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What do you do when your NHL team falls out of playoffs?

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Rich Lam - Getty Images

We've lost a few teams along the way as the Conference Finals continue on. First there were 16, then eight, and now there are only four left. Tears have been shed, riots have been raged, and snarkiness has ensued. But for the fans of those 12 teams that have fallen out, how they deal with their team's performance seems to boil down into three camps.

The first camp are those who are simply done watching hockey for the year. They've emotionally invested as much as they were able into one team, and now they don't have anything left for the rest. Or, they simply focus on one team and don't care about the rest. Either way, for those fans, when their team is done for the season, they're done with hockey for the season and they move on to other things.

The second and third camps are an interesting lesson in sportsmanship. Sometimes, it's just how the individual is. In other cases, it comes down to how their team lost. Regardless, this is one of those rare situations where you can't do both.

Some have the philosophy that they want the team that knocked their team out of playoffs to win. Not just to win, but to win it all - to go all the way, if at all possible. This justifies to them that their team was beaten by a superior one; that it wasn't really their team that sucked after all.

Star-divide

For instance, how many Washington Capitals fans feel better now that the Montreal Canadiens took out the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins? Not just because it was the Penguins that lost - that brightens any Caps fan's day all by itself - but because the Pens are a good team and they lost to the same team that dropped the Caps. Maybe the Capitals didn't play so badly after all, right?

Then there's the other school of thought. The one where fans want the team that beat theirs to be swept in the next round. Or, at the very least, lose in the worst way possible.

Sometimes it's because of a bad hit, an injury, a fight, or bad officiating. Other times, it's just wanting to get even. But there are a lot of fans who hate the team that drops theirs from playoffs - sometimes, forever.

I'm sure there are a lot of Buffalo Sabres fans who were very happy by how lowly eighth seed Montreal beat them in Game 7 of the second round.

Then there's the final group - the group not directly involved in playoffs. Those are the fans of teams whose team didn't make it in. They might temporarily adopt another team, jumping on this band wagon or that band wagon as the playoffs go, but not really all that emotionally invested in the team they adopt wins. They're the ones who like to tell those fans whose team has fallen out of playoffs that they should just be thankful that their team at least MADE playoffs.

Just like with life, it takes all kinds to be a hockey fan.

Poll
What do you do when your NHL team falls out of playoffs?
Hockey is dead to me - what else is on?
28 votes
I hope the team that knocked mine out wins it all - so we lost to the Champs.
67 votes
I hope the team that knocked mine out gets swept in the next round - and gets shutout in all four games, too.
104 votes
My team didn't make it into playoffs.
81 votes
Other - I do something else.
59 votes

339 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs  |  Comment 20 comments  |  Add comment |

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Thank God for the Memorial Cup, I can watch hockey without getting the B’s collapse shoved in my face the whole time.

by Arenacale on May 20, 2010 8:36 AM CDT reply actions  

Other option

Root against the team I (and fellow B’s fans) hate the most.

by AGuinness on May 20, 2010 8:51 AM CDT reply actions  

Or,

watch all the games anyways (since I’m a hockey fan) and hope for entertaining games.

Seems the choices above fall into the “I cheer for laundry!” camp. I’m an Oilers fan (go ahead, do your worst. We’ve already heard it), but I enjoy watching good hockey.

But, if the my team went out like the Bruins, I could understand taking a break for a bit…

by Kish on May 20, 2010 9:01 AM CDT reply actions  

It’s geared really towards fans whose teams made it into playoffs. I feel your pain, tho. I write for the Lightning – #6 pick in this year’s draft, #2 in last year’s, #1 in the year before. I’m not sure what this playoff thing is about anymore, really – but people sure like to talk about it.

There's nothing quite like the sound of a frozen puck hitting the glass. It makes me happy.

Raw Charge, an SBN Tampa Bay Lightning community.

by Cassie McClellan on May 20, 2010 9:09 AM CDT up reply actions  

Rivalries

are a great part of sports. Don’t you have some particularly heightened emotions with a victory or defeat against Calgary or Vancouver?

The “cheering for laundry” bit is odd – if you follow a specific team, its applicable.

by AGuinness on May 20, 2010 10:05 PM CDT up reply actions  

Once the Rangers don’t make it, I have three major rooting interests: ex-Rangers. good story-lines, and more hockey. This year, the ex-Ranger factor has been easy, as two of my favorite ex-Rangers are in San Jose. The good story-line factor hasn’t held up, as Phoenix lost. I suppose you could say that San Jose making it to the conference finals is a good story, but it wouldn’t draw me in without Malhotra and Ortmeyer. As for the “more hockey” factor, it was a whole lot easier watching game 7 of Philadelphia-Boston with no rooting interest than it would have been if I’d actually cared about the outcome.

by aqf on May 20, 2010 9:21 AM CDT reply actions  

I’m an Oiler fan too, but my postseason plan is always the same – I watch the playoffs all the way through. The only difference is I will move mountains to clear my sked for an Oilers game, whereas when they’re not involved it’s not quite appointment viewing, it’s watch when I can. Which is a significant majority of televised games, most years.

Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries

"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg

by Bruce McCurdy on May 20, 2010 9:57 AM CDT reply actions  

I’m realizing that I should added the hockey-slut option to the poll – as long as its hockey, then they’ll watch it no matter who’s playing. Oh well. Knew I’d probably missed something. :o)

There's nothing quite like the sound of a frozen puck hitting the glass. It makes me happy.

Raw Charge, an SBN Tampa Bay Lightning community.

by Cassie McClellan on May 20, 2010 10:03 AM CDT up reply actions  

Hey...
I’m realizing that I should added the hockey-slut option to the poll

…actually, that’s probably accurate.

To Bruce’s point, some booty calls (Oilers games) are harder to resist than others (other televised games). In the playoffs, I typically always answer.

And in recent years, the Oilers booty call makes me feel dirty afterwards no matter how many showers I take.

by Kish on May 20, 2010 11:46 AM CDT up reply actions  

I cheer for the team that eliminated mine (unless it’s the Pens or Flyers), but first I take a week or two off hockey. I can’t get back on that horse right after having my heart broken. I need some time away.

"My face is my mask."

by Jake Shapiro on May 20, 2010 10:35 AM CDT reply actions  

Wait, there’s hockey after the first round? I didn’t know!

On the Forecheck: preaching the Predators' gospel to the unwashed masses.
Twitter/Cycle Like the Sedins

by Chris Burton on May 20, 2010 1:13 PM CDT reply actions  

I watch MMA until college football starts.

I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. I was building a house, I don't deserve this, deserves have nothing to do with it. Bang. "Unforgiven" I drink your milkshake. I drink it up! "There Will BE Blood". Hell is just a word, the reality is much much worse." Event Horizon". Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean, I mean plumb, mad dog mean. cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live or win. That's just the way it is. "The Outlaw Josey Wales". "And that's just what these hustlers look for. They cruise from casino to casino looking for weak dealers the way lions look for weak antelope". Ace Rothstein, The Movie "Casino" 1995.

by wolfmanshowlforever on May 20, 2010 1:14 PM CDT reply actions  

I’m sorry.

"Grind now, shine later." - Wesley Johnson

by Afino on May 20, 2010 2:22 PM CDT up reply actions   1 recs

sorry, hockey is not a year round sport. mma is.

I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. I was building a house, I don't deserve this, deserves have nothing to do with it. Bang. "Unforgiven" I drink your milkshake. I drink it up! "There Will BE Blood". Hell is just a word, the reality is much much worse." Event Horizon". Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean, I mean plumb, mad dog mean. cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live or win. That's just the way it is. "The Outlaw Josey Wales". "And that's just what these hustlers look for. They cruise from casino to casino looking for weak dealers the way lions look for weak antelope". Ace Rothstein, The Movie "Casino" 1995.

by wolfmanshowlforever on May 20, 2010 3:47 PM CDT up reply actions  

I enjoy cheering against the teams I hate. Which isn’t going to work very well, now that two teams I despise are in the eastern conference finals. That and there’s always drinking…

Cheers, Complaints, homerism and bashing of mediocre pop musicians in 140 Characters
"DO NOT get stuck behind Kyle Wellwood in the buffet line. This isn't really etiquette, but it will prevent you from starving to death"- Down Goes Brown on Etiquette for Jason Spezza's wedding

by Kevin Sellathamby on May 20, 2010 1:39 PM CDT reply actions  

When the Stars don’t make the playoffs, I choose a team and stick with them., When that team’s eliminated, i choose another. When there’s no one left that I care about, I wish for the Penguins to fail.

Here's to all us girls who love hockey...and the men who play it.

by Brad_Richards_Rocks on May 20, 2010 1:53 PM CDT reply actions  

I’m definitely a “hockey slut”. I enjoy rooting against certain teams, but not necessarily the one that beat my team.

"Grind now, shine later." - Wesley Johnson

by Afino on May 20, 2010 2:22 PM CDT reply actions  

I'm in that brothel

Though it gets harder when the number of teams left shrinks, and I have a grievance with all of them.

Still, it’s hard for me to turn away before the Cup is lifted.

Lighthouse Hockey: Playing the NHL Lotto

by Dominik on May 20, 2010 3:23 PM CDT up reply actions  

That’s why the Sharks and the Blackhawks are up on the wall as I write this. Must See TV.

It's always a great day or night for hockey - no matter the time or place!

by spiker97 on May 21, 2010 10:04 PM CDT up reply actions  

Switch my fandom to whoever is playing the winged wheel

Quitter's People United Member #33
"I am a business major in college after all." - One MHR commenter's rationale for knowing more about the Denver Broncos than I do. LOL.

by Bob in Boulder on May 20, 2010 4:23 PM CDT reply actions  


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