Schadenfreude and Canadian Hockey Fandom

You always need a plan B...and C...and D.

Growing up a Montreal Canadiens fan during the 1970s was a different experience.  Between 1970 and 1976 the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup six times.  They won so often I became bored with them.  In general, being a fan of Canadian hockey was easy.  During the 18 years from 1976 until 1993 Canadian teams won the cup 12 times. Had I known there would be a 30-year (and counting) drought I might have appreciated it more. Admittedly, it hasn’t all been bad news for Canadian hockey fans.  Canada won the World Championship 9 times in that span, Olympic Gold in 2002, 2010, and 2014, and are perennial favorites for Gold at the World Juniors, winning it 14 times since 1993.  But it has been hard to be a fan of Canadian NHL teams.

Being a fan of the Ottawa Senators is no exception.  Since missing the Cup final by one goal in 2016-2017, the once great (ok, pretty good) team has missed the playoffs six straight seasons, accumulating a record of 177-229-49 (.443) in the process.  Novembers have been particularly hard with the Sens compiling a spectacular .367 winning percentage (23-41-4) during those months.

The last two years the team seems to have adopted the same tired old script: excitement, an early resetting of expectations, and then a crushing November when the Dorian and DJ Smith apologists make their appearances and excuses (“if it weren’t for the injury to x”).  Christmas comes as a welcome reprieve.  As for the New Year?  Well, the New Year brings new (false) hope as the Sens perform just well enough for the playoffs to appear within reach before crushing our spirits near the end of the season.  After a 3-1 start this year the team appears to be setting us up for another “Losevember” by getting crushed by beatable teams in back-to-back home games.  

Being a Canadian hockey fan is tough.  Being a Senators fan is tougher.  In either case, if Canadian fans need a strategy so that they can enjoy the playoffs once their team is eliminated or fails to make it (it’s never too early to start planning Sens fans).  The primary strategy is to have a backup team and to ensure I can enjoy the playoffs as long as possible I have a hierarchy:

#1. My team (sigh)

#2. My backup team (these days it’s the Canucks as I live in Vancouver.  Yes they suck which is why there’s #3.)

#3. Any Canadian team.

#4 Schedenfreude

Schadenfreude is the dark side underside of Canadian hockey fandom.  We all have teams we hate and reasons why I WILL NEVER CHEER FOR A TEAM IN A CITY THAT DOESN’T GET SNOW!!!  Sorry about that, I’ll behave going forward.  Schednefreude is our salvation and for most Canadians, aside from winning the Stanley cup (I imagine) or seeing Canada win gold, there is no greater joy than watching the Maple Leafs lose.

They are the big guys, the rich team with fans so loyal (or stupid) that management could ice a Tim bit team and sell out (why are they so small!  Hit him!). I’ll be honest, if they were the only Canadian team to make the playoffs, I’d be torn between cheering them on as the last Canadian team (#3 above) or hoping they’d flame out in the first round. I don’t really hate them so much as take joy in their failures.

My anti-cheering is not restricted to the Leafs either. I take perverse pleasures in playoff droughts and post-season series win droughts.

When Florida finally won a first round series after a 24 years without a win, a little part of me died.  I know, there’s still Buffalo (how do you miss the playoffs for 12 straight years?!?), but as they lost 4 Super Bowls in a row, cheering for a Buffalo team to lose feels a little bit like drowning puppies. Don’t get me wrong, I still do it, I just feel a little sad about it (I’m kidding, where’s that bag of puppies?  They’re not going to drown themselves!).

The Sens aren’t out of it yet and the Leafs, while underperforming, are ahead of them in the standings.  It’s still early though.  The Sens may yet find a way to win in November and the Leafs…well, they’re still the Leafs.  My spirits will rise and fall as the season progresses, there will be good days and bad days, but I’ll always have game 7 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.  Go Leafs!  Lol