Edmonton Oilers fans pack downtown, others in Florida for Stanley Cup Game 7
You can listen to Game 7 on 630 CHED.
Hours before puck drop Monday in the deciding game for the Stanley Cup, Edmonton Oilers fans overwhelmed streets in the Alberta capital, while others who travelled to Florida out-shouted and matched fans of the rival Panthers jersey for jersey.
A few hundred fans gathered outside Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla., outside Miami, for tailgate parties before Game 7.
A rough eyeball count under palm trees put about half in the Oilers camp, half for the Panthers.
At one point, the Edmonton faithful’s chant of “Go Oilers Go” overpowered the local contingent’s cry of “Let’s Go Panthers!”
“It’s insane,” said Oilers fan Richard Haas, who travelled from Edmonton with his fiancée, Alyssa Dudek.
“I’m looking for Panther jerseys in this crowd, which is just mind-boggling to me. I think it just shows something about the Edmonton Oilers’ fan base. Oiler fans are different, 100 per cent.”
Dudek added, “It feels like a home game right now. It didn’t feel like this for Game 5, but Edmonton has shown up in a really big way for Game 7.
“It’s close to a once-in-a-lifetime thing and people have shown up in droves.”
Oilers fan Mike Reimer made the trip from Edmonton on a red-eye flight after Game 6.
“It has been a 34-year drought since we won. We were in the Cup final 18 years ago and I’m still devastated from that,” said Reimer, sporting a blue and orange-striped Oilers tuxedo shirt.
“I had to be here to witness a possible end to that streak.”
The Oilers won their fifth and last Stanley Cup in 1990.
They hoped Monday to turn back the clock to 1942 – the last and only time an NHL team came back from three games down in the final to sweep the final four.
In Edmonton — 5,000 kilometres and two time
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