Thirty-one years ago, Canadian hockey fans were on the verge of watching the last time a Canadian-based team won the Stanley Cup.
Nine days into June that year, Montreal Canadiens defeated Wayne Gretzky’s L.A. Kings in five games to be the champions of the National Hockey League.
Like most people who love the game, I’m a proud Canadian. The roots of national pride about our game run deep for me — the Summit Series, the Canada Cup of 1987, Sidney Crosby’s golden goal. And I must admit, I’d love to see a Canadian team win the Stanley Cup. But should I? Is it really that important?
I guess it is if you live in Edmonton, or are an Oilers fan. They are, after all, the last man standing north of the 49th parallel. But in Winnipeg or Vancouver or Ottawa or Toronto, where the fans of those teams have been frustrated this season, should they now cheer for a team that for the most part they abhor?
It’s not really cheering nationalistically, not anymore. When we were kids — a long time ago — almost every player on every team was Canadian. Now fewer than 50 per cent of players in the entire NHL are Canadians. We now have the United Nations on ice with the greatest Canadians playing with and against the best of Germany, Sweden, Finland, Russia and Czechia … and oh yes, the United States.
The nationalism of our game is not nearly as pure in 2024 as it was even three decades ago. Like our day-to-day lives, hockey has become so polarized. We just cheer for our own.
So a Canadian-based team winning the Stanley Cup might be important to some, like me. But I’m not so sure it’s that important to most Canadians.
The fact that 2.2 million people watched the Stars and Oilers in Game 4 on Wednesday is a far cry from the five million who watched Game 7 between Boston and Toronto two weeks ago.
With Edmonton now just two games away from the Stanley Cup Final, will the country rally around the Canadian-based team? Or will we just lament that hockey is going too long into June and head to the lake?
I know I will enjoy it. But I fear I am among a diminishing group of hockey fans.