Who is your team’s (and your) biggest rival?

[Rubbers29]

Watching the Knight/Rangers game and they’re talking about London being Kitchener’s biggest rival followed by Guelph due to geography and Owen Sound. I have a hard time nailing down London’s top rival, as it seems to change every few years. Sometimes Windsor, some times Kitchener and for a few year there I didn’t want to see them beat anyone more than Erie!

Who is the team that you look forward to every year, that you know your team will be up for and maybe even tends to get chippy?

maybe not even the team but for you personally?

Click to read more...

 

[battfan888]

Talking to a Knights fan this week from his perspective their biggest rival is Windsor "always has been always will be"

As a Storm fan I'd say our biggest rival has to be Kitchener but London is a very close second. Sometimes Owen Sound is there but I think that's more so just because of the 8 game season series. Most of the time for me the Attack in town is just another game.

 

[JetsColts13]

For the Colts it used to be the Wolves, but that rivalry has been fairly tame for a while. Right now it's probably between North Bay, Mississauga and Owen Sound. Some real good recent playoff series against North Bay and Mississauga the last 5-6 years.

 

[windsor7]

Talking to a Knights fan this week from his perspective their biggest rival is Windsor "always has been always will be"

As a Storm fan I'd say our biggest rival has to be Kitchener but London is a very close second. Sometimes Owen Sound is there but I think that's more so just because of the 8 game season series. Most of the time for me the Attack in town is just another game.

Windsor's not London rival any longer. London kicked Windsor to the curve too often last decade.

 

[Rubbers29]

Talking to a Knights fan this week from his perspective their biggest rival is Windsor "always has been always will be"

As a Storm fan I'd say our biggest rival has to be Kitchener but London is a very close second. Sometimes Owen Sound is there but I think that's more so just because of the 8 game season series. Most of the time for me the Attack in town is just another game.

It’s will always be Windsor in reality for London, Just went through a big dry spell after Windsor won their back to backs.

 

[leafs4life94]

As a Kingston fan - I really don't know. Ever since Belleville left we've kind of just been... there. We've had some spirited games with some divisional foes like Oshawa and Peterborough but I don't feel like they are see us the same as true rivals should - mostly because we've justifiably been a joke the last year and a half

 

[Generalsupdates]

Easy answer for Oshawa is Peterborough because both fan bases hate each other but the "rivalry" really hasn't been that for the last decade as the Gens are 67-19-7 against them since 2010 for a 75.8 points % (only team the Gens are over 70% against since 2010). The actual hockey answer is probably Ottawa. They seem to have a lot of good games and are both around 50% points percentage since 2010

 

[MatthewsMoustache]

Kitchener/London, although London wins every time. personally, I love when the Rangers play Erie. always gets feisty and usually some scraps

 

[Ferda11]

I don't think Sarnia has one. They try and butter it up with the Knights and the "battle of the 402" but there's no intensity in those games. If anything, the Kitchener/Sarnia games have been pretty intense the last 3 years. A lot of dislike between the players.

 

[Kingpin794]

Back in the day, Saginaw and Plymouth were kind of “forced” to be rivals. Yeah they were the two Michigan teams but they never felt like true rivals. There really wasn’t animosity between the two teams. During that time I’d say the Soo was on par for being our biggest rival. But now Flint and Saginaw is a proper rivalry. It’s at the point that I think a decent chuck of each fan base legitimately don’t like each other.

 

[three dog night]

There trying a Niagara Hamilton rival with the K cup not sure it has taken off I say in playoffs it is Oshawa and Ottawa. Maybe a bit of hatred among fans against the Knights too.

 

[WolvesFanSudbury]

As a Sudbury fan it’s North Bay, The Soo or Barrie. Me personally it’s North Bay, love going there for games and it’s always a good game even when we’ve both taken turns to be awful lately

 

[View from section 9]

In order for North Bay from a section 9 pov:
1. Sudbury
2. Barrie
3. Niagara
4. Oshawa (spillover from the Centennial days)

 

[shot caller]

For the Soo - as of late - our biggest rival is usually ourselves.

Jokes aside though, I would say the fan base put a big circle on the schedule when they see London.

 

[AttackSound]

From an Attack standpoint,

Guelph - just because of the natural connection between the cities dated back to 1991 when the city of Guelph was resurrected after the Holodys moved the Platers to Owen Sound.
Kitchener/ London - just being divisional rivals
Barrie has been always a tough go as the Attack and Colts play annually 6 regular season games in a season but 8 including pre-season total.

 

[OHLTG]

Windsor's has to be London; name me another team where fans get just as riled up. Not Sarnia, not SSM, not Flint, not even Saginaw. It's London. Heck, this season, I'd almost say Windsor's their own rival, too.

 

[TuckerFan1]

Petes are an obvious answer, even though the Gens have dominated them for the past little while. It’s always a sell out when they come into town, even in down years. Niagara would be the probably be the next closest with all the times we’ve played them in the playoffs. It’s usually timid regular season games with them, but then it ramps up for a playoff round.

 

[ohloutsider]

Windsor's has to be London; name me another team where fans get just as riled up. Not Sarnia, not SSM, not Flint, not even Saginaw. It's London. Heck, this season, I'd almost say Windsor's their own rival, too.

Agreed. Soo being #2 - never really seen much interest in the Flint/Saginaw rivalry and Sarnia is a yawn fest for most.
The most heated 1 for me was Plymouth - they were out and out brawls most times and fans traveled back and forth so it heated it up a bit. Flint never really grew from that. But ya everyone likes to beat London.

 

[OMG67]

It is really tough to say for Ottawa.

The geographical rival would be Kingston but those games really don't draw interest.

I'd say it moves around a bit based on playoff results.

For a while it was Barrie, then Belleville, then st Mike', then Niagara etc.

This year, because both teams are good, Peterborough.

Ottawa isn't close enough to draw opposition fans in high numbers so there is less atmosphere in that regard.

 

[Snippit]

Windsor #1, followed by Kitchener, Guelph

 

[LDN]

Windsor, Kitchener, Guelph, Owen Sound, Erie, Sarnia

 

[TcNorth]

Saginaw is Flint's only true OHL rivalry that will sell extra tickets. Not as intense as the IHL days of the Flint Generals vs Saginaw Gears, but still a good rivalry from cities 35 miles apart. This rivalry is still building.

 

[Ferda11]

Saginaw is Flint's only true OHL rivalry that will sell extra tickets. Not as intense as the IHL days of the Flint Generals vs Saginaw Gears, but still a good rivalry from cities 35 miles apart. This rivalry is still building.

When you look at it that way, it would be London for Sarnia. Any time the knights are in town there's an extra 1500-2000 butts in the seats. Usually a few hundred are Knights fans. The on ice rivalry defiantly isn't what it use to be though.

 

[NOA]

Hard to say with Erie but I feel it changes every few years. A few years ago it was London (from about 2013-2017). Prior to that, it was Plymouth. Erie used to have great battles with the Whalers before they left town. Flint.. not close to the same. It really should be Niagara for Erie but unfortunately, they aren’t even in the same conference and have never met in the playoffs or for significant games. You need some battles (with stuff actually on the line) to consider it a rivalry

 

[TheCoach]

For the Knights -Kitchener, Erie,Windsor and Sarnia