Sports
Mendes: Why the Oilers are not 'Canada's team' in the Stanley Cup Final
In the aftermath of the Edmonton Oilers clinching their spot in the Stanley Cup Final, the question to Connor McDavid on the podium was predictable.
Winnipeg, Vancouver and Toronto also had Stanley Cup aspirations this spring, but Edmonton is the last Canadian team standing. And so the question to the Oilers superstar was somewhat inevitable, as Edmonton is on the precipice of wiping out a Canadian Stanley Cup drought that has lasted more than three decades.
GO DEEPER
NHL Stanley Cup Final predictions: Athletic staff picks for Oilers-Panthers, Conn Smythe and more
“Can you talk about being Canada’s team?” a reporter asked McDavid on Sunday evening. “Everybody coast to coast is cheering for the Oilers. Any added pressure with that?”
McDavid seamlessly stick-handled the question.
“We’re a Canadian team and we’ve got great Canadian fans,” responded McDavid. “And it feels good to maybe unite the country a little bit and bring people together.”
It’s a nice, easy narrative, isn’t it?
A hockey-obsessed nation that is starving for its championship trophy to rightfully be returned north of the border.
It’s a storyline repeatedly pushed by a Boston Pizza commercial that seems to play during every single TV timeout and intermission in these playoffs. The commercial opens by relaying the heartbreak of several Canadian teams since Montreal’s magical run to a Stanley Cup title in 1993.
Somebody has punched through drywall after Vancouver lost Game 7 to the Rangers in 1994.
A Toronto fan has thrown a plate through their television screen after losing to Carolina in the conference final.
An Oilers fan repeatedly runs over their flat-screen TV with a pickup truck following a second-round loss to Anaheim in 2017.
And a bitter Montreal fan tosses their AM radio to the ground after the Canadiens lost to Tampa in the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.
(The Flames’ and Senators’ runs to the Stanley Cup Final in 2004 and 2007 respectively were omitted from the commercial. But hey, there is only so much Canadian misery you can shoehorn into a 30-second spot.)
The message of the commercial is simple: Canadian NHL fans have only known bitter disappointment over the last 30 years. It’s time for hockey fans in this country to put aside their deep-rooted, historical rivalries and pull in the same direction.
As the commercial draws to a close, fans are gathered inside a Boston Pizza sports bar clad in merchandise that is just generic enough to skirt a trademark infringement suit from the NHL. But it’s clearly meant to show a Canucks fan and a Flames fan high-fiving at the bar. A Senators fan and a Canadiens fan standing side by side. An Oilers fan and a Leafs fan clinking full beer glasses together.
“A Canadian team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup in 30 years. Maybe it’s time to try something different,” the commercial urges. “This year, let’s team up with the fans we’ve always cheered against.”
This commercial and the reporter’s question to McDavid, however, are rooted in pure fantasy — not reality.
Will some casual hockey fans in Canada be pulling for the Oilers over the Panthers?
Absolutely.
Will some big NHL fans in this country be hoping that McDavid — the absolute best player of his generation — winds up with a Stanley Cup ring?
You bet.
But will the majority of die-hard hockey fans in this country be actively rooting for the Oilers as if they were cheering on their own team?
Forget it.
Sure, most Canadians want the Stanley Cup drought to end, but with a very important caveat: only if it happens for their favourite team. Otherwise, it’s just like watching your neighbour win the lottery. I suppose it’s nice for them, but what does it do for you?
Consider this social media poll from Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver after the two Stanley Cup Finalists were determined. Of the 1,531 people who cast a vote, more than 70 percent of them said they would be cheering for the Panthers. Only 16.4 percent said they would be actively rooting for Edmonton, while almost the same number (12.9 percent) said they would remain completely neutral.
And yes, Vancouver fans — who would have made up the vast majority of that poll — might be bitter because Edmonton did eliminate them in the second round.
But that’s the whole point.
You cannot simply ask a Vancouver fan to temporarily suspend their hatred of an Edmonton team that just bounced them from the playoffs. Nor can you ask a Calgary fan to ignore decades of hatred and bitterness in the Battle of Alberta to suddenly pull for their provincial rival. In fact, Calgary fans have full permission to sit out this entire Stanley Cup Final.
The trifecta of Montreal-Toronto-Ottawa will never cheer for one another, and while Winnipeg always seems like the most likeable Canadian team, it’s not like they have forged a national identity of any kind.
It’s a ridiculous question we wrestle with each time a Canadian team is still alive after Victoria Day. Should we embrace the last Canadian team standing for the sake of national pride?
But the answer is always in plain sight.
Consider the backlash in Toronto when the CN Tower — the city’s most iconic building — was lit up in red, white and blue in the summer of 2021 to commemorate the Montreal Canadiens reaching the Stanley Cup Final.
That felt awkward and it created such a stir that a spokesperson for the CN Tower had to release a statement explaining, “It is a federally owned and operated property that belongs to all Canadians.”
When the Canucks were the last Canadian team standing in the COVID-19 bubble in the summer of 2020, our James Mirtle and Sean McIndoe had a fun and spirited debate over the idea of Vancouver being Canada’s team.
But to definitively settle this argument, we should compare the Oilers’ run to what the Toronto Raptors accomplished five years ago. When the Raptors went on their magical run to the NBA title in the summer of 2019, it felt like the entire country was galvanized. There were massive viewing parties being held all across Canada.
In Abbotsford, B.C., more than 1,500 fans turned up to watch Game 5 of the Raptors-Warriors series inside the Abbotsford Centre. At the opposite end of the country in the Maritimes, there were massive viewing parties for Raptors games in places like Halifax and Moncton.
That summer, Cineplex Odeon opened up 33 movie theatres across the country to show Raptors games on the big screen.
“Canadian fans are invited to unite and rally behind the Raptors as they face-off against the Golden State Warriors, live on the big screen,” their press release stated.
Surely, they must be doing the same for Canada’s team — the Edmonton Oilers — here in 2024, right?
Alas, a Cineplex Odeon spokesperson told The Athletic this week, “Currently, we are not scheduled to show the Stanley Cup Final series in theatres as cinema rights haven’t been granted.”
And maybe that’s a technicality on the “cinema rights” point, but it doesn’t feel like the Oilers would have the nationwide appeal of viewing parties in every major city.
We do that for massive Olympic events. The FIFA World Cup. And yes the Raptors and Toronto Blue Jays, because they are the only professional teams based in Canada in their respective sports.
But if there are massive outdoor viewing parties planned for Oilers games in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Toronto this month, I certainly haven’t heard of them.
So to our American friends who think we’re obsessed with getting our trophy back, please know that we haven’t put the country on pause waiting to see if the Oilers bring home the title. Not everybody on this side of the border is on pins and needles. We’re not like England waiting for a FIFA World Cup.
The only time we’re all definitively pulling on the same rope is when we’re cheering for Team Canada in national competitions. The Olympics matter to us and on that front, this country has accomplished a lot since 1993. A trio of Olympic gold medals on the men’s side is a pretty nice consolation prize during a prolonged Stanley Cup drought.
(And we’re not pointing any fingers, but we do know of a certain country to our south that hasn’t won a gold medal on the men’s side since 1980. Forty-four years is a pretty good drought too, FYI.)
An Oilers championship — while erasing a 31-year drought for a Canadian-based team — does nothing for any other fan base in this country. Cities like Ottawa, Vancouver and Winnipeg, who have never hoisted a Stanley Cup, don’t receive partial credit for an Oilers championship. And if anything, an Edmonton Stanley Cup championship will only further enrage Toronto fans, who are closing in on six decades without a title.
But if there is one reason we should be collectively pulling in Canada for an Oilers Stanley Cup this month, it would be to end this ridiculous notion that we’re all waiting for the Stanley Cup to come home.
And maybe if the Oilers win a Stanley Cup in June, we can put this whole “Canada’s Team” narrative to bed once and for all.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Photo: Jeff Bottari / NHLI via Getty Images)
Sports
Cedric Alexander becomes new TNA X Division champion, crushing Leon Slater’s history-making attempt
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
All eyes were on the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) X Division Championship on Thursday night as Leon Slater looked to retain the title over Cedric Alexander and solidify himself as the longest-reigning X Division champion in the company’s history.
