Some of Shelina Gwaduri’s earliest memories involve gathering around the family TV to watch the Edmonton Oilers play. One time, she and her older brother, Karim, attended a game and had the chance to meet Wayne Gretzky, the team’s captain at the time. “From the moment I was born, the Oilers were in my blood,” the 43-year-old, now living in Vancouver, told the BBC.
After her brother’s sudden passing four years ago, she began wearing his Oilers jersey during every game, including when she watched them make a miraculous comeback against the Florida Panthers in this year’s Stanley Cup finals.
Now, the Edmonton Oilers are just one win away from claiming the most prestigious prize in the National Hockey League (NHL). They will face Florida in the decisive game of the best-of-seven series on Monday. If the Oilers triumph, they would be the first Canadian NHL team to win the championship since the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Los Angeles Kings in 1993. This would also mark the Oilers’ first Stanley Cup victory since 1990.
However, the Oilers are on the brink of an even rarer achievement: they are only the third team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 deficit to tie a series in the Stanley Cup final, a feat not accomplished since 1945. Only one team, the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942, has managed to win the cup after such a comeback.
For fans like Ms. Gwaduri, a victory would be a monumental milestone in the storied history of the team, which was once home to Wayne Gretzky, who is often considered the greatest ice hockey player of all time. The Oilers’ winning streak in the 1980s earned Edmonton the nickname “City of Champions.”
A win would also be a source of national pride for Canada, where devoted fans have long awaited the return of the Stanley Cup to the birthplace of modern hockey. Ms. Gwaduri mentioned that even her husband, a passionate fan of the Oilers’ rival team, the Vancouver Canucks, is thrilled about the potential win.
“It’s bringing all of us together in the excitement of ‘Oh my god, is this actually happening?'” she said.
Once considered the NHL’s greatest team, the Edmonton Oilers have faced a long period of bad luck. In 2006, they reached the Stanley Cup finals, aiming for their sixth title, but suffered a devastating Game 7 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. This began a period known as “The Decade of Darkness.”
In 2015, the Oilers signed Connor McDavid, a 19-year-old hockey prodigy from the Toronto area. McDavid quickly proved to be a generational talent, according to Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic. “That term gets tossed around pretty loosely, but he is the definition of a generational player,” Nugent-Bowman told the BBC.
McDavid is renowned for his dazzling on-ice skills, with a speed and accuracy few can match. “If his career ended today, he would be in the Hall of Fame and would go down as one of the greatest hockey players of all time, and that’s at 27 years old, without a Stanley Cup,” Nugent-Bowman said. However, it took nine years after McDavid’s signing for the Oilers to compete for the Cup again.
“This journey hasn’t happened overnight,” Nugent-Bowman noted. The team’s dramatic comeback and perseverance against the Florida Panthers have added to the excitement for Monday. “I’m a big fan of really good stories,” said Travis Sengaus, a Calgary Flames supporter who is nonetheless excited about Edmonton’s success.
Sengaus recalled other miraculous comebacks in sports history, such as the Boston Red Sox’s 2004 American League Championship Series win over the New York Yankees, where they became the first and only team to return from a 3-0 series deficit in Major League Baseball. He also mentioned the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2016 NBA Championship win over the Golden State Warriors, widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball finals ever.
The Oilers, Sengaus said, are on the verge of their own remarkable story, one that’s “very hard to resist.”
The Florida Panthers have their own compelling narrative. Established 31 years ago—the same year a Canadian team last claimed the Stanley Cup—this Miami-based team is eager for its first championship. They came close last season but were defeated in four out of five finals games by the Vegas Golden Knights.
Despite Florida’s reputation for its warm climate rather than winter sports, the state’s ice hockey fan base has grown, spurred by the recent success of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021. As they prepare for Monday’s game, Panthers’ coach Paul Maurice remains unconcerned about past performances. “The concern of the previous three games certainly didn’t affect Edmonton and it won’t affect us,” he stated.
On the other side, Oilers’ coach Kris Knoblauch is savoring the experience. “Not just because we’re going to Game 7, but I think we were having a great time when we were down three games,” he said. The series has captivated tens of thousands of enthusiastic fans in Edmonton, North America’s northernmost city with a population just over one million, known for its harsh winters and resilient spirit.
Spencer Bennett, a teacher in the Edmonton area, shared that his school streamed Game 6 during its middle school graduation ceremony. “It was amazing. We were all just cheering and high-fiving and screaming at the top of our lungs,” he recalled. When he and the students sang “O Canada” during the game’s livestream, it felt like “having 16,000 of my closest friends singing our national anthem together.”
