Canada hopes eighth time a charm as nation seeks first Stanley Cup in a generation

Here we go again. 

From B.C. to all points north and east, Canadian hockey fans are hoping the nation’s Stanley Cup nightmare-drought ends as the Edmonton Oilers host the Florida Panthers in the NHL final.

This year’s Cup clash comes with a bit more patriotic fervour than usual given U.S. President Donald Trump recently launching a tariff war north of the 49^th parallel while dismissing Canada as a freeloading sidekick that should gratefully trade in its Maple Leaf for the Stars and Stripes.

A cross-country check of fans suggests even if the Oilers aren’t everyone's first choice, they'll do for now.

“I think every Canadian should be cheering for the Oilers now,” fan Julian Bourgoin said, calling the Oilers his go-to team after the hometown Senators.

“I’ve always wanted a Canadian team to win, and the Oilers are the last one, so I’m hanging my Gretzky jersey high and I’m flying it till they win."

In Toronto, home of the blue-clad Maple Leafs, fan Ashley Winter said at the end of the day the red Maple Leaf trumps all.

“Canada has to win hockey. That’s our game,” said Winter.

Longtime transplanted westerner Bruce Jones agreed it’s time to go Oiler.

“I lived out west for many years in the Calgary area and I was anti-Oiler but right now it’s the Oilers,” Jones said. 

“With all the turmoil that’s going on right now, it adds to our national pride,” he added.

“We haven’t won since '93.”

It was June 9, 1993, when the Montreal Canadiens became the last Canadian team to hoist the NHL championship trophy, defeating ex-Oiler Wayne Gretzky and his Los Angeles Kings in the deciding Game 5.

That year saw three prime ministers: Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell and Jean Chrétien. The TV show “Seinfeld” was reaching its artistic apex and the big-screen dinosaur epic “Jurassic Park” debuted. 

Don’t ask the current Oilers for memories of 1993. The longest-serving current player, forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, wasn’t even two months old. Veteran superpest Corey Perry was eight. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl weren’t even born.

In the three or so decades since, Canadian teams have won participation ribbons in seven Cup finals, starting with Vancouver in 1994, then Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal and then Edmonton again when the Oilers lost in seven games last spring to the Panthers.

Stanley, meanwhile, has travelled the continental United States from Los Angeles to Boston, from south Florida to Las Vegas, with stops in Dallas, Denver, Detroit, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Anaheim, North Carolina, New York and New Jersey.

In Edmonton, at the epicentre of the Cup quest outside the Oilers’ home rink of Rogers Place, crews kept busy this week readying the outdoor plaza where fans will gather on game nights to watch the play on a big screen.

Longtime Oilers fan Paul Huang, in an orange and blue hoodie, said he runs an online chat group that includes hockey parents from all over Canada.

“We all cheer for Canada (and) for the Oilers at this moment,” Huang said. “We’re the only one left.”

Oilers fan Jason McCarthy said he has a brother and a friend flying in from Ottawa to go to the games.

McCarthy said the visitors are Montreal Canadiens fans, but said for now it’s Canada first.

“Most people I talk to -- even in Montreal -- the Oilers are their second favourite team, and the No. 1 team left right now,” McCarthy said.

“I even know for a fact in Montreal there are signs around the city cheering on the Oilers.”

Farther west, in Victoria, resident Olivia Robinson, who is originally from Edmonton, said she’ll be tuning in to the series, but not necessarily to see Trump’s U.S.A. get humbled.

"I think hockey is Canada's game, so I'd like them to win because of that, but not in particular (because of trade tensions)," Robinson said.

Robinson said the Oilers have to a "certain extent" become Canada's team, but added, "I think because they are winning, everybody wants them as Canada's team now."

--  with files from Lisa Johnson in Edmonton, Wolfgang Depner in Victoria, Sarah Ritchie in Ottawa and Noah Trenton in Toronto

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck