2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together – Part One
June 27, 2024
Holland and the Oilers part ways
June 27, 2024
June 26, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg
The Edmonton Oilers were on the precipice of making history. They had the chance to become the first team since the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs to come back to win a Stanley Cup Final after being down 3-0. It was Connor McDavid’s first chance to win a Stanley Cup. The Oilers had a chance to break the 31-year drought of Canadian teams not winning the Stanley Cup. Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final was being billed as the biggest game in NHL history by some media members. I felt like I had no choice but to go!
My buddy and I stayed up until 4 AM after Game 6 trying to arrange flights. We found several, but they were being scooped up as we found them. He finally found one that we could book, so he booked it. It was official, we were going to Game 7!
Related: 2024 Oilers Playoff Run: Coming Together – Part One
The original plan was to fly to Toronto at 6:20 PM on Sunday night. We were set to arrive just after midnight Eastern time. We had an eleven hour layover in Toronto before our connecting flight to Orlando was scheduled to leave just before noon. We were scheduled to land in Orlando just before 3 PM, leaving us just enough time to make the three hour drive to Ft Lauderdale and to get ourselves to the game comfortably.
That’s not at all how it went down.
Our first flight was delayed four times. FOUR! We left four hours later than we were originally scheduled to depart. Thankfully we had a massive layover in Toronto, but it was extremely frustrating. We predictably got stuck at a train on our drive to the airport. We got into Toronto at around 4 AM, and it was closer to 5 AM by the time we got to our hotel. It meant that we would only get a few hours to sleep. I have trouble sleeping in my own bed let alone in hotels, so I got zero winks of sleep that night. My buddy only slept for a few hours.
We figured we would still be fine if our flight to Orlando didn’t get delayed. Sure enough, with only ten minutes left until boarding, that flight got delayed until 2 PM. The game started at 8 PM. A three hour flight and a three hour drive left us racing to get to Amerant Bank Arena in time for puck drop.
My friend and I went to the desk to talk to Air Canada. A couple that was also going to the game approached the desk at the same time, so we just had the conversation together. There was a flight to Ft Lauderdale that was scheduled to land at 7:35 PM, leaving us in the same situation essentially. That flight was full, and we had the option to join a waitlist for openings on that flight. That flight left a couple of hours after ours, so we opted to wait it out.
It was playing out like the start of the series did for the Oilers. Our backs were against the wall. I said that I’ve heard this story somewhere before. It was feeling like something out of a movie at that point! It was the trip with all of the possible delays that could potentially have prevented us from getting to our incredibly important event in time.
We got onto the plane with no further delays. The couple that we met at the desk was sitting a few rows in front of us. Near the end of the flight, a man stopped to thank the couple as he walked by them to go back to his seat. He had been talking to a flight attendant. I overheard the flight attendant say that they would let Oilers fans going to the game get off the plane first. Sure enough, they made an announcement moments later that said that they would be letting Oilers fans going to the game off the plane first because we still had a three hour drive ahead of us!
I legitimately started choking up and holding back tears. I wanted nothing more than to just get to that game on time. I was running on no sleep, and the day had been stressful up to that point. That was the positive turning point in the movie where the main characters realize that they can make it!
Once the flight landed, half the plane got up and raced towards the door. The sprint was on!
The drive there certainly could have offered us more encounters that would have slowed us down more. Thankfully, there were no more dramatic scenes in our movie. We passed several state troopers on the highway, but none of them wanted to stop us. We were obviously driving in a totally safe manner.
We arrived at the game in a nick of time! We entered the building as the player introductions were happening. We got to our section as the Canadian anthem started. We got to sing O Canada loudly and proudly with all the other Oilers fans in attendance, but we had to do it from the entrance to our section. They let us into our seats for the American national anthem. We got into our seats just in time for puck drop!
The adventure of getting down there was honestly crazy! I had two media members reach out to me for interviews on Sunday afternoon after I posted about what happened on the plane. One was from SONiC 102.9 in Edmonton; and one was from Scripps News wanting me to appear on Morning Rush, their national morning show, if the Oilers had won the game. Neither one worked out because of my travel schedule and the result of the game, but it was still really cool to be asked.
This experience wasn’t ALL about the outcome for me. It was about making a core memory with a friend and sharing an incredible experience with other Oilers fans. We were sad that we didn’t get to meet up with Oilers fans for any pregame festivities, but we got to meet a few Oilers fans at the game.
