Edmonton Oilers players celebrate after their 3-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Game 6 of their first-round series on April 22, 2017.Tony Avelar/The Associated Press
There was not a vacant seat at Rogers Place on Saturday night. More than 18,000 people filled Edmonton's downtown arena to cheer for the Oilers as they tried to oust the San Jose Sharks from the playoffs.
The team was not there. Game 6 was played on the southern shore of San Francisco Bay, nearly 2,500 kilometres away. Tickets for the viewing party sold out earlier in the day. Fans paid $5 to take in the telecast on the massive scoreboard over centre ice. Several thousand more watched on a giant screen in the entrance hall. Beer was flowing.
It was a magical night, on an unseasonably cold day. If it is spring elsewhere, there are no buds or blossoms in central Alberta. A week after Easter, it was perfect hockey weather. Snow was falling, and there were few complaints. It is a beautiful time in Edmonton.
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At Rogers Place, fans crowded souvenir stands to buy playoff beards. They painted on mutton-chop sideburns to look like Zack Kassian. The gritty winger scored Edmonton's winning goals in Games 2 and 3. They wear orange Connor McDavid sweaters and high-five one another on the concourse. The 20-year-old captain turned the series around with a crushing hit in Game 5.
When he flicked the puck into an empty net to clinch the 3-1 victory in the game's final second on Saturday, the Oilers' long-suffering fans became delirious. It has been nearly 11 years since the team was in contention for a Stanley Cup. The lost decade is a faint memory now. Winning changes everything.
Anaheim looms on the playoff schedule, with the first puck drop on Wednesday and the first game in Edmonton on Sunday. The Ducks are better than the Sharks, the Oilers are better than the Flames. Edmonton won three of the five games it played this season against the team with an arena on the doorstep of the Magic Kingdom. From all appearances, it is unlikely Edmonton will bow out in four games, as Calgary did.
The Oilers lost Game 1 in overtime to the Sharks after blowing a two-goal lead. They were embarrassed, 7-0, in Game 4 at SAP Center, and promptly forgot about it.
They have not lost three in a row since the first week of February.
McDavid, the game's ascending superstar, was 9 the last time the Oilers were in the playoffs. Leon Draisaitl, the German forward who joined McDavid among the NHL's scoring leaders, was 10. The oldest player dressing for games, Mark Letestu, was 21. He is from a small town east of Edmonton and he went to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final in 2006 on a date with the woman who would become his wife.
A young woman and her boyfriend danced joyously, as if nobody was watching, in the beer garden at Rogers Place two hours before Saturday night's game. Afterward, the surrounding streets were alive with people chanting and shouting late into the night.
It has been a long time since Edmonton has been this happy. For the past 10 years, the Oilers have been an afterthought during the playoffs. The oil-driven economy has suffered. Fires tore through Fort McMurray at this time a year ago. There has been a lot of anguish.
For the time being, the Oilers and hockey are a lovely distraction.
Ten thousand people showed up at Rogers Place for a viewing party when the Oilers were in San Jose for Game 3. Twelve thousand came to watch Game 4. Game 6 was sold out. For a road game.
"We knew how passionate and loyal our fans are, and wanted to create unique ways for them to come together and feel a part of it," said Tim Shipton, vice-president for corporate communications for the Oilers Entertainment Group. "We didn't expect the uptake to be as amazing as it has been.
"We strongly feel Oilers fans are the best in the NHL."
Tickets for the second round go on sale in Edmonton on Wednesday. They will be snapped up in minutes. There is so much demand, so much devotion, so much love.
When the Ducks come to town for Game 3, Rogers Place will be wild. Hockey playoff games are so exhilarating it is hard to compare them with anything else.
"Excitement is not just occurring within the confines of Rogers Place," Todd McLellan, Edmonton's second-year coach, said Saturday. "It is happening throughout the community. You can feel the energy just driving around town.
"Even after so many years of being in the league, there are moments when the hair stands up on the back of your neck."