Series Wrap: Oilers vs Panthers
June 26, 2024
2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together – Part Two
June 27, 2024
June 26, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg
There’s nothing quite like the city of Edmonton during the playoffs. The city elevates to another level during long playoff runs, and we haven’t had this long of a playoff run since 2006. It went up another level in 2024.
It started with a first round matchup against the Los Angeles Kings for the third consecutive spring. Fans, including myself, watched from the Moss Pit as the historic Hangar 11 burned to the ground in the distance. The Oilers Entertainment Group added a Molson Hockey House tent to the list of available venues to watch the team play. The series was a matchup with some viewer fatigue due the fact that this was the third year in a row that they have played in round one, but Oilers fans still came out in droves to watch.
Things really picked up in round two where we were treated to a fantastic series against a Canadian rival, the Vancouver Canucks. Both fan bases were enthusiastic, which brought a ton of energy to the series. The Molson Hockey House tent was rocking all series long, even in a Game 3 loss while I was there.
The Oilers faced a 3-2 deficit, and needed to win Game 6 at home to force a Game 7. They delivered with a 5-1 win. Evander Kane scored the fifth goal off a faceoff as Oilers fans sang “Livin’ on a Prayer”. They went on to win Game 7 in Vancouver and earn a berth into the Western Conference Final for the first time since 2006.
That series started off with a classic double overtime victory sealed by Connor McDavid. The DJ for the Dallas Stars consistently plays a song that has something to do with the other team after home victories. He played “La Bamba” after the Stars won Game 2. Once he learned the meaning behind the Oilers’ win song, he immediately apologized and donated to the Ben Stelter Foundation. Oilers fans responded in kind by donating thousands to the Dallas Stars Foundation. Interactions between Oilers fans and Canucks fans were mostly fuelled by hatred and rivalry, but interactions with Stars fans were generally positive and fun.
The Oilers lost Game 3, but they won the next three games to earn a berth into the Stanley Cup Final. A cool moment for me was when Mark Spector retweeted my piece about Darnell Nurse after Game 3. I got a bunch of new followers because of that. Nurse responded with a big night in Game 4.
I was at the Fan Park for Game 6. That was when things really started to pick up! I won’t forget the feelings of excitement in me and the crowd as the final minute ran off the clock and we got to celebrate a trophy win on home ice. The chanting outside the Hall of Fame Room on 104 avenue took off to another level after the Oilers won Game 6. I got onto Sportsnet Central in the madness after that game!
This was the first time that the Oilers made the Stanley Cup Final since 2006. I was seventeen years old then. This was the first Stanley Cup Final that the Oilers have made in my adult life. I told myself that I was going to make damn sure that I enjoyed the hell out of the Stanley Cup Final, and I did.
I had to make sure I had the Stanley Cup Final patches on both of my jerseys. I posted a picture of the jerseys before the series started, and it was my most popular post ever! I’ve said some pretty smart things, but that apparently took the cake.
It started with the Ultimate Edmonton Sports Weekend. The Edmonton Riverhawks played their home opener on Friday, June 7, 2024. The Edmonton Elks had their home opener to kick off their 75th season on the afternoon of Saturday, June 8, 2024. I walked from Commonwealth Stadium to Rogers Place for the watch party for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Edmonton Stingers had a home game the next day. The Edmonton teams lost all four games, but I attended all four events and had a blast doing it!
Prior to Game 2, I participated in a rap video shoot. Cadence Weapon, an Edmonton born rapper also known as Roland “Rollie” Pemberton, wrote a playoff song about the Oilers in 2017. He revised the lyrics after the Oilers made the Stanley Cup Final, and he flew to Edmonton from Toronto to shoot a new video for the song called “Connor McDavid” (video linked) before Game 2. He invited Oilers fans to show up and be in the video, which was shot just outside the Moss Pit. I was planning on watching the game there anyway, so I showed up just a little bit earlier to participate in the video shoot. He commented on the Stanley Cup Final patch on my jersey. I told him to go get one at the Oilers Store, and he did.
