Canada's Strong Presence Making for the Most Raucous NHL Postseason in Years

CALGARY — Blame Canada.

If you are continuously having to adjust your TV volume, or you seem to be suffering from an impossible-to-shake ringing in your ears after attending one of the 2015 NHL playoff games in person, chances are you’ve been following the Canadian content this spring.

With five clubs from Canada taking part in the spring season this year, games have been notably raucous this past week.

There may have been no better example than Monday night when playoff hockey returned to Winnipeg for the first time in 19 years.

From their pregame chants to the way they belted out the Canadian national anthem, the hopeful oohs and aahs of every scoring chance, the heckling of Ryan Kesler and Corey Perry and the ultimate explosion when the Jets did put the puck in the net, the fans set a new standard for the definition of loud when it comes to NHL arenas.

In Winnipeg, it was nearly two decades of pent-up energy unleashed. The original Jets left town in 1996, and this is the first taste of the postseason for the new incarnation since returning to the league in 2011.

"That's as good a building as I've seen in my life," Jets head coach Paul Maurice told reporters after a heartbreaking loss (via The Globe and Mail's James Mirtle). The crowd was ultimately only silenced when the Anaheim Ducks scored the winning goal in overtime for a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.

So much noise was anticipated coming in that keeping it to a minimum was part of the suggested strategy for the Ducks on the night. Dan Tencer, a scouting director, shared his thoughts on the strategic agenda: 

Good luck indeed. There were times when it was difficult hearing the announcers over the white(out) noise.

Just 24 hours earlier, we witnessed a similar return in Calgary.

The gap was only five seasons without playoff hockey at the Saddledome, but the results were similar.

Decibel levels were loud, and the CBC broadcasting team members took it upon themselves to measure just how deafening the levels reached during a 4-2 Calgary Flames victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

"It was unbelievable," head coach Bob Hartley said in his postgame press conference. "We were in the locker room and we could hear them—‘Go, Flames, go!' They were already fired up in the room, and that momentum really carried us.”

The loudest sustained outburst might have come when 18-year-old rookie Sam Bennett scored his first NHL goal in the opening minutes of the third period. The goal gave the Flames a two-score cushion, and it proved to be the winner.

"The fans, the support from them was unbelievable," Bennett said after the game. "It's so much fun playing in front of them. It was the most fun and the best atmosphere I've ever played in front of in my life."

It isn’t just the fact that four of the five Canadian teams in the playoffs this year—Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa and Winnipeg—have created feverish anticipation for their fans and this especially boisterous environment in their arenas. The first-round seedings have pitted two pairs of these Canadian teams in head-to-head battles with no shortage of hatred already existing in the rivalries.

The Canucks and Flames are longtime division rivals and met in the first round of the 2004 playoffs to renew their old Smythe Division misgivings.

Since then, the dislike has grown. In Games 2 and 3, brawls erupted at the end of the game, with each leading to the league rescinding penalties for each club that would have seen a player automatically suspended if upheld.

Hostilities contributed to the crowd noise in both Montreal and Ottawa as the Canadiens and Senators go tete-a-tete in their opening-round series.

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From the minute Habs defenseman P.K. Subban’s stick came down on Senators rookie Mark Stone’s wrist—leaving him in obvious pain in the photo shown to the left—things became edgy and physical at the Bell Centre and continued when the series shifted to the Canadian Tire Centre.

Winnipeg is its own special scenario with the loss of the team felt in the sports community for so long.

It’s something the Minnesota Wild can empathize with after seeing the North Stars head south to Dallas in 1993. The Wild were born in the 2000-01 season but have enjoyed only moderate success.

Perhaps it’s the strong run down the regular-season stretch with the addition of goaltender Devan Dubnyk that has given the Wild faithful such hope this season, but the Xcel Energy Center was rocking Monday night as well. Head coach Mike Yeo credited the crowd with giving them a boost of energy in a 3-0 win to take a 2-1 series lead over the St. Louis Blues on Monday.

It’s the Canadian teams making the most noise—at least when it comes to the crowds—in providing a wild atmosphere in this year’s playoffs.

And all this isn’t a slight to the traditional sound powerhouses such as the Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, or even the long, loud goodbye to the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.

They just have more company this year.

Their neighbors to the north might get some noise complaints.

Steve Macfarlane has covered the NHL hockey for more than a decade, including seven seasons following the Calgary Flames for the Calgary Sun. Follow him on Twitter at @macfarlaneHKY.