We were in a section full of Oilers fans. I sat beside a man from Ottawa that had the EXACT same orange shoes as I was wearing! We met a man from Halifax that was wearing an Oilers jersey that said “McMagic” on the back. He and his wife drove 39 hours from Halifax for the game. He told us that his mission was to find Mark Messier at the game and get his autograph. I don’t know if he was successful or not unfortunately. I also got to meet Tony Brar in the concourse in the first intermission.
We know what happened in the game. Panthers fans were loud throughout the game, but it was not anywhere close to what I experienced in Game 6. The outcome stung, but the experience was still amazing! I’m always going to remember the excitement and the anticipation before the game, and how it felt when Mattias Janmark scored to tie the game in the first period. I’m also going to remember the disappointment of watching the final minutes and seconds tick off the clock. I’ll remember the feeling of helplessness and emptiness as I watched the rats fly onto the ice and the gloves and sticks go flying in the Panthers zone. I’ll also remember McDavid not coming out to accept the Conn Smythe trophy. Gary Bettman made sure to remind everyone that the award is for the best player in the ENTIRE PLAYOFFS while presenting the trophy.
I took that one on the chin. It’s okay though because those feelings serve to make us stronger, and it will make it feel so much better when the Oilers do finally win the Stanley Cup.
I travelled 10,182 km in a span of 46.5 hours. It involved a 22 hour trip to Ft Lauderdale, and a 13.5 hour trip home. It was five flights in three days, including two flights and five delays on the way down and three flights on our way home on Tuesday. It was fifteen hours in the air and three hours on the road. We were on both coasts on Tuesday. We basically did a full circle of the United States in two days. I got two hours of sleep plus what little bits I could get on my flights on the way home in those 46.5 hours. It was all worth it even though we saw the wrong team lift the Stanley Cup.
The reaction to the Game 7 loss by Oilers fans made me super proud. I’m already proud to be an Oilers fan. We have the loudest building in the league, and the most passionate fans. The way we all came together in the playoffs and more specifically in the Stanley Cup Final was really incredible to me.
This playoff run was about Oilers fans coming together. It was about dance circles in the Moss Pit and chanting on 104 avenue. It was also about celebrating our super fans. Superfan Magoo was always present, as usual. Mama Stanley stayed in the Moss Pit late to give fans hugs after Game 7. We saw Banjo Guy everywhere!
More than anything, it was about celebrating our team and our city. Edmonton isn’t as big as Toronto or New York, and it isn’t as pretty as Vancouver; but it’s a beautiful city with passionate, hard working people.
The Oilers didn’t finish the job and come out with the ultimate prize, but they gave us a reason to celebrate and to feel joy this spring, which is a wonderful thing. They should be damn proud of that because we’re damn proud of them.
Thank you, Edmonton. Thank you for coming together to celebrate my team and my city with me. It was an incredible ride that I’ll never forget. Thank you to the Oilers Entertainment Group for bringing the party to the Ice District. 30,000 Oilers fans were showing up to the Ice District on game days, which is absolutely incredible. I was legitimately in the city where the home team won the Stanley Cup in a Game 7. Their celebrations were NOTHING close to how Edmonton celebrates winning a playoff game of any kind, let alone a Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final on home ice.
I know one thing for sure. Rogers Place will be MUCH louder than Amerant Bank Arena was on Monday night when the Oilers win a Stanley Cup, whether they win it on the road or at home. Edmonton will ABOSLUTELY GO OFF! I still believe that they will win one soon.
The 2006 run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final was more magical than this run because that team wasn’t expected to be there. They were the eighth seed in the Western Conference, and they caught fire to get to the Stanley Cup Final.
These Oilers are legitimate contenders. Everyone expects the Oilers to contend for the Stanley Cup because they have the two best players in the world. I wasn’t around to witness the eighties Oilers, but this one seems more like the 1983 Stanley Cup Final loss than the 2006 loss. The Oilers went on to win five Stanley Cups in the next seven seasons after that loss. I’m not saying that the current Oilers will have that level of success, but they will be expected to be in the mix for many years to come.
I speak for all Edmonton Oilers fans when I say that I can’t wait to watch that happen, and I can’t wait until we come together again next spring.
