Alright folks, time for this week's Chirp of the Week. If you'd like to see your rant featured on the site just send it in to sensrumours@hotmail.com.
This week we feature a rant from a reader named J-Rock. It's another comment on the fans in Ottawa and goes well with the report we discussed from the Ottawa Citizen yesterday.
Have you thought about installing a panic button on your site?
Every time somebody uses it they get free Valium. It seems our fans are just as bad as Leaf and Habs fan. A bad game and we stone the player in the village square. A good game and we make him King.
I found you're site last spring and it was better then. These days it's like a day time soap. It has gone to poutine. Trying to recommend a poutine shack to that guy was funny. What happens now is not.
People criticizing Carkner now? We have needed a player in the Randy Cunneyworth, Lance Pitlick mould for years. Here he is, quick criticize him! This team, as do all sport clubs, has problems. Demitra, Yashin, the Havlat/Heatley "trades", the Chara/Redden none trades, Bankruptcy! I think we even let a GM out of his contract for draft picks.
People forget Yashin to Duchesne...GOAL!!!! We're in the playoffs! Damian Rhodes beating Martin Brodeur for our first series win. The first conference finals against New Jersey and Spezza's 3 point night. He was our hero, our next hero. Now we crucify him.
It's all Bryan Murray's fault is it? Melnyk is too involved in the managing of the team, is he? Only one post in the last six months has mentioned the "legacy" that Murray is rebuilding. I thank Melnyk for Saving our team. I use "we" and "our" instead of "the" or "them" because this is OUR TEAM.
Fans should be disappointed, even angry sometimes, when WE don't play well. That's what fans do, but you can't change you're family and without Our Ottawa Senators this city would be very small. I may not be thrilled all the time with our team, but I never hate.
Thanks for all your efforts Chirp.
J-Rock
52 comments:
Good rant J-rock.
Wow, J-Rock is really quite the homer.
I'm glad there are people like you rooting for this team.
Here is my chirp of the week...
Has anyone noticed how glorious Kovalev's hair has been lately....wow! I mean, that is outstanding lettuce, and seriously it has been carrying this team on its back all season.....terrific hair!
I couldn't have said it better. Thanks J-Rock, you literally read my mind. Especially on the Bryan Murray topic. Man, I hope he gets at least a few more years to develop this team. Then OUR team will be the dynasty Melnyk promised. Thanks again, great read.
Not bad. But let's just wait for the people to post the usual "I pay good money going to Sens games for the right to complain" argument. Nobody is saying you don't have the right to do that, what we're saying is that you shouldn't. Try being positive and happy for once.
You gotta expect some negative comments on here though; there are always plenty of trolls...
Go Sens Go!
finally some one is telling the truth thx man!
Couldn't of said it better! Great post and hope people start to use some sense out of reading this!
Go Sens Go
Chuck Norris doesn't listen to hard rock, or soft rock, or classic rock... He listens to J-Rock.
Brian Murray hasn't had success so far because of Muckler leaving the team without ANY young talent. Also, he hasn't been here long enough to see the players he drafted make an impact (i.e Karlsson, Cowen, Weircoch, Lehner, Peterson, Silverberg etc). Throw in the fact that Emery and Heatley have been huge personal issues and he hasn't had time or a fair chance to help this team. Every GM needs time.
He is doing the right thing by building up the defense through the draft. I also agree with every one of your points. Especially Murray.
One more addition. I remember last year defending Mike Fisher to the death. People were saying trade him for a bad of pucks and all I kept saying was he does so many little things right that he is worth it on that alone. Now, he's scoring and he is king. I TOLD YOU SO NAYSAYERS!
Melnyk IS too involved but if I owned an NHL team so would I be.
(old joke - every Canadian male thinks that they can run a hockey team better than anybody else)
He will eventually mellow out vis-a-vis his newish toy and evolve into an Art Rooney type owner.
He saved the franchise - Ottawa should still be very grateful.
Reality is, Ottawa has been spoiled for several years with an elite team but a ton of band wagon ho hum fans.
Sometimes you need to feel some pain before truly appreciating what you have.
Say what you want about leaf fans but they stick with their team as bad as they've been.
We will come out the other side with a much stronger sens nation as a result of the rebuild and really I think they are playing pretty good considering we have a team of grinders mixed in with a couple of stars.
Cheers,
hi could not watch the game yesterday,.how was cheechoo yesterday i think he played really good lately.cheers stephan
I'm not getting the reference to the team as my 'family'. It's an important entertainment option in town, I obviously enjoy when they are successful but I can honestly say if they weren't here I would go along my same routine and not miss a beat.
Instead of a 'family' I see them more as that neighbour or friend you had in high school that rocketed to success, made sure you heard about it then lost touch with until you read in the paper he was on hard times and was asking you for some spare cash (IE buy tickets now, please buy those tickets!)
As for 'being happy for once', I'm pretty happy when I am complaining and bitching about stuff, the negativity gives me a massive endorphin rush, know I'm not alone in Cynical/Negative Nancy Sens fan nation.
Join us, we have cookies...and we'd love to hear you complain about them :D
FOUR DAYS TO SNOOPY!
Got my vote.
Dave
J-Rock went yard on that one. Well done, sir.
How quickly we all forget... To go along the lines of this (last weeks) rant, shame on all of you who have thrown Brian Murray under the bus. Maybe you should do a little research before you go spouting off. Brian Murray is a winner thru and thru, and knows how to build not just champions, but lasting success. Murray was the man who built the expansion Florida Panthers into a Stanley Cup contender in their first year of existance. An expansion team playing in a major championship is an unprecedented achievemet in ANY professional sport. In a lesser example, while Murray wasn't there for any of the major success, he was instrumental in taking the wreck of the Detroit Red Wings and completely changing the culture of that team. It was but 3 seasons ago, that yes, TWO Brian teams met in the Stanley Cup final. Ok, so yes, Burke brings in 2 obvious deadline signings and takes all the credit for a championship, but, we all know that the core of the Ducks was drafted and built pretty much single handedly by Murray. For all the haters, It wasn't Brian Murray, who chose to let Chara walk, and who didn't want to pay Hossa what he really did deserve at that point, or who brought in Gerber, or who canned Martin or who couldn't bring this team to the promise land. What has Brian Murray done for the Senators? Brought Stanley Cup final play to Ontario for the first time in 40 years, and done a remarkable job of salvaging a team that could have been a disaster as a result of the salary cap. Mark my words friends, with the core we have now, you just wait and see in a few years when these Murray draft picks come to fruition... Am I excited now and for the future? Hell Ya. Kudos Murray, you the man!
Well played j-rock. I too came to this site, last year around december. A much different place it was then. SC is still great, but the comments have gone downhill (and increased about 5 fold) I think it has to do with so many people finding it during the heatley saga.
that said, this time last year we were at the bottom of the barrel, hartsburg still at the helm, and now we have been in a playoff spot all season, despite not having our # 1 goalie for 16+ games, some solid character guys for a while and anton and kuba missing serious time. now spezz is out and one could argue he's been hurt all year.
So undermanned, we are still WAY ahead of where we were last year. I get upset when we lose, but you cant shit on this team. its only going to get better.
J-Rock - Great rant!
Toronto has at least 5 times the population base and 40 times the corporate base that Ottawa has. Toronto fans talk big but the reality is that most all of them would not spend thousands per year for several years consecutively to prop up a crappy team. Toronto is a unique situation where there is incredibly excessive demand.
I agree with everything but one topic discussed. jason spezza being the whipping is totally legit. He takes it well and i give spezz kudos for that. Lets be honest, this is a canadian market. Stating that we are as bad as hab fans and leaf fans. Well your right, and there is nothing wrong with that. Its natural for canadian hockey fans to love and jeer their team. Why should we be different from torontonians, and montrealer's, really???? we are from very similar areas. If our 7 million man is shitting the bed, well he needs to own up. That means i or anyone can say spezza is playin like a soft panzy. Cause at times, he does. if this city was always positive and turned our cheek to any b.s. the players are pulling out their then i say good or bad let it be heard.
I'm not sure what is gayer - that post or his fem. name. Way to go J-rock, lets all put our heads in the sand and accept every shitty move Murray has made.
