Within the aftermath of the Edmonton Oilers clinching their spot within the Stanley Cup Closing, 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 workforce 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 a long time.
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“Are you able to speak about being Canada’s workforce?” a reporter requested McDavid on Sunday night. “All people coast to coast is cheering for the Oilers. Any added stress with that?”
McDavid seamlessly stick-handled the query.
“We’re a Canadian workforce and we’ve acquired nice Canadian followers,” responded McDavid. “And it feels good to possibly unite the nation somewhat bit and produce folks 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 industrial that appears to play throughout each single TV timeout and intermission in these playoffs. The industrial opens by relaying the heartbreak of a number of Canadian groups since Montreal’s magical run to a Stanley Cup title in 1993.
Any individual has punched by way of drywall after Vancouver misplaced Recreation 7 to the Rangers in 1994.
A Toronto fan has thrown a plate by way of their tv display screen after shedding to Carolina within the convention ultimate.
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 Closing in 2021.
(The Flames’ and Senators’ runs to the Stanley Cup Closing in 2004 and 2007 respectively have been omitted from the industrial. However hey, there’s solely a lot Canadian distress you may shoehorn right into a 30-second spot.)
The message of the industrial is easy: Canadian NHL followers have solely identified bitter disappointment during the last 30 years. It’s time for hockey followers on this nation to place apart their deep-rooted, historic rivalries and pull in the identical route.
Because the industrial 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. Nevertheless 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 workforce hasn’t received the Stanley Cup in 30 years. Perhaps it’s time to attempt one thing completely different,” the industrial urges. “This yr, let’s workforce up with the followers we’ve at all times cheered in opposition to.”
This industrial 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 large NHL followers on this nation be hoping that McDavid — the best possible participant of his technology — winds up with a Stanley Cup ring?
You guess.
However will the vast majority of die-hard hockey followers on this nation be actively rooting for the Oilers as in the event that they have been cheering on their very own workforce?
Neglect it.
Positive, most Canadians need the Stanley Cup drought to finish, however with an important caveat: provided that it occurs for their favorite workforce. 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 have been decided. Of the 1,531 individuals who solid a vote, greater than 70 % of them mentioned they might be cheering for the Panthers. Solely 16.4 % mentioned they might be actively rooting for Edmonton, whereas nearly the identical quantity (12.9 %) mentioned they might stay utterly impartial.
And sure, Vancouver followers — who would have made up the overwhelming majority of that ballot — is likely to 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 workforce that simply bounced them from the playoffs. Nor are you able to ask a Calgary fan to disregard a long time of hatred and bitterness within the Battle of Alberta to instantly pull for his or her provincial rival. In truth, Calgary followers have full permission to take a seat out this whole Stanley Cup Closing.
The trifecta of Montreal-Toronto-Ottawa won’t ever cheer for each other, and whereas Winnipeg at all times looks like probably the most likeable Canadian workforce, it’s not like they’ve solid a nationwide id of any type.
It’s a ridiculous query we wrestle with every time a Canadian workforce remains to be alive after Victoria Day. Ought to we embrace the final Canadian workforce standing for the sake of nationwide delight?
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 pink, white and blue in the summertime of 2021 to commemorate the Montreal Canadiens reaching the Stanley Cup Closing.
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 have been the final Canadian workforce 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 concept of Vancouver being Canada’s workforce.
However to definitively settle this argument, we must always evaluate the Oilers’ run to what the Toronto Raptors completed 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 the whole 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 look at 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 massive display screen.
“Canadian followers are invited to unite and rally behind the Raptors as they face-off in opposition to the Golden State Warriors, reside on the massive display screen,” their press launch acknowledged.
Absolutely, they have to be doing the identical for Canada’s workforce — the Edmonton Oilers — right here in 2024, proper?
Alas, a Cineplex Odeon spokesperson instructed The Athletic this week, “At present, we’re not scheduled to point out the Stanley Cup Closing 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 do this for large Olympic occasions. The FIFA World Cup. And sure the Raptors and Toronto Blue Jays, as a result of they’re the one skilled groups primarily based in Canada of their respective sports activities.
But when there are huge out of doors 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 associates 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 deliver house 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 once we’re cheering for Workforce Canada in nationwide competitions. The Olympics matter to us and on that entrance, this nation has completed loads since 1993. A trio of Olympic gold medals on the boys’s aspect is a reasonably good comfort prize throughout a chronic 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 boys’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 workforce — 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 a long time with out a title.
But when there’s one motive 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 return house.
And possibly if the Oilers win a Stanley Cup in June, we will put this complete “Canada’s Workforce” narrative to mattress as soon as and for all.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Picture: Jeff Bottari / NHLI through Getty Pictures)
