Predators raise a "Regular Season Western Conference Champions" banner....

Dustin

Registered User
Sep 24, 2014
5,001
1,346
I'm fine with it. The league is very hard to win anything in but teams still want to celebrate success even if it's not a cup.

Add in the fact that Nashville has been in the league for 20 years now and it makes sense to celebrate something.

Now if you win a cup and then want to start adding conference finals banners after, that's a little strange.
 

justafan22

Registered User
Jun 22, 2014
11,629
6,249
presidents trophy (though I'm not a fan of it in this case), campbell/wales trophy banner (since you won 3 rounds) and cup are the only 3 banners that should be up there, with retired numbers. Most points in the league, winning your conference and obviously the cup are worth celebrating.
 

quoipourquoi

Goaltender
Jan 26, 2009
10,123
4,126
Hockeytown, MI
I think it’s important to recognize the historical perception of being the regular season champion - formerly referred to as “League Champion”, meaning there were two banners (“League Champion” for winning the league title and “Stanley Cup Champion” for winning the playoff title).

With expansion comes the split into two divisions (what we would refer to now as Conferences), but with the bulk of the season (50 of 74 games) being play within that Conference, the pride of winning your Conference extends itself into the banner we are currently discussing. But, it also resulted in a trophy: the Campbell Bowl and Wales Trophy were awarded for being the Conference Regular Season Champion from 1968-1981.

After that, the NHL ended cross-Conference playoff matchups in favor of divisional playoffs - which led to an ambiguous definition of what it meant to win a Division or Conference. The banners continued for the previous definition while the trophies and new banners shifted to the new definition. By 1984, the title of “League Champion” was replaced by the President’s Trophy.
 

Sheppy

Registered User
Nov 23, 2011
55,687
57,319
The Arctic
BANNERs.jpg
Did they have a pre-game ceremony for these? Sometimes teams just kind of put them up quietly in the off season.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rfournier103

blood gin

Registered User
Jan 17, 2017
4,174
2,203
Teams do strange things. I wish they didn't try to hoist made up banners but they want to fill the ceiling with something to give the impression of success etc. Really the banners are for the team and its fans.

And this still doesn't top the absurdity of the Avs retiring Ray Bourque.
 

Rodgerwilco

Entertainment boards w/ some Hockey mixed in.
Feb 6, 2014
7,232
6,510
The banner is a lol, but it's whatever. The fact that they had a ceremonial raising of it is the best part.

Are we surprised by this from Nashville though? 18 years without making it past the 2nd round, then they finally make it and they start inviting every country-pop music industry product to sing the anthem, while Carrie Underwood live-tweets each game, seemingly knowing close to zero about hockey. Their fanbase made themselves look absolutely foolish, throwing cat fish onto the ice, drinking beer out of a dead catfish (I know it was the Titans linemen, but still), and just generally not seeming to understand the sport.

I'm not surprised to see this at all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kundahlini

NewtJorden

Unitas est Invicta
Aug 9, 2006
3,420
455
Rimouski
I do understand a banner for the Presidents trophy, but regular season western conference champions?? Thats kinda weird.
 

Sam Spade

Registered User
May 4, 2009
27,484
16,207
Maryland
Capitals/Bullets did this which I like. The other are still there but with the Bullet/Wizard ones on the other side of the arena.

 

No Fun Shogun

34-38-61-10-13-15
May 1, 2011
56,091
12,751
Illinois
If I were a team owner, I'd be rich!

And then, if I were a team owner, I'd only have four types of banners:

1) Individual Cup banners - they get their own pregame ceremonies at the first home game of the season after.
2) Retired numbers - they also get their own pregame ceremonies.
3) Conference championship banner - just one, with years added unceremoniously after the fact. *
4) Divisional championship banner - just one, with years added unceremoniously after the fact. *

* Bonus: If the team has wins in different/renamed conferences/divisions, they get different banners, so the Blackhawks would have a Campbell and a Western Conference Championship banner with their respective seasons won and they'd have East, West, Smythe, Norris, and Central Division Championship banners with their season(s) accomplished on each. Neat way of displaying the team's history without having too much clutter.

Anything else is either not notable enough or secondary to a bigger accomplishment or indicative of a greater shortcoming. The prime example would be a Presidents' Trophy banner, in which if you win the Stanley Cup as well it'd just be an afterthought, while if you fail to win a Stanley Cup it'd be a constant reminder of a year where you choked.
 

rfournier103

Black & Gold ‘till I’m Dead & Cold.
Sponsor
Dec 17, 2011
8,275
16,823
Massachusetts
false...and to not football folks, yes this banner is 100% real.

The Colts hung a banner for making it to the conference championship...not winning it, just for participating

screen-shot-2015-06-11-at-4-08-03-pm.png

If I remember correctly, the Colts were absolutely destroyed in this game and cried about it after.

If I were a Colts fan or Colts management, I’d want to forget that game ever took place; not honor my participation in it. So, I guess THIS is the most embarrassing banner ever.




But I’m still glad the Patriots got rid of the 16-0 banner.
 

predfan24

Registered User
Jul 12, 2006
5,102
959
The banner is a lol, but it's whatever. The fact that they had a ceremonial raising of it is the best part.

Are we surprised by this from Nashville though? 18 years without making it past the 2nd round, then they finally make it and they start inviting every country-pop music industry product to sing the anthem, while Carrie Underwood live-tweets each game, seemingly knowing close to zero about hockey. Their fanbase made themselves look absolutely foolish, throwing cat fish onto the ice, drinking beer out of a dead catfish (I know it was the Titans linemen, but still), and just generally not seeming to understand the sport.

I'm not surprised to see this at all.

Everything you just complained about has been a huge success for the Preds (besides the banner). Only markets like MTL and TOR can sustain success business wise focusing only on hockey as their product. The Preds have done a great job marketing their product both on the ice and off the ice. How do Preds fan not understand the sport? Because the franchise's success has driven more corporate support and new fans? Welcome to any franchise ever. Your rant is ignorant.
 

Harvey Birdman

…Need some law books, with pictures this time…
Oct 21, 2008
9,145
2,234
Penguins Legal Office
I'm fine with it. The league is very hard to win anything in but teams still want to celebrate success even if it's not a cup.

Add in the fact that Nashville has been in the league for 20 years now and it makes sense to celebrate something.

Now if you win a cup and then want to start adding conference finals banners after, that's a little strange.
I guess its just a difference of opinion. Honestly I do not like any of the division banners or conference banners at PPG Arena. I wish we just had the cups and retired numbers. That's its. So 7 total. Again, this is just my opinion but anything else is like hanging a participation ribbon up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pyrophorus

Volica

Papa Shango
May 15, 2012
21,391
11,074
These are ones you quietly put up.
President’s Trophies are an accomplishment, they should be celebrated.

But don’t do it like that.
 

Rodgerwilco

Entertainment boards w/ some Hockey mixed in.
Feb 6, 2014
7,232
6,510
Everything you just complained about has been a huge success for the Preds (besides the banner). Only markets like MTL and TOR can sustain success business wise focusing only on hockey as their product. The Preds have done a great job marketing their product both on the ice and off the ice. How do Preds fan not understand the sport? Because the franchise's success has driven more corporate support and new fans? Welcome to any franchise ever. Your rant is ignorant.

That's all fine and good that it helped them make a bunch of money, but it was exactly what you said, a Marketing tool. It was still hilarious for me to watch it unravel. Pittsburgh on their way to their 5th Stanley Cup and 2nd in a row going about their business vs. Nashville, just happy to be there, inviting every country music industry tool (who mostly couldn't care less about hockey) to sing the anthem, drinking beer out of a catfish, etc.

I said Preds fans don't seem to understand the sport because I spoke to many Preds fans throughout the series who didn't understand basic principles of the game. I understand that success brings new fans, but if someone is a new fan and they argue about the game as though they're a life-long watcher it's kind of comical to me.

In my comparison to San Jose fans who had just been to their 1st Stanley Cup in their franchises existence the year prior, Nashville was laughable. It wasn't a rant, it was more of a musing than anything.

Edit: Please excuse me for finding it funny that a franchise who made it past the 2nd round for the first time in almost 20 years didn't "act like they've been there", and now ceremonially raised a (mostly) meaningless banner.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Aeroforce

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->