Can Canada break its curse for the Stanley Cup?

Edonton Oiles heads south to Miami to fight to return the Stanley Cup for the first time in Canada since 1993.

They will hope to avoid repetition last year when they made the same trip and lost.

For more than 30 years, the winner of the best award of the National Hockey League went to an American team. It is a regretting legacy for a country where ice hockey is not just a sport, but part of the national identity. About 40% of NHL players, in all teams, are Canadian – more than any other country.

Last year, Oiles sailed during the final game of the Seven Games against the Floridian Panthers.

It was a “heartbreaking” loss for Carson Douggan, who grew up in the village Alberta and now lives in the United States. She had traveled all the way to Miami to watch this final game, where she said thousands of other Canadians joined her.

For many Canadians, this is inflamed that the hardest fans of the league have gone so long without a trophy, and yet they remain ready to spend big money and travel long distances to support their team.

Now Edmonton has a second chance to break the losing series this year, but it is heading for game 6, there are fears that history can really be repeated. While Oilers started the strong series, winning the first 4-3 game, Panthers destroyed Edmonton 5-2 on Saturday, giving them a 3-2 lead lead.

The game on Tuesday, in Miami, will be made or died.

Repeated losses somehow have United Canadians against a common enemy – the United States. Although there are seven Canadian teams in the NHL to cheer about when it comes to playoffs, the most behind any Canadian team, the farthest. Thus, in this year’s final series, Edmonton Oiles was baptized by elimination, a team of Canada.

“I think it’s just like, we need a glass like Canada,” said Duggan. “Many of Canada cheers for Edmonton.”

This is especially true because of the tensions between Canada and the United States, which have intensified among the Test Trade War.

International rivalry really came to the head of the 4th nations in the winter, when Trump repeatedly was digging in Canada, calling him “51th country”.

The Canadians ranked the American national anthem during the match, and three matches erupted on the ice in the first nine seconds of one game. Shortly after Canada won 4Nations, Canadian comedian Mike Meyers assigned the hockey term “elbows” as a rally cry for Canadian sovereignty.

The slogan was accepted by Prime Minister Mark Carney (whose born Edmonton) during his election campaign.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has personally called the Panthers, who play about an hour from his Mar-Lago mansion to offer his support.

The temperatures between the two sides seem to be a little cool, said Duggan. But that does not mean that the Canadian victory would not be “cherry on top”.

“We will not be harassed,” she said, adding that she believes that “most Canadians know that most Americans are good people.”

Each Canadian has its own hypothesis why the Canadian teams have not won the Cup since 1993, from secular to the revealed conspirator.

For starters, under the eye of NHL Commissioner Gary Betman, US franchises have greatly ahead of the League, with seven of eight new teams since 1993. They go to Sunshine States like Nevada, Florida and recently, Utah. There are now only seven Canadian teams compared to the 25th America.

Others point to light temperatures and lucrative tax breaks in many states in the United States as a withdrawal for free agents.

Duggan loves to think that this is at least partly because of the uniquely egalitarian ice hockey gameplay – players are only on the ice for 45 seconds at a time, which means that even a star player, such as Oiler Connor McDavid captain, cannot monopolize the slide.

The 28-year-old, which has been compared to the hall of the famous Wayne Greek, has been playing with the team since it was the first selection of a project in the NHL during the 2015-2016 season. Although it took Oiles years to reach the level they are playing right now, it was even clear that he would be a star.

“If he had been drawn up in Boston or Chicago or Fili or Rangers, or indeed any team in the United States, I think hockey would grow exponentially,” said G -Duggan. “You can know absolutely nothing about hockey and watch five minutes and see (he) the best player.”

He now lives in New Hampshire after moving to the United States to play hockey and ice coach at university level, d -Duggan – whose great -grandfather was mayor of Edmonton – said Oiles is still her home team.

“I think it was a piece of home that was always there,” she said. “They may have taken years of my life because some of their washers drops are like, 10:00, and I’m standing and watching every game.”