Rapher:Night Owl

Hockey is a team sport many seem to forget this.

I am pretty sure those of you who are true fans of a team and the sport will know what I am talking about, you who have stuck by a team through thick and thin, through good times and bad and always cheered them on.  You who have never waivered in you support despite how bleak it seems sometimes.

I am of course talking about that awful pandemic spreading throughout the sports world of the ‘Bandwagoner’. People that call themselves fans but who quite often than not can’t get their facts straight or will ‘leave’ the team at the first sign of bad news. You have the glory hunters, the ones who ‘follow’ a team because they see they are doing well or it seems ‘cool’ to do so. Then you have the folks who jump on a certain player’s bandwagon, only going for a ride when the player is hot (in terms of play, though the other meaning sometimes applies too).

Now although this topic applies to many sports, I am going to focus on the one that is close to my heart. I am of course talking about Hockey, the kind played on ice…Ice Hockey!

I have been a fan of the sport itself for many a year…since mid 90s, when I discovered Manchester Storm (now known as Manchester Phoenix). My love of hockey grew when in ’98 I discovered the Toronto Maple Leafs whilst on holiday in Toronto. Been hooked on the blue and white ever since.

I have stuck with the team, through it all and they have not been easy times, there have been some stressful and tough times, its one hell of a roller-coaster ride.

I am not the only one, Leafsnation is made up of many die-hard beleafers. however it seems to have been hit with a plague of people whom one can never be sure what they really believe. This is most evident on twitter, during games fan tweet updates and its great, you get discussions going and you can connect with other fans. However you also have run ins with some real douchebags, people are too quick to judge or only cheer when we are winning.  I have learnt to ignore them, drown out their stupid comments on things that either make no sense or are what they think people want to hear i.e. trying to be popular for the sake of it.

Another issue loosely linked with this and this is something I have received a fair bit of stick for as have many people, the supposed goalie issue the leafs have. There seems to be a HUGE debate on twitter regarding goalies and there is an uproar everytime ANY of the three goalies is started. I am a massive fan of Jonas Gustavsson aka The Monster always have been, poor guy has been through a lot and is gets a lot of hate from fans because he isn’t perfect ALL the time. I also love Reimer, hell of a goalie but also NOT perfect (no one is). They are both top class goaltenders in my eyes, they play differently and they both have their flaws. However it would seem some people can’t see this. Since Reimer appeared on the scene and played exceptionally, he can’t put a foot wrong with some people and thus poor Monster gets sidelined and forgotten about.

Things however have been different lately it would seem, as Reimer is out for the foreseeable future, injured, Monster has had to step up and play in his place. I love this, missed seeing him between the pipes, seems he is suddenly worthy of the task. What pissed me off though was all the people who were hating on him and loving reims, suddenly were back on the monster backwagon singing his praises BUT only when he was playing well and we were winning. The second we start to lose, it all I wish Reimer would come back. I am not saying I don’t want Reimer back, I hope he returns soon, no team is a one goalie team (we do have scrivens, I’ll get to that shortly) but you have to judge a performance of a game via the team as a whole not just by saying ”oh Monster was in goal, that is why we lost, he sucks” . Ok so each player has an off game every now and again and sometimes it is the goalie’s fault but it seems that the man in net always get the blame ahead of anyone else, ‘fans’ love to find a scapegoat.

This brings me to Scrivens, he was called up from the Marlies to back up Gus, fair enough. He did pretty well in his NHL debut vs. the Blue Jackets. However I am not convinced he is completely NHL ready and I am not saying this because of how he was vs. Bruins. That was a terribly off night, he had no support (something Jonas knows all too well) from defence and in fact the whole team pretty much failed to show up. Add to that, its the Bruins, in his 2nd NHL game he has to face the Bruins, tough one. Going back to the bandwagoners though, when Monster plays bad/we are losing with him in net, it all get Scrivens and this goes both ways.

I am just saying it must be tiring being a bandwagoning fan, I mean constantly having to climb on and off the bandwagon, where do they find the energy? Then again it must be quite easy, I mean you don’t have to deal with the stress of being a true fan, the heart palpatations and the nail bitting intensity of a game. You just have to go along with what ever is easiest, considered cool or whatever man.

Myself and others here in Europe and other crazy timezones put in a lot of effort and dedication to watch (when we can, that’s a whole ‘nother blog) at silly o’clock in the morning. We watch every game we can and we continue to watch through the good and bad times, we cheer the team on. Same goes for beleafs in North America. As my good friend Scotsman7 says, loyalty is everything.

Idiots on twitter are spoiling the experience for a lot of people, driving some insane (not literally, I hope) and annoying some so much they had to take a break from twitter. Glad Oakley came back though, I’d be lost without the leader of #TeamMonster, who’d help me defend him then.

I will say this, people are entitled to their opinions, just don’t try to force them on me or others and don’t spout abuse at me because you don’t like what I am saying.

I really hope this whole debacle regarding goalies is sorted soon, I hope Reimer returns soon but also that when he does, Monster is not once again sidelined. I don’t like what this situation is doing to Leafsnation, the collective is becoming so divided and angry. If you want to be angry at someone, aim it at the Sens and Habs like a true leafs fan should 

I will continue to beleaf in my team till the end, I will always support the Blue and White, chanting GO LEAFS GO! loudly and proudly and I hope you all will too. Don’t be a bandwagoner be a fan and be so from your heart 

You can disagree with me, I don’t care this is my opinion on  the matter.

on that note #OMGrabovski Just because and LLAP my friends

till next time

Rapher xox