Minnesota is the team they love to hate

Here is a must read article that was written by Scott Weighart. The article has some really good points and it also has some your classic whining as well from Don Lucia.

by Scott Weighart/Senior Writer
BOSTON (Dec. 14) — When University of Minnesota coach Don Lucia opted to leave his post at Colorado College in favor of taking the helm of the Golden Gophers, one of his counterparts saw the writing on the wall — or perhaps the writing on the USCHO Message Board.

“I remember when I was thinking of taking this position, I had another colleague in my league call me and say, ‘Why would you want that job? Everybody likes you now. If you go there, every body's going to hate you,’” Lucia recalls.

While this might not be true of Lucia personally, it does appear to be the case with the Minnesota program. A recent USCHO poll asked readers to vote on the team that they most love to hate. The Golden Gophers were the decisive winners, garnering 27 percent of the votes — substantially more than second-place North Dakota.

The funny point is the fact that UND is the second most hated team in the league. I was wondering who number three was. I actually find that funny, I am sure there were a lot of Gopher fans voting for the Sioux. I wonder how many times Amy from Lets go Mavs voted. He, he, he...

You have got to love this Badger fan as he nails it spot on. I also have to agree with him, I like many fans around the league also watch every game Minnesota plays in on FSN and I enjoy each gopher loss even when it is to the Badgers, Pioneers and Tigers. If I was watching an NCAA title game and it was Maine or B.C. against the Gophers I am going to be cheering for the Hockey East team. I just can't stomach listening to their fans bragging about another national title.

“Why do I love to hate Minnesota?” asked David Krawczyk, 27, of Madison, Wis. “Its the arrogance of the fans. The experiences I have had in the Xcel and in the Mariucci are by far the worst that I’ve had in any opposing rink or ‘neutral sites’. Even worse is the behavior of some of the fans when they travel. By no means am I saying every Gopher fan acts this way, but enough do to really stand out and overshadow the many reasonable fans.”

Perhaps these experiences led to Krawcyzk capturing the feelings of many opposing fans in Gopher territory.

“As a UW fan and alum, it is one of the things that is always a constant,” Krawcyzk said. “I root for Minnesota to lose every game. I laugh when they lose embarassingly. I get behind whatever team is playing them that week and if I’m watching the game at home on TV, I become one of the biggest ______ (insert team here) fans in the country if only for one night. My two favorite teams are the Badgers and whoever is playing the Gophers that night.

“Under zero circumstances could I ever root for Minnesota. If a Gopher victory was the only thing that could get UW into the NCAA tournament, I would still root for the Gophers to lose, and lose badly.”

Here is some blatant whining by tDon. I think what Lucia forgets is that his own fans bring it upon themselves, either that or he is oblivious to the facts at hand. It's the moron fans that corner you in the bathroom at the urinal to lecture about their team. It's the clowns that sit behind you at hockey games at the XCel energy center that don't have any hockey knowledge what so ever. It's your own fans that whine about every petty trivial matter. It would be interesting to know which arena that Lucia's wife is talking about.

So the question remains: Can’t we all just get along as college hockey fans? Lucia acknowledges that opposing crowds are much more negative toward Minnesota than to his previous programs, but he also was hard-pressed to believe that Gopher fans were worse in their behavior than those at other programs. “Rest assured that I’ve been at CC and I’ve been at Alaska, and I’ve been at Minnesota, and when I go with Minnesota’s team to another facility, the way we’re treated, it’s amazing how different it is — from vulgarity to everything.

“I wouldn’t know that because I’m obviously not sitting in the stands,” qualified Lucia when told about complaints I had heard about how visiting fans had been treated at Mariucci. “You certainly hope that’s not the case. I know that we go to another facility in this league, and the whole student section is chanting ‘F the Gophers’ in unison and out loud. I’ve never heard anything like that from our fans.

“I know there’s some Minnesota fans who don’t even like going to another facility in the league — I don’t want to name names — because of how they’re treated. I know my wife even had that experience last year: There’s one facility in our league she’ll never go back.”

That said, Lucia’s biggest point was that all school administrators should be taking responsibility to get crass profanity out of arenas or any other exchanges. “We’ve got to get the vulgarity out of it. To me, that’s on the administration to get that out of it. I think it’s great when fans are into it, but I hate the vulgarity, whether it’s fan or fan or on opposing players. That has no place.”

Lucia agreed that the situation is a vicious circle. People resent the Gophers’ success, and they respond negatively to the team and their fans, thereby increasing the chip on the shoulder that some Gopher fans may feel when interacting with other fans. “It’s easier to point the finger at the other person. Personally I don’t think any visiting fans should be disrespected by hometown fans no matter where you’re playing.”