Nordiques Fans to Storm Nassau

[A.E]

Islanders to get an attendance boost this weekend from… Nordiques fans?​

While the Islanders and Thrashers are having drastically different seasons with the Islanders being the worst team in the NHL and the Thrashers being a threat for the playoffs, one area where they’re both the same is in attendance. The Thrashers are 28th in attendance and the Islanders are 29th out of 30 teams (source). With the two teams set to square off at Nassau Coliseum on Saturday, it was sure to be yet another lightly attended game.

A funny thing is going to happen though as there’s going to be a band of about 1,100 fans from Quebec storming the arena to tell the NHL that they want a team back in Quebec City. The group of fans are a long-lasting fan club of Nordiques fans that call themselves Nordiques Nation and they’re very serious about getting a NHL team once again. The ultimate insult to the Islanders isn’t that the fans can show up en masse to Nassau Coliseum to stage their own sort of protest, but rather that these Nordiques fans aren’t there to demand their team. Jeff Z. Klein of the New York Times has the story about group founder Vincent Cauchon’s efforts to show the NHL they mean business.

“One reason we picked Nassau is because every time we watched an Islanders game on TV, there was no one in there,” said Cauchon, who noted that the price for the trip, hotel and game ticket was $200 per person.

Still, it is the Thrashers, not the Islanders, who the Quebec fans have their eyes on, according to Cauchon.

“We have a lot of respect for the New York Islanders and what they accomplished in the past — the N.H.L. needs the Islanders,” Cauchon said. “But it would be great, awesome, if the Thrashers moved. Atlanta is a great sports city, but it’s not a hockey town. We’re not going to New York to tell the N.H.L. they didn’t do a good job going to Atlanta. We’re going there to tell them in Quebec it would work.”
We can’t blame Cauchon and Nordiques Nation for doing their damnedest to show the NHL they’re serious about wanting a team back. After all, with people in power angling to get a new arena built in Quebec City (something that killed the Nordiques and got them moved to Denver in the 90s) is a huge deal and shows that the city is serious about having a team again. Getting the show of dedication from the fans is an even bigger deal because there’s no way a team would want to move to a city where there are no fans, nor would the NHL consider expansion to such a place (we’d hope).

Give credit to Cauchon for putting the positive spin on things. Showing up to a game in either team’s arena to play the part of the vulture fan is an instant way to upset everyone else there, regardless of how many of their fans are at the game. We can’t help but wonder how this is going to play out though. Do they cheer wildly for the Thrashers when they score? Do they start doing Nordiques chants for the team? Do they boo the Islanders in their own house? The possibilities are endless and all of a sudden, we want to watch Islanders-Thrashers on Saturday because of it. Good work Nordiques Nation.

-PHT

I would love to see the Nordiques or Jets back in the NHL; however its just not going to happen within this decade. I read a story the other day that despite these renewed efforts of fans and certain members of the community...a serious look into the economics & numbers of both Winnepeg and Quebec reveals that neither team would be able to sustain a profitable NHL team right now.

Said Article: Numbers don’t back up nostalgia when it comes to bringing the NHL back to Quebec, Winnipeg

 

[Phil The Thrill]

LMFAO i loved their chants when 15 minutes were left in a period.

 

[A.E]

And fill the arena they did...

 

[Mooche]

<Censored> the Nordiques.

Go Jets Go.

 

[snipezo]

This is quite hysterical.

Bring back the Nordiques and Jets!!!

 

[fletch]

This is funny but Hamilton has been ###### so many times for a NHL team, if Quebec got one when they have MTL i'd be pissed.

 

[LeafsFan4Life]

This is funny but Hamilton has been ###### so many times for a NHL team, if Quebec got one when they have MTL i'd be pissed.

You would be pissed if Quebec City got a team because Quebec already has the Habs, but you want Hamilton to have a team even though Ontario already has the Leafs and Sens?. Pretty hypocritical don't you think?

 

[fletch]

Leafs tickets are ridiculously overpriced that people can barely afford them, people from Hamilton sold out half the rink for season tickets when the tried to bring the team to Hamilton.

 

[Phil The Thrill]

No one goes to the Leafs games unless they get them for free somehow (i.e. a company). Plain and simple that way. Way overpriced.

 

[The Guid]

You would be pissed if Quebec City got a team because Quebec already has the Habs, but you want Hamilton to have a team even though Ontario already has the Leafs and Sens?. Pretty hypocritical don't you think?

I was going to mention this...beat me to it

 

[A.E]

If it made that much financial sense to bring a team back to Quebec, Winnipeg, or add a team in Hamilton...it would've already been done or be in the works. You can't use a single game as a selling point either. 1 NHL game played in Hamilton sells out b/c its not the norm. Of course fans with no pro team will gobble up tickets to see that game but do they have the economy to sustain that franchise beyond 1 game or 1 year, probably not.

 

[LeafsFan4Life]

No one goes to the Leafs games unless they get them for free somehow (i.e. a company). Plain and simple that way. Way overpriced.

Not true.

 

[Phil The Thrill]

Well no one pays 300 bucks a person to see the Leafs lose, unless you plan on sitting in the nosebleeds.

 

[A.E]

NHL tickets are overpriced all over the league. It costs too much money to watch the f'ing Trenton Devils play.

 

[LeafsFan4Life]

If it made that much financial sense to bring a team back to Quebec, Winnipeg, or add a team in Hamilton...it would've already been done or be in the works. You can't use a single game as a selling point either. 1 NHL game played in Hamilton sells out b/c its not the norm. Of course fans with no pro team will gobble up tickets to see that game but do they have the economy to sustain that franchise beyond 1 game or 1 year, probably not.

What one game are you talking about? He was saying that when there was a lot of talk about Hamilton getting a team a year or 2 ago, 12,000 people put down deposits on season tickets if they were to get the team.

 

[LeafsFan4Life]

Well no one pays 300 bucks a person to see the Leafs lose, unless you plan on sitting in the nosebleeds.

Once again, not true.

 

[Phil The Thrill]

Yes its true, the tickets I get are like $220, and are in the Yellows or Reds. That's the second and third section up. Its ridiculous, lucky my dad gets them through his work.

Plus everytime I go, people who are sitting in the great seats are business men, on their Blackberries all game.

 

[A.E]

What one game are you talking about? He was saying that when there was a lot of talk about Hamilton getting a team a year or 2 ago, 12,000 people put down deposits on season tickets if they were to get the team.

I'm speaking hypothetically. Any franchise team sells out they're first couple of seasons but its the whole "new franchise" feeling of any city & like I said, if any of those cities could sustain those numbers, the NHL would get a team in the area. There's a lot of financial pro's that crunch all these numbers and take all this sh.. into consideration. If those people are saying it wouldn't work then it why bother?

 

[LeafsFan4Life]

Yes its true, the tickets I get are like $220, and are in the Yellows or Reds. That's the second and third section up. Its ridiculous, lucky my dad gets them through his work.

Plus everytime I go, people who are sitting in the great seats are business men, on their Blackberries all game.

You said no one pays to get to Leaf games and only go if they get tickets for free. That is not true. I have always paid to go to Leaf games and so has everyone else I know.

 

[LeafsFan4Life]

I'm speaking hypothetically. Any franchise team sells out they're first couple of seasons but its the whole "new franchise" feeling of any city & like I said, if any of those cities could sustain those numbers, the NHL would get a team in the area. There's a lot of financial pro's that crunch all these numbers and take all this sh.. into consideration. If those people are saying it wouldn't work then it why bother?

Who is saying that a team in Hamilton or Quebec City wouldn't work? I'm willing to bet it would work a lot better than places like Atlanta and Phoenix