Within the aftermath of the Edmonton Oilers clinching their spot within the Stanley Cup Remaining, the query to Connor McDavid on the rostrum was predictable.
Winnipeg, Vancouver and Toronto additionally had Stanley Cup aspirations this spring, however Edmonton is the final Canadian staff standing. And so the query to the Oilers famous person was considerably inevitable, as Edmonton is on the precipice of wiping out a Canadian Stanley Cup drought that has lasted greater than three many years.
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“Are you able to discuss being Canada’s staff?” a reporter requested McDavid on Sunday night. “Everyone coast to coast is cheering for the Oilers. Any added stress with that?”
McDavid seamlessly stick-handled the query.
“We’re a Canadian staff and we’ve obtained nice Canadian followers,” responded McDavid. “And it feels good to possibly unite the nation a bit bit and convey individuals collectively.”
It’s a pleasant, simple narrative, isn’t it?
A hockey-obsessed nation that’s ravenous for its championship trophy to rightfully be returned north of the border.
It’s a storyline repeatedly pushed by a Boston Pizza business that appears to play throughout each single TV timeout and intermission in these playoffs. The business opens by relaying the heartbreak of a number of Canadian groups since Montreal’s magical run to a Stanley Cup title in 1993.
Anyone has punched by means of drywall after Vancouver misplaced Recreation 7 to the Rangers in 1994.
A Toronto fan has thrown a plate by means of their tv display screen after dropping to Carolina within the convention last.
An Oilers fan repeatedly runs over their flat-screen TV with a pickup truck following a second-round loss to Anaheim in 2017.
And a bitter Montreal fan tosses their AM radio to the bottom after the Canadiens misplaced to Tampa within the Stanley Cup Remaining in 2021.
(The Flames’ and Senators’ runs to the Stanley Cup Remaining in 2004 and 2007 respectively had been omitted from the business. However hey, there may be solely a lot Canadian distress you may shoehorn right into a 30-second spot.)
The message of the business is straightforward: Canadian NHL followers have solely identified bitter disappointment over the past 30 years. It’s time for hockey followers on this nation to place apart their deep-rooted, historic rivalries and pull in the identical path.
Because the business attracts to an in depth, followers are gathered inside a Boston Pizza sports activities bar clad in merchandise that’s simply generic sufficient to skirt a trademark infringement swimsuit from the NHL. However it’s clearly meant to point out a Canucks fan and a Flames fan high-fiving on the bar. A Senators fan and a Canadiens fan standing aspect by aspect. An Oilers fan and a Leafs fan clinking full beer glasses collectively.
“A Canadian staff hasn’t received the Stanley Cup in 30 years. Possibly it’s time to strive one thing completely different,” the business urges. “This yr, let’s staff up with the followers we’ve at all times cheered towards.”
This business and the reporter’s query to McDavid, nevertheless, are rooted in pure fantasy — not actuality.
Will some informal hockey followers in Canada be pulling for the Oilers over the Panthers?
Completely.
Will some massive NHL followers on this nation be hoping that McDavid — the best possible participant of his era — winds up with a Stanley Cup ring?
You wager.
However will nearly all of die-hard hockey followers on this nation be actively rooting for the Oilers as in the event that they had been cheering on their very own staff?
Neglect it.
Positive, most Canadians need the Stanley Cup drought to finish, however with an important caveat: provided that it occurs for their favorite staff. In any other case, it’s similar to watching your neighbour win the lottery. I suppose it’s good for them, however what does it do for you?
Think about this social media ballot from Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver after the 2 Stanley Cup Finalists had been decided. Of the 1,531 individuals who solid a vote, greater than 70 % of them stated they might be cheering for the Panthers. Solely 16.4 % stated they might be actively rooting for Edmonton, whereas virtually the identical quantity (12.9 %) stated they might stay fully impartial.
And sure, Vancouver followers — who would have made up the overwhelming majority of that ballot — could be bitter as a result of Edmonton did get rid of them within the second spherical.
However that’s the entire level.
You can not merely ask a Vancouver fan to briefly droop their hatred of an Edmonton staff that simply bounced them from the playoffs. Nor are you able to ask a Calgary fan to disregard many years of hatred and bitterness within the Battle of Alberta to all of the sudden pull for his or her provincial rival. In truth, Calgary followers have full permission to take a seat out this complete Stanley Cup Remaining.
