​Hockey has deep roots in the soul of our Canada!

The blood of Canadians, no matter what their origin, has been stirred by the prospect of a Canadian team winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in 31 years. People across the country are buzzing now that the Edmonton Oilers have their ticket to the final playoff series for The Cup.

What is the origin of this excitement and unifying spirit surrounding our National Sport? The answer goes back a long way to outdoor fun on the ponds, lakes, and backyard rinks of Canada. Yes, climate change has warmed our weather somewhat lately, but the roots of what great goalie Ken Dryden called The Game, are strong and deep.

As the winner of the Stanley Cup of pond hockey, back in the day, this writer can vouch for the fact that nothing brings this country together like our National Sport. Players in the pond hockey finals, imitating their NHL favorite player with their jersey number on their back, checking opposing players into the nearest snowbank, or making a spectacular save in their turn as goalie, defending with a baseball mitt, and perhaps guarding the goal with a broom held between two winter boots as goal posts.

As someone once said, we learned to skate like the wind, stick handle and headman the puck. We had no Zamboni, of course, just the absolute dedication of players to clear off the snow before and during Saturday’s action. There were disputes, but no fights. “Come on guys, the score is 18 to 17, we’ve got to figure out who’s going to win this thing.”

American kids would occasionally join us on the pond, but we claimed they were “hot doggers” who “couldn’t take a check.” This overcame the dominance of the Americans in relations between the two countries. The Americans seemed to come out on top in many things, whether money, bravado, or military might. But on our home pond, we Canadians almost always won. When the American visitors had a player who was “a digger” like us, not a “showboat”, we were happy to “let him win.”

Canada is a big country, difficult to govern and tough to keep all the parts moving in roughly the same direction. But nothing unites us like hockey. Take the 1972 series against the Russians, or in April, the Women’s National team winning the World Championship with key players from across the country, or just last weekend, the Oilers making it to the final series in (the real) Stanley Cup.

Justin Trudeau, Pierre Poilievre, Danielle Smith, and certainly not Rene Levesque in his day, could not unite all of Canada, including Quebec, like the Edmonton Oilers are doing right now. The Oilers have made it to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 18 years. A Canadian team has not won the Stanley Cup since 1993, when the Montreal Canadiens won it (one of the 27 times they have won The Cup in the history of the NHL.) Now, after some hard times, we’re starving; we’re ready.

There has been some pain involved. A team like the Toronto Maple Leafs, hasn’t had the formula to win a Stanley Cup since 1967. The Oilers now appear to have the right formula. They are basically a finesse team built around the best and most nimble player in the world, Connor McDavid. The Oilers are also a tough team, but not a team of thugs. McDavid is not a hot dogger. He has a lot of class, soft spoken, yet supporting teammates who may have been going through a challenging time. He has also been gracious in victory, such as when he consoled members of the Dallas Stars following the last game of the Oilers/Stars series. He is not a brash team leader.

As all Oiler fans know, there is also a very impressive German professional hockey player on the team, Leon Draisaitl. He is a very talented, hard-working, and unassuming player who has been an inspirational teammate to McDavid. His European presence on the team prevents us from getting too pure in this patriotic thing about the Oilers just now.

There are many key figures making up the Oilers team, but no one more important than the new, clean-cut coach, Kris Knoblauch. One hockey executive has said of Knoblauch, he has paid his dues; he is not “a yeller or a teller, he’s a teacher.”  Knoblauch, in just a few months, has quietly molded the Oilers into a diverse, close-knit and powerful team.

The Edmonton Oilers have certainly riled up the whole country. This weekend, they will take to the ice in the Final series against the Florida Panthers, who are led by the tough, brash Matthew Tkachuk. Both teams will have to overcome a long, 7–8-day layoff since their last game. Will there be rust on either team, as hockey enthusiasts like to wonder?

Let’s get on with it, there is never any rust on the Stanley Cup.