In response to an article on Vancouver Canucks Open Ed, I went off in the comments sections of the article about how Canadian fans tend to pick on the teams in the Southeast division. I wasn't directing my comments towards the authors of that blog when I wrote, "The way a lot of Canadian hockey fans pick on that division is like the football team picking on the science geeks back in high school". I think the authors are wrong about, "it (Winnipeg) seems a smarter option than almost every city currently represented in the Southeast division" but I wasn't commenting on them. I was commenting on the jingoistic notion that Winnipeg is more deserving of an NHL franchise then the current NHL markets in the southern US.

Go to any NHL message board and you will find Canadian NHL fans who make cracks about NASCAR, basketball or the inability to create an outdoor ice surface to justify why Winnipeg deserves the NHL more then Carolina/Florida/Tampa Bay/Nashville/etc. Unfortunately, if Winnipeg residents really wanted hockey more then those cities why wouldn't they elect governments that would build an NHL calibre building to their city? If the Americans are willing to pay for NHL buildings through their tax dollars, doesn't that justify them having a team at the expense of Winnipeg?

Besides, the Southeast division is an easy one to pick on. None of the franchises in the division have ever had a team that looked like a Cup contender (Carolina, Washington and Florida were teams that rode hot streaks to an appearance in the finals). With the exception of a few NHL markets, weak teams don't have great attendance. Winnipeg has never averaged 14,000 a game while this season the only Southeast team with an average attendance under 14,000 is Carolina.