Amid Canada-U.S. tension, will Canadians cheer for Oilers in Stanley Cup Final?
Connor McDavid's locker room meltdown during the Stanley Cup Final in 2024 exposed an anger and frustration that many NHL fans of Canadian teams might have found familiar.
The best player of a generation saw his team's chance to win a Stanley Cup slipping away, and in a moment caught by cameras, he unleashed a high-pitched, profanity-brimmed roar:
'Right f—ing now. Right f—ing now!' McDavid shouted, after the Edmonton Oilers lost Game 2 against the Florida Panthers. 'That's not f—ing good enough. It's the f—ing finals. Dig the f— in! Right f—ing now. Whatever the f— you have! That is not f—ing good enough.'
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The Oilers forced the Panthers to a deciding game before falling short. Their heartbreaking Game 7 loss sets up a dramatic storyline for a rematch between the two rivals.
It's been more than three decades since a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup, as Canadian fans are reminded to great frustration each spring.
But now, more than ever, it looks like those fans are willing to hop on the Oilers bandwagon.
In a poll by Angus Reid in late April, 71 percent of respondents who were Canadian hockey fans said they would cheer for any Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup, not just their own. That marked a 16-point increase since 2016.
Is it possible for Canadians to root for a rival? The debate has surfaced many times over the past three decades, but the question is usually dismissed.
Deep-rooted allegiances require equilibrium: disdain for a rival is a formative element of the passion you hold for your team. Being an Ottawa Senators fan requires contempt for the Toronto Maple Leafs; a Calgary Flames fan can't wear blue and orange.
But if there's ever going to be a moment for Canadian hockey fans to coalesce under a single NHL team banner, maybe we've found it.
If you haven't noticed, Canadian nationalism and identity have been a key theme north of the 49th parallel in 2025.
A quick recap: President Donald Trump's repeated disrespect toward Canada, openly discussing his hope to make the country America's 51st state while launching a trade war of damaging tariffs, has not played well among Canucks.
In response to Trump's taunts and threats, the American national anthem was booed in NHL arenas across Canada — with the most notable incident occurring before a match in Montreal between the Canadians and Americans at the NHL's 4 Nations Face-Off in February. After the bass-full chorus, three fights broke out on the ice within the first 9 seconds of the game.
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Matthew Tkachuk, the firebrand American forward — who plays for the Panthers — started the melee at the opening faceoff. (His brother, Brady, and linemate J.T. Miller later revealed an American plot to spark a brawl on the opening shift in front of the hostile Canadian crowd.)
Canada lost that round-robin match, which underscored the patriotism fueling the NHL's best-on-best experiment.
Trump called the American team ahead of the 4 Nations final, with GM Bill Guerin holding up the phone in the team's locker room.
As an honorary representative for the Canadians, Wayne Gretzky was widely criticized for appearing too chummy with the American team and wearing a suit for the opening faceoff. (The American representative, Mike Eruzione — captain of the 'Miracle on Ice' 1980 U.S. Olympic team — wore the team's jersey as he hyped up the crowd.)
The Great One's appeal in his homeland has been drastically tarnished in the wake of that appearance. Gretzky, who has publicly supported Trump, remained silent as the president mocked and taunted Canada.
A recent poll revealed that 45 percent of respondents viewed Gretzky unfavorably. The idea that Gretzky could be viewed unfavorably in Canada — after winning four Stanley Cups with the Oilers through the 1980s, and setting over 60 scoring records in his career — was once unfathomable. (In 2011, a survey ranked Gretzky as the most popular Canadian celebrity, with only one-in-16 people having an unfavourable view of him.)
The Canadians prevailed in a thrilling final at the 4 Nations Face-Off, with McDavid scoring the overtime winner on American soil. The players embraced beneath a giant Canadian flag that hung over the ice, while Canadians filled the lower bowl at TD Garden and belted out 'O Canada.'
The victory was seen as a uniting force for Canadians. More than a quarter of the Canadian population tuned in for at least part of the 4 Nations final, making it one of the most-watched hockey games in years.
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McDavid was Canada's star through the tournament, securing his status as a national team hero with the overtime winner.
Tkachuk, likewise, became the face of the American team, appearing on the 'Tonight Show' after the loss.
The two stars will now clash in another battle for the Stanley Cup, with similar tensions simmering beneath the surface of this best-of-seven-game series.
The wider animosity hasn't waned.
Brands tapped into the sentiment, with commercials for products like Kraft overtly promoting its Canadian-made virtues: 'Kraft. Made by Canadians, for Canadians,' a recent commercial for the American-owned food company proclaimed.
Kruger Products, a Canadian manufacturer of tissue products, launched an ad campaign with a similar tagline: 'Made by Canadians for Canadians.'
And a quarter century after Molson's well-known 'I am Canadian' commercial aired, the beer brand released a 2025 'We are Canadian' version, directly addressing political tensions between Canada and the U.S.
'We are not the 51st anything,' the plaid-wearing actor Jeff Douglas declares into a mic.
Trump's rhetoric toward Canada angered and concerned Canadians so much that it became the central issue in the country's federal election this spring.
During the campaign, Mark Carney — replacing recently resigned Liberal leader Justin Trudeau — appeared in an ad wearing a Team Canada jersey, sitting on the sidelines of a hockey rink, alongside Canadian comedian Mike Myers. In the commercial, Carney quizzed Myers on Canadian trivia and discussed national pride. At the end, they both held up their arms and declared 'Elbows Up,' a hockey term meant to symbolize Canadians' willingness to defend their sovereignty.
Within that firestorm, the incumbent Liberals staged a stunning comeback over a Conservative party that had held a massive lead in the polls. Carney was elected as Canada's prime minister on April 28.
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As the 2024 champions, the Panthers visited Trump in the White House in February. Trump complimented Panthers owner Vincent Viola, noting that he was a friend, and lauded the franchise for winning its first championship.
Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is an hour from Sunrise, where the Panthers play. The team has benefited greatly by playing in the low-tax state, as an appealing landing spot for talent. Many Canadian fans have derided the salary cap advantages the Panthers have with players paying no state income tax. A Sunshine State team has been in the Cup Final for the past half dozen seasons — with the Panthers in the past three, and the Tampa Bay Lightning winning back-to-back championships in 2020 and 2021, before losing to the Colorado Avalanche in 2022.
Carney grew up in Edmonton and is a massive Oilers fan. He joined the team for a morning skate at Rogers Place in March, wearing a pair of old goalie skates and taking part in passing and shooting drills. While attending Harvard University, Carney was a goalie with the school's varsity hockey team. Trump's ongoing feud with Carney's alma mater has led to the halting of billions in federal funds and an ongoing court battle over whether Harvard can enroll international students.
So the sides appear set for this more-than-a-game series.
But there are complications to the narrative, which only make things more intriguing. At the same time Canadian nationalism seems to be spiking, the nation's unity is at a crossroads.
A recent poll by Angus Reid showed that 36 percent of Albertans support separating from Canada. That conversation has heated up amid resentment in Alberta over the outcome of the Canadian election, which resulted in a third straight minority government. While the sentiment is still short of a majority of Albertans, it's fair to say that there are Oilers fans grappling with whether they want to be Canadian at all.
But for now, at least — while Edmonton is still part of Canada, and Canada remains a sovereign country — the Oilers are the nation's team.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Photo of Matthew Tkachuk by Josh Lavallee / NHLI; photo of Connor McDavid by Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
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