European hockey is well known for their incredibly loud cheering sections and raucous fans. These fans typically stand the entire game and resemble some of the wildest groups you may have seen on a broadcast of European Soccer. This unique experience hasn’t transitioned over to the NHL, but the Ottawa Senators are trying to change that.
For 10 games, the Senators will dedicate one section of their arena for supporters who want to stand and bring the European mentality to the game.
Here’s the full quote from Senators president Cyril Leeder on the idea:
“We are for sure and you can never please every body. Some people don’t like loud music, some people don’t think it’s loud enough, this is kind of an attempt to desensitize that and put it one location and allow the fans that want to be rowdy and have a good time more of a European hockey atmosphere. This is common in Europe. It’s been said that Djurgardens in Sweden have the best fans in the world and the reason is they’re standing and cheering the whole game. That’s not the North American style and I think if we tried to do that in our building we’d be disappointed with the results but we’re going to start with one section this year for 10 games. Our supporters in the Red Scarf Union are helping us with that and if people are interested in being part of those games and having a good time and bringing that European hockey mentality to Ottawa we encourage them to get in touch with the Red Scarf Union. We’ve given them access to tickets at a great price so they can pass those on to people and really have a great time in those sections. We hope to start that this year and build on it each year and if we can get one section really rocking then maybe next year we can expand that to two or more sections.”
It’s a fun idea, but we’ve seen similar ideas like this fade out pretty quickly in the past. The St. Louis Blues tried to introduce an especially loud section inside their arena, but it never gained any traction. These types of things tend to have to be created organically rather than introduced and pushed along by the organization.
On a related note … did you notice how the boy in the photo above isn’t wearing a shirt? Looks like the European style of cheering may already be in place in Ottawa.
