and yet Oilers fans were so fast to mention the Canucks riots constantly.. Guess they all forgot this LOL That team was great to watch though (says a Canucks fan) Smitty was the man..captain Canada before Crosby and Rollie played amazing..too bad Bergeron took out his own goalie
Doomed under Bettman. He is interested in both expansion in the US, and keeping hockey in sun belt areas, and avoiding hockey hotbed areas. He is not interested in marketing the game properly or developing star players, or making it easy for people to watch teams play.
Rollie the Goalie was insanely good... but so was Cam Ward. The Oil _might_ have been able to make some magic happen if Rollie hadn't gotten hurt but it might not have been enough. And honestly, Conklin didn't do badly, he was just outclassed.
The correct term is champing at the bit, not chomping. As a verb, to champ means to bite or grind your teeth impatiently. To chomp means to chew food noisily.
Edmonton was never going to win the cup that year. With or without Roloson they wouldn’t have won it. Calgary was closer in 2004, Vancouver was closer in 1994 and 2011. As much as I’d like to see another Canadian team win the cup Edmonton was definitely NOT going to win it that year
I was on the road for work for Game 7, and in a hotel room with a shitty 15" barely colour TV in Grande Prairie. It was about an hour to game time before I went "Fuck it, I'm gonna watch this in a bar." I found a nice enough sports bar where it was standing room only at the bar itself. I stood there for the full 3 hours, feeling the crushing disappointment with a bunch of others. Still a great memory, despite the loss, would have been amazing if they won.
Typical frigging click bait. "How A Playoff Game Starting a Riot Changed NHL History". Abso-freaking-lutely nothing about that riot changed NHL history. Nothing. Screw you for your click bait title. I will now block your channel. And I wouldn't patronize that crappy shoe company if the lives of my children depended on it.
I was attending RDC that spring working on my welding apprenticeship, staying on campus we would have 100+ people in our 3bdr town house man it was awesome! I made lifelong friends, got arrested( in Edmonton🤦🏻♂️) nearly got kicked out of school… some great memories… let’s go oilers!!!
Pronger took the penalty shot because the rule is it has to be a player who was on the ice when the infraction happened. The oilers had their 4th line out at the time and MacT didn’t wanted to get a guy like Laraque to take the shot, so his best choice was Pronger. If Hemsky was on the ice, he would have taken the shot. Do your research and don’t paint a picture that didn’t exist.
it didnt start a riot a bunch of drunken idiots started the riot. They planned the whole thing it had nothing to do with losing a hockey game. Ridiculous. These were professionals who wanted it to happen They came downtownn with balaclavas on so they couldnt be recognized.
That McDavid goal against the Rangers is the best goal I've ever witnessed. He splits 4 guys and a goalie between the blue line and the net from almost a stand still. The announcer doesn't even know what to say, they're speechless
The Oilers didn't win four of their next five games after beating Detroit. They went down 2-0 to San Jose after two 2-1 losses; then won seven straight against the Sharks and Ducks.
Your title is misleading and inaccurate. Besides the fact that there have been many sports related riots in many cities and countries around the world, the "festivities" in Edmonton in 2006 were (A) On Whyte Ave, not downtown. (B) Not isolated to one single game, rather crowds started congregating along that stretch after every home game and (C) were a serious miscalculation by the authorities to try to let fans have fun - they were trying to copy Calgary's "Red Mile" from 2004. The City decided to allow open liquor on the street, closing it off to traffic. Anyone with a brain could have told you this was going to lead to trouble. All the bars along Whyte Ave would let out at the same time, adding fuel to the fire. After the businesses in the area complained about the vandalism and the papers and news reports showed the mayhem, there was a complete reversal of policy and severe over correction, and riot police showed up with a zero tolerance attitude. The last thing I remember in the paper was a drunk woman in hand cuffs spitting on a police officer, who retaliated by throwing her to the ground where she faceplanted as her hands were cuffed behind her back. Currently there is an area downtown called the Ice District where fans can pay ($5.00 I think) to watch the game outside on a big screen. They also erected a large tent a block away. So, at least drunk fans are contained . . . but they have to go somewhere when the game is over. Things have been peaceful this year, and hopefully that continues.
What’s also forgotten is how lucky Carolina got in the ECF the series before vs Buffalo. By game 7 of that series buffalo was down to using multiple AHL call ups they were so injury depleted.
The downturn following the Gretzky era was not only due to poor drafting and development. The bigger factor was the imbalance between the US and Canadian markets. Any players that did develop well would eventually get traded or would sign elsewhere (bigger markets) because the Oilers could not afford them. This overall situation in smaller Canadian markets is what would lead to the salary cap which allowed for the acquisition of Pronger which would not have been possible in the pre-cap era.
I see a lot of people saying that if Roloson doesn't get hurt they woukd win the cup and no indo t think that the case the canes were a team that were not gonna denied the only game that the oilers out played the canes that series from start to finish was game 6 all the other ones tbe canes either dominated or just slightly out played them
I grew up in the 90s era after the cup wins. I wouldn’t say the Oilers were terrible during that time. Sure, maybe an outsider or someone who experienced all that 80’s success might say that, but growing up in Edmonton during the 90s, we were shocked with the level of success they did have. The term “small Canadian market” was coined all the time to describe the 90s Oilers and it felt like making the playoffs were our Stanley Cup. I will give you their drafting was atrocious, other than Smyth, they had terrible drafting and development and usually depended on snatching young talent up from teams that had the resources to develop players. Many of the small market teams had this same drafting problem though, when you don’t have money for top scouts and developmental programs you’re really just going to the draft with your best Hail Mary. We were pleasantly surprised the team team made the playoffs every year starting in 97 and even eliminated Dallas and Colorado.
