A large group of passionate and excited Edmonton Oilers fans made their presence known in South Florida.
The Oilers are looking to win their first Stanley Cup since 1990, and thousands of fans made the trip to Sunrise, Florida to watch the team play in person.
“Go Oilers,” exclaimed Laverne Katona, an Alberta native who came to watch the series with her husband. “I'm so excited for the Oilers to bring home the Stanley Cup. I'm rooting for this next Oilers dynasty.”
This series adds another historic element: A Canadian team hasn't hoisted the Stanley Cup since 1993.
“Honestly, it feels like I'm in dreamland,” said Greg Ellsworth, an Oilers fan from Nova Scotia. “The glory days are coming back and we're bringing the Stanley Cup home to Canada.”
Traveling from Canada to Florida takes time and money, but compared to seeing an Oilers game on home ice, the trip is a bargain.
“It's a little cheaper to come to Florida than to Edmonton,” Ellsworth said.
“Tickets in Edmonton, really good tickets, are like $5,000,” Jason Grubb, an Oilers fan from Alberta, told CTV News. “Here they're like $1,000.”
Edmonton nearly swept Florida in the season opener.
“Overall, I thought we played a pretty good game,” Oilers coach Chris Knobloch said, “and had some chances to score goals.”
But Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 32 shots in a 3-0 win over Edmonton.
While Panthers fans are going home satisfied, Oilers fans are wondering: what happens now?
“We've been in tight spots and won a lot of series, so I'm not worried at all,” one Oilers fan said, noting that Edmonton blew leads against both the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars but came back to advance to the next round in both series.
Edmonton did enough to win Game 1 and will be hoping for more luck on Monday night.
“It's a confidence boost for our team, knowing our best player can compete with anybody,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said.
Game 2 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final will be played on Monday night, before the series shifts to Edmonton on Thursday.
