Edmonton: City of Champions
I always used to cringe when I saw or heard Edmonton calling itself “City of Champions.” These days, though, it feels like that title is deserved. Not only for the Oilers, but for the fans who’ve been, I think, a fairly integral part of the Oilers’ success through the playoffs so far.
Eric Duhatschek’s column from yesterday’s Globe and Mail captures this so well:
I only caught the last 7 minutes of Tuesday’s game, and an incredible third period it was, but since then I’ve hear as much about the fans singing O Canada as I have about the game:
EDMONTON — A day after the fact, Rexall Place was still abuzz over the stirring rendition of the Canadian national anthem, sung by Paul Lorieau, with help from the 16,000-plus in attendance for Tuesday night’s third game of the Western Conference final.
Midway through his performance, Lorieau held up his microphone to the crowd, which was singing the anthem, mostly in unison. The effect was inspiring, according to all the principals quizzed about it Wednesday.
Oilers’ general manager Kevin Lowe called it, “an extremely special moment. It gave all of us Canadians a great sense of pride. I’m sure even the Canadian players on the Ducks and management who were Canadian felt a sense of nationality there. It’s very similar to, in 2002 at the Olympics in Salt Lake, when we could hear the fans in the last minute singing O Canada. It was one of those great moments in sport, from my personal experience.â€
Oilers’ defenceman Steve Staois added: “This is the best building, the best city to play in. Our fans have always been there for us and they deserve all the excitement that’s coming with this playoff run that we’re on. I’ve never seen anything quite like that last night with the anthem. That was pretty amazing. It’s something you’ll never forget.â€
With five Stanley Cups and having had many of the greatest players ever to play the game on the team (at the same time, no less), it would be tempted to think of Edmonton as having been spoiled. Maybe we were a bit at the time. And maybe, in the years after Gretzky, Messier, and Coffey all left, we all felt like our team was a dim reflection of the Oilers of the past. Yet, the Oilers have always had sell-out crowds. Many of us have always followed the team. And we know today how special this team is. The fact that we’ve made it this far after so many years of either barely making it into the playoffs and losing in the first or second round, makes this playoff run all the sweeter. These guys have given EVERYTHING they’ve got and have outworked, outclassed, and amazingly outscored Detroit, San Jose, and Anaheim. They deserve to go all the way.
For the Canuck in the US, even in hockey-loving Vermont, there’s NO local coverage of worth, but fortunately there’s the internet. The coverage at the Globe has been great of late, and I’m also really enjoying Globe writer James Mirtle’s blog.