If the rest of Canada wasn't a bunch of bitches when it came to the the 2011 Canucks, maybe I wouldn't be so anti Canadian team. Something something forming years.
Glad Florida sealed the deal.
Also some of these takes I'm seeing on McDavid are brain-dead. The man carried the Oilers back to existence and even though he didn't score, he still generated high quality chances with insane coverage on him. If Hyman and RNH showed up to, I dunno, use the extra ice that McDavid was drawing for just existing - this would've been a different game.
The best part about all of this is if it isn't next year, I don't see the Oilers getting back to the finals. The Nurse contract is a killer and both Drai and Bouchard will need new deals.
I wouldn’t say I’m anti-Canadian team - I tend to root for whichever teams have the most ex Canucks that I like on them to begin with. A team being from Canada is irrelevant to me and I won’t root for them “just because” after 2011. Utter nonsense how our team got treated by the rest of the country.
I found a lot of Edmonton’s assorted hangers on - press and some fans - insufferable. And I can’t abide Kane and Perry. They have some unbelievable talent and some likeable characters amongst them, that if it weren’t for the aforementioned characters, I might actually find endearing enough to cheer for. But they do have those characters, so I don’t.
I do respect what they did here. I have to eat some crow with respect to the Oilers’ game; they tightened up their team defense and did a significantly better job playing playoff hockey than I ever thought they could. And they finally had guys not named McDavid and Draisaitl doing heavy lifting. So props where it’s deserved. As a hockey fan, it made really good theater.
But I’m really, really glad this was the outcome.
More than anything, I wanted Luongo to get his Cup. And if there’s a Canadian team to bring the Cup back north of the border, yes I’m petty, I f***ing want it to be us.