The trifecta of Montreal-Toronto-Ottawa won’t ever cheer for each other, and whereas Winnipeg at all times looks like essentially the most likeable Canadian staff, it’s not like they’ve cast a nationwide id of any form.
It’s a ridiculous query we wrestle with every time a Canadian staff remains to be alive after Victoria Day. Ought to we embrace the final Canadian staff standing for the sake of nationwide satisfaction?
However the reply is at all times in plain sight.
Think about the backlash in Toronto when the CN Tower — the town’s most iconic constructing — was lit up in purple, white and blue in the summertime of 2021 to commemorate the Montreal Canadiens reaching the Stanley Cup Remaining.
That felt awkward and it created such a stir {that a} spokesperson for the CN Tower needed to launch a press release explaining, “It’s a federally owned and operated property that belongs to all Canadians.”
When the Canucks had been the final Canadian staff standing within the COVID-19 bubble in the summertime of 2020, our James Mirtle and Sean McIndoe had a enjoyable and spirited debate over the thought of Vancouver being Canada’s staff.
However to definitively settle this argument, we must always evaluate the Oilers’ run to what the Toronto Raptors achieved 5 years in the past. When the Raptors went on their magical run to the NBA title in the summertime of 2019, it felt like your complete nation was galvanized. There have been huge viewing events being held all throughout Canada.
In Abbotsford, B.C., greater than 1,500 followers turned up to observe Recreation 5 of the Raptors-Warriors collection contained in the Abbotsford Centre. On the reverse finish of the nation within the Maritimes, there have been huge viewing events for Raptors video games in locations like Halifax and Moncton.
That summer season, Cineplex Odeon opened up 33 film theatres throughout the nation to point out Raptors video games on the large display screen.
“Canadian followers are invited to unite and rally behind the Raptors as they face-off towards the Golden State Warriors, reside on the large display screen,” their press launch acknowledged.
Absolutely, they should be doing the identical for Canada’s staff — the Edmonton Oilers — right here in 2024, proper?
Alas, a Cineplex Odeon spokesperson instructed The Athletic this week, “At present, we aren’t scheduled to point out the Stanley Cup Remaining collection in theatres as cinema rights haven’t been granted.”
And possibly that’s a technicality on the “cinema rights” level, however it doesn’t really feel just like the Oilers would have the nationwide enchantment of viewing events in each main metropolis.
We try this for enormous Olympic occasions. The FIFA World Cup. And sure the Raptors and Toronto Blue Jays, as a result of they’re the one skilled groups based mostly in Canada of their respective sports activities.
But when there are huge outside viewing events deliberate for Oilers video games in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Toronto this month, I actually haven’t heard of them.
So to our American mates who suppose we’re obsessive about getting our trophy again, please know that we haven’t put the nation on pause ready to see if the Oilers carry dwelling the title. Not everyone on this aspect of the border is on pins and needles. We’re not like England ready for a FIFA World Cup.
The one time we’re all definitively pulling on the identical rope is after we’re cheering for Workforce Canada in nationwide competitions. The Olympics matter to us and on that entrance, this nation has achieved lots since 1993. A trio of Olympic gold medals on the lads’s aspect is a reasonably good comfort prize throughout a protracted Stanley Cup drought.
(And we’re not pointing any fingers, however we do know of a sure nation to our south that hasn’t received a gold medal on the lads’s aspect since 1980. Forty-four years is a reasonably good drought too, FYI.)
An Oilers championship — whereas erasing a 31-year drought for a Canadian-based staff — does nothing for some other fan base on this nation. Cities like Ottawa, Vancouver and Winnipeg, who’ve by no means hoisted a Stanley Cup, don’t obtain partial credit score for an Oilers championship. And if something, an Edmonton Stanley Cup championship will solely additional enrage Toronto followers, who’re closing in on six many years and not using a title.
But when there may be one purpose we must be collectively pulling in Canada for an Oilers Stanley Cup this month, it will be to finish this ridiculous notion that we’re all ready for the Stanley Cup to come back dwelling.
And possibly if the Oilers win a Stanley Cup in June, we are able to put this entire “Canada’s Workforce” narrative to mattress as soon as and for all.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Picture: Jeff Bottari / NHLI by way of Getty Photographs)