Tell ya what Sens fans - there are 29 other GM's in the league who love to have J-rock as a GM in order to trade with.
Hey everyone and SC,
Yeah i do agree with J-Rock. He's one of the few fans left that dont burn players at the stake because of a couple of bad turnovers. Were all human and mistakes are bound to happen, yes, sometimes they happen in sequence. But that just paves the way for a more experience and sharper future. You think these new kids are going to make the same mistake they did this year next year? No way buddy, you gotta be joking me. Spezza isnt having a very good year when it comes to scoring, but look at his assists and tell me he should be traded. The guy will be the face of our franchise along with Fisher when Alfie is gone.
The pathetic excuse for "fans" that the senators have to endure during their own home games is just depressing. We have the League best record when it comes to wins at home. WHY MAKE IT HARDER?! Youre all hypocrites for criticizing a team that is doing VERY good despite a few losses. Brian Elliott WON 3 of the last 4 games and got us 2 shutouts in that span!! Dont tell me he's a bad goalie, this guy has been standing on his head for us. Most of you were calling for Mikey B, yeah hes the crowd favourite because hes a local boy, but why show ZERO confidence in your backup when he loses ONE game?
Pathetic...
go sens go
-carlos
If Murray's so great, why do we still have Cheechoo on the team???
A great team that almost always folded like a cheap tent in the playoffs.
Forgive me if I don't feel spoiled by that.
11 years in the playoffs...and they choked or got swept out of 9 of them.
Awesome!
I'll be quiet now and keep buying tickets and going to all the games because go sens go!
Right and to the point J-Rock.
The bottom line is that some people let hockey, and the Sens, consume their lives a little too much. It's ok to be passionate but the dramatics we see here every day is quite fasinating.
I think a lot of people would agree that we are in a down period for the Senators until Murray's crop of prospects fully develop.
But if these are the dark days, than it really ain't that bad if you consider the dark times of the Leafs and Habs. Even in our worst times we are still pretty competitive.
I personally don't mind not being the President Trophy hopeful that we were. I would rather see a team that exceeds expectations than a team that underacheives once the going gets tough.
Sens all the way baby!
Chirp,
I am totally in favour of removing anonymous posts!
Good rant J-Rock. I'm not as gung-ho as you are with respect to the "family" attitude, but I am a thorough Sens supporter.
Cheers,
Rob
Crazy Canuck has said it all !!
We do have a a team with a lot of depth, and great reilience, as shown when losing 3-1 in Nov 23rd game versus Capitals, and winning in overtime 4-3 on goal by Fisher !
It looked like the Sens had just won the Stanley Cup, in their celebration near the boards ,as they all congratulated Mike Fisher, for his batting in the winning goal, on mid-air pass from Chris Phillips near the far side boards !!
Robert Cyr
Good Rant, Murray is on the right track. You"ll see Ottawa is poised to regain its place on top. This year they'll win the division.
@ bert i feel sorry for u. get a life
I will admit that I was one of those people criticizing Murray back in October, but I am looking at the situation a little differently today. I still don't think we are a top team in this league, but I do think we are a tweak away from being a real damn good team.
If we can add another top 4 dman(who can score and is not so much a liability) ala Tom Gilbert or even Cam Barker, I think we can surprise some teams if we stay healthy.
I must admit the depth on this team has been a pleasent surprise.
We all need to be just a little more patient with Murray....If he has a good trade deadline this season....Look out!
Murray destroyed a great team. He should be fired. He took over one of the youngest teams in the league. Our stars were young.
This nonsense about the cupboard being bare is just that, nonsense.
If we miss the playoffs again, we'll have another high draft pick. Do we credit him for getting a good prospect because he's drafting so high? you have to be a bad team to draft high.
Of all his picks, none are going to be top 6 forwards. Karlsson may turn into a very good puck mover. But, he's not going to be a stud.
Bryan Murray has done a poor job, and I'd be shocked if his contract is renewed. I'd predict that if he is back next season, season ticket renewals will drop even more than they already have.
I think I prefer to hear from the whiners than to listen to someone whine about whiners. I thought this was an open forum. Does this site not condone the nay-sayers? It's all a matter of opinion and perspective - there is no right or wrong.
