For the second year in a row, the Edmonton Oilers have made it to the Stanley Cup Final. Much of the talk has been about what the Oilers players learned from their loss last year and how that will help them succeed this year, such as McDavid’s comments about said learning experience and how it feels different this year.
But no one seems to be acknowledging the fact that the Oilers faithful also went through an emotionally draining playoff run last year and what lessons they have learned coming into the Final.
So what can Oilers fans take from last year to make this year’s final that much more enjoyable?
Stay hydrated and take advantage of the breaks
By the time of the first game of the Final, the Oilers will have been in playoffs for over six weeks. There have been three breaks of more than just a day between games over that time period—four days between Game 6 against the Los Angeles Kings and Game 1 against the Vegas Golden Knights, six days between Game 5 against Vegas and Game 1 against the Dallas Stars, and five days between Game 5 against Dallas and Game 1 against the Florida Panthers.
What that means is that over the six weeks, there has only been 12 days where it either wasn’t a game day or a day after a game day. So basically, over 70% of the time Oilers fans have either been going crazy while watching the game or, um, recovering from watching the game.
One good thing about the Final is that there are more days in between some games: there is a two day break between Games 2 and 3, between 3 and 4, between 5 and 6 (if needed), and between 6 and 7 (if needed).
Oilers fans would do well to utilize those extra days for more healthy endeavours. Drink some water, go for a walk, hug your kids, etc. This is especially the case given that we are into the warmer months in Edmonton with temperatures in the mid-20s for the first week of the Final.
Also, maybe stock up on Advil and Gatorade.
Don’t get too low
I know the term “fan” is short for “fanatic” and that the riding the emotional rollercoaster not just throughout a season but even a game is all a part of the experience, but we have also seen that this team has the ability to recover quite well from any bad performances and are never really out of it.
So if the Oilers do let in the first goal of a game, don’t fully get on the “trade the entire team” train and instead take a breath and remember this is a team that came back from 2–0 against L.A., 1–0 against Dallas, oh and 3–0 against Florida last year and ending up just two goals shy of a Cup.
McDavid said not getting emotionally drained has helped them. Be like McDavid.
Book your reservations and get to the watch parties/bars/games EARLY
People in Edmonton are ready to celebrate and you just know everyone will want to be where the action is. Add in the good weather and just that many more people will be out and about enjoying the Final experience.
Plus, this series has a guaranteed Friday game, along with a potential Saturday game and a Friday Game 7. If you add in a Thursday game which is basically a Friday, that’s over half the games in the series where people have no real excuse to stay home to watch the game. So yeah, you are gonna need to be prepared to fight the crowds if you want a primo spot to watch the games.
Also, the games are all at 6:00 pm MT, meaning you also need to get there early literally just to make it to the game in time. So make sure you always have an emergency Oilers jersey on hand (or better yet, just always be wearing one at all times) so that you don’t have to worry about making any extra unnecessary stops after work.
Mute your non-Oilers fan friends
Assuming you actually interact with people who aren’t Oilers fans for some reason, it is probably a good idea to limit your interactions with them until after the series is over. After all, those conversations will only go one of two ways: they chirp you about the Oilers losing, or you gloat to them about the Oilers winning. Either way, during the heat of the series that chirping could get a bit testy and the last thing you want to do is lose a friend (although, if they aren’t an Oilers fan then it may not be that big of a loss anyway).
Don’t book anything important the day after Games 4, 5, 6, or 7
The above mentioned four games are all games where the Cup can potentially be awarded. Sure, we won’t know until closer to which game(s) that will actually be a possibility (other than game 6 and 7, if they happen) but do you really want to take that risk? After all, nothing ruins a Cup celebration 35 years in the making like an “I’m sorry guys, I gotta go home early to make my dentist appointment tomorrow morning.”
Better yet, don’t book anything the day after. Not even work. You can always get another job, but who knows if you will ever get to celebrate another Cup win again?
Keep up your Game Day routine, but don’t be afraid to adjust it
Sure, the chances of your game day rituals and habits having any kind of effect on the outcome of the games is pretty low. But you don’t know that it’s zero, so you can’t take the risk of upsetting the hockey gods by wearing the wrong jersey or even thinking about washing that lucky underwear.
Some days you won’t be able to do all the exact same things, obviously. I’m going to assume you didn’t go to work on the matinee Sunday game against Dallas, but I don’t want to counsel anyone to skip a day of work for a weekday game (plus, that game was at 1:00 pm, so you can’t fully keep up the same ritual anyway). But that doesn’t mean you don’t at least try to keep things as similar as possible.
If the Oilers lose a game though, you best believe something has to change (I’m sure all the less fanatic hockey spouses out there would love the first thing to be washing said no-longer-lucky underwear). Don’t go too crazy on the changes though, because clearly some of it worked before, but maybe the gods were just getting a bit bored of the same thing over and over again and wanted you to mix things up a little.
Enjoy the ride
It’s the Stanley Cup Final. It’s beautiful outside. The city is electric and full of vibes. Soak it all in and make some good memories (and hopefully one really, really good one).
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
