The crowd was too quiet at the start

[yeltzen]

Great post.

When the team is getting their ass whipped from the first drop of the puck, it's hard to get excited about anything. The one chance they did have to get the crowd into it - a 5 on 3 that led to a 3 on 1, they failed.

[Dickie Dunn]

The crowd was pathetic anyways. 14 grand and some change for the 3rd home game of the year against the defending Stanley Cup champs is terrible. I guess the Sidney Crosby novelty has already worn off for some people.

[Ironhorse]

With Pittsburgh nothing and nobody worries or cares about hockey until football is over. Pittsburgh fans would rather go to a high school game between the two worst high school teams than a playoff hockey game. And crowds at Pens games have always been quiet. Heck, most leave with a tie game and 7 minutes to go in the third. We need to enjoy our final season or two before they move. I bet the Pens stay in Pittsburgh next year as a cost leader for the new owner as a way to tease his way into being approved by the NHL as the new owner. One way or another a billionair wants his team in his home town. Mybe NOT Hamilton but Waterloo. The metro area has more people than Pittsburgh and he will play it right to make it work for Canada new team.

[penny lane]

You could have heard a pin drop at the start of the
game. This was very inappropriate .. weird, actually .. after
the Pens had such an exciting win over the Rangers, and
had started out 2-1, and with a huge upside ahead for this team
under Shero's leadership, and with Malkin getting ready to make his debut after the injury, etc.

That ridiculously-quiet crowd at the very *beginning*
established a weird, negative vibe in the building .. and
it must have affected the team somewhat.
Incredibly inappropriate and bizarre crowd reaction.

But this has been seen before. This isn't really a new phenomenon.
Pittsburgh's psychology can be really strange.


I think part of this lack of crowd-support is the stupid old
"worried about R Stillers" syndrome .. especially on autumn Saturday
nights (before 'duh Stillers' games, of course). I am so sick
and tired of this. Come on, yunzers .. get behind your hockey team !!!

It's almost as if people around Pittsburgh think that showing support and enthusiasm for the Penguins during October through December, is "insulting the Steelers". What a syndrome. Hey, yunzers .. get out of the 'R Stillers' syndrome. It's__REALLY OK__to get excited about the Penguins during "football season". It really is .. !!! Try it for once.

So I'm the power behind Sid's passes & shots, cool!
Fans aren't responsible for 3 penguins not being able to get the puck
of their zone so that 1st early goal is not scored.
Fans are not responsible for wingers who clearly don't understand they are suppose to be shooting & goal scoring wingers.
I love the "it's the fans fault" for a penguin loss post.

[pens#1]

im also surprised with the lack of attendance..i hope it picks up now and the new owner sees that the fans will supporte the Pens.
i live on the other side of Pa and come to games when i can..i hope people that say they want the Pens to stay go out and buy a ticket

[Kicksave]

I was at the game last night and I have to say, It was hard getting into the game.

It seemed like every chance that there were to start getting into t he game, there would be some dumbass promotion that would take the buzz out of the fans. An example was the Kiss Cam, and whatever they did when they played the YMCA song.

[ams]

14,000 on a saturday night is bad, but not pathetic. it was worse a few years ago, with mario on the ice, no less. and chicago's crowd of 8,000 in a much bigger building is far more pathetic.

the pens were outclassed very early in this game, and after the injury and the subsequent canes' goals, the fans had little reason to cheer. i think the whole "worrying about the steelers" reasoning is faulty, and a convenient way to find someone to blame. i've been to plenty of pens games, both during and after the steelers season, with smallish, quient crowds. it happens. yes, crowds get bigger after football ends, but that's because some people can't afford to do both, and can manage to see both the steelers and the pens if they stragger things right. i've got no problem with that.

[Pitts]

They should trade our fans for some Hamilton fans!! Then we'd have REAL FANS!

[skullman80]

I'm just gonna copy and paste my post from the HFboards...

The Pens outdrew half the NHL last night(Wash, Nash, NYI etc..)

The attendance really means nothing though. NHL sellouts are not a regularity that they are in other sports, except in a few cities.

I thought the arena was pretty packed last night to be honest, I thought the attendance number was pretty low, unless all the empty seats were directly below me(F29).'

I certainly think the arena situation has something to with all of this. People don't want to put down there money on a team that they think may leave after this year. Which is understandable.

The team playing like absolute crap the last 5 years also has an effect. The Crosby effect can only mean so much. Until this team proves over the course of say 20+ game that it can play winning hockey the "casual" fan will stay away. Pretty much any other city is the same way. Detroit, "Hockey Town" had terrible attendance when they were down in the 80's. Ditto for Calgary when they were a doormat. Playing losing hockey for 5 years has an effect on the fanbase. The fact that 15K can still be drawn right now speaks volumes that this town will support this team through the thick and thin. Washington drew 11k last night, Chicago 8k a few nights back. Atlanta is drew 12k the other night. Not alot of teams sell out on a nightly basis.

Plus attendance usually picks up after THanksgiving anyways...and it's been that way for years.

[e28]

People keep crying about attendance and I do agree it will pickup after december but the prices to the general public are crazy this year. I am a partial season ticket holder so I get tickets at a decent price but if your John Q Public 55 for d section and 80 for c section is steep. To buy a ticket in upper e is 35 which again is steep. I don't mind student rush but they are getting tickets in b which are 90 dollar seats for 20bucks, how would you feel if you paid 180 for 2 seats when kids next to you paid 20 a seat. Prices have to come down.