The strangest and most fantastic factor occurred in Canada on the highway to the Stanley Cup. It’s exhausting to pinpoint precisely when it began, however by the top of the NHL’s best-of-seven championship sequence, (virtually) all the nation was pulling for Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers to defeat the Florida Panthers.
There was the Toronto institution the place everybody chanted for the Oilers. The watch get together in Winnipeg’s True North Sq.. Even Hitman’s Bar in Calgary declared itself “Oilers Headquarters”. Nationwide newscasts broadcast stay from Edmonton with the Oilers because the lead story.
Such unity will not be regular in Canada, the place each fan base has at the least one or two regional rivals they will’t stand. Vancouver can’t stand Edmonton. Winnipeg isn’t keen on Calgary. Ottawa despises Montreal. And everybody hates Toronto.
It’s often solely in the course of the Olympics or World Juniors the place you’ll see all the nation cheering for a similar staff. However in some way, like these squads, the Oilers grew to become “Workforce Canada”.
Perhaps these sentiments are as a result of the Oilers had loads that rival followers might establish with. The 16 Canadians on Edmonton’s roster have been the most of any staff to achieve the NHL convention finals within the wage cap period, and numerous Edmonton’s gamers had earlier stints with different Canadian groups.
Canadians’ need to see the Cup again “house” of their nation definitely has loads to do with it. The final time an NHL staff from Canada gained the championship was the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, 30 postseasons in the past.
Nevertheless it’s greater than that. As a result of followers coast to coast didn’t rally round, for instance, the Ottawa Senators in 2007, the Vancouver Canucks in 2011, and even the Habs in 2021 when these groups superior to the Stanley Cup Remaining. There was one thing about this Oilers staff that resonated with followers on a deeper stage.
Oilers Had been a Workforce of Resiliency
The 2023-24 NHL season wasn’t even on the quarter pole, and Edmonton was already left for useless. It was American Thanksgiving, the NHL’s proverbial second of fact, and the Oilers trailed the final playoff spot within the Western Convention by 10 factors. Traditionally, the overwhelming majority of groups under the playoff cutline as of U.S. Thanksgiving will find yourself lacking the postseason.
However Edmonton would defy the percentages and writer one of many nice turnarounds in sports activities historical past. Exhibiting a resiliency that was exhausting to not admire. The Oilers climbed all the best way as much as second place within the Pacific Division by season’s finish.
Edmonton posted the league’s finest report over the ultimate 5 months of the 2023-24 NHL schedule, at one level profitable a franchise-record 16 consecutive video games.
Oilers By no means Gave up on the Cup
The Oilers’ unimaginable will and never-say-die angle resurfaced within the playoffs, and it might captivate the hockey world. After defeating the Los Angeles Kings in Spherical 1, getting previous Vancouver within the second spherical, and beating the Dallas Stars within the Western Convention Remaining, the Oilers dropped the primary three video games of the Stanley Cup Remaining to the Florida Panthers.
Historical past once more advised the Oilers that they have been achieved for. Just one staff had ever come again to win the Stanley Cup Remaining after falling behind 3-0 within the sequence, and that occurred over three generations in the past, when Toronto beat the Detroit Purple Wings in 1942.
However the Oilers obtained up off the mat with an emphatic 8-1 house win in Sport 4, beat Florida on the highway 5-3 in Sport 5, and evened the sequence with a 5-1 Sport 6 victory in entrance of their exuberant followers.
The scene inside Rogers Place, with 18,347 followers singing “Livin’ on a Prayer”, was infectious. By Sport 7 on Monday (June 24) it appeared like everybody had caught the vibe.
McDavid Made Everybody a Fan
Even those that couldn’t come round to cheer for Edmonton have been hoping for Oilers captain McDavid to get a hoop. The very best hockey participant on the planet, he has been chasing a championship since he started his NHL profession in 2015, 9 years in the past. That’s longer than any of his all-time contemporaries, from Wayne Gretzky to Mario Lemieux to Sidney Crosby, performed within the NHL earlier than hoisting the Stanley Cup. Whereas particular person accolades have been plentiful, hockey’s final prize has eluded McDavid.
Associated: McDavid Units 5 Data as Oilers Rating 5 Objectives in Sport 5 Win
To see McDavid play is to witness greatness. His otherworldly talent and creativity seize the creativeness. He makes followers out of non-fans. That was by no means extra the case than in Sport 5 when he delivered on his well-known “Drag them again to Alberta” quote by scoring twice and including two assists to maintain his staff alive. It wasn’t fairly Mark Messier’s Sport 6 assure in 1994, however it wasn’t that far off, both.
Oilers Couldn’t End the Story
We wish to see our heroes end their story, and there’s a way that McDavid’s profession might be incomplete until he wins the Stanley Cup at the least as soon as.
McDavid was good within the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He broke Gretzky’s report for many assists in a single postseason. He obtained the Conn Smythe Trophy, as playoff MVP. However the Oilers didn’t win the championship. Florida did, taking Sport 7 by the slimmest of margins, 2-1, at Amerant Financial institution Enviornment.
The postseason is over now, and when NHL groups return to the ice in a number of months for the 2024-25 marketing campaign, followers throughout Canada might be cheering for his or her hometown groups as soon as extra. And there doubtless gained’t be many opponents these followers wish to see their favorite squad beat greater than the Oilers.
However what occurred this postseason confirmed how particular these Oilers are. They may not have introduced the Cup again to Canada, however they managed one thing even rarer: bringing the nation collectively.
