Grand Rapids fanfare

[boblee]

Good afternoon,

I wanted to weigh in on a trend I've seen on the board and through Twitter this season. Grand Rapids fans take a lot of grief for being homers and for there being so many, etc. Here is the deal. The Thunderhawks have a hockey hungry community with a fantastic new head coach. But, I'll tell you what the difference is - coverage.

Most teams hope to get coverage from the local media, then hope that fans, administration and community members see that. Grand Rapids has the benefit of a PR-machine - www.grhshockey.com.

Yes, I am tooting our own horn. The coverage we have is outstanding, but the response from fans and the sheer volume of attention was absolutely insane. From the time Alex Adams scored (with six seconds left) to the final horn, we have 111 twitter notifications. The website had 3400 visitors yesterday alone. The Facebook page had a post with nearly 30,000 in reach last night.

Grand Rapids fans are everyone because you can be a Grand Rapids fan anywhere due to our website and social media.

We wish every team in the state would do the same thing, but that is the reason why.

[C-dad]

Are you organizing the caravan to St. Paul?

[elliott70]

Are you organizing the caravan to St. Paul?

From Fargo?

[elliott70]

Hey, Tim.
You have done an outstanding job.
Not bad for a little kid that did not know heads from tails on a hockey puck a few years back.

[boblee]

Hey, Tim.
You have done an outstanding job.
Not bad for a little kid that did not know heads from tails on a hockey puck a few years back.

Who says I do now? Haha

[boblee]

Are you organizing the caravan to St. Paul?

I am sure there will be plenty of people organizing those. We will just stick to content.

[grindiangrad-80]

Well, after all the dust has settled, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Thunderhawks on a great season. The expectations for this group were high from the beginning and they delivered and then some.

Good luck to the seniors in your future endeavors. Every single one you have been a pleasure to watch. Thank you for all the great memories.

As far as the returning players, the future looks very bright also. Plenty of young guys got right in the middle of as tough a schedule as any and handled it well. I am anxious for next season already.

Thanks again and Skol Injuns.

[karl(east)]

Yes, congrats to Rapids for a great showing and representing 7AA well. We East fans may stay bitter for a little while, but I think we all appreciate a good show when we see one. I was downstairs visiting an East friend for the second period of the semifinal, in seats not far from the Rapids student section, and one of the coolest moments of the Tourney was when they buried those two quick ones and the band cranked up the Olé song. (Does that thing have a name? As I've said a few times over the past week, it's the best hook in high school sports.) The amount of orange was impressive, as always.

It was also a pleasure to meet boblee briefly that night. Looking forward to renewing this rivalry again next year.

[boblee]

Yes, congrats to Rapids for a great showing and representing 7AA well. We East fans may stay bitter for a little while, but I think we all appreciate a good show when we see one. I was downstairs visiting an East friend for the second period of the semifinal, in seats not far from the Rapids student section, and one of the coolest moments of the Tourney was when they buried those two quick ones and the band cranked up the Olé song. (Does that thing have a name? As I've said a few times over the past week, it's the best hook in high school sports.) The amount of orange was impressive, as always.

It was also a pleasure to meet boblee briefly that night. Looking forward to renewing this rivalry again next year.

It was nice to finally meet you as well. Our website and social media pages have exploded the last two weeks. Our fans are awesome.

[kniven]

Good afternoon,

I wanted to weigh in on a trend I've seen on the board and through Twitter this season. Grand Rapids fans take a lot of grief for being homers and for there being so many, etc. Here is the deal. The Thunderhawks have a hockey hungry community with a fantastic new head coach. But, I'll tell you what the difference is - coverage.

Most teams hope to get coverage from the local media, then hope that fans, administration and community members see that. Grand Rapids has the benefit of a PR-machine - www.grhshockey.com.

Yes, I am tooting our own horn. The coverage we have is outstanding, but the response from fans and the sheer volume of attention was absolutely insane. From the time Alex Adams scored (with six seconds left) to the final horn, we have 111 twitter notifications. The website had 3400 visitors yesterday alone. The Facebook page had a post with nearly 30,000 in reach last night.

Grand Rapids fans are everyone because you can be a Grand Rapids fan anywhere due to our website and social media.

We wish every team in the state would do the same thing, but that is the reason why.

Hi boblee. I think Grand Rapids has a wonderful following! I don't blame them. The tradition of GR hockey tradition is pretty amazing. I know ever time we ( CEC ) head to Rapids for a section 7AA hockey game......the atmosphere and arena give me chills! What a great hockey town/arena/fan base.