It may seem unpatriotic, but when the Vancouver Canucks host the Boston Bruins Wednesday night for a game seven, winner-take-all battle for the Stanley Cup, not all Canadian hockey fans will be cheering for the Canadian team.
"I’ll be cheering for anybody but Vancouver," said Edmonton Oilers fan Lynn Wells ahead of Wednesday night’s game.
It hardly seems to matter that the Canucks are the first Canadian team to challenge for the Cup since the Ottawa Senators in 2007, or that the team is poised to return the Cup to Canada for the first time since the Montreal Canadiens won it in 2003. The Canucks may be Canadian, but they’re hardly Canada’s team.
Though difficult to explain, it seems that Canadians – and certainly Albertans – are having trouble getting behind the Canucks.
On Wednesday morning in Edmonton, Team 1260 radio hosts Dustin Nielson and Kyle Chase solicited calls from hockey fans about who they’ll be cheering on. The reaction they got was vocal, vitriolic and, at times, vicious.
"If I see Luongo with that greasy hair lift that Cup I may vomit," said one caller.
"I hate their game, I hate what they bring," said another.
Some callers brought logic into the mix, pointing out that the Bruins’ roster contains more Canadian players than the Canucks. Others went to great lengths to communicate just how deeply their resentment of the Canucks runs.
"Let me put it to you this way guys," one caller opined, "if there were 20 guys on Vancouver’s team that were from my hometown in Saskatchewan and Vancouver wins the Stanley Cup, I still ain’t going home this summer."
During the Edmonton Oilers unlikely Cup run in 2006, it seemed as though most Canadian hockey fans, even Canucks fans, were willing to throw their support behind the team. At least one caller to Nielson and Chase’s show intends to reciprocate.
"When I was in Vancouver they were cheering for our team," the caller said. "I’ve got to show them some love and return the favour."
It’s not just individual fans getting behind the Bruins. Brado’s Pizza and Sports Lounge in northwest Edmonton has hung a temporary banner, amending the eateries name to "Go Boston Go" Pizza, seemingly in response to Boston Pizza restaurants in B.C. being rebranded as "Vancouver Pizza" for the duration of the playoffs.
However, the Canucks do have their supporters in Alberta, few though they may be.
"It’s a little tough because they’re Edmonton’s biggest rivals," said Oiler fan Christian Dunn over lunch at a south-Edmonton Boston Pizza. "But I think you have to cheer for the Canadian team."
With files from Shane Jones.
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