As an outsider to the Red Wing nation, and an avid Penguins fan, you might think my opinion of the highly storied original 6 NHL club to be tainted. I assure you right now, it is not. I’ve always looked at the Red Wings and their fans to be some of, if not THE, most die hard hockey community. I respect any club in the NHL and their fans (yes, even the Flyers) because I hold the same passion for my Penguins. While rivalries interfere with that, just like the players, I leave everything on the ice and rarely take any aggro to public forums. Unless anyone challenges me to a trash-talking battle. But that’s for another day. I had the chance to see the Wings play the Nashville Predators tonight live. It was my first time at the Joe Louis Arena, and since I’m a hockey fanatic, I was very excited to be there regardless of the teams playing. I’ll watch any hockey, so being at an NHL arena I’ve never been to was a big thing for me. It was a good game, totally dominated by the Predators, and I enjoyed the experience very much….Until the end.

I take a lot of pride in my knowledge of the game and am always looking for new ways to let it grow. But one thing that I figured even the most basic fan had a concept of is supporting your team no matter what. I supported the Penguins during the “dark period” as if they were a Stanley Cup contender. The fact that they were struggling wasn’t something I ignored, but it didn’t matter to me. It’s the Pittsburgh Penguins. They’re MY TEAM. Any Pens fans remember when Ryan Malone was our best player? Or when Milan Kraft was “the next Lemieux”? I do. It sucked. Empty arenas, a playoff drought, no support from the majority of the city. It was a sorry sight. Even with Mario’s second return, it wasn’t all that often the Igloo was sold out. Crazy to think that, now that Pittsburgh is close to 200 consecutive sell-outs. And how can we forget about the Kansas City scare? But no matter what, I was always there. As frustrating as it was.

But Pittsburgh isn’t one of the big hockey cities. It’s not portrayed by the media to be this crazy die-hard-do-anything town that I know it can be, and sometimes is. You always hear about Montreal, Calgary, Chicago, Edmonton, Toronto, and (yep, you guessed it), Detroit. When the Wings played the Pens in the Finals two straight years in a row, I feared for my boys everytime they were in Detroit. It looked terrifying on television. The fans looked ruthless, and the atmosphere of the Detroit home games looked even worse. I understand the playoffs are a whole different ball game than the regular season, but for a city that calls itself “Hockey Town,” what I saw tonight was absolutely PATHETIC.

I don’t mean to piss anyone off here. That’s not my intent. But you have to understand that I came into the Joe thinking that I was about to witness one of THE best hockey fan groups in the world. But what I saw was the exact opposite. I’ve been to plenty of hockey games in my day. All sorts. Penguin games top this list. Ask anyone that knows me in real life, and they’ll tell you one of my bigest pet peaves is unsupportive fans. At the beginning of the game it’s, “WOOO GO PENS YEAH SIDNEY!!!” Or in this case, “YEAH GO WINGS WOOOO!!!!” And when it’s clear the team is going to fall, they leave the game. Why? Why would you not stay and cheer your team off the ice? I know how I feel about the game, and I would never leave a game just because my team is going to lose. I have more pride in my boys than that. I have more pride in myself. Ten minutes left in the third period tonight. It was pretty clear the Red Wings were going to lose, being down 4-1. And in the blink of an eye, 17,000+ turned into a few hundred. I thought Pens fans were bad. I have no shame in heckling my own fan-kind at Pens games when they leave early, because it’s disrespectful to the players and the organization. What you’re saying here is, “You’re losing, I’ve lost interest in this game, I only want to see you win and I’d rather get a jump on the traffic I’m going to hit than see you lose.” Does it suck to have your team lose? Absolutely. But look at it this way. The fans are what make the players proud. Ask any professional hockey player how it feels to have thousands of people cheer when they score or make a good play, and I doubt you’ll get anything short of, “Overwhelming.” So how do you think it feels to look up from the bench and see the arena near empty with half a period left just because your team is losing? Guaranteed terrible. Disheartening. Discouraging. They’re already beating themselves up over the loss, who are you to make them feel worse? Not even on the player’s level, on the principle. I look at the Penguins like my own family. They’ve brought me unparalelled joy, heartbreaking disbelief, and some powerful hope. I couldn’t live with myself if I turned my back on them before they were done performing just because they were losing. Through Hell or high water, I support my team. I don’t care if they’re down 15-0, I’m going to stay in my seat and cheer when they skate off the ice. Because they deserve it. I assumed Wings fans would be the same way, if not better than that. I am so sorry to say that they are not.

My mind is blown. The game of hockey means so much to me that I felt embarassed for Detroit. I had tears in my eyes as I watched 80% of the crowd leave with half a period left because the Wings were going to lose. For the small number of you who will read this, I urge you not to fall into this category. No matter how big or small, or good or bad your team is, you owe it to the players and the organization to tough it out with them. I like to think that the Penguins walk side by side with their fans all the way to the end. So I do the same for them. I’m sure every single club is the same way. Whether professional or amateur. For the sake of your team, for the sake of yourself, give 100% every game. Even if no one else does.