Slater knew a legacy was on the line as he looked to break a record set by Austin Aries. But he needed to pin Alexander twice in one match to retain the title. It was a steep mountain to climb as Alexander had been just as dangerous since he entered the company.
The match started off hot with Slater and Alexander trading blows to begin the match. But a quick-thinking Slater rolled up Alexander quickly for the first fall.
Cedric Alexander in the ring during NXT at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 23, 2025. (Bradlee Rutledge/WWE)
Alexander was able to go on offense from there. He hit a nasty German suplex on the outside of the ring. He continued to work on Slater’s tweaked neck. He later hit a Lumbar Check to tie the match at 1-1.
Slater went deep into his bag. He hit an avalanche Styles Clash, which could have kept anyone else down. However, Alexander kicked out. Alexander was able to counter Slater’s high-flying abilities just for a moment and knocked him back out of the ring.
Alexander sent Slater into the steel steps, leaving him busted open. Alexander declared that he would be the “greatest” X Division champion. One brainbuster later, Alexander tried to pin Slater, but couldn’t get him down.
Alexander hit a Lumbar Check again, but Slater kicked out. Slater mustered up the last ounce of energy. A tilt-a-whirl slam set Alexander up for a swanton 450. Slater missed and Alexander hit another Lumbar Check, and then again.
Leon Slater enters the arena during NXT at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla., on Jan. 6, 2026. (Craig Melvin/WWE)
Alexander pinned Slater for the win, completely shocking the fans in Sacramento, California. It will be the first reign for Alexander and his first title of any kind in TNA.
Alexander is a reminder, at least for TNA, that “The System always wins.”
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
Fabian Aichner appears
Fabian Aichner, formerly known as Giovanni Vinci, makes his way to the ring during WWE SmackDown at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 20, 2024. (WWE/Getty Images)
Moments before TNA went off the air, the lights went out in the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. Emerging from the darkness was Fabian Aichner.
Aichner stared down Alexander and appeared to name himself the next challenger for the X Division Championship. Aichner, known as Giovanni Vinci for much of his run in WWE, hadn’t really been seen or heard from in months since his departure from WWE.
Aichner wrestled under his real name for a stint in WWE before he came back as Vinci in June 22. He was with WWE until 2025. He was a two-time NXT tag team champion and an Evolve champion before it became a WWE brand.
Eric Young earns future shot at TNA World Championship
Eric Young outlasted nine other men in an over-the-top battle royal and earned a shot at Mike Santana’s TNA World Championship to start the show.
The match came down to him and Elijah after the latter was able to toss members of The System out of the ring while also avoiding Frankie Kazarian trying to get back into the match following his own elimination.
Young and Elijah came to blows on the apron, knowing that as soon as their feet touch the ground, they would be eliminated. Young grabbed onto Elijah’s hair to try to hang onto the moment. Elijah broke away with Young’s back turned to him. Elijah, however, didn’t account for his wide stance.
The TNA original kicked Elijah in the groin and pushed him down to the ground. Young won the match and received a shot to win the TNA World Championship in the future.
He also made clear that Santana was next on his list of people to wipe out as he did to Joe Hendry, EC3 and Ricky Sosa in weeks past.
“Mike Santana, you’re gone next,” he declared.
Mike Santana learns his next opponent
Mike Santana stands in the ring during NXT at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 30, 2025. (Kevin Sabitus/WWE)
Mike Santana came out to address the crowd and praised Young for his efforts to help build TNA from the ground up.
“You better be coming with something different because while you may be someone who helped build this place, when it comes to the new era of TNA on AMC, I’m the guy. I’m the man. I’m the one who holds down the fort week after week as your TNA world champion.”
While Young might have earned a title shot, Daria Rae came out and revealed to the crowd that Steve Maclin was cleared to return to action following an injury at the hands of Santana.
Maclin will get a shot at Santana’s TNA World Championship next week on “Impact.”
Santino Marella also came out during the segment after he was “suspended.” He revealed that Indi Harwell re-signed with TNA.
