Fans all-in as Edmonton Oilers look to push Florida Panthers to decisive Game 7
CBC
Captain Connor McDavid stated the mission and the Edmonton Oilers completed it: they dragged the Florida Panthers back to Alberta for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final.
Regardless of the outcome, Friday's game will be the last at Rogers Place this season. Lord Stanley's mug will be in the building — but Oilers Nation hopes it won't make an appearance until Monday in Sunrise, Fla.
"Oilers in seven," Jerry MacLachlan said Thursday, sporting a No. 97 McDavid home jersey.
"Game 6 is going to be on another level."
After dropping the first three games of the best-of-seven series, the Oilers have twice fended off the Panthers from hoisting the Stanley Cup for the first time.
Edmonton is the fourth team in NHL history to fall 3-0 in the final and force a Game 6, but only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs ever completed the comeback.
Oilers fanatic Aaliyah Calliou recalls that this team had several three-game skids during the regular season and responded with lengthy win streaks afterward, including a 16-game heater that lifted Edmonton out of the NHL basement.
"I have high hopes. They've been really successful all season," Calliou said.
"They have a chance."
Meanwhile, in the Oilers' locker room, it's business as usual.
"This has always been part of the plan for our group to be in a position like this, playing in big games at home, in big moments," McDavid told reporters Thursday. "[It's] just another one tomorrow night."
The team has reveled in tackling adversity throughout the season, and is grateful for any opportunity it has to play together, said head coach Kris Knoblauch.
"We feel very fortunate to be in this Game 6 situation. But I've got a team full of guys who are hungry to make sure they get to play two more games and not just one," Knoblauch said.
Puck drop for Game 6 is scheduled for 6 p.m. MT Friday. CBC will broadcast the game.
With the B.C. NDP and B.C. Conservatives neck and neck heading into election day on Saturday, there are also a record number of Independent candidates who — if voted in — could hold the balance of power in a minority government scenario. British Columbians have only elected one Independent MLA in the last 60 years. Vicki Huntington won a seat in 2009 and was re-elected in 2013. But University of the Fraser Valley political scientist Hamish Telford said the situation could be different this election cycle. Of the 40 Independent candidates running, six of them are incumbent MLAs, who carry the benefit of name recognition in their community. "So we've got Independents in this election who I think we could deem to be viable shots at actually winning a riding, which is not normal," Telford said. "They're still long shots, but they are certainly plausible candidates."
Though Bill C-282 has received cross-party federal support in Ottawa, Alberta's provincial government says it's not a backer of the Bloc Québécois legislation that aims to prevent Canada's supply-managed sectors — dairy, poultry and eggs — from being included in future international trade negotiations.
A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder and 15 others are facing criminal charges for allegedly running a drug-trafficking operation that shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Canada and used violence — including murder — to achieve the group's goals, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday.