Can Canada break the curse of the Stanley Cup?

The Edmonton Oilers are heading to Miami since 1993 to bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada.

They will hope to avoid last year’s repetitions while they did the same trip and got lost.

For more than 30 years, the winner of the National Hockey League’s highest award has won the U.S. team. It is a regrettable legacy for a not only a sport but also a part of national identity. About 40% of NHL players are Canadians on all teams – more than any other country.

Last year, the Oilers lost against the Florida Panthers in the final game of seven games.

It was a “heartbreaking” loss for Carson Duggan, who grew up in rural Alberta and now lives in the United States. She kept heading to Miami to watch the final game, and she said she also had thousands of Canadians joining.

It’s a painful point for many Canadians that the league’s most stubborn fans have not had trophys for so long but are still willing to spend a lot of money and travel a lot to support their team.

Now, Edmonton has a second chance to break this year’s defeat, but entering Game 6, there are fears that history can indeed be repeated. When the Oilers started the game and won the first game 4-3, the Panthers beat Edmonton 5-2 on Saturday, giving them a 3-2 series.

Tuesday’s game in Miami will be done.

Repeated losses somehow bring Canadians against a common enemy – the United States. Although there are seven Canadian teams in the NHL for Canadian fans to cheer on, Canadian teams are the farthest behind Canadian teams in the playoffs. So, in the final series of this year, the Edmonton Oilers were eliminated by the Canadian team.

“I think it’s like, we need a Canadian cup,” Ms. Dugan said. “A lot of Canada cheered Edmonton.”

This is especially true as tensions between Canada and the United States exacerbate an attitude of trade war.

International competition did come to mind when the four countries face to face in the winter, when Trump repeatedly called it the “51st State.”

The Canadians booed the U.S. national anthem during the game, and within the first nine seconds of a game, three battles broke out. Shortly after Canada won 4NATION, Canadian comedian Mike Meyers granted the hockey term “elbow” to the sovereign rally in Canada.

The slogan was adopted by Prime Minister Mark Carney (whose ancestor was Edmonton) during his campaign.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump personally called the Panthers, who was about an hour away from his real estate Mar-a-lago to provide his support.

Ms. Dugan said the temperature between the two countries seemed a little cooler. But that doesn’t mean that Canadian victory is not a “cherry”.

“We won’t be bullied,” she said. She believes that “most Canadians know that most Americans are good people.”

Every Canadian has his own assumption that since 1993, the Canadian team has not won the Cup from ordinary to complete conspiracy.

First, in the eyes of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, the U.S. franchise has far surpassed the league, with seven of the eight new teams entering Nevada, Florida and most recently Utah since 1993. Now, Canada has only seven teams compared to the 25 players in the United States.

Others point out that the warm and lucrative tax breaks in many U.S. states are attractive to free agents.

Ms. Duggan likes to think that this is at least partly because of the unique equal gameplay of hockey – players can only be on ice for 45 seconds at a time, which usually means that even star players like Connor McDavid of the Oilers can’t monopolize the rink.

The 28-year-old, compared to Hall of Fame Wayne Gretzky, has been playing with the team since he was No. 1 in the NHL in the 2015-2016 season. While it took the oilers several years to reach their current level, even then it was clear that he would be a star.

“If he was selected for Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia or Rangers, or actually any team in the United States, I think hockey would grow exponentially,” Ms. Dugan said. “You know nothing about hockey, look for five minutes, look at it,” [he’s] The best player. ”

Now living in New Hampshire, moving to the United States to play college-level hockey and coach Ms. Dugan (his great-grandfather was the mayor of Edmonton), said the oilers remained her home team.

“I think that’s a home that’s always there,” she said. “They probably have spent years because some of their puck dripping at 10 p.m. I stayed up late to watch every game.”