superstition

[wings_fanatic 677]

It is often said that many hockey players have tons of superstitions. Nick Lidstrom, imo the greatest Dman of all time, was VERY much so. As a guy who has played hockey since I was 5, and a huge fan of the Wings, I too have many superstitions.

Anyways, in my depression that I have been in since Nick's announcement, I have been watching some old dvds of when the Wings won the Cup in '08 and noticed some things. First of all I noticed the fire that used to shoot out of the big screen after every Red Wings goal. I go to a lot of games every year and the past couple of seasons the arena switched to smoke coming out of the big screen instead of the fire and, ever since then, the Red Wings have experienced early playoff exits. To top that off, the Wings now use tons of different songs to play after goals are scored instead of the traditional "hey hey hockeytown", "jock jam" and the one for when Hank scores. Again, ever since they made the switch, the Wings have experienced early playoff exits.

I know this sounds silly, but I am one of those people who think you should never fix what does not need fixing and they should have never changed these 2 things. I know these 2 things actually had no impact on the team, but quite frankly the fire was WAY better than the smoke is, as well as the traditional songs used after goals that the Wings used for years. I think they need to go back to what worked for years!

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

If you are superstitious, great. If it helps you as a fan or player with peace of mind or consistency/routine or whatever, keep doing it.

I get its factors in terms of the psychological sense.

Is it the one or only thing that takes you over the top or the reason you win a game or whatever? No. Just something I never really think about much or make more than it is.

[Guest Shoreline]

Your rules about superstition is really what makes it superstition in the first place, but I tend to keep it at an arm's length too knowing it may not make any sense, but it's all for fun. There's a glaring disparity between, say, Kenny modifying the team's roster due to superstition, or your suggestion of something that seems rather harmless in songs played at the Joe. I wouldn't go out and declare the Wings' lack of success is due to that, but making that chance isn't going to result in any detriment to the team, from the surface.