Lei Ying Lee, Xia Brookside rivalry heats up
Xia Brookside attends the “Freelance” screening at Regal Waterford Lakes in Orlando, Fla., on Oct. 24, 2023. (Jose Devillegas/Getty Images)
Lei Ying Lee brought the TNA Knockouts Championship back home last week with a win over Arianna Grace. She addressed the crowd before being interrupted by her former best friend, Xia Brookside.
In all black, Brookside claimed she was already in Lei’s head.
“You’re such a fraud. I’ve destroyed you mentally, I’ve destroyed you emotionally, I’ve destroyed you physically, and that title will be around my waist.”
Both competitors tossed expletives at each other before the segment was over. But Brookside made clear that she had her eyes on the title.
AJ Francis prevails over KC Navarro
A.J. Francis told Fox News Digital before the SacTown Street Fight on “Impact” that he was going to bring the pain to Navarro.
While wearing “Show Stealer” across his back, Francis did just that. Francis took some punishment from Navarro – a few shots from a baseball bat and a drop kick with a trash can.
Francis was able to turn the tide for a few moments, using the baseball bat to his advantage. But Navarro dug deep. He aligned six chairs in the ring, hoping to splash Francis through it. Instead, Francis countered and attempted an avalanche Down Payment. Somehow, Navarro countered with a cutter as both men crashed through the sea of chairs.
It looked like it could’ve been it. Navarro went for the pin, but only got a two count.
Francis turned on the heat from there. He got ahold of Navarro and hit a Down Payment through tables lined up on the outside of the ring.
He rolled Navarro back into the ring and picked up the pinfall victory.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“Impact” match results
- Eric Young wins the 10-man battle royal to earn a shot at the TNA World Championship.
- A.J. Francis def. KC Navarro in a SacTown Street Fight.
- Rosemary and Allie def. Veronica Crawford and Mila Moore
- Cedric Alexander def. Leon Slater to win the X Division Championship.
The carriage has turned back into a pumpkin, the ballgown is once again just tattered clothing and all the horses have gone back to being mice.
The Ducks’ Cinderella run through the NHL playoffs came to an end Thursday in a 5-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series. And the end came well before midnight, with goals by Mitch Marner and Brett Howden in the first 8½ minutes giving Vegas a commanding lead before many in the late-arriving weeknight crowd had made it to their seats at the Honda Center.
The Golden Knights will move on to the Western Conference finals with the Colorado Avalanche next week while the Ducks will move on to summer. But it’s the team’s latest start on the offseason since 2017, the last time the Ducks made it to the second round of the playoffs. So even if the glass slipper didn’t fit this time, the Ducks have reason to celebrate.
This team, after all, wasn’t supposed to be at the ball this long. Fourteen players on its roster had never been to the postseason before; most of them had never even played for a winning team in the NHL before. But the team’s youth and inexperience proved to be a strength, not a weakness.
Ducks center Leo Carlsson passes the puck as Vegas’ Shea Theodore defends during the second period.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
They didn’t know they weren’t supposed to win in the playoffs, so they did, dispatching the Edmonton Oilers — who made the last two Stanley Cup finals — in the first round and outplaying the veteran Golden Knights, a playoff team in eight of the franchise’s nine seasons, throughout much of the second round.
Rookie Beckett Sennecke, just 20, had four goals and an assist in the six games with Vegas. Winger Cutter Gauthier, just 22, led the team with 12 points in his first trip to the playoffs. Defenseman Olen Zellwenger, also 22, had a goal and assist in his first two playoff games and Olympic gold medalist Jackson LaCombe, 25, led the team in ice time — and was third in points with 10 — in his first postseason.
That’s the core of the team going forward and the playoff experience they got this spring will be invaluable. But the fairy godmother’s spell wore off early in Game 6, which was just 62 seconds old when Vegas went ahead to stay.
Marner opened the scoring with a spectacular breakaway goal, skating on to William Karlssson’s two-line pass as he entered the offensive zone and beating LaCombe up the center of the ice to the crease. When he got there, he pulled up, turned his back to goalie Lukas Dostal, then shoved the puck just inside the right post for his seventh goal of the playoffs.
