Carrick to Calgary

With all this World Cup Fever (it's big here in Canada too!), it's been easy to pay a bit less attention to the Stanley Cup Finals. But tonight is the final of Lord Stanley's ice hockey competition, and we've been keeping an eye on the games so far as our adopted team THE EDMONTON OILERS have made it to the Final!


The Edmonton Oilers

It's been a bit of surprise, as the Oilers were a bit rubbish this season and were often beaten by the Calgary Flames in the regular season. The Flames qualified easily for the playoffs at the end of the season, while the Oilers just squeaked in several places down. The Flames were fancied to win the whole thing (i.e. the Stanley Cup), but they were knocked out in the first round by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Rather than playing in a sensible way (like football), each game in the playoffs is played in a best-of-7 format. So you need to win 4 games in a 7-game series to progress to the next round. Each game is played in three 20-minute periods with 20 minutes in between each period, and with all the breaks and stoppages a game can run for several hours. Anyway, while the Flames were knocked out 4-3 by the Ducks in the first round, the Oilers made steady and quiet progress in the rounds, beating the Detroit Redwings, the San Jose Sharks and the Mighty Ducks themselves to win the Western Conference. (You can check all this out here).


The Carolina Hurricanes

Anyway, they are now facing the Carolina Hurricanes (hi, Uncle Jim!) for the Stanley Cup, as the Eastern and Western champions play for this in another best-of-7 game. They came on strong at first, scoring a lot, but then their goalie got injured and they seemed to falter, and Carolina went 3-1 ahead in games. Everyone was sure the Oilers would lose in the next game in Carolina, but somehow they pulled through and made it 3-2. And then on Saturday night they won on their home ice, levelling the series at 3-3. And tonight it will be decided in Carolina, with the game starting about 50 minutes from now.


The Stanley Cup

So, as Edmontonians-in-waiting, we support our adopted team: GO OILERS GO!