Ann 2NHL Traditions & Superstitions Part II: Home Ice And Ties
June 11th 2008 03:29
After talking about the playoffs beard in Part I, I'll delve deeper into traditions and focus on some teams' preparations on home ice, and coaches' lucky pieces of clothing.
Home Ice
Playing at home is a great relief for all teams in the NHL. The crowd support often brings an added source of motivation and spirit while also intimidating the other team. Sometimes, just the arena itself can be intimidating as many rinks have their own fabled stories about bringing luck to a team during a playoffs campaign.
In Montreal, it was widely believed that ghosts lived in the Forum's rafters. After all, how else could one explain the “too many men” Boston penalty in the 1979 semifinals that gave the win to the Canadiens? How else can you explain the Los Angeles Kings' penalty for an illegal stick in 1993 that led to Montreal winning their 24th Stanley Cup? For a lot of Montrealers, the Forum is not only associated with the Canadiens' storied franchise but also the ghosts of the Habs' greats who often helped their team to victory. After the Habs came back from a 5-0 deficit against the New York Rangers in February 2008 to finally win the game 6-5, many fans believed that the ghosts have finally drifted down to the Bell Centre, more than 10 years after the team left the Forum.
In 1987, what appeared to be an inoffensive tradition set off one of the most famous brawls in hockey history. Canadiens forward Claude Lemieux had taken the habit of shooting the puck in the opposition's net at the end of the pre-game warm-up. In Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals, the Philadelphia Flyers didn't appreciate the gesture and the result was a general brawl that delayed the game for several minutes.
Speaking of the Philadelphia Flyers, the Wachovia Center located in Philadelphia was often considered as one of the most intimidating buildings to play in. The most famous tradition in Philadelphia has to be Kate Smith's rendition of “God Bless America” before the games instead of the Star Spangled Banner. Since Philadelphia won the game the first time she performed the song and they lost when she didn't, the song quickly became a legend and is still played at the Wachovia Center before games even though Kate Smith died more than twenty years ago. More recently, the Flyers have started the Orange Crush where fans are given free orange t-shirts before the game so that the whole crowd becomes orange during the game, giving a very claustrophobic feeling to the visiting team. The Pittsburgh Penguins took the same formula to create a “white-out” at the Mellon Arena, going as far as denying tickets to Detroit fans who were from Michigan.
The Detroit Red Wings also have their own tradition, which is probably the most disgusting of them all – the legend of the octopus. To learn about this phenomenon, read up Wikipedia's article on the subject which also mentions other instances of animal throwing.
Ties
The 2008 playoffs was the year of lucky ties as two coaches' ties became famous for their winning streak.
Guy Carbonneau's Hermes tie made a lot of noise in Montreal as it was not only downright ugly with its bright colors, but also seemed to bring out the Canadiens' best performances. The tie was so popular that Le Journal de Montréal, one of Montreal's francophone newspapers, issued one paper copy of the tie inside the paper's first page. Fans could cut out the tie, color it to have the same design as Carbo's tie by following the coloring guide, stick it on a piece of cardboard cut in the shape of the tie, and wear it around their neck for good luck. (I actually had a copy of that newspaper but my mother unfortunately threw out the page containing the tie, not knowing its significance).
The tie couldn't lead the Canadiens to the Conference Finals however, so Carbo sold it with all proceeds going to charity. The Habs' coach shouldn't have any problems finding a lucky tie for the next season as he received more than 400 ties after the performance of the Hermes tie.
The other coach to have a lucky tie actually won it all with his team. Mike Babcock, coach of the Detroit Red Wings, sported a McGill tie that went 3-1 in the 2008 playoffs. A McGill graduate, Babcock received another tie from the university's rector but he didn't wear it since the new tie was blue whereas the Wings' color is red.
Home Ice
Playing at home is a great relief for all teams in the NHL. The crowd support often brings an added source of motivation and spirit while also intimidating the other team. Sometimes, just the arena itself can be intimidating as many rinks have their own fabled stories about bringing luck to a team during a playoffs campaign.
In Montreal, it was widely believed that ghosts lived in the Forum's rafters. After all, how else could one explain the “too many men” Boston penalty in the 1979 semifinals that gave the win to the Canadiens? How else can you explain the Los Angeles Kings' penalty for an illegal stick in 1993 that led to Montreal winning their 24th Stanley Cup? For a lot of Montrealers, the Forum is not only associated with the Canadiens' storied franchise but also the ghosts of the Habs' greats who often helped their team to victory. After the Habs came back from a 5-0 deficit against the New York Rangers in February 2008 to finally win the game 6-5, many fans believed that the ghosts have finally drifted down to the Bell Centre, more than 10 years after the team left the Forum.
In 1987, what appeared to be an inoffensive tradition set off one of the most famous brawls in hockey history. Canadiens forward Claude Lemieux had taken the habit of shooting the puck in the opposition's net at the end of the pre-game warm-up. In Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals, the Philadelphia Flyers didn't appreciate the gesture and the result was a general brawl that delayed the game for several minutes.
French video of the '87 brawl (longer version)
English clip of '87 brawl
Speaking of the Philadelphia Flyers, the Wachovia Center located in Philadelphia was often considered as one of the most intimidating buildings to play in. The most famous tradition in Philadelphia has to be Kate Smith's rendition of “God Bless America” before the games instead of the Star Spangled Banner. Since Philadelphia won the game the first time she performed the song and they lost when she didn't, the song quickly became a legend and is still played at the Wachovia Center before games even though Kate Smith died more than twenty years ago. More recently, the Flyers have started the Orange Crush where fans are given free orange t-shirts before the game so that the whole crowd becomes orange during the game, giving a very claustrophobic feeling to the visiting team. The Pittsburgh Penguins took the same formula to create a “white-out” at the Mellon Arena, going as far as denying tickets to Detroit fans who were from Michigan.
Kate Smith singing "God Bless America"
The Detroit Red Wings also have their own tradition, which is probably the most disgusting of them all – the legend of the octopus. To learn about this phenomenon, read up Wikipedia's article on the subject which also mentions other instances of animal throwing.
The Octopus Tradition
Ties
The 2008 playoffs was the year of lucky ties as two coaches' ties became famous for their winning streak.
Carbo's Hermes tie
Guy Carbonneau's Hermes tie made a lot of noise in Montreal as it was not only downright ugly with its bright colors, but also seemed to bring out the Canadiens' best performances. The tie was so popular that Le Journal de Montréal, one of Montreal's francophone newspapers, issued one paper copy of the tie inside the paper's first page. Fans could cut out the tie, color it to have the same design as Carbo's tie by following the coloring guide, stick it on a piece of cardboard cut in the shape of the tie, and wear it around their neck for good luck. (I actually had a copy of that newspaper but my mother unfortunately threw out the page containing the tie, not knowing its significance).
Babcock's Mcgill tie
The other coach to have a lucky tie actually won it all with his team. Mike Babcock, coach of the Detroit Red Wings, sported a McGill tie that went 3-1 in the 2008 playoffs. A McGill graduate, Babcock received another tie from the university's rector but he didn't wear it since the new tie was blue whereas the Wings' color is red.
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