Howden doubled the lead with a shorthanded goal 7½ minutes later, finding miles of space just to the right of the goal and banging in a pass from Marner that split LaCombe and Alex Killorn. The goal was Howden’s eighth of the playoffs, temporarily giving him the NHL postseason lead, while the assist gave Marner 18 postseason points, also best in the league.
When Shea Theodore scored off a faceoff seconds into a power play late in the period, it gave the Golden Knights a 3-0 lead at the intermission with the goals coming on a power play, the penalty kill and with the teams at even strength.
Ducks left wing Alex Killorn moves the puck ahead of Vegas right wing Keegan Kolesar in the first period.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The Ducks led the NHL with 26 comeback wins during the regular season, but against the poised and patient Golden Knights the deficit was too big. The Ducks left the ice to a chorus of boos after the period, though they came back to dominate the second period, getting the only score at 12:46 when Mikael Granlund notched his fifth goal of the playoffs on a power play, lining a snap shot into the side netting from the middle the left circle.
But the Ducks would get no closer, with Vegas icing the game on two third-period goals from Pavel Dorofeyev, who had four goals in the final two games. The first came off a turnover from the Ducks’ John Carlson deep in his defensive end 2:52 into the final period and the second on a shot from a difficult angle to the right of the goal that ricocheted in off Dostal with 6:28 left in the Ducks’ season.
The two scores gave Dorofeyev nine for the playoffs, passing Howden for the league lead.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Drake’s long-awaited album, “Iceman,” the ninth of his illustrious career, comes out Friday, but fans were given an apparent sneak peek late Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
Overnight, an apparent song from the album was leaked on social media, which is rumored to be titled “1AM in Albany,” a series of songs by Drake storytelling during specific hours of certain cities that began with “9AM in Dallas” in 2009.
The song features some thinly veiled hits at Kendrick Lamar following their feud from 2024 into last year, but fans were taken aback at some apparent shots at LeBron James.
Drake and LeBron James talk after the NBA game between the Toronto Raptors and the Los Angeles Lakers at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on March 18, 2022. (Cole Burston/Getty Images)
James and Drake were once very good friends, with James even taking the stage during one of Drake’s concerts years ago. However, James began to show some loyalty to Lamar during the famed rap beef that found its way to Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show performance.
“I shouldn’t even be shocked to see you in that arena, because you always made your career off of switching teams up,” Drake rapped. James went from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat, back to the Cavs to the Los Angeles Lakers and is set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Singer Drake talks to LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers during an NBA game against the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Nov. 25, 2015. (Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
CHARLES BARKLEY ADMONISHES SOCIETY FOR BEING HOMOPHOBIC IN VIRTUE-SIGNALING RANT ABOUT JASON COLLINS’ DEATH
In a double entendre, Drake also implored his fans to “please stop asking what’s going on with 23 and me. I’m a real n—-, and he’s not, it’s in my DNA,” a play on words from the website “23andMe.”
Drake and James have linked up numerous times, but if this song is legitimate, and the bars are aimed at James, those times may be long over.
LeBron James and Drake attend the Drake and LeBron James pool party in Toronto for Caribana on Aug. 5, 2017. (Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for Remy Martin)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“Iceman” will be Drake’s first solo album since he released “For All The Dogs” in October 2023. His first album was “Thank Me Later” back in 2010, and he followed up with classics in “Take Care” in 2011 and “Nothing Was The Same” two years later.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
-
San Francisco, CA6 minutes agoWhere to Find Free Street Parking for Shows in San Francisco | KQED
-
Dallas, TX12 minutes agoDallas Stars Forward Would Be Perfect Trade Target for NY Rangers
-
Boston, MA24 minutes agoJetBlue to pull out of N.H.’s largest airport amid capacity crisis, officials announce – The Boston Globe
-
Denver, CO30 minutes agoDenver area events for May 15
-
Seattle, WA36 minutes agoFriday Roundtable: Free Summer Shuttles
-
San Diego, CA42 minutes agoSix concerts to fill your musical soul this week in San Diego County
-
Milwaukee, WI48 minutes agoFive teenagers arrested following police pursuit in Milwaukee
-
Atlanta, GA54 minutes ago2 Giant Pandas Are Headed to This US Zoo. Meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang