devilzibook Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 (edited) Ok I'll take some time to explain this. The "Nordiques Nation" as been created to show the rest of Canada and the United States that we are still big fans of hockey here and it was a way to share our passion to each other and to put some pressure on the government to get a new arena. Two months ago they organized the "Nassau Assault" in Long Island with over 1100 Nordiques Fans cheering for the Islanders. The goal was to show the NHL we still got a lot of good fans of hockey. They went there peacefully, cheering for the home team. There was no "we want the Islanders or Trashers" thing... It was just an arena with enough seats for all of them and they wanted to go to a place with major U.S. medias. Big success! A great journey for all of them! Last week they went to Montreal for the Leafs-Canadiens game. Still peacefully, but Montreal Canadiens never mentionned the special presence of all these fans... So today... yes they announced that their next major trip would be for the last game of the season in New Jersey! They will go over your place still with no bad intentions and yes they'll be cheering for the Devils. And no..... they don't want the Devils, as they didn't want the Islanders particularly. They all know that Devils will not move. It's juste a place they choose because it's a big U.S. market and they can get cheap seats for a lot of people. Nordiques fans and friendly and respectful and it could be a chance for you to help us to show Bettman that Quebec City is a really great hockey place. I hope I helped you to understand what's going on with this announcement! Edited February 18, 2011 by Devilzibook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxpower Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 (edited) there's nothing to explain. I saw the genesis of this concept on HF and what they say it's about now, is not what it was about originally. probably because they realized they were pissing on a grave in Uniondale. the "excuse" for this one is going to be it's scheduled for national TV. yeah, good luck with that game staying on. we'll have to be playing for a playoff spot for that game to be televised on NBC. in which case, the reaction to this will probably be worse than it would be if it was just a "go-home" game. oh well. the Devils left themselves open for this goofiness because they priced their balconies to be 95% unoccupied except for giveaways and discount walkup. I don't have a problem with it, but a little honesty from the people involved would be nice. and saying there was no Isles/Thrashers angle is lying. they dropped the Isles angle, but they were definitely campaigning for the Thrashers at that game. Edited February 18, 2011 by maxpower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devilzibook Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 We all know that the only available team right now is Atlanta... We don't travel to New York and New Jersey because we want Isles and Devils... We travel there because we want us to be visible to the rest of the United States ( and a lot of french canadians love to visit New York the day before or after so this is a great family trip too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim777 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Are you coming down for the game with Nordique Nation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devilzibook Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 (edited) Are you coming down for the game with Nordique Nation? No I'm not because I've already bought tickets for the game vs Montreal on April 2nd! I went there for the same game 2 years ago and I loved it ( Devils won 4-1 !! ) Edited February 18, 2011 by Devilzibook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AEWHistory Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 (edited) Not being a Nordiques fan I didn't pay close attention and my memory may be rusty, but as I recall it, when the 'diques announced the move there was a fan-based attempt to get them to stay. Apparently they held a 'big' rally where they all went to the stadium to show support for the team and something like 450 people showed. Ouch! So while I sympathize with these folks for losing their team, I don't think that the Nordiques just picked up one night and disappeared (you reading this Colts and Browns owners?) or left a stable fan base (NorthStars!). Frankly, if that's the best you can do when your back is against the wall and everything is on the line then they were right to move. Sorry. The only thing that surprises me is where did they get the 1,000 other people? I suppose the original 450 or so had a bunch of kids? I'm told that French-Canadians have large families..... I dunno, maybe my memory is wrong on this, but that's what I remember reading. Edited February 19, 2011 by AEWHistory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AEWHistory Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 Ok I'll take some time to explain this. The "Nordiques Nation" as been created to show the rest of Canada and the United States that we are still big fans of hockey here and it was a way to share our passion to each other and to put some pressure on the government to get a new arena. Two months ago they organized the "Nassau Assault" in Long Island with over 1100 Nordiques Fans cheering for the Islanders. The goal was to show the NHL we still got a lot of good fans of hockey. They went there peacefully, cheering for the home team. There was no "we want the Islanders or Trashers" thing... It was just an arena with enough seats for all of them and they wanted to go to a place with major U.S. medias. Big success! A great journey for all of them! Last week they went to Montreal for the Leafs-Canadiens game. Still peacefully, but Montreal Canadiens never mentionned the special presence of all these fans... So today... yes they announced that their next major trip would be for the last game of the season in New Jersey! They will go over your place still with no bad intentions and yes they'll be cheering for the Devils. And no..... they don't want the Devils, as they didn't want the Islanders particularly. They all know that Devils will not move. It's juste a place they choose because it's a big U.S. market and they can get cheap seats for a lot of people. Nordiques fans and friendly and respectful and it could be a chance for you to help us to show Bettman that Quebec City is a really great hockey place. I hope I helped you to understand what's going on with this announcement! Ah, I see! That's very cool. Well, I hope it works out.... and that you prove the naysayers--including myself--wrong. Who knows, maybe you'll get the Islanders to move. On second thought, maybe that's worse than not having a team at all... But seriously, best of luck and I hope you enjoy the game. -Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devilsfan26 Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 Not being a Nordiques fan I didn't pay close attention and my memory may be rusty, but as I recall it, when the 'diques announced the move there was a fan-based attempt to get them to stay. Apparently they held a 'big' rally where they all went to the stadium to show support for the team and something like 450 people showed. Ouch! So while I sympathize with these folks for losing their team, I don't think that the Nordiques just picked up one night and disappeared (you reading this Colts and Browns owners?) or left a stable fan base (NorthStars!). Frankly, if that's the best you can do when your back is against the wall and everything is on the line then they were right to move. Sorry. The only thing that surprises me is where did they get the 1,000 other people? I suppose the original 450 or so had a bunch of kids? I'm told that French-Canadians have large families..... I dunno, maybe my memory is wrong on this, but that's what I remember reading. If that's the case it had to just be poorly planned. They obviously had much more than 450 fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AEWHistory Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 If that's the case it had to just be poorly planned. They obviously had much more than 450 fans. I agree that this was likely poor planning. The problem is that this might also be an indication of the level of fan support: some of these fans are fair-weather, some can't afford the money for tickets, and some like the team but can't be bothered to do more than rah-rah from a distance, etc. After all, there are tens of thousands of fans of virtually any franchise and yet many cannot fill their stadiums, so every franchise has the gamut of passionate zealot fans to couldn't care less. They real key, in my mind at least, is how many belong to which category. So while it would seem likely that this was just a matter of bad organizers, the franchise owners wouldn't look at it that way and, probably, neither would the NHL; they'd argue this was proof that the franchise was doomed and take off for the rockies. That my 2% of a dollar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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