In case you didn’t know, I’m Canadian.
Maybe it’s because I’m Canadian (most people assume so), but I LOVE hockey.
My team? The Edmonton Oilers.
Why are they my favourite team? I think this story explains it pretty well:
Before the 05-06 NHL season happened, the NHL and the NHLPA’s disagreement over the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) had caused the entire 04-05 season to never happen, due to what many hockey fans refer to as “The Lockout.” So, right off the bat there, I was distraught. I know that it’s just a game, but it’s sooo much more than that. It’s those days as a kid when you would watch your dad sharpen your skates, or helping the other kids in the neighbourhood to shovel the snow off the rink so that everyone could skate and play on the ice, and so on. Needless to say, I had a lot of my heart riding on the 05-06 season.
I really didn’t expect much more than an average season from the Oilers, what with the whole previous season being cancelled and all. Plus, as a longtime Oilers fan, I knew that the glory days of the 80’s when Wayne Gretzky was THE man were past us. But as fans, we still cheer em’ on everytime, because that is OUR team! The regular season for the Oilers ended up being a bit more than average, with a 41-28-13 record (95 points), which was just barely enough for the Oilers to squeak past the Vancouver Canucks into the playoffs as the 8th seed in the Western Conference.
As the 8th seed, the Oilers were matched up with the 1st seed of the Western Conference (which also happened to be the number one team in the league that season), the Detroit Red Wings. I don’t think any sportswriters were even going to take a chance on writing a story about the Oilers having a mediocore chance of beating the red-hot Red Wings. But, alas, something did happen. The Oilers won a game. And another. And even another. And oh, what’s this? Oh yeah, that’s right. THE OILERS BEAT THE RED WINGS! “Wait, what did you just say?” The Oilers knocked out the #1 team in the league in the very first round, that’s what. I vividly remember that night after watching the Oilers win the sixth game in the series to knock out the Red Wings. Boy oh boy, did I go to sleep happy that night.
Next up, the Oilers had another tough opponent to face: The San Jose Sharks. The Sharks of course were expected to easily take care of business against the Oilers. They were fresh off a 5-game series win against the Nashville Predators from the previous round, and with the Red Wings now out (which was still sending a shock through the league), the Sharks were called by many the top team left. And in the first two games against the Oilers, it sure looked like that. With those back to back wins by the Sharks to start off the series, I began to believe that what the sports writers and commentators had been saying was true. The Oilers really were just a fluke. But once again, something happened. One win, two wins, three wins… Oh my! And finally, OILERS WIN! OILERS WIN! “…huh? Are you serious?!” I didn’t know whether to cry for joy or scream in excitement. Something magical was happening, and the butterflies were getting jumpy in my stomach. What I didn’t know was that things were just getting started.
The Western Conference Finals: Edmonton Oilers versus the Anaheim Ducks. This time, it was different. People were talking. Even though they were the lowly 8th seed, the Oilers were a force to be reckoned with. On the other end of the ice, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks had Jean-Sebastien Giguere, arguably the best goalie in the league that season. The doubters still considered this “Cinderella Run” the Oilers were on to be a fluke, and so they fully expected Giguere to take care of business and put an end to this so-called madness.
Wanna guess what happened?
Oh. My. GOD! The Oilers are going to the Stanley Cup! Somebody pinch me, this has got to be a dream.
But this is where the story ends. The Oilers, they really did make it to the Stanley Cup. All the way to Game 7 in fact. But sadly, it just wasn’t enough. The Carolina Hurricanes ended up being presented the Stanley Cup, and the Oilers went home empty-handed.
You know how there’s those moments in your life that define you? I think this was one of them for me. A lot of my teenage life wasn’t “happy happy joy joy” so to speak, particularly the 365 days before these playoffs. But this moment, it gave me hope. I’m not sure what the hope was for, but I knew that I had hope. Sure, life may suck right now, but everything will still be okay. For what its worth, the Oilers finished the next season with a record of 32-43-7 (71 points). But you know what? I was okay with that. As the saying goes, “…there’s always next year.” You just have to believe in something.
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