Hope and heartache: Oilers fan says team's fight has mirrored his own with cancer
CBC
Troy Kocur paces anxiously back and forth in front of his basement television, periodically cursing during the dying minutes of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, as his team struggles to come back from a 2-1 deficit.
The Edmonton Oilers, like him, know what it's like to be set on their back heels. The team had an abysmal start to the season before going on a hot winning streak, then going on to lose the first three games in the championship finals against the Florida Panthers before clawing their way back into the series and to this moment.
"We're just fighting. We're fighting for our lives, right? I'm fighting for my life, everyday, just like the Oilers."
Doctors first diagnosed Kocur with cancer in 2019 and he went into remission before cancer reared its ugly head again, riddling him with tumours, including in his neck and brain.
In December of 2022, the Regina man was given six months to live, but he said with the support of his wife beside him, his response was basically — "screw that."
The team's given him hope this year.
"Their championship is another clean scan for me, it is another treatment that I get through."
There's something about hockey that's always been a breath of fresh air for Kocur, a way to escape the stresses of everyday life.
"I had my first pair of skates when I was two years old; I was skating when I was two," he recalled.
That was back in the 1980s, the decade the Oilers would win a succession of NHL championships, with a run of five titles in seven years.
Like thousands of other Canadians, Kocur remembers watching those glory days of the Oilers with his dad by his side, listening to the commentary from broadcasters Harry Neale and Bob Cole.
That led to the moment in 2006 when he discovered a new love alongside hockey, meeting his wife, Jill.
"We had just started dating (and) Jill and I were on the couch watching the Stanley Cup Final against Carolina Hurricanes and it came down to Game 7," he said, adding he still gets goosebumps thinking about that game.
"When they lost, he began to cry," Jill Kocur remembered. "I didn't know him very long, and I thought, 'this is a bit weird'."
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This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.
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