I am going to use mostly small letters, so you guys know that I truly mean BUSINESS.
Unless Willy can step in and be a top 15 starter in goal in the NHL, this ain't fixing our problems
then he better get something besides a swiss cheese tandem and bring back some D
GDT: - JET IN @ HURRICANE
I have mentioned it early. The post above shall be BLUNT INSTRUMENT OF EXPLANATION with which posters shall be informed that recently the goaltending was actually good, problems were elsewhere.
I've been here longer than most people on this board, but I never get tired of being RIGHT.
Problems FIXED.
Putting yourself into an argumentation position like this is extremely easy. You are either wrong and folks don't care that you are because no actual fan wants to see his team lose. Not even to tank. Or you are right and people are happy, so you can come here marching and go on a parade. But if you are not here during the times when things are ugly, when being a fan is just pure emotional suffering, it bears little merit.
Obviously new fans are built in times of success, but if those fans don't stay with the team in the darkness, they are not sticking to the definition of the word. It comes from the word fanatic, which according to someone else who is more versed in English than yours truly from the Czech Republic means "marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion". It's easy to become a fan, but it's a lot harder to persist.
It's like a bandwagon. For example I am really curious how are all those "lifelong" fans of Golden State Warriors, now that they know they play to tank.
You have been here for a while. Of course, you had a long absence when the team was bad and only started posting again last year, so your seniority on the board means even less than those who stuck through the bad times (and it meant very little to begin with).
I have no seniority as a Cane. I joined when things started to look up after one of the longest playoff droughts.
But I a fan of... HC Olomouc.
HC Olomouc – Wikipedie
HC Olomouc - Wikipedia
I started at the end of the season 2009/10. I have had season ticket until this year, because well... studying medicine kind of kills parts of your personal life.
At that time they weren't even in the top league. Even though Olomouc is 5th or 6th (depends on the census) biggest city. I have been going to an arena with 1000 people on average and I was freezing my butt off because the stadium is ... ancient to put it mildly.
But I stuck with them. And four years later they had the chance to advance. They failed. I stuck.
Next year they earned the shot again. Alongside another club who wanted to advance, they completely dominated the regular season and they made it through the play-off bracket to get the chance. And both clubs took it. They advanced.
In the next season 14/15, they played in Extraliga. For the first time since 1997. Attendance became four to five times bigger.
NOW THAT IS SOME FU^KING VENGEANCE.
(Excuse the language Dave and GP, but I stand by my decision to use it in this specific instance).
Next year they faced relegation, but they made it. In the next four years, they made playoff three times and they even won a series.
Every year they are expected to fail, they are expected to suck.
But every year, we hope they suck less than what press and others expect. We are there, freezing our butts off in that ancient piece of commie architecture.
Because every time they surpass the expectations we can say we were there with them when things looked bleak. This is what makes it our victory as well, despite it not being us who laces the skates. That is our Vengeance.