Final, but the Canucks should have been more resilient and disciplined.

The Canucks were never going to win the physical battle with Boston, and they looked foolish getting into that game.

[Mr.Miyagi]

Awesome discussion guys...

I have been internally debating this all summer and being surrounded by Oiler and Flame fans I haven't had too many stretches in a row where I haven't been reminded that our team is a bunch of "whining, diving, pussies.".

It has become a national sport for the media and fans to beat up the Canucks when given the chance. On OTR just last week some dickhead TSN radio guy had too be cut off by Landsberg because he was going off on the Canucks and just wouldn't stop. This is when I learned that it has crossed the line from an interesting story in the news, to a god damn media feeding frenzy. Count me in as one of the believers in the conspiracy theory. It's out there folks. The Eastern media is really pushing (or trying to) a wedge in our team, fan base, and reputation. It is well documented that we are the least likeable team in the league. The majority of that is coming from the East. Specifically TSN. Yes, I said it, TSN.

One would think that the western media ( our rivals in Edmonton and Calgary) would have been all over the Canucks last year but save for a few writers, Spector in particular, the western media was more or less staying out of it. The push came from the East IMO.

Do you remember last year at the All-Star game CBC did a players poll and Vancouver was #2 behind Detroit as most desireable team to play on? I am interested to see where we stand this year. I bet we are still in the top 5.

The truth is we have a damn good team and we win hockey games. A lot of them, too. 28 Other teams wish they had what we had last year.

[coco_canuck]

Worried about being the most hated team in hockey?

Be happy we have a relevant team that occupies the upper stratosphere of the hockey world. The Canucks are hated by non-Vancouver fans as much the Yankees are in baseball by non-New York fans because of the team's impressive roster and success. Nobody hates a loser, no one pays attention to mediocrity, and being marginally successful makes for a short-lived underdog story.

Would you rather be irrelevant, a 5-minute feel good story, or hated for being a contender?

This isn’t Toronto where the glare of the country’s national media hoard constantly sheds a spotlight on the Laffs and over analysis every rare success and every consistently laughable misstep of a satisfyingly mediocre team.

We’re not hated because we’re disproportionately represented on the national stage due to our geographical location.
Yes, we have a beautiful city, yes people hate us for having the mildest climate of any city in the country, but no one would attack us on the national stage and spew their venom if we didn’t establish our footing as one of the premier franchises in the NHL.

Gillis goal was to transform this franchise into the premier NHL destination and a perennial contender, and with it comes the attention, scrutiny and jealousy.

The Red Wings were roundly criticized, and their star players, including the now seemingly immortal Steve Yzerman, were fettered by fans and media for being an underachieving powerhouse with weak leadership and a European approach to a North-American game before they engraved their place in hockey history on the silver chalice.

People forget the level of scrutiny Yzerman and Red Wings went through, especially after being swept in the 1995 Cup Final against New Jersey despite a highly successful regular season and entering the Final as the clear-cut favorite. Yzerman didn’t win his first cup until 1997, when he was 32.

Ultimately the Canucks won’t be respected until they win, and other teams have been where the Canucks currently are before withering away in short time, but this team is positioned to occupy their current high standing for the foreseeable future with a formidable roster and management team completely dedicated to being the absolute best in every way.

So what do we say to all the haters and trolls?

Fuck you, and be ready to pucker up to kiss our asses real soon.

[ukcanuck]

Potatoe1 wrote:How about Lucic and the 4 or 5 ridiculous sucker punches he threw last season. Or Chara almost killing someone last year because he got shoved after a goal the night before. Or Horton going after a fan in the walk way.

Or how about the fact 2 Bruins taunted Lappy the day after their coach said he wouldn't tolerate it. Or how about Marchand being far and away the dirtiest cheapest fucker in the final last year (by far). Or how about Boychuk coming close to ending Raymonds career with a horrible cheap shot. Or even better Horton crying in the media because Rome didn't apologise correctly.

How about Peverly with a horrible cheap shot on Beiksa then refusing to fight when challenged. Thorton shooting a puck at luongo during a pre game skate, or the fact Greg Campbells dad basically runs the refs.

Awesome discussion guys...

I have been internally debating this all summer and being surrounded by Oiler and Flame fans I haven't had too many stretches in a row where I haven't been reminded that our team is a bunch of "whining, diving, pussies.".

It has become a national sport for the media and fans to beat up the Canucks when given the chance. On OTR just last week some dickhead TSN radio guy had too be cut off by Landsberg because he was going off on the Canucks and just wouldn't stop. This is when I learned that it has crossed the line from an interesting story in the news, to a god damn media feeding frenzy. Count me in as one of the believers in the conspiracy theory. It's out there folks. The Eastern media is really pushing (or trying to) a wedge in our team, fan base, and reputation. It is well documented that we are the least likeable team in the league. The majority of that is coming from the East. Specifically TSN. Yes, I said it, TSN.

One would think that the western media ( our rivals in Edmonton and Calgary) would have been all over the Canucks last year but save for a few writers, Spector in particular, the western media was more or less staying out of it. The push came from the East IMO.

Do you remember last year at the All-Star game CBC did a players poll and Vancouver was #2 behind Detroit as most desireable team to play on? I am interested to see where we stand this year. I bet we are still in the top 5.

The truth is we have a damn good team and we win hockey games. A lot of them, too. 28 Other teams wish they had what we had last year.

(Rant 1)
Spector is a Sphincter, his article on Canuck fans crying...for sports fans all there is is crowing or crying, so what's new?
we pay for the right to bitch or to be a fanboy/girl, as far as I am concerned Mr Sphincter can eat shit and die...

(rant 2)
I think Pots is right in his post about the Bruins and I think that you have nailed why the Bruins come out smelling like roses and the Canucks smell like chocolate rosebuds, them FEBs are at the centre of this particular steaming pile. With Joe average in Canada hating that their team is out of it, they look for reasons to feel better at someone else's expense. Its comforting for Habs, Leaf, Sens, Flames, Oilers and now Jets fans to hate the Canucks for being where they want to be and the classless media on TSN, CBC, Versus, et al, take full advantage of that to sell their souls


It seems that when you have a crew of reporters and columnists and TV/Radio personalities hanging around the team looking for a sound bite or comment to blow up out of proportion, virtually anything a Canuck Player says or doesn't say becomes another knife for the prosecution to stab at thee. I heard a description on the TEAM last year about the moment when Luongo first made the comment about Thomas not making the save that he would have made if it were him, he was talking about the change in his goaltending style, one of the reasons he plays deeper in the net and why the new goalie coach was brought in and so on. now had he been in a room full of friends or at least people that were not looking for something to use against him, the comment would have been taken how it was meant, as a comment about himself. but he was in a pit full of vipers who dropped everything and ran to their phones to send out a report taken completely out of context.
Every supposed instance of whining, hairpulling, biting and scratching that the Canucks are accused of, every other team is just as guilty of but that's not what Joe Schmoe from Etobicoke wants to read about in his grade seven newspaper. He doesn't want to know that in addition to having everything else better on the west coast, the hockey here is better too. As for our western brothers in Calgary, Edmonchuck and Winterpeg are concerned, perhaps a look on a map might help, when standing on the continental divide its all east of Eden.