Excitement Builds for Oilers Fans as Team Advances to Stanley Cup Finals

For Oilers superfan Tina Duncan, watching her team make it to the Stanley Cup final was overwhelming.

“I didn’t think I would see a Stanley Cup final again in my lifetime,” she told The Epoch Times. “But after last night, the adrenaline pumping through me is just unreal.”

She said the atmosphere in Rogers Place for the final game against the Dallas Stars on June 2 was electric.

“The cheers started right from the minute we parked the car to the minute the game was over. The environment was just amazing.”

Ms. Duncan, who has an “Oilers cave” in her basement in honor of the team, said she bought a conference final T-shirt and hat after the win and wore it to work Monday morning.

“And that’s the first thing—my co-workers, we all did a cheer and just talked about the game, how [goalie Stuart Skinner] stood on his head, how the defence stepped it up,” she said.

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On June 2, the Oilers beat the Dallas Stars in the NHL’s Western Conference Final and will play a seven-game series against the Florida Panthers for the Stanley Cup, starting in Florida on Saturday, June 8.

Many workplaces were buzzing Monday morning.

“That’s all we talked about for the first two hours this morning in the office,” said long-time Oilers fan Chad Edie, who works in the financial industry. Mr. Edie said he is hopeful the Oilers can pull off a Stanley Cup win, which would be their first since 1990.

“It’s been pretty solid since Knoblauch came in,” he said, adding players like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have the ability to “take over games.”

And Oilers fever has spread well beyond Edmonton.

In the town of Imperial, Saskatchewan, the community erected a sign on May 31 in honor of hometown product Kris Knoblauch, the Oilers’ head coach.

“Proud. There’s no other word. He is a spectacular man who has worked hard to get to where he is,” said Joslin Freeman, town administrator, and cousin of Mr. Knoblauch.

“Everybody’s talking about it,” she added. “We’re talking about setting up some watch parties at our rink to watch the Oilers in the final seven games. Hopefully, they can do it less.”

She said the whole community of 372 people is buzzing.

“Humble. It would be the number one word … but he’s very hardworking. He’s persevered through a lot,” she said.

Edmonton city councillor Tim Cartmell said the city is “energized” in a way that it hasn’t been in years.

“It doesn’t get better than this,” he told The Epoch Times. “People want so badly to win … there’s flags everywhere, there’s car flags … there’s jerseys and T-shirts everywhere. I’m doing my usual councillor events … there’s Oilers [merchandise] everywhere, earrings, caps, t-shirts—it’s amazing,” he said.

In Ottawa on June 3, Liberal MP Randy Boissonault, who represents Edmonton Centre, wore an Oilers jersey to question period in the House of Commons.

Some Tim Hortons restaurants are offering Oilers-themed donuts.

“A bet’s a bet,” Mr. Eby wrote in a post on X. “Let’s come together and cheer them on to bring the cup home to Canada!”

Alberta’s premier also bet an Alberta ribeye steak against a Texas ribeye over the Dallas-Edmonton final. Edmonton’s win means the governor of Texas has to eat an Alberta ribeye.

“I’m also sending a box of delicious Alberta rib steaks down to [Texas] Governor [Greg] Abbott,” Ms. Smith told reporters in Calgary on June 4. “I haven’t figured out what my bet is going to be with [Florida] Governor [Ron] DeSantis yet but we’re working on one and taking suggestions.”

Mr. Cartmell said even for the “away” games, at least 10,000 Oilers fans have been flooding the city’s Ice District and Fan Park to watch with other fans.

And the crowds have been much bigger when the Oilers have played at home.

“You’re talking somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 people going downtown for those game nights, and everything is just jammed,“ he said. ”All the bars are full, all the restaurants are full … and it’s not just downtown.”

“People want to be together on this thing. There’s this desire to celebrate as a group and watch as a group. It’s been terrific for the city,” said Mr. Cartmell.

For example, Ms. Duncan is planning watch parties, and says many in the city are showing their Oilers pride.

“I have a flag on my car, and I have a big five-by-five flag on my truck that I wave proudly every time I go out. And cars honk at each other when we go by or wave … it’s just the environment,” she said.

Mr. Cartmell hopes the impact will be lasting and sees the excitement—along with other summer festivals—as ways to help the city recover from the economic and social costs of the pandemic.

“I think people are seeing it a bit through the hockey, but through those [other] events too. It’s getting closer and closer to what it was before COVID,” he said. “It is safe to come back, and it is fun to come back. And there are those activities that we remember fondly. So I think it’s having a very positive effect.”