My father thought Gordie Howe played for the Blackhawks....?

Question

..when he was a teenager, as stated in an answer to one of Snoop's questions. Therefore, I have decided to never talk about hockey with my father again. (He is into, and played college football).
Another conversation I had this weekend with a friend (born in Montreal in the 40s) stated that Vincent Lecavalier was like Guy Lefleur (I find this total offensive),while comparing Andrei Markov to Bobby Orr. Give me a break. Then he stated since I was not raised in a hockey environment, I could never fully understand what being a REAL hockey fan is about. I understand attending Leafs/Habs game back in the day would have been pretty amazing. Anyway, questions:

1.) If you are from Canada(the kind where your father would make a rink in the backyard for you in the winter) do you feel you are a more superior hockey fan? Please be honest.
2.) I need a good comeback for my Canadian hockey loving friend, next time he suggest that I lack hockey knowledge and hints I drive a bandwagon.

PuckDat: Thanks for enlightening me.

LITY: Appreciate the honesty.

Awesome Bill: I think I would have a problem smarting off about any other sport. He lived in Green Bay for a while, so he is also a football guy. But good idea. Maybe, I’ll just ignore it, and be the better man.

CME: I don't work at Keebler, but I know you love packing fudge. Oh, I am bad.

CME: touché.

Answer 1

When it comes to Vinny Lecavalier, I think a Guy Lafleur comparison is a little closer than a Jean Béliveau one, personally. I've heard the Béliveau/Lecavalier comparison numerous times, plus he played Le Gros Bill in "The Rocket: The Maurice Richard Story" movie, he has the size, and skates well... But that's all that I can see. Lecavalier's no Béliveau to me yet, when it comes to class. Lecavalier's attitude actually kind of reminds me of a young Mario Lemieux's.

Andrei Markov < Bobby Orr. 'Nough said.

1.) What a perfect line from LITY: "You are as big a hockey fan as you dare yourself to be." Also, I think LITY's spot-on with how readily available resources are these days to just about anyone.

I don't like superiority complexes and I've had a problem in the past with Canadians I've spoken to having them (certainly not all Canadians though!). My favorite team plays where I was born and grew up; they didn't know more about the Pittsburgh Penguins and Penguins hockey than I did. Even if they did, I wouldn't have cared. I love hockey and I love the team. That's all there is to it. I'd rather leave the "mine's bigger" and penis envy to children and men respectively. ;)

2.) I talk a lot of smack, but it's all improv, so I can't really help you there... "Actions speak louder than words" anyway, right? Sooo...
Step 1:
Mime dropping gloves.
Step 2:
Square up and go. (Get their shirt over their head, if you can.)
Step 3:
When victorious, call them a "friggin' hoser!"

Answer 2

We all get something mixed up in our memories, but Gordie Howe a Blackhawk? jk,jk

Lecavalier and LaFleur are very similar in style although I think they differ in height. But Vinny will have to do a lot more to surpass Guy. He may have played for the Habs, but I thought he was great.

Markov is a flashier version of Orr in my opinion. But I didn't see #4 play during his healthier days. Even with several knee operations, and having only seen him play from 1974 until the end of his career, Mr. Orr was still impressive.

As for your Canadian friend, you could drill him on a sport that you are more familiar with. Perhaps you can see how much of a baseball fan he is, or football. If he says that he doesn't know anything about it and doesn't want to pursue it, then remind him that you are learning about hockey and you can understand where he's coming from.

Answer 3

Maybe you should have a paternity test done...Born with an outdoor rink in Bobcaygeon and would rather play hockey than be a rock star, movie star or Prime Minister. When I was in my late teens and my hockey career was over, I would hitch-hike from Toronto every Friday night in winter to see our local junior team play. I grew up knowing Bobby Orr was the greatest player ever. Driving a bandwagon is better than not driving the Zamboni, and if he is a Leaf fan you can add that even Woodstock happened since they won the Cup.

Answer 4

Geez..............just another guy I would have had to take out in training camp to make the team............I thought my life was tough enough as it was fighting Mikita!

Personally, having watched both Lecavalier and Lafleur, I don't think your friend is too far off. Unfortunately Lecavalier doesn't have the open ice that Lafleur had nor does he have the extra 6th of the net to shoot at that Lafleur had (taken up by goalie equipment now). Lafleur also played in an offensive system that relied on a fast break and Robinson, Savard, and Lapointe excelled at that. If you put Lecavalier in that set-up, I think Lecavalier is a better player.

Markov to Orr? The only defenceman that compares to Orr hasn't been born yet!

1) I think fandom is a result of passion, and in the internet age, you can be from anywhere and still be the biggest fan. As a minor leaguer and a scout I have been all over North America, visited libraries and granted, Canadian libraries and book stores have a better selection of books. And for years, the television coverage was better. But the availability of information now, and the ability to watch YouTube make being a fan so much easier. Who needs books (apparently I do because I buy tons of them)?

You are as big a hockey fan as you dare yourself to be. Until you connect with other hockey fans, you have to have pride in yourself.
- Being a huge fan isn't knowing every single stat out there
- Being a huge fan isn't knowing every rule
- Being a huge fan doesn't mean you miss your daughter's birthday party to go scout a kid named Lemieux

- Being a fan means you get out of the game what you want to get out of it

Being a true fan................means cheering for the Chicago Black Hawks everytime they face Detroit

But I realize that not everybody is ready to be a true fan yet!

2) No idea...sorry.

Answer 5

1) Without drawing the ire of fans south of the border (no not in Tijuana, more like Tonawanda) in some respects we have an advantage. Just about everybody and his brother have played the game here. It's part of the culture. Many of us live and breath the game which just means we will have a deeper wealth of knowledge to draw from and first hand experience that many of y'all down there won't ever have. Does it make us individually better, more knowledgeable fans? No, not necessarily on an individual basis (LITY being the exception of course) but as a collective for sure.
BTW we don't necessarily need a backyard rink here, there are plenty of places that nature provides that simply require some shoveling to be useful. Mind you a man made rink is a heck of a lot smoother and a lot less dangerous.
2) First of all Lafleur and Lecavalier are not a bad comparison but anyone who thinks Markov is fit to use Bobby Orr's wore skate laces, never mind trying to compare them talent wise isn't worth coming up with a snappy comeback for anyways. It most likely would be lost on them.

Answer 6

I have seen your answers before. Not only are you extremely knowledgeable there is no way you'd ever hop a ride on a band wagon. Did you have a hard time not laughing at your Dad on the Gordie Howe snafu?

Answer 7

first off is it takes a backyard or lake made rink to be hockey knowledge i should be able to answers 90% of answers on here, but alas all it leads to is haveing to shovel a drive way for the trick or treaters... wait im not canadian but im not south of the border either more north then the vast majority of the population of canada really.
knowledge isnt inhierited otherwise we be no better then our parents. we learn throughout life. look at how much all of us learn from the top tier answers on here.
a true hockey fan has no need to question if someone else is a real hockey fan because love for game lets them embrace even those that wasnt raised on the ice.

Answer 8

I'm not Mexican, but dammit, I can drink tequila.
Can't seem to figure out why there's pizza on my shoes, though.

I have a pretty good understanding of nuclear physics, but never been to Hiroshima.

I never met Albert Einstein but I know that C = 9,460,800,000,000 km and that c2 is a very big number.

Answer 9

Gordie played in the whl but I am not sure if he played on anyother team in the nhl except for the wings. lol :)

Drive the bandwagon????, well certainly, I built it ! lol :)

Answer 10

Detroit Redwings!!!!