Oilers fans find a home in Calgary bars as Edmonton takes another shot at the Cup
CALGARY - About an hour before every Edmonton Oilers game for the next few weeks, Ernie Tsu plans to stroll down the street in Calgary for a cup of sake.
Wearing his Oilers jersey, he'll then walk from the restaurant back to join a raucous crowd of Edmonton fans at his bar in the heart of Calgary's Red Mile, the name given to the stretch of 17th Avenue during the Flames' 2004 Stanley Cup run.
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The Province
3 hours ago
- The Province
Connor McDavid's wife seemingly shades Florida Panthers: 'Why is Alberta rat-free?'
Lauren Kyle McDavid chimed in as the Florida Panthers were beating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final Lauren Kyle McDavid, wife of Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid, posted a thinly veiled taunt at the Florida Panthers via Instagram after their convincing win in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. Photo by Nick Kozak As the final fists were thrown and players were being ejected from Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final Monday night, the wife of the game's biggest star, the Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid, subtly chirped the Florida Panthers team on their way to a convincing 6-1 win. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors In a departure from her typically aesthetically curated and polished Instagram account, clothing and interior designer Lauren Kyle McDavid posted a screenshot of a Google Gemini AI response to her query: 'Why is Alberta rat-free?' The screenshot goes on to explain that a provincial program to monitor the Saskatchewan border, combined with strict enforcement and trapping, has led to the province being 'essentially rat-free' for 75 years. Rats are not even permitted as pets in Alberta, but are permitted at zoos, universities or for research purposes. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. However, for those unfamiliar, the rat has been an unofficial Panthers' mascot for 30 years, and, more recently, the term has been one of the many less savoury monikers applied to the Panthers' Brad Marchand, regarded by peers and critics as one of the most antagonistic and bothersome players in the NHL. He picked it up early in his career when drawing comparisons to Ken 'The Rat' Linesman, who played a similar style of hockey and famously bit the nose of Edmonton's Lee Fogolin in 1984. Opposing fans will insist the nickname also alludes to Marchand's nose, which also inspired another early sobriquet: Nose Face Killah, a play on Ghost Face Killah, a member of the rap group Wu-Tang Clan. Early in his career, Brad Marchand was dubbed the Nose Face Killah. Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images The Nova Scotia native might be one of the few NHL players to have a nickname bestowed upon him by a sitting U.S. President. After the Boston Bruins won the 2011 Stanley Cup in Marchand's rookie year, Barack Obama referred to him as 'a little ball of hate' during the team's subsequent visit to the White House. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. As for how the club and its fan base embraced the rat as one of its symbols, you have to go back to the 1995 season when Panthers' forward Scott Mellanby used a slapshot to kill a rat found in the club's dressing room before a game. He went on to score two goals with the same stick that night, leading goalie John Vanbiesbrouck to later joke that his teammate had scored a 'rat trick' — a play on the hockey term for hat trick, when a player nets three goals in a game. The next time Mellanby scored on home ice, someone tossed a fake rat on the ice, and it soon became a practice that became entrenched in the team's run to the Stanley Cup Final in the spring of 1996, the year of the rat, on the Chinese zodiac. The NHL eventually instituted a rule against it, but some fans continue to do it after victories. According to the league, some fans are known to stock up on rubber or plastic rats at Halloween or order them in bulk online. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The tradition continued Monday night as dozens of plastic rats, along with refuse from the stands, rained down on the ice following a fight-filled Game 3. Fans throw rats onto the ice after the Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-1 in Game Three of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday in Sunrise, Fla. Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Appropriately, the Panthers' original mascot is Stanley C. Panther, but in 2014, the club introduced Viktor E. Ratt as a secondary mascot in homage to the unintentional rat legacy. Merchandise stores at Amerant Bank Arena sell t-shirts, hats and large gold chains with rats dangling from them. Kyle McDavid wasn't in Sunrise, Fla., to see the ice showered with debris. She, along with the wives and girlfriends of several other Oilers, were attending a bachelorette party in Greece for Celeste Desjardins, fiancée to Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl, per Daily Hive Vancouver. But she has attended several playoff home games at Rogers Place. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'The energy is just unreal. Everyone's on edge, the fans are fully dialled in, and you can feel how much it means to people,' she told ELLE Canada during the Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars in late May. 'I love being part of that. It's emotional, exciting and a little chaotic in the best way.' Game 4 in the best-of-seven final is Thursday night, 8 p.m. ET, back at the Panthers' barn. Florida leads the series 2-1. Game 5 returns to Edmonton on Saturday night. Edmonton Oilers fans cheer against the Florida Panthers during the third period in Game One of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place on June 04, 2025 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Photo by Steph Chambers / Getty Images Read More Vancouver Canucks Vancouver Whitecaps News News News
Edmonton Journal
5 hours ago
- Edmonton Journal
'Love it': Master tactician Kris Knoblauch pulls "fast one," this time on hockey media
Article content In other words this was a full practice but without the newsmedia around. As TSN's Ryan Rishaug reported: 'Media told it would be scratches only, and no time was given for the skate. Clearly feeling they need to give their guys a break from a Stanley cup spotlight that is getting hot. Have covered well over a dozen finals and never had this happen before. And Montreal hoockey writer Renaud Lavoie in response to Rishaug: 'That's because it's not supposed to happen…' And Mark Spector of Sportsnet: :Oilers pull a fast one on the Stanley Cup media contingent, claiming an off day for the players. Then they skated. Subterfuge.' And the Athletic's Daniel Nugent-Bowman: 'This was declared a day off, so there was no reason for most reporters to go to the rink. (The coach did his avail on Zoom, which is another issue entirely.) Fans don't care about media gripes, but this isn't a great look for a league that should be craving any coverage it gets.' Vegas hockey podcaster Chris Gawlik said: 'Love it.' My take 1. Nugent-Bownman is right that fans don't care about media gripes. Not in the least, at least so long as there's a huge amount of commentary on their favourite team and interviews with their favourite players. The fact is that there's no shortage of such reporting and commentary right now at this moment. 2. I don't expect any reporters to like what Knoblauch did. If I was a reporter covering the event, I'd not like it either. At the same time, the Oilers have a game to win. As an Oilers fan, I put that ahead of any other consideration here.
