NFL
By: Greg Rector
Listen to that crowd at Rogers Place Arena!! That is how you show pride in your nation. It also motivates every last player on the ice for the Edmonton Oilers.
The Edmonton Oilers will defeat the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. I believe they are fated to become the second team to return with winning a Stanley Cup after being down 3-0 in a Stanley Cup final series.
Connor McDavid Wins The Conn Smythe Trophy
Win or lose in Game Seven, the best player in the world will win the Conn Smythe as the best player in the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. McDavid has been impressive since the Edmonton Oilers lost the third game in a row against the Florida Panthers.
The captain of the Edmonton Oilers has led the Oilers to chase history. In 1942, the Toronto Maple Leafs, in a much shorter playoff run, came back from being down 3-0 against the Detroit Red Wings and became the first team in professional sports to accomplish the feat. McDavid has had 147 speed rushes in this Stanley Cup playoffs. That means he is skating at more than 32 MPH.
The Oilers After Losing 3 Straight Games
This Edmonton Oilers team lost three games in a row three times in the regular season. The first time around, they won 8 games. They went on a near-historic streak the second time and won 16 games in a row. Finally, they won five games in a row after losing three games.
Stuart Skinner
Stuart Skinner is now 10-0 in games four through seven, and he’s been spectacular in every case when the Edmonton Oilers have been facing elimination. Like in the earlier 16-game winning streak by the Oilers, Skinner won 14 of those games and never had more than two goals scored against him. For the young man born in Edmonton, his heroics remind me of Grant Fuhr’s heyday in the middle of the 1980s. Currently, Skinner has a 1.50 goals-against average and has a .940 save percentage in these games.
The Edmonton Audience
Whether inside Rogers Place Arena or outside in the Joey Moss Pit, the Edmonton Oilers fans have been 100% in supporting the Oilers.
Joey Moss was the Edmonton Oilers team attendant and is sadly missed by every member of Oil Country. When Moss passed away in 2020, the team lost a massive member of the Edmonton Oilers dynasty years.
This is what hockey means to people in Edmonton. The fans in Edmonton personify what being real hockey fans is all about, even the crazies below. My apologies to those cities in the United States who have won the Stanley Cup since 1994, when the New York Rangers began this streak of seeing teams based in the United States winning the Stanley Cup.
WE WANT THE CUP!!
Edmonton Oilers fans have suffered for 34 seasons without winning the most sacred trophy in hockey. As you heard the fans scream WE WANT THE CUP at the end of game six, these people live and die for hockey. Even this old Edmonton Oilers fan who has long decried how the game is now played is on the edge of his seat.
I can’t wait until Monday night when the Edmonton Oilers bring the Lord Stanley Cup back to Canada. In 1990, when the Edmonton Oilers won their 5th Stanley Cup, I said it then, and I believe in it to this day: That was the best Edmonton Oilers team (Sorry Gretzkyites). Well, this version of the Edmonton Oilers isn’t going to change my opinion, but they are coming close.
Connor McDavid will hoist the Stanley Cup first, and then Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the longest-serving member of the Edmonton Oilers, will be the next player to lift the Cup above his head.
#LetsGoOilers
