As a hockey-mad Canadian (redundant?), I have always viewed the Americans as our main competition with the Russians trailing close behind. I'm sure most people who were around for the Summit Series in 1972 between Canada and Russia would disagree and will always view the Russians as number 2 but lately, that just hasn't been the case.

I think the real problem with the US and hockey is that it just hasn't really caught on down there. In Russia and some Nordic countries, they are just as crazy about hockey as we are here but a lot of Americans just don't seem to be that interested in the greatest game in the world.

So Obiwan, who is your team in the NHL?

My team is the Ducks, always has been, always will be, I've loved them since Selanne came in 1996, I was a kid and I'll never forget how cool it was to hear the announcer yell "SELANNE!"

Ducks made the playoffs, lost to the Red Wings, and I was hooked...and hated the Red Wings (don't we all who aren't Wing fans?) ;)

So yeah, my team, and they're an example of a good NHL expansion team, I think: never in the red, a locale that made sense (So. Cal had the Kings so there's a rivalry, roller hockey's got a following there, so at least there's some sort of hockey following, big city, which is where hockey is meant to be played, either the frozen north or a big city that can give you the hockey frenzy, and they've consistently had a good team with recognizable players, you know? Selanne, Kariya, Getzlaf, Perry, Hebert, Giguere, Hiller--you call didentify Duck players. Who does that with the Coyotes or Thrashers or Predators? An big rivalries with the Sharks, Kings and Wings, a small one with the Oilers...good fanchise!)

But the Coyotes, Thrashers, Predators, Panthers...all hollow, no fan base or rivalries or known players or anything.

I'd like the Jets back first, then Nordiques, then a team in SEattle or Milwaukee (they dserve a team, and I don't buy Hamilton) and someday Hartford again, but they're too small right now...

Who's your team, and your hockey intro story?

I hate the Wings too...lol I actually live right across the river from Detroit in Windsor so we have lots of Wings fans here.

I definitely agree with your summary of the Ducks. They are a prime example of how an expansion team should evolve in the future. Although I don't see the need for expansion in the NHL for quite some time. The first priority should be relocating the teams that you mentioned to markets that would appreciate them and provide them the opportunity to thrive.

I also agree with bringing the Jets and Nordiques back to Canada first followed by some underserved US markets. I don't think Hamilton should get a team either but I could see Toronto getting a second team, a la New York. They undoubtedly have the market to support two teams. Right now, you better be willing to part with a valuable limb if you want a pair of decent Leafs tickets.

I am a diehard Leafs fan. It has been a rough few years but I will never stop bleeding blue. Hockey is incredibly pervasive here and it is hard not to be introduced to it in some way at an early age. All levels of hockey are popular here. Even our junior teams, like the 2009/2010 back-to-back Memorial Cup Champion Windsor Spitfires (had to get that in there), are treated like rock stars.

I actually heard the Leafs (and maybe Sabres) would take legal action to prevent a second Toronto team, they say they have exclusive home rights or something...can't see another Toronto-based franchise coming to be, too much trouble and they have other cities in Canada they need to give teams back to first...

And if you like the Leafs, try...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR2dyaXjJAE

I really do despise the Senators but it is hard to knock them when the Leafs haven't even made the playoffs over the past few years. As for a 2nd team in Toronto, I can't see it happening for some time but I wouldn't say it is a dead issue just because the Leafs and Sabres are claiming territorial rights.

You have Cups, and my team has a Cup (and we beat them for it.)

That makes it pretty easy--"Did you win a Cup?" "No, but--" "Get outta here!" ;)

Very good point...lol Believe me, I was a Ducks fan too during that Stanley Cup final. Also, I'm not sure if you are aware but Brian Burke, who was the architect for Anaheim's cup winning team, is now the Leafs' GM and Giggy is our starting goaltender. Also as a sidenote, I know a lot of people up in London who know Corey Perry from when he played there in his junior days and they say he is a pretty big asshole. It is all hearsay but the consensus seems pretty unanimous.

I know, I love Hiller but I miss Giggy...

We already have a mini-tradition there in net, actually...

Guy Hebert was a good goaltender, Giggy set records and won the MVP even in a losing effort (Game 7 broke my heart and still does, SO CLOSE...and the way Kariya left, I still like him, but still, I wish he and Selanne could come back for one last season together!), Bryzgalov backed up a few games and was alright, and now Hiller's a Top 10 goalie and was pretty good for the Swiss in the World Cup...

And then, for the cinematic touch (because that's how they were born lol) the goalie in the movie, I remember, was a fun character, sort of a slaptstick kind of guy, and then there was an animated series with Ducks as hockey players and crime fighters, and the goalie was the main guy...

So yep--the Ducks seem to have a thing for goalies! :D

Perry does seem to get into more scrapes than a lot of wingers...but as long as he scores... ;)

Goldberg!!!!! I love the Mighty Ducks movies, especially the first one. I faintly remember the cartoon and I can picture what the characters looked like but I don't remember much aside from that.

Bryan Murray was the architect for the Ducks' championship, not Burke. Burke inherited that team. Give Burke credit for that good Canucks' team out in B.C. if you like. He built that squad.

I give Selanne, Getzlaf, Perry, Giggy, and the rest the credit--building a team's great, but you have to play for the Cup, after all, you can put a great team together on paper and still lose (isn't that right, San Jose and Ottawa? Wow, we're picking on Ottawa a lottawa!) ;)

I don't like the Red Wing bashing going on in this thread. You guys are just jealous. And Corey Perry is one of the biggest bitches in hockey.

obiwan: we didn't get kicked out of the Western Culture club, we walked out sometime between 2002 and 2004, depending on how you judge. Unlike the rest of the West, we haven't wrapped our minds around the idea that we can function in a world that we don't run, and we get a lot more mad about it. When you have someone who's really mad and holding a really big bomb, you put some distance between you and him. Same deal.

@Tom Bombadil:

The Red Wing bashing MUST CONTINUE! (And at least the Ducks don't hire goons, the Red Wings have practically specialized in it, the "worst" we have had is Parros and Chris Pronger, and their just good players with a physical style, unlike the goon squad of the Blood Wings...well, we'll beat you anyway! And for the record, I always thought Yzerman was a goody-goody, the type who smiles for the cameras and goes home to curse that Guy Hebert was just too damn amazing...Perry+Getzlaf+Selanne=I'll take a little biching for all those goals!) ;)

@pastoralan:

If that's the case I think we made a mistake--I used to think we could and should be the world police...

And then I saw how well that worked out for the Spartans.
And the Romans.
And Charlegmenge's Empire.
And Crusader Europe.
And the Ottomans.
And Napoleon's Empire.

And the BRITISH Empire...

I mean, come on--if THEY can learn their lesson (and we'll say they have, I think they have and besides, too many Englishmen might read this and stab me hard my next game if I say otherwise...lol, I kid, I kid...maybe...) and get the hell out of the Middle East, why can't we?

Everyone knows I'm pro-Israel (for the most part, sometimes she acts like too big of a prima donna or too brutal for even me to stomach) but she's a big girl now, she can take care of herself, if there's a problem we can go right back in and HEY! maybe with HELP!

You know...like The Gulf War...going in with the UN behind it...and NOT staying...wow, never thought I'd say this, but Bush I did alright there, at least comparing him to his sequel act...

We do not need to be the world police.

And, frankly, history genrally says that countries that have that "me against the world...for the good of me...and the world!" mentality don't wind up doing to well.

And I'd like my country NOT to be hated, thanks--really, we've spent ourselves into a hole and out of allies, we don't have as much rtoom to be arrogant anymore (and if there's one thing I LOVE it's arrogance and swagger--but if Muhammad Ali gets knocked to the canvas and loses the fight, as much as I love him, he doesn't have a lot of room to talk his talk since he fell and didn't wal his walk...)

No one likes the wings, except for wings fans. unless we start talking about b-dubs, also known as buffalo wild wings, or BW's in general. then i have no problem, they are so tasty :)

@obi- they are companions your so called "bond girls" of david tennant :)
i'm not a fan of the new doctor, just to stubborn to accept they switched out david :)

they have the stamp of the yankees. damn yankees!!! there is always one team in every sport that has that "stamp"

Yes! Yes! Stamp out the Yankees!

Though wouldn't the Canadiens be the Yanks, with all those Cups, after the Yankees they have the most wins of any franchise in North America...

Well, BOTH can be hated! The same way the Raiders and Cowboys are both Yankee-like, the Raiders with the arrogance and the Colwboys with...well, arrogance and actually winning once in a while (though the Raiders are playing better than them this year...)

Fly Ducks Fly!

And Clip Detroit's Wings!