Hockey fans are known for being some of the most exuberant in all of sports. Whether you’re at the TD Garden in Boston or Bell Centre in Montreal, there’s nothing quite like watching the action on the ice in person.
As it turns out, the Blackhawks have the most raucous group of fans in the league, per one new study. According to casinos.org, Blackhawks fans reported themselves as the most aggressive in the NHL.
To create their list, the group sent a survey to 3,000 NHL fans across the United States and Canada, and asked them about their sportsmanship behaviors. That included questions about frequency of booing, cheering for the opposing team’s injuries, trash-talking on the opposing team’s social media platforms, being unapologetic towards past poor behaviors, and a general lack of empathy for the opposing team. They then used all that info and synthesized it into an “ice cold” index.
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Blackhawks fans scored a 96.9 out of 100 on the “ice cold” index. Avalanche fans came in second at 94.0. The “warmest” home crowd belongs to the Ottawa Senators who scored just 5.5 on the index.
A big reason Blackhawks fans scored so high: 22.2% of fans said they’d fought with fans of the opposing team (highest in the NHL) and another 46% said they didn’t regret their past unsportsmanlike behavior.
Here’s how the group weighted their index:
Participated in physical fights – 25%
Cheers for injuries – 15%
Engages in poor behaviors (trash-talking, taunting, etc.) – 15%
Doesn’t regret poor behaviors – 15%
Lacks empathy for the opposing team’s loss – 15%
High booing frequency – 5%
Trash-talks on the opposing team’s social media accounts – 5%
Self-rated sportsmanship ranking – 5%
