Your NHL team vs. your fantasy team

[angelofharlem]

Who do you love more, your favourite NHL team or your fantasy team? I\'m a big Canucks fan, but I\'ve discovered that I care more about my fantasy team than I do the Nucks. When they\'re playing one of my goalies, I find myself hoping they don\'t score. Last week, when they scored late to pull within 2-1 against Carolina, I should\'ve been happy... instead, I was just mad they broke Ward\'s shutout. And when I\'ve got forwards playing on the other side, I can\'t help but hope they fill the net.

I feel guilty about it and I\'ve tried to fight it, but it may be time for me to face the fact that I\'ve got a tighter bond with my Angels of Harlem than with the Canucks. (Of course, it might help if the Canucks were worth cheering for this year...)

How about you? When forced to choose between your NHL team and your fantasy team, who wins?

[typo88]

I too am a canucks fan, and am shocked at what i am reading.

Whenever a canucks game starts, my fantasy team goes out the window. Im a HOCKEY fan, not a FANTASY hockey fan. If the nucks are playing my pitty penguins (which makes up a significant part of my fantasy roster), by all means i hope that they score alot on the canucks, but i also hope that the canucks score more on my MA fluery. Canucks all the way, you guys better watch out when we get all our players back, watch out in the west.

[repenttokyo]

i feel your pain, it\'s like having your 2 favourite teams face each other.

[angelofharlem]

Ha! Sorry to disturb you typo! If the Nucks are playing against my F/D, I\'m definitely hoping for a high-scoring Canucks win. It\'s more of a problem with the goalies. If the Canucks are lighting up one of my guys, it\'s tough to get excited about it.

It\'ll probably be easier to cheer for the Canucks over my team late in the season if they\'re fighting for the playoffs. But early in the season (they were playing my goalies a lot in the first 2 weeks), it seemed like one or two losses wouldn\'t kill them, but it could make a big difference in my head-to-head matchups.

[The Comish]

elevate, great thread! My fantasy teams are more important than my favourite team. I still care about them and always want them to do well.

I blame the salary cap and the NHLPA for my lack of caring. Greed is number one. The NHLPA guilts the players into signing for the absolute most money they can get so other players can become even more filthy rich and then the owners, claiming massive losses jack up ticket prices so only major corporations can afford to buy tickets.

Back to the salary cap idea. Teams are paying so much for so few players, they can\'t afford to bring everyone back. That means more player movement and less continuity with the players on the roster.

Go team!

[enfuego]

i\'m with elevate and the comish on this one.

in terms of who i cheer for more, i definitely cheer for my FH team more than my favourite team (the laughs) partially because i want my guys to do well and partially due to the fact that i have a huge hate on for the organization right now. i can\'t respect an organization that makes money hand over fist and gouges their fans by increasing ticket prices EVERY YEAR despite making more money than the biggest canadian banks. and that\'s saying something. not to mention their failure to feel the need to ice a competitive team. blow the thing up, for crying out loud!~

whoa, got a bit off topic there.

i also agree with the comish with that it\'s easy to be swayed from cheering for your team when in this salary cap era, the roster changes so drastically from year to year. i do like the salary cap because it provides more parody in the league, but because the players are encouraged to get top dollar, as the comish pointed out, teams just can\'t afford to keep more than 3-4 core guys anymore. which does make for an opportunity for the younger guys to be brought up faster, but still...

word.

[Sin Bin]

My fantasy team always comes in second place when it comes to rooting for my NHL team.

[Crazynuck]

typo karma for u.
the nucks will always come before my fantasy hockey team.
i always hope for a high scoring game in which i get some pts but in the end i hope the nucks will win.

[Dobber]

That\'s easy. I can\'t stand watching the Leafs, they annoy me. So I always watch games with my fantasy players on them - mostly Penguins.
When the Leafs get a direction, and leadership at the management level, and a clue...then I\'ll come back into the fold.
B)

[Pete]

My NHL team ... by a mile !

[honduranhockey]

Solution: draft your favourite NHL team players into your fantasy team!

I find myself wishing for particular outcomes to games with my NHL team (Ottawa); if my fantasy forwards are playing Ottawa, I hope Ottawa wins 6-5; if my goalie plays, I hope for an Ottawa shutout/shootout win.

[recordstyle]

Back in the day, when the Rangers were all over 38 years old (pre-lockout) I absolutely rooted for my Fantasy Team more.

Why my fantasy team?
1. They were managed by a great GM who cared about the future... (yours truly, me)
2. They were not former 40 goal scorers 5 years ago, they were 40 goal scorers for the year i drafted them.
3. They actually played to their star potential and made rooting for them enjoyable.
4. They reached the playoffs, and won...
5. I didn\'t have Mark Messier as my leading scorer, I had guys like Hossa/Nash/Iginla. (hmm...)

These days, with the gradual rebuilding process of the Rangers taking place I\'m rooting for them more and more than my fantasy team.

(But I must admit that winning a championship or two or three in my previous season(s) allowed me to not stress over my roster as much and draft guys I enjoy following instead of just putting power-numbers on the board.)

I\'d rather watch the Rangers progress further in the season standings and playoffs and rebound from their pathetic play early on in this season than my guys I got now in the roster below...

[Pete]

honduranhockey wrote:

Solution: draft your favourite NHL team players into your fantasy team!

I find myself wishing for particular outcomes to games with my NHL team (Ottawa); if my fantasy forwards are playing Ottawa, I hope Ottawa wins 6-5; if my goalie plays, I hope for an Ottawa shutout/shootout win.

That\'s a MUST !

I have Higgins in my pool and everytime he is on the ice I\'m wet !

[doulos]

I\'ve always said I\'d rather be dead last in every single hockey pool I own and have my team win the Stanley Cup then win every single hockey pool I\'m in and have my team miss the playoffs.

[The Truth]

I think, like a lot people said, you root for a balance of both. I went to Stars/Flames a few weeks ago and openly rooted for Iginla (who came through) but also for the Stars to win (who didn\'t). Of course, the Stars are very painful to watch, so it\'s easy to favor my fantasy team.

Second point: that\'s why the playoffs are so great! No more fantasy implications. Of course, if you are in a playoff fantasy pool, then you really should sacrifice fantasy interests for your NHL team. Going the other way might be taking the fantasy thing a bit far B)