Study: NHL fans least superstitious fans in pro sports, but they like to gamble – CBSSports.com

Game day? Check.

Stanley Cup playoffs? Check.

Lucky socks? Not so much.

Superstition has a long and often inexplicable history with sports, but a study of more than 2,000 pro sports fans by Online Casino suggests that faithful followers of the NHL are less confident in their “rituals” as an influence on team performance than fans of any other sport.

Tyler Burchett, on behalf of the study team, provided data pertaining specifically to hockey fanatics, revealing this:

Just 10 percent of NHL fans feel like rituals help their team win consistently, lowest of any sport.

Is it because ice hockey enthusiasts are more rigid, preferring their teams’ success to hinge on slapshots and cross-checking? Is it because NHL fans are not foolish enough to think their long-stained replica jersey is going to fix something like the Columbus Blue Jackets’
inability to stop Sidney Crosby from scoring
?

It certainly isn’t because NHL fans are dead-set against wearing the same outfit over and over again. Or gambling on games. Because those things, according to the same study’s NHL data, are things hockey followers still do with frequency.

NHL fans were more likely than most sports fans to wear the same outfit to help their team win. 43 percent of NHL fans wear the same thing to help their team win.

(And) NHL fans are more likely to gamble than most sports fans.

More from the study’s NHL data:

• 35 percent of NHL fans have attempted a ritual mid-game to try and change the result.

• 28 percent of NHL fans know of at least one instance where they felt their rituals helped their team win.

• 43 percent of NHL fans say that even if it was scientifically proven their rituals had no impact on the game, they would still perform them.