Long trip to Edmonton doesn’t dampen Oilers’ excitement for homecoming

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Wednesday dawned in Edmonton like a cold winter day in South Florida: 10 C, windy and with a bit of rain.

The Florida Panthers had not arrived yet for Thursday’s Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final. Their flight from Fort Lauderdale, where flood warnings had been issued, was delayed by bands of heavy rain in the morning and it still had not departed by late afternoon.

This is a unique Stanley Cup for many reasons.

There has never been a distance this far between cities with teams in the final. It is 4,089 kilometres from Sunrise, Fla., to Edmonton. It would be about six hours non-stop if there were direct commercial flights.

The Oilers flew home on a charter on Tuesday but even that was not direct. The plane left late from Fort Lauderdale because of inclement weather and then had to stop for fuel in Kansas City. Edmonton is actually closer to Russia and Greenland than it is to Sunrise, which is about 40 minutes west of Fort Lauderdale.

Oilers players did their best to entertain themselves en route to Northern Alberta.

Mattias Ekholm, the team’s best defenceman, played poker with teammates from takeoffs to landings.

“It’s good to kill time,” he said after practice at Rogers Place. He was not the day’s big winner. “I lost a little actually.”

NHL employees and media covering the final took different routes to Edmonton, none of which was easy. Missed connections left people scattered everywhere from Atlanta to Minneapolis, a number overnight.

For some who made it, the trip took 17 hours from door to door.

In Fort Lauderdale it was sweltering. In Edmonton there are almost springlike temperatures. Okay, so a little warmer. But no more glasses fogged up by Florida heat.

Of course there is hockey. This isn’t a diversion from the Marlins losing and the Dolphins starting training camp. It’s the Stanley Cup in Canada. No Canadian team has won since the Canadiens of 1993.

The Oilers are back home after losing the first two games of the best-of-seven series at Amerant Bank Arena. Florida has done a terrific job at building its fan base. It is loud and proud of its Panthers, who hope to win their first Stanley Cup since they entered the NHL in 1993.

Still, there is no comparison to Edmonton.

The Oilers won five Stanley Cups back in the Ice Age, but none since 1990. This is their first appearance in the final in 18 years. If you don’t think the city is charged up you have been drinking too many rum runners on the beach.

Explore Edmonton, the city’s destination management and marketing organization, estimated the financial impact of the first three rounds of the NHL playoffs at $179-million. On Wednesday, it placed four cheeky ads on electronic billboards in Fort Lauderdale poking fun at the Panthers.

“Edmonton,” the billboards read, “Home of 5 Cups and 0 Rats.”

It’s a play over Panthers’ fans affinity for throwing rubbers rats on the ice after home victories. It’s also factual; there are no rats in Edmonton.

This isn’t just a couple of hockey games. It’s a hockey circus without a tent.

Hotels downtown are sold out, and when available one luxury property charged more than $1,000 a night.

Mountain Time is two hours behind Eastern. That means the sun will be shining following the conclusion of Games 3 and 4, which start at 6 p.m. local. At this time of year it doesn’t set until 10 p.m. or later. Your neighbour’s lawn mower may roar until it’s nearly bedtime.

If the Oilers win, thousands will jam the streets outside Rogers Place. For two hours a parade of cars and trucks, some carrying homemade Stanley Cups of very questionable pedigree, will stream past the front of the arena with horns blaring.

There are free concerts for fans preceding each game. Our Lady Peace, the Canadian rockers who have sold more than five million albums, will play for 45 minutes on Thursday. Shania Twain will do the same on Saturday. We are all still dying to know whose bed have your boots been under.

Steve Mayer, the chief content officer for the NHL, was in Las Vegas for a few days helping to set up the venue for the coming NHL draft. He had an afternoon flight on Wednesday from Las Vegas to Denver and then a connection from there into Edmonton.

Hopefully he will make it by Thursday’s puck drop.

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On Wednesday his staff was setting up a park with a concert stage beside the arena.

“We love what we do and we are pretty good at it, but it’s not easy,” Mayer said. “But who doesn’t like a good challenge.”

In Fort Lauderdale, there were two shows that featured The Kid Laroi and DJ Khaled.

“We knew one thing we had to do in Edmonton was to choose Canadian artists,” Mayer said. “This is a showcase. This is showing Western Canada off to the U.S. and the rest of the world. We have tried to get Shania to work for us for years and are incredibly honoured.

“From our standpoint this makes what we feel is our biggest event even bigger.”

Oh yes, there are hockey games, too.

The Oilers dominated most of Game 1 but lost 3-0. The Panthers won Game 2 by a score of 4-1 and looked like a team on a mission.

Edmonton was last among 32 teams early in the season but finished strongly. It has fallen behind in multiple playoff series and rebounded to win.

“We have been down and out a lot this year,” Edmonton captain Conner McDavid said. “Our group has willed its way out of situations and has an opportunity to do that again.”

The Oilers hope that their wild followers will bring them extra energy on Thursday.

“They are crazy loud and will be crazy louder,” said Zach Hyman, the Edmonton forward. “They are incredibly passionate. The atmosphere is one of the reasons you want to play in a Canadian market in the final.”