I have gone to every hockey related Rogers Place first. I was at the first public tour of the building. I was at the first airing of a hockey game on their big screen, Finland vs North America during the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. I was at the first hockey game to take place there, which was an Edmonton Oil Kings game against the Red Deer Rebels. I was at every Oilers preseason home game in 2016. I went to the Oilers’ first home game at Rogers Place against the Calgary Flames. I also went to the first playoff game there in 2017 against the San Jose Sharks. I even went to Game 4 of the 2022 Western Conference Final, which was the first time that a Conference Championship trophy was awarded at Rogers Place with fans in the building.
I had to be at Game 3 of this series as well, the first Stanley Cup Final game at Rogers Place where fans were allowed in the building. I had tears rolling down my cheeks during the pregame ceremonies. I also got to watch Our Lady Peace perform at the Festival at the Final in the Fan Park.
I watched Game 4 at home with my dad. He isn’t much of a hockey fan, but he watched a few games with me this spring. It’s great that we have a new hockey memory, which was watching the first Oilers win in a Stanley Cup Final game since 2006 in convincing fashion. He definitely enjoyed watching me excitedly react to eight Oilers goals.
I watched Game 5 at a cigar room with some friends. It was a fairly intimate setting compared to others I had watched games at in the playoffs, but I got to watch the game with some friends that I hadn’t watched a playoff game with yet this year.
I knew I needed to be at Game 6. I knew the Stanley Cup would be in the building and that someone would have a chance to win it. That team was the Panthers, but it didn’t matter. I knew the atmosphere at Rogers Place for Game 6 would be unbelievable, and it certainly lived up to my expectations. It was unforgettable. It’s a night that I’ll always remember.
I showed up to the Fan Park to line up for the free concert at 1:45 PM that day. I was standing in line, and a Rogers representative was walking down the line asking if people were Rogers customers. I am, so I was offered VIP passes for the concert! I needed another person to go with me and I was alone, so I offered it to a guy in front of me in line. He came down from Yellowknife to watch the game at the Fan Park. What made it even funnier was that I ran into him again at the Red Bull Soap Box race at Queen Elizabeth Park the next day!
The game though, holy moly! The first playoff game at Rogers Place in 2017 is the only other game I’ve been to that even compares to the atmosphere in Game 6. There’s nothing quite like that little bit of time before the game starts and while the players are waiting for the anthems to begin, and the crowd serenades the team with the loudest “Let’s Go Oilers” chant you’ll ever hear. That is until you sing O Canada as loud as you can with over 18,000 overjoyed Oilers fans. Enjoy, and sorry you have to hear my voice in these videos:
The crowd was in great spirits for the whole night! The “Let’s Go Oilers” chants were rampant. The “Sergei” chants taunting Sergei Bobrovsky were deafening. Fans were singing along to songs and letting it rip in the final minutes of the third period. It was truly amazing! The videos make me tear up with pride. I often dreamt of what a game like that at Rogers Place would be like, all the way back to when I first set foot in the building for the first public tour in 2016. It didn’t disappoint. Oilers fans never disappoint. It was an unbeliveable reality!
The concourse was definitely the loudest that I’ve heard it after a game! I had the good fortune of running into some friends to share the memory with after the game. The crowd outside the Hall of Fame Room on 104 avenue was something else that night! There was a kid with a drum that was leading chants the whole time. Fans were literally dancing in the street! It was absolute pandemonium! It helped that it was a Friday night. I went to a couple of different bars to have a drink afterwards. There were lines outside of most every bar, and some were full. I wanted to stay out longer, but I needed to get home to arrange flights to Florida.
Read Part two of this piece to read about my harrowing trip to Game 7 and for my closing thoughts on this amazing fan base.
Related: 2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together – Part Two