Well at least someone agrees with me. We gotta somehow put this rant up in Ottawa so everyone can hear it!!!
GO SENS GO!!!
Anon at 4:47 PM,
Just one side of the debate is all. No shortage of nay sayers around these parts.
4:43
You are ignorant. If you refuse to see the facts as they are, stop watching and annoying everyone with your baseless drivel.
If the first half is a good idea of what the rest of the season will be like? we all have to be satisfied.
We are 4 or 5 points out of leading the northeast y'all!
Remember....In the playoffs, anything can happen!
Go Sens Go!
Anon 4:43
Yes you are an idiot.. Saying "it is nonsense about the cupboard bare" -- is NOT accurate.
How does a team bring it's good young talent in to fill the holes of departing players... when there is no talent to bring in. John Muckler traded it away period. If you can't see that.. then you don't know anything about hockey teams and don't care to.
You appear to be a Bryan Murray hater and will not hear anything good said about him.
Well you and your fellow haters will see in a few years.. when his prospects that he has drafted get to the NHL. If you would take the time to go the Prospect Camp in early July you would see the good young talent that this team has. Most are now in US college.. but in a few years they will be out and ready for Bingo or the Sens themselves.
I have a suggestion if you hate Murray so much.. then go cheer for the Leafs and their GM who they think is the second coming of God...
Truth is : the new generation are hard to move of the couch, and because of the small population of Ottawa 90,000 we will notice it before bigger cites, young adults 18-30 would much rather watch the games from their homes, and for most part most of them young a adults did not attend game with there parents because of the cost of rising a family in Ontario over the last decide. So it is mostly the size of our city is the reason for low attendance, even if we win the cup we will always have trouble. Sorry
Not that I disagree with the rant, but Spezza absolutely deserves to be ripped for his play since about the 12-15 game mark. He has been our most useless, most overpaid player. I'm not even talking about points. I could care less (to an extent) about his underproduction. In those first 15 games or so, he was actually playing a really solid all around game, even if he wasn't putting up usual numbers. I was excited for the future of this team with him... now I don't want him back from injury.
The players we have making up our top 3 lines all work hard and put in the effort (say what you want about Kovalev's start, but he's coming around). As for Spezza, he doesn't even look like a 2 million dollar player and in his last game before injury, he looked like a rookie.
Truth is : the new generation are hard to move of the couch, and because of the small population of Ottawa 90,000 we will notice it before bigger cites, young adults 18-30 would much rather watch the games from their homes, and for most part most of them young a adults did not attend game with there parents because of the cost of rising a family in Ontario over the last decide. So it is mostly the size of our city is the reason for low attendance, even if we win the cup we will always have trouble. Sorry
What the heck is this?! Why all this worry about the kind of fans we are!? This is all this site ever talks about anymore. Mike Brodeur won his career debut with an awesome performance and we fight over who the real fans are...
Anon at 8:39 PM,
There is a lot of bickering about that. I just felt this reader had put a pretty good rant together that was fitting as the Sunday Chirp of the Week.
Fear not, back to talkin puck tomorrow.
On a bright now Jacob Silverberg was excellent tonight for Sweden even though they got Trampled by Canada. He looks like he'll be a decent NHLer one day which is good for our forward depth in terms of prospects.
I think Ottawa's fan's problems have a lot to do with the city of Ottawa itself. Ottawa is a very political city and doesn't have a large job market. I know a lot of people that have lived in Ottawa, but its only been for a short period of time. Its hard to establish a fan base let alone one that will attend your games when they're in and out of your city every 4-8 years. A lot of young people go to Ottawa for college and university, graduate and have to leave the city to find work. Obviously this isn't the case for everybody out there but it is for most. I think this is a major reason for Ottawa's fan issues.
I wish I lived closer and had more money so I could attend more games. I still try to make atleast 1 game per year and atleast 1 game/series in the playoffs even though I live in Toronto and I'm a student.
Regardless, we're only 5 points out of leading our division while being one of the most injury plagued teams this season (not to mention the most penalized). Also, we had a 50 goal scorer ask to be traded, and lots of new faces have sprung up. The chemistry is building and the future looks bright for this franchise. The coaching has improved along with the game to game effort.
