For the second time in a row the Edmonton Oilers are taking on the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup final, but are Canadians rallying behind the last remaining team from Canada?
While there are plenty of people across the country who won’t be supporting the Oilers, you can find fans — both diehard and casual — hoping for Edmonton to bring home the Cup.
In Halifax, more than 4,800 kilometres away from Edmonton, it’s rare to find an Oilers fan.
But during Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup final, the Oasis Pub in Halifax was packed with fans.
“Last year when [the Stanley Cup final] went to Game 7, we had about 150 people,” said Brian Atkinson, manager of Oasis.
Typically, hockey fans at Oasis cheer for the Toronto Maple Leafs, or Atkinson’s favourite team, the Montreal Canadiens, he said, and Oilers fans are rare in the regular season.
Live pregame from the Edmonton arena and fan zone
“That’s a West Coast team … so you can imagine if Montreal or Toronto had gone to the final … we would have reached capacity had one of those two teams been at the final.”
The bar is showing its support for the Oilers with a custom-made logo inspired by the classic oil drop Oilers logo.
“In terms of those logos, that’s sort of done in jest, we did that for the Leafs when they were also contending, and they’re probably the most popular team in the area,” said Atkinson.
Now, he says, more Haligonians are jumping onto the Oilers bandwagon.
“There is a contingency of Oilers fans here … at the end of the day, whoever is last team standing who happens to be Canadian, tends to be the one who gets all the support in this area.”
Nova Scotia might not have its own NHL team, but hockey runs deep in the east coast, with some of the biggest names in the game coming from the province, like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon or Panthers forward Brad Marchand. But Atkinson said he’s pulling for McDavid to win the cup.
“If you have someone who’s probably considered the best player in the league right now … with Connor McDavid, he needs a Cup, so I think [there is] a lot of support behind that.”
Despite the long distance, Nova Scotia does have some connections to the Oilers, including hosting the franchise’s AHL team in the 1980s and 1990s: the Nova Scotia Oilers and Cape Breton Oilers.
Last year, the rivalry between the Oilers and the Canucks heated up, with Edmonton eliminating Vancouver in the second round.
Colin Cryderman, a Vancouver bartender, says he became an Oilers fan after working at the Black Frog, the unofficial Oilers bar in Vancouver, which was inspired by Edmonton’s Black Dog Freehouse.
“The Oilers are kind of the first team that I’ve adopted and made me the biggest fan,” said Colin Cryderman.
After the 4 Nations Face-Off, which saw Canada win the gold, Cryderman says that some of his friends became Oilers converts.
“A couple of buddies of mine here that are diehard Canucks fans, they said, ‘Oh, now I know how you feel, you get McDavid on your team every night,'” said Cryderman.
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He says that Edmonton has a good chance of bringing the Cup home.
“Remember, Florida went to the Cup final and lost before they beat us last year, so I think that’s one of the advantages that the Oilers have this year,” said Cryderman.
To show his support for the team, Cryderman has custom-made shirts made for each of the playoff series.
“They usually get a good point and laugh when I walk around the street with them,” he said.
Winnipeg Jets fan Constance Menzies says she’ll be cheering for Edmonton, because she wants to see the Cup return to Canada.
“It’s a little bit hard to want to show favour for any other team, but the Oilers are the only ones left in the playoffs and … we’re massively thirsty for a Canadian win,” said Menzies.
She’s the owner of Chocolatier Constance Popp, and last weekend debuted an Oilers-theme chocolate puck — but initially, it didn’t go over well with all her customers.
“I had a woman say, ‘tsk, tsk’ to me, so she didn’t seem happy,” said Menzies.
She told the customer, “it’s about Canada now, it’s not about Winnipeg or Manitoba anymore.”
