Oilers fans from Down Under overjoyed to be in Edmonton for Stanley Cup final
With just hours to go until the puck drops at Rogers Place for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final rematch between the Oilers and the Panthers, a scene involving blue-and-orange-clad hockey fans arriving in Alberta's capital played out, with some making the trip from as far away as Australia to experience the NHL playoff excitement.
'I'm so excited,' Steve Patching exclaimed, detailing his epic journey from Brisbane to Edmonton and how he drank several cups of coffee in the morning so he would be awake for the opening game of the championship series on Wednesday. 'Can you imagine what it's going to be like if Game 7 is here?
'I'm amped.'
Like many other die-hard Oilers fans from around the world, Patching said it was during the team's heyday — led by Wayne Gretzky — in the 1980s that drew him to a part of a community of supporters that fans have dubbed 'Oil Country.'
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'I saw Gretzky once,' Patching said, noting that the connection to the team also exists because he has family in Edmonton. '(The Oilers) had a pretty lean period … (but) now they've got the greatest in history with (Connor) McDavid.'
Patching said he booked his flight soon after the Oilers knocked the Dallas Stars out of the playoffs by winning the Western Conference final in five games.
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Edmonton Oilers advance to Stanley Cup Finals
Richard Fairhead also arrived in Alberta's capital on Wednesday and also hails from Brisbane. He said he was on a business trip in New Zealand when the Oilers beat the Stars and he did what he had to do to be in Edmonton for the Stanley Cup final.
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'I changed it all up to come,.. (I'm a) die-hard fan,' he explained, adding that he has been on six flights in the past 72 hours, seeing him use four different airlines and passing through three different countries. '(I) came last year and loved every moment of it.
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'I got permission from the wife so it's all good.'
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Richard Fairhead arrived in Edmonton from Brisbane, Australia so he could be in Alberta to cheer on the Oilers for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. Global News
Aside from fans arriving from Down Under, Oilers supporters are coming from all over as well, putting pressure on Edmonton's supply of hotel rooms this week.
'It's basically impossible to get a room (downtown) right now,' said Chris Yeung, the executive director of the non-profit organization Edmonton Destination Marketing Hotels Ltd.
Yeung added that demand is also 'bleeding into' other areas.
'This year we have home-ice advantage for the Oilers,' he explained. 'When you have that, you have media availability day, you have all the broadcasters flying in ahead of time, … and they're not small groups.
'Some of the broadcast groups have 50 or 60 people coming in at the same time.'
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Yeung described what hotel operators are facing as 'huge demand.'
Patching will likely be staying with his daughter as he said he plans to watch Game 1 from her apartment's balcony which overlooks a plaza in outside the Oilers arena that fans refer to as 'the Moss Pit.'
He said even if he does not have a seat inside Rogers Place for the game, the feeling in downtown Edmonton will be electric.
'Last year I went to a watch party inside,' Patching said. 'It was one of the ones they lost which really sucked, but the atmosphere was still incredible.'
Fairhead said after his Oilers lost the Stanley Cup championship to the Panthers in heartbreaking fashion last year with a Game 7 defeat, he is hopeful there will be a different result this year.
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'Different team, different feeling,' he said, adding that even though he was 'a little scared' with how the Oilers struggled at times during their opening-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings, the players 'pulled their socks up and they've been playing fantastic ever since.'
'(I'm) feeling great,' Fairhead said. 'The crowd will be amazing once again. I can't wait again to be deafened by (the cheers), … lose my voice again.
The Oilers last won a Stanley Cup in 1990. No Canadian team has won the trophy since the Montreal Canadiens did it in 1993.
–with files from Global News' Jaclyn Kucey
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