For the second time, the Edmonton Oilers face the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup final, but are the Canadians who are recovering from the last remaining team of Canada?
While there are many people throughout the country who will not support the Oilers, you can find fans, both staunch and casual, waiting for Edmonton to bring the Cup home.
In Halifax, more than 4,800 kilometers from Edmonton, it is rare to find a fan of the oilers.
But during game 7 of the Stanley 2024 Cup final, the Halifax pub was full of fans.
“Last year when [the Stanley Cup final] I went to game 7, we had about 150 people, “said Brian Atkinson, Oasis manager.
In general, hockey fans in Oasis encourage Toronto Maple Leafs, or Atkinson’s favorite team, Montreal Canadiens, he said, and oilers fans are rare in the regular season.
Join the host Mark Connolly while taking him behind the scene inside the place of Rogers and shares the emotion in Edmonton’s ice district before the Edmonton Oilers face the Florida Panthers. All Stanley Cup games are transmitted in Canada on CBC TV.
“That is a west coast team … So you imagine if Montreal or Toronto had gone to the final … we would have reached the capacity if one of those two teams had been in the final.”
The bar shows its support for Oilers with a personalized manufacturing logo inspired by the classic oilers oilers logo.
“In terms of those logos, that is something like that, we did it for the Leafs when they were also contending, and they are probably the most popular team in the area,” said Atkinson.
Now, he says, more Haligonians are jumping into the car of the oilers.
“There is a contingency of the Oilers fans here … at the end of the day, who is the last standing team that is Canadian, tends to be the one that receives all the support in this area.”
It is possible that New Scotland does not have its own NHL team, but the hockey is deep on the east coast, with some of the most important names of the game from the province, such as Sidney Crosby, Nathan Mackinnon or the Panthers striker, Brad Marchand. But Atkinson said he is pulling McDavid to win the cup.
“If you have someone who is probably considered the best player in the league at this time … with Connor McDavid, he needs a cup, I think [there is] A lot of support behind that. ”
Despite the long distance, Nueva Scotia has some connections with the Oilers, including the organization of the Franchise AHL team in the 1980s and 1990s: the Novas Scotia Oilers and Cape Breton Oilers.
West coast hockey pride
Last year, the rivalry between the oilers and the Canucks warmed up, with Edmonton eliminating Vancouver in the second round.
Colin Cryderman, a Vancouver waiter, says he became a fan of the Oilers after working at Black Frog, the unofficial of Oilers Bar in Vancouver, inspired by Edmonton’s Black Dog Freehouse.
“The Oilers are the first team that I have adopted and made me the biggest admirer,” said Colin Cryderman.
After the confrontation of the 4 nations, which saw Canada win gold, Cryderman says that some of his friends became oilers converts.
“A couple of my friends here who are staunch fans of Canucks, said: ‘Oh, now I know how you feel, you have McDavid on your team every night,” said Cryderman.
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He says Edmonton has a good opportunity to bring the cup home.
“Remember, Florida went to the final of the Cup and lost before they beat us last year, so I think that is one of the advantages that the oilers have this year,” Cryderman said.
To show its support for the team, Cryderman has custom -made shirts for each of the playoff series.
“Usually, they have a good point and laugh when I walk the street with them,” he said.
Oilers fans in the meadows
Winnipeg Jets’s fan, Constance Menzies, says he will be encouraging Edmonton, because he wants to see the Cup returns to Canada.
“It is a bit difficult to want to show the favor of any other team, but the oilers are the only ones left in the playoffs and … we are thirsty in a Canadian victory,” Menzies said.
She is the owner of Chocolatier Constance Popp, and last weekend an Oilers-Theme chocolate album debuted, but initially, it was not good with all its customers.
“I made a woman told me: ‘TSK, TSK’ for me, so I didn’t seem happy,” Menzies said.
She told the client: “It’s about Canada now, it’s no longer about Winnipeg or Manitoba.”
