Cody Ceci, Zach Hyman and goaltender Mike Smith of the Edmonton Oilers celebrate their victory against the Los Angeles Kings during the third period in Game Seven of the First Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place on May 14.Codie McLachlan/Getty Images
Fans dressed in every manner of Oilers garb poured through the gates at Rogers Place on Friday night. They turned the arena in downtown Edmonton into a sea of orange even though their beloved team wasn’t there.
The Oilers were 300 kilometres away in Calgary but more than 15,000 devotees turned out to take in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series with the Flames at a massive road game watch party. That is a larger crowd than on average attended home games of at least 10 NHL teams during the 2021-22 regular season.
They could have watched from the comfort of their living room and not pay $13 for a beer but what fun would that be when they could hang out and cheer for their own and jeer at the other guys in hockey’s most bitter rivalry?
There is inestimable pain inflicted during the Battle of Alberta from October through April in any year, but this is the first time it has happened as part of the Stanley Cup in 31 years.
And what a treat it is. Jarring hits. Pushing and shoving. An elbow here, a slash there. Did Matthew Tkachuk just do something distasteful? So surprising.
It is 60 minutes of pulsating excitement.
Appropriately enough, there were a few Calgary supporters on hand to ham it up for the cameras on Friday night. When they were shown tugging at their jerseys or pounding on their chests or screaming with their faces contorted into a screw, boos rained down like a tropical storm in Miami.
This is only the sixth time the two Alberta franchises have squared off during the postseason. Edmonton has won four of the previous five series between them dating to 1983, but Calgary appears to be the more dominant of the two this year.
The Flames finished first in the Pacific Division seven points ahead of the second-place Oilers. Both won their first-round series, each in seven games.
The winner of this one advances to the conference final and is then just four wins away from contesting the Stanley Cup. That is just a little of the background that makes this matchup so juicy and thoroughly enjoyable.
Spectators paid $5 to participate in the watch party with proceeds to benefit the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation.
Several thousand more people gathered for a free outdoors party in a plaza across the street. There would have been more but it was chilly and the wind was whipping. Remember this is Edmonton and it is only the May long weekend.
Inside Rogers Place fans with foam-rubber pucks on their heads walked along the concourses before the game, beneath photographs of Connor McDavid, Darnell Nurse, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and other stars. They lined up in the souvenir shops to buy everything from Oilers hockey sweaters to car flags, flip-flops, five kinds of face coverings, baking cups, barbecue gloves, spatulas, salt and pepper shakers and pet bandanas.
Standing off to one side at one of them was Sean Coom. He wore an Oilers ball cap and face mask and had a huge gold victory chain with a large Oilers medallion dangling from his neck.
“Every year we talk about next year being the year,” Coom, 40, said. “Hopefully that’s this year.”
Children had pictures taken with Flex, a one-year-old yellow Labrador retriever who is training to be a service dog.
Between photos, Flex looked comfortable in her Oilers vest and played with an Oilers chew toy. She was so well-behaved that she didn’t lunge when two bags of popcorn were placed beside her on the floor.
“I love being with the dog, watching them train and seeing how they will help clients,” said Sanna Westermann, director of development and external relations for the organization Dogs With Wings. “When they are transferred to a home, everybody cries.”
An hour before puck drop, Flex had posed a hundred times.
“It’s an easy sell,” Westermann said.
The arena erupted when McDavid, the superstar centre, was shown sitting at his dressing stall just minutes before the game. The crowd sang along to O Canada with Calgary anthem singer Michela Sheedy as though she was in the house.
They chanted “We want the Cup,” did numerous waves, and groaned when the Flames went ahead just three minutes in. Groans turned to moans when Calgary scored again three minutes after that.
“Stay in the net,” someone screamed at Mike Smith, the Edmonton goalie. He has played well but is occasionally prone to badly timed walkabouts.
When the Oilers’ Duncan Keith ripped a shot past Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom later in the first period, the noise nearly blew the roof off. It got louder and louder from there and became ear-splitting as Edmonton rallied for a 5-3 victory.
The best-of-seven series shifted to Edmonton for Games 3 and 4 on Sunday and Tuesday. On Thursday, there will be another road watch party at Rogers Place.
The arena will be full. The fans will be loud. The team won’t be there.