Thursday was a night to forget for the Edmonton Oilers, dropping their first-round series to the Anaheim Ducks and making an early exit from the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The air was a little heavy for fans the day after, still coming to terms with the loss.
“Obviously a tough Friday for everybody this morning,” said fan Bre Renauld. “Staying up late watching that game last night was quite sad.”
“I’m honestly quite upset about it,” fan Chava Parmar said. “I was feeling very optimistic, especially after the last two years on the run. You can kind of feel the weight of the emotions across the city.”
“You’ve got to beat the other team to the puck. That’s what it comes down to: motivation,” said Warren Pearson. “Love the Oilers, just didn’t like last night’s game.”
The city is already starting to move on from the loss. Ice District Plaza is getting the pressure-washer treatment, and dressings on office windows are slowly coming down.
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It’s a feeling fans and businesses alike haven’t felt in a couple of years. The Oilers made back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup final, coming just short of winning it all. Kelly’s Pub has benefited from the extended playoff pushes, with the bar packed to capacity for the game.
“There was obviously a lot of defeat, a lot of sad faces in the room which was to be expected with such a loss like that,” said general manager Cassandra Bellamy. The pub now is now banking on patio season to help make up lost revenue.
“You lose that huge crowd of people that are walking past us to head down to the fan park, so that’s a ton of people that we’re missing out on that normally wouldn’t be our foot traffic through here.”
But there may be a bit of a silver lining. Explore Edmonton is reminding sports fans of the packed summer schedule in the city.
“2026 is such a huge event year from the Elks, the Riverhawks, the festivals,” said Explore Edmonton’s Cindy Medynski. “This summer we can expect to see a lot of soccer action.”
Edmonton is set to host the Canada Send-off Series, when the Canadian men’s soccer team takes on Uzbekistan at Commonwealth Stadium on June 1 in a lead-up to the World Cup this summer.
“We are first and foremost a sport city, so regardless of the event, regardless of the sport, Edmontonians really show up,” