Which Rivalry Is Bigger?

Clint: PHI-PIT NO DOUBT!!!!

I’ve been asked to collaborate on the Penguins best rivalry. Is it PIT vs PHI or PIT vs NYR? If you read the title, I’m sure you can take a stab in the dark of where my stance is. The Pens vs Flyers rivalry is the best Penguins rivalry. It may be the best rivalry in the NHL. In fact, it’s legitimately/arguably one of the top 5 rivalries in all of sports.

It all started back in 1967. The date, October 19th. The first time the two teams from Pennsylvania and two of the “Next Six” of the NHL’s expansion teams would meet. The Flyers ultimately won the first meeting and have since established a winning record against their cross state rival overall. But when it comes to Stanley Cup rings, the Penguins are in the lead by one, as the Flyers have not won Lord Stanley’s chalice since the 1974/75 season. And since that first game in 1967, the Penuins/Flyers rivalry has transended generations and will continue to great a firey disposition between the two teams, its players, and its fans.

However, if you think this is just another hyped up sports rivalry, you are sadly mistaken. The rivalry doesn’t just involve two teams from the same state. It encompasses a true Hatfield and Mcoy hatred between two cities. Two cities who’s pride in their city, their teams, and their culture with a blue-collar work ethic mentality, envokes a rivalry that goes well beyond the logo on the front of a uniform, it starts with the city’s name on the marquee. There’s no secret, Phildelphia citizens hate Pittsburgh and Pittsburghers hate Philly. In fact, without sports, the cities would still have debates on what’s better, Primanti’s sandwich or the Philly cheesesteak. Need more proof of the cities distain of each other? How about a firsthand experience? A few years ago, I used to teach at a “charter” school here in Pennsylvania. The school was a learning institution for juvenile delinquent high school aged boys, that were court mandated to the school. The majority of the population of students was made up of young men from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, along with other various areas in the tristate region. Unfortunately, when teenagers are put into an environment such as this for the reasons that they were there, beefs, arguments, and even altercations are bound to come about. In the school it was rare for a kid from Philly and a kid from the Burgh to befriend each other. And when those altercations broke out, it was 90% more likely to be between a student from Pittsburgh and a student from Philadelphia. These young men were not hockey fans mostly and nor were they old enough understand how far back a sports rivalry between two teams from their home cities went. They just knew that they were supposed to have a dislike for each other.

This hatred between two cities just evolved into a hatred between two teams. Because of that it’s made from some really fun hockey to watch. And now in the modern era of cyberspace, it’s made from some very serious debates on twitter between the fan bases. I’ve seen the “cry baby” tweets, I’ve see the “criminals” tweets, the “we beat you when…” and “when was your last championship?” tweets. Lots of anger and despise between the Black and Gold fans and the Orange and Black faithful. It will never go away as long as the teams are in the league and frankly any hockey fans in Pennsylvania are happy about that. Penguins best rivalry? That’s unconditional YES!!

Caitlin: NYR-PIT IS BIGGER!!

Penguins vs. Rangers the rivalry continues. The Penguins have had their fair share of tough spots with the New York Rangers, be it regular season or Playoffs the Rangers have been a bit of thorn in the side Of the Penguins for at least the Past five years. Excluding this season The Penguins are 13-15-0 in the regular season versus the Rangers this stat is through 2013-2016. This isn't nearly as screwed as the playoff stats. For playoffs the record stands 4-8-0 this is twice the amount of losses as to wins. A thorn in the side of the Penguins this is certain. Some would chalk this up to the lack of success for the pens in the playoffs in previous years however if you look at playoffs in the last five years the stats stand 22-26 looking at this we can see it's not nearly as one sided as many fans would assume .It's not just stats that show this is a real rivalry all one need do is look at some of the questionable hits during the games as well as someone antics that no one will ever forgot. First we have most recently New York’s star goalie Henrik Lundqvist flipping the net off of its base during game play for seemingly no real reason .There is one more incident with Lundqvist that stands out In the 2015 Stanley cup playoffs in the first round. Lundqvist took his bottle of water and sprayed it all over the Penguins captain. This resulted in a fine of $5000 for unsportsmanlike conduct. There are simply better ways to take out your frustration then spraying water on your opponent. Or no Penguins fan will ever forgot the infamous check by Marc Staal to the back of Sidney Crosby’s neck that occurred in 2014 .This play was plain out dirty and could have caused major injury to the star center who has a history of concussions since 2011.

Another hint this is a real rivalry is the animosity in the fan bases. Now we all know there are bitter fans everywhere you go that will hate the Penguins just for the pure sake of hating them. However it seems the quantity of Rangers fans that dislike the penguins is much greater than in other areas of the league.

These are the reasons why I think the Penguins Vs Rangers rivalry is more heated the Penguins Vs Flyers.