Are Edmonton Oilers watch parties really one of the worst things going? As if

Ottawa Citizen

5 hours ago

Move over, Moss Pit.
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The Edmonton Oilers might be one of the two best teams this year, but apparently, the experience of watching doesn't quite live up to expectations.
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If you aren't one of the 18,347 lucky spectators in the stands for a game, but do the next best thing and gather among fellow fans for the watch parties surrounding Rogers Place, a new study suggests Edmontonians will be getting a subpar experience in next year's playoffs.
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Some outfit called Time2play analyzed what they determined to be the key elements that 'make an NHL watch party fun,' and ranked all 32 NHL teams based on fan engagement, local food and drink options, best weather and overall hype.
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And guess what, Edmonton. The results aren't great.
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This city wouldn't even make the playoff cut among the top half of teams. No, the Alberta capital appears all the way down in the bottom 10 of the rankings.
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But, hey, it calls itself a study. And even uses words such as 'methodology,' and 'metrics.' And it has a press release and everything. So, let's give it a chance here (after we remove tongue from cheek, that is).
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'To create the NHL watch party index, the study analyzed a range of fan experience metrics, including average attendance, arena Google reviews, surrounding food and drink ratings, average local temperatures, fan hype around watch parties (search trends for each team's watch parties and playoff drought length) to capture the sense of anticipation,' the study states.
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So far, it sounds about as convincing as your typical dirt-lot used car salesman. Maybe let's just jump to the conclusion.
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'According to the results, Edmonton Oilers fans came 27th in the rankings, scoring 23.9 out of 100, coming close to landing the title for worst watch party.'
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Alright, let's take a look at the list and see what fans are better:
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1. Tampa Bay Lightning (62.5)
2. Washington Capitals (53.8)
3. Buffalo Sabres (52.7)
4. Anaheim Ducks (52.1)
5. Detroit Red Wings (47.1)
6. Columbus Blue Jackets (46.5)
7. Chicago Blackhawks (46.4)
8. Philadelphia Flyers (45.7)
9. New York Rangers (39.3)
10. Dallas Stars (38.9)
11. Nashville Predators (38.6)
12. Pittsburgh Penguins (38.4)
13. Seattle Kraken (37.9)
14. San Jose Sharks (36.2)
15. Florida Panthers (35.6)
16. Los Angeles Kings (33.3)
17. Vegas Golden Knights (33.0)
18. Vancouver Canucks (32.8)
19. Minnesota Wild (32.7)
20. Calgary Flames (30.4)
21. Boston Bruins (29.2)
22. Toronto Maple Leafs (28.3)
23. Colorado Avalanche (28.2)
24. Montreal Canadiens (25.7)
25. New Jersey Devils (25.4)
26. St. Louis Blues (25.4)
27. Edmonton Oilers (23.9)
28. Carolina Hurricanes (23.4)
29. Utah Mammoth (23.4)
30. Winnipeg Jets (22.6)
31. New York Islanders (22.3)
32. Ottawa Senators (18.2)