Yes, I’m still angry that a Canadian team didn’t win the Stanley Cup this hockey season.
I know it’s July and the last game was June 24, so I should be over it by now.
But I’m not.
It’s been 31 years since a team north of the 49th Parallel hoisted Lord Stanley’s silverware and became champions.
That would be 1993’s Montreal Canadiens, beating Wayne Gretzky’s Los Angeles Kings in five games.
Yes, the same playoffs the Kings (read Gretzky) beat my Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games, when the Great One banked a puck off a defender’s skate from behind the goal line, past a startled goalie Felix Potvin and into the Toronto net, securing an L.A. victory.
Then Los Angeles, except for Gretzky, folded like a cheap tent in a mild breeze against the Habs, led by goalie Patrick Roy.
And that was the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup.
Oh, there have been close calls, with Canadian teams making the finals, but no Cups.
Calgary Flames getting doused by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, the Edmonton Oilers losing to Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, the Anaheim Ducks beating the Ottawa Senators in 2007, the Vancouver Canucks losing to the Boston Bruins in 2011, and the Habs going down to the Lightning in 2021.
And now the Oilers losing to Florida Panthers, 2-1, in the seventh game this year.
True, we almost had a real dud of a final when the Panthers won the first three games, forcing the Oilers to win three in a row, sending it to a deciding game.
And Edmonton had all sorts of chances to tie that game, send it to overtime and have a Stanley Cup final comeback for the ages.
Only the Oilers couldn’t score again and lost by a goal.
I don’t understand how a team with Connor McDavid can lose, but the Oilers managed it.
A friend of mine said it was bad ice in Florida, that the Panthers intentionally had soft, slushy ice to slow the faster Oilers (McDavid did fall twice, for no reason).
Maybe.
Or perhaps beating a team as good as the Panthers four times in a row is just too much to ask of any team.
Florida couldn’t beat Edmonton four games in a row.
Another friend didn’t understand my grumpiness.
“You need to let that hockey stuff go! Edmonton isn’t even your team," she said.
True, the Leafs are my team, but I always cheer for the Canadian clubs once the Leafs are out, which is usually after the first round of the playoffs, which is what happened this year, even though it was in overtime in Game 7 against the Bruins.
And let’s face it, the Oilers are Edmonton-based but are, like most National Hockey League teams, comprised of Canadians, Americans, Europeans and Russians.
Remember when Don Cherry used to count the number of Canadians on each Stanley Cup finalist, then determine who would win based on the number of canucks on a roster?
So maybe I’m taking the Canadian angle a bit too far.
On the other hand, three of the Leafs’ high-profile players are Canadians — Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly and John Tavares — while Auston Matthews is an American and William Nylander is Swedish (although born in Canada).
And what have the Leafs won in the last decade? An early trip to the golf course, that’s all.
So maybe I should let this hockey stuff go, stop worrying about who wins and just enjoy my favourite sport.
Not likely.
Bob Bruton covers city council for BarrieToday. He never gets over stuff, especially when it comes to hockey.
