Sports in Canadian culture

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Brizzy82

I know one guy with huge basement/bar that is a total shrine to Ohio State. It's actually very impressive. Multiple TV screens and a giant HD projector, tons of memorbilia on the walls. But yeah, not really common to find die-hards like that in Winnipeg by any means.

Is this basement bar in Winnipeg or... Columbus, Ohio?

[Dr Awesomesauce]

^If he's not from Ohio or has some connection to the university then he's trying too hard. Way too hard...

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

.
.
...I think the problem with Canadian football in Toronto is:
1) - the oversaturated sports market.
2) - the large immigrant population that has no clue about traditional Canadian sports
3) - Toronto snobbishness, where they view sporting contests with Regina poorly in comparison to games played with teams from proper cities like New York or Chicago.

There is a blue collar market in TO for the CFL. It's just a matter of figuring out how to tap into that.

I get that having a comparatively large immigrant population that doesn't understand the intricacies of football may dampen the draw for football in Toronto but it doesn't really explain how its so hard to fill a 25,000 seat stadium in a city like Toronto. The Prairies have only a million more people than Toronto but have over a dozen pro teams including 4 CFL, 3 NHL, 2 Lacrosse, 1 soccer, 1 baseball & 1 other pro hockey team. Thats twice as many as Toronto's 'saturated' sports market of Six pro teams.

Toronto sports teams have a long history of not being contenders in any league, in comparison to Prairie teams, there's almost always a league Champion every year (Sask Rush and Winnipeg Goldeyes in 2016).

I think one of the main reasons the CFL and football in general is looked down upon in Toronto is because a lot of the other CFL teams are out stripping Toronto of any glory in the league. Whether it be new stadiums like in Winnipeg & Regina or having a fun fan base, Toronto is sort of a dead zone for sports.

I'm not too worried for the future of the CFL with or without Toronto, other leagues do well without a lot of support from its nation's largest city ( ie. Australian rules football). Canada has a lot more people now even with out Toronto that it can support the CFL with numbers similar to its glory days in the last century when the population was a lot smaller.

[esquire]

There was a good discussion on the WJHC going on in the stadiums thread that I'll continue here...

Here's a perfectly timed Sportsnet Magazine piece about the WJHC when it was still in that sweet spot after it became a major event but before Hockey Canada/IIHF came to regard it as little more than a cash cow to be exploited as we're seeing now.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/junio...championships/

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

Here's a perfectly timed Sportsnet Magazine piece about the WJHC when it was still in that sweet spot after it became a major event but before Hockey Canada/IIHF came to regard it as little more than a cash cow to be exploited as we're seeing now.

So, essentially before TSN blew it well out of proportion. The years where Canada won five in a row (2005-2009) TSN pumped and hyped the tourament to ridiculous levels. It was at that point that HC/IIHF realized they could probably start filling NHL arenas in larger centres. You can pretty much see the shift:

1999 - Winnipeg and Brandon
2003 - Halifax and Sydney
2006 - Vancouver, Kelowna, Kamloops

And then...

2009 - Ottawa
2010 - Saskatoon and Regina
2012 - Calgary and Edmonton
2015 - Toronto and Montreal
2017 - Montreal and Toronto

It's probably not surprising that hosting the tournament in the country's two largest cities sucked all of the grassroots and smalltown feel out of a tournament based around junior hockey players that don't make wages. It's essentially why i'm calling for a Maritime bid for 2021. At least Victoria in 2019 will be a breath of fresh air and something new and different.

[Trevor3]

^ Would be real fun to see a Halifax/Moncton tournament with the new stadium coming up in Moncton.

Junior hockey is the domain of smaller cities and towns in Canada and has had a tough time staying afloat in the bigger cities. The QMJHL has had a devil of a time trying to make Montreal work and the OHL has been far more successful outside of the GTA than within it. It shouldn't really be a surprise that the WJC has struggled to draw crowds in Montreal or Toronto, though it's an international tournament that one would think would draw better.

I know Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton have been successful over the last decade especially with the return of the Oil Kings, addition of the Giants, and the long-running Hitmen, but Hockey Canada also didn't try to shove 2 WJC's on their plate in such a short window. Going to Ottawa not long ago and then Montreal and Toronto twice, it's still in the same relative area and probably led to over-saturation of the market for junior hockey in Ontario/Quebec especially.

You don't need 2 NHL arenas. Buffalo hosted in 2011 with the second rink on the campus of Niagara University which had only 1,400 seats. It looked like any small town rink in Canada - low roof, seats on one side, one of those alarm clock buzzers at the end of the period. Even next year the secondary rink in Buffalo is the HarborCenter, with seating for 1800 on the sixth floor of a hotel and office building.

[esquire]

^ Hmm, if that's the case, I wonder why Winnipeg and Saskatoon most recently submitted a joint bid instead of bidding on their own (e.g., Winnipeg and Brandon or even Selkirk with its 2,751 seat rink; Saskatoon and Regina).

I'm sure having more closely located venues would be way more convienent than schlepping between Winnipeg and Saskatoon in the dead of winter.

[JHikka]

USA Hockey has shown a tendency in Buffalo during both tournaments to want to hold games in a big NHL rink and a smaller supplementary rink. Tournaments in Canada have been handled much differently by Hockey Canada with the use of dual-NHL-size arenas. I can't imagine Buffalo's lead means much for future Canadian bids. Buffalo tournaments could easily feature larger nearby rinks in Rochester/Albany but choose to use smaller rinks and focus all their attendance into the big rinks for the big games (feat. USA).

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Hmm, if that's the case, I wonder why Winnipeg and Saskatoon most recently submitted a joint bid instead of bidding on their own (e.g., Winnipeg and Brandon or even Selkirk with its 2,751 seat rink; Saskatoon and Regina).

I'm sure having more closely located venues would be way more convienent than schlepping between Winnipeg and Saskatoon in the dead of winter.

I think I'd like to see a Quebec City/Moncton/Halifax bid for 2021, distance between the cities isn't much more than between Winnipeg & Saskatoon, that's if Saskatoon/Regina/Moosejaw with their 4500 arena bid can't get it.. they could also boost the completed capacity of Sasktel Centre to 16,000, Brandt Centre to 8,000..

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by esquire

There was a good discussion on the WJHC going on in the stadiums thread that I'll continue here...

Here's a perfectly timed Sportsnet Magazine piece about the WJHC when it was still in that sweet spot after it became a major event but before Hockey Canada/IIHF came to regard it as little more than a cash cow to be exploited as we're seeing now.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/junio...championships/

Good find. I remember that tournament well. I believe I had an 11-game pack. Seats were right inside the blue line about 15 rows up from the ice. Package only cost me $250 dollars per seat ($23 per game). Nowadays, you would be forced to buy all the games at one arena (probably 14-16 games) and those particular seats would probably average out to $100 - $125 per game even with the discounted rate provided when buying a package.

That was the last tournament in Canada which made the conscious effort to host tournament games in community rinks in small towns

Teulon - population of 1000 people with a 1000-seat rink
Selkirk - pop. of 10,000 people with a 2,500-seat rink
Portage la Prairie - population of 10,000 with a 2,000 seat rink
Morden - population of 4 - 5,000 with a 1500 - 2000 seat rink

It really is amazing how quickly things changed with the move to NHL-sinzed rinks with the occasional junior rink thrown in as a secondary arena/s

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

It really is amazing how quickly things changed with the move to NHL-sinzed rinks with the occasional junior rink thrown in as a secondary arena/s

Again, we pretty much have TSN to thank for this as well as Hockey Canada and the IIHF's push for revenue generation from the event as a whole.

This year's WJHC is sitting at an average attendance of 8,197 with only the Gold Medal Game to be played. Atrocious no matter how you look at it. It'll be the least attended U20 tournament held in Canada since Halifax/Sydney 2003 and Montreal's single-site attendance will be the lowest since Regina's in 2010 (which seats just over 1/4th what the Bell Centre does).

Despite the issues with Toronto and its fatigue from sporting events this year it still made out better than Montreal on average attendance in fewer games. Montreal needs 15K at the GMG tonight to pass Toronto in total attendance despite hosting six more games. Montreal's current average attendance is below that of Helsinki's average in last year's tournament.

Here's how Bronze Medal Games compare:
2007 - 3,635 (Leksands)
2008 - 5,468 (Pardubice)
2009 - 18,763 (Ottawa)
2010 - 12,121 (Saskatoon)
2011 - 16,104 (Buffalo)
2012 - 18,595 (Calgary)
2013 - 7,617 (Ufa)
2014 - 10,713 (Malmo)
2015 - 13,625 (Toronto)
2016 - 10,899 (Helsinki)
2017 - 8,366 (Montreal)

[SignalHillHiker]

Via Marty_McFly... local country/NL-Irish folk station actually commissioned a poll.



The poor Bruins. Their support has collapsed here.

[esquire]

^ Wow, I'm a bit surprised that the AB teams aren't higher ranked in NL given the connection with that province, as well as the Jets given the connection that existed with the Icecaps for several seasons. MTL and TOR all the way in NL.

[SignalHillHiker]

They probably just didn't get many people who commute to Alberta. I'm sure the Alberta teams are very, very popular among those who live there, get to go see the Oilers, etc.

[Marty_Mcfly]

I know a few Oilers and Flames fans, though most of them are people who have permanently moved to that area. For the seasonal worker, or fly in-fly out worker, the usual Canadiens or Maple Leafs traditions which run through families usually holds true.

The Jets hold a soft spot in some of our hearts, but them having their farm team here, for as little time as they did, wasn't going to be enough to sway someone who's been a fan of another team for 20+ years.

[SaskScraper]

Dave Holland High Performance Photography

Hayley Wickenheiser from Shaunavon, Saskatchewan has announced retirement.
Named one of the "Top 100 Most Influential People in Hockey" by The Hockey News (ranked #59 on the 2011 List), one of the "25 Toughest Athletes" by Sports Illustrated and one of the "Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Canada" by The Globe and Mail. Hayley In 2003, became the first woman to score a goal playing in a men's professional league (for the Kirkkonummi Salamat team in Finland’s division II league).Hayley is one of only five athletes to win gold in four consecutive Winter Games, along with teammates Jayna Hefford and Caroline Ouellette. At her retirement in 2017 she was the Olympic tournament’s all-time leading scorer with 18 goals and 51 points.

http://globalnews.ca/news/3180867/ca...es-retirement/

[Nicko999]

With Djokovic and Murray out of the Australian Open, Milos Raonic is now the top ranked seed (#3) and the "favorite to win" the Grand Slam tournament. Won't be easy as Bautista-Agut (undefeated in 2017) is next and Dimitrov (the other undefeated in 2017) is also in his half. Then you have a couple of Swiss players at the top of the draw (Federer and Stan the man).

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Nicko999

With Djokovic and Murray out of the Australian Open, Milos Raonic is now the top ranked seed (#3) and the "favorite to win" the Grand Slam tournament. Won't be easy as Bautista-Agut (undefeated in 2017) is next and Dimitrov (the other undefeated in 2017) is also in his half. Then you have a couple of Swiss players at the top of the draw (Federer and Stan the man).

Federer and Stan are favourites over Milos, at least in terms of odds being posted online. From how they've played thus far I imagine one of Fed/Stan winning the AO right now. Nadal is still floating around as is Monfils. If there's any GS tournament that Milos is going to win this may be his best opportunity yet given the depleted top-end of the field.

Using undefeated in 2017 is a bit of an odd metric given that we're only a handful of tournaments into the season. Bautista shouldn't be any issue for Raonic but I figure Dimitrov will be. Of course, Murray was on good form as well before Zverev demolished him.

[circle33]

Book your flights now while you still can.

Saskatoon to host FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters
Story

Saskatoon will host the first-ever FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters event in Canada in 2017. The event - organised by Saskatoon Sports Tourism, in partnership with Canada Basketball - will take place in conjunction with Taste of Saskatchewan on 15-16 July 2017 in downtown Saskatoon (4th Avenue & 21st Street)...

I've never seen this three on three stuff, but since it will be within walking distance from my front door I'll definitely be having a look.

[SignalHillHiker]

The ice is almost ready at Mile One Centre.



It's the first time St. John's has hosted the Brier since:

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