Go Sens go!
Bud
Hey Chirpy.
Just watching NHL network and they just put up a stat to show that the Blackhawks have the least shots against in the league. So they showed the top 5
The sens are fifth with only 27 shots against per game.
Not bad considering the "american league defence" Murray has assembled eh?
I think it really speaks to the system of team defence Clouston has instilled.
Thought you might find it interesting
I agreee for the most part, with J-Rock. I also am in agreement with Crazy Canuck. Murry has done a great job here in Ottawa. He joined the team when we had a good core group in Ottawa - the problem was that we were not strong enough physically to cement the deal - we breezed thru 3 rounds only to hit a brick wall in Anaheim. After that season, the building blocks began to crumble & it started when Muckler decided to let Chara walk in favour of a small Redden. It's also important to know that Murray has been the GM only since June 2007 -- a short 2 years. Although most on & off the bus fans likely don't have patience, others that understand things take time, will.
We're in playoff contention now & will likely stay that way this season -- we won't go too far -- since there can be only 1 winner, it's cleare that we don't have the best team in the league -- at least THIS year. But be encouraged with what we have coming up in the near future: Alphie, Fisher, Michaelek, Neil, Foligno, Leclaire, Spezza, Phillips, Volchy, Karlsson, Cowen, Lerner, Weircoch. Add a couple of trades for scoring and then watch out!
Go SENs - your future is getting brighter.
please rid us of the anon commenting, chirp. I will sign up for an account the second you do, but I am just too tired of the obvious leaf trolls and murray haters making it look like there are actually multiple ppl agreeing with their idiocy.
Not to get on a Muckler/Murray tangent but different situations...Muckler inherited a well-oiled team and was charged with bringing the team to a Cup finals. He tried with Hasek, Bondra, etc then finally got it right. Sure, he did sacrifice the future but the future was in that window from 2003-2007. Muckler's talking about the Cup all the time gave this team confidence and swagger.
"Well you and your fellow haters will see in a few years.. when his prospects that he has drafted get to the NHL. "
Fantastic, and I expect said prospects to take us on as deep a playoff run as Muckler, perhaps less so (3rd round would be fantastic, thanks). Nothing matters but the playoffs and under Murray so far, 0 playoff games won, one missed playoff berth. Whine about prospects and Muckler all you want but this is MURRAY's team and has been for 2-3 years now. HE has the ability and tools to fix what he perceives as a mess.
Me? I just want to see some results from this guy. Making the playoffs and getting bounced in round 1 or 2 isn't a 'result', it's 'failure'.
---
While Brodeur did play well he wasn't tested much and the Wild were victims of all sorts of craziness. I'd rather see Elliott tonight.
This is what I think....I think Mike Brodeur should start the remaining games left untill LeClaire comes back from his injury...The fact that we are still competing for the division at this point with the injuries we've had is astonishing in my mind. Look at the flyers who lose a top gun and starting goalie for long term like we have and they are now second last in the east conferance. In my humble opininon Brian Elliot is garbage and should be placed on re-entry waivers. There is a reason he was drafted in the last round 2nd last....It seems he is unable to make the key save like the one against jersey that went over his head, off his back, and in....There is a reason bad bounces happen to bad goalies, same reason why good goalies get good bounces most of the time...On another note, glad to see Picard playing better hockey. I was on him pretty hard at the beggining of the season, and he has stepped it up since his return from that shoulder injury. If we can get Kuba going, because in my opinion he is playing the worst hockey of his career right now, this team will take off. Cheechoo, Ruutu and Kelly has been our most consistant line and deserve credit, and Fisher continues to impress. Thats all I got to say for now!!
J-rock probably lives in his parents basement and eats stale crackers playing video games all day.
He is also a cry baby, who cares what people complain about as long as everyone is talking Sens then they are clearly fans no matter what they say.
Everyteam is the same in the league, fans complain and fans bash their team and fans talk about trades, its the SAME everywhere, got over it.
Will or Lose always a Sens fan
Good rant J-Rock. I take full for the "gone to poutine" expression though.
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