(July 13, 2015 at 10:35 pm)Minimalist Wrote: I've gone there for two NY Ranger games, one with the Carolina Hurricanes and one with the Vancouver Canucks. Attendance for the Ranger games was about 12-13,000 and roughly half the crowd was wearing Ranger jerseys. The Hurricanes drew about 5,000... no body gives a fuck about them. For the Canucks, though, the place was sold out as every Canadian wintering in the region showed up for the game. When Vancouver scored I thought the roof would blow off. They also sell out when Detroit and Chicago come in. There are lots of snow birds who come to AZ from the mid-west during the winter.
I love hockey, but consider myself a bit of an evil talisman when it comes to the NHL. The Navy saw fit to move me to Connecticut; Hartford a couple years later loses the Whalers. Later in life I moved to Atlanta; the Thrashers absconded for Winnipeg some years after coming to town. I moved to NYC thinking that the curse was done, but the Islanders will now play in Brooklyn. Simply consult a map and it's reasonable to conclude that the relatively short distance relocation is no big deal; however, culturally its worse than the two aforementioned moves.
Coincidences? Very likely; however, if you want to be rid of your local team it might be worth the investment to arrange a job for me in your neck of the woods.