CTV News
7 hours ago
- CTV News
Stanley Cup game control: A question of style, puck possession and exploiting mistakes
While the benefits are obvious of playing Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch explains why it actually hurts their depth in the long run. Sorry, we're having trouble with this video. Please try again later. [5006/404] Losing a faceoff and a battle for position less than a minute into Monday's game cost them the first goal. A rash of early penalties then finally caught up to them for the second one. And then the Edmonton Oilers were really chasing the Florida Panthers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, ultimately losing 6-1 in Sunrise, Fla., while taking an atypical 85 minutes in penalties. 'I thought we got away from our game,' Oilers captain Connor McDavid said after Monday's game. 'Part of that is due to chasing it a little bit. Part of that is, credit to them, they played well. You find yourself in a hole, you're gonna do some uncharacteristic things ... 'We've done well chasing down games and turning the tide. Obviously, we didn't do it (Monday night).' Yes, the Oilers feature two of the National Hockey League's best players in McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. But the Panthers are considered the NHL's fiercest and finest forechecking team. They feature the likes of Sasha Barkov, arguably the best two-way player in the game and this year's Selke Trophy winner as the league's top defensive forward, and Gustav Forsling, among the best defensively on the blueline. Tenacity is in great supply on south Florida ice, too, with the likes of Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen in the Panthers' forward ranks, and Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones on the back end. Did I mention they're the defending Stanley Cup champions? Panthers vs. Oilers Florida Panthers' Sam Bennett (9) celebrates his goal against the Edmonton Oilers with Eetu Luostarinen (27) during the second period in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final in Sunrise, Fla., on Monday, June 9, 2025. (Nathan Denette/THE CANADIAN PRESS) While the first two games of this year's Cup final are arguably among the best ever played – close, blow-for-blow battles between two of the NHL's titans ending in overtime, with each side claiming victory once – Game 3 was much different. The Oilers couldn't catch up to the Panthers this time for all the aforementioned reasons, but partly because Florida could play to their strengths and clamp down on Edmonton's attack while protecting – and adding to – their lead. Case in point: Reinhart's goal for the Panthers a minute and 20 seconds after Corey Perry got the Oilers' first, and ultimately only, lamp-lighter of the game. The Panthers pressed the Oilers immediately after Perry's marker and capitalized on mistakes and misplays to gain the puck and score. 'I don't think we have gotten up to standard where we want to be yet. I think it's coming." — Mattias Ekholm Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm said after Tuesday's practice 'it's pretty clear' to him that whoever 'manages to play their game' more than the other side is the one that wins. But while the Panthers have gotten the better of the Oilers so far, he says his team's best 'is coming.' 'I think they've managed to (dictate their style of play) better in two games, and we did it better in Game 1,' Ekholm told media. 'In that regard, I don't think we have gotten up to standard where we want to be yet. I think it's coming ... It's a 2-1 series, so we're in a good spot, but we need to raise our game.' Stanley Cup Oilers Panthers Hockey Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) trips over Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) during the second period of Game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup final Monday, June 9, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (Lynne Sladky/AP) The Oilers' Trent Frederic said maintaining control of the puck more often – and staying out of the penalty box; Florida scored on three of 11 power-play chances in Game 3 – helps keep the Panthers in check. 'When they have a lot of power plays, even if they're not scoring, their star players are getting touches on the puck and feeling good about themselves,' the forward acquired from the Boston Bruins in late January said Tuesday. 'You never really want that to start. They're good at playing that game, and I've played them in multiple series ... It feels like they're doing more but (they're) getting more penalties (to go on the power play), so they're good at that.' Also handcuffing the Oilers to a degree is a hesitancy because of depth concerns on the part of head coach Kris Knoblauch and his staff to go to their nuclear option: Activating the dynamic duo of McDavid and Draisaitl by putting them on an even-strength line together, something Knoblauch and every coach before him have relied on to kick-start the team's offence. 'With what we have right now, to run those two together for long periods of time makes it more difficult for our depth on our team,' Knoblauch told reporters on Wednesday. 'At points, it's very beneficial to have them playing together, but especially with the absence of Zach Hyman, it makes it a little more difficult putting those two together.' Stanley Cup Oilers Panthers Hockey Florida Panthers center Brad Marchand (63) watches as a shot by center Carter Verhaeghe enters the goal against Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) during the first period of Game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup final Monday, June 9, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (Lynne Sladky/AP) If there's any solace in Monday's loss for the Oilers, it's that they've experienced such a low before. Just last year against the very same team in the very same high-stakes final series, never mind in other series leading up to the Final both this year and last. Face it, the Oilers faced even longer odds last June while staring down the barrel of a three-games-to-none gun held by these very same opponents. Ekholm said his team has 'played better this year to start the first three than we did last year.' 'Obviously, the result shows that, but also, we have a better understanding of what needs to be done out there,' he said. 'We can't let emotions, outside effects, referees – whatever it is – affect us. 'We've got to stick to the process and play our game, and I think good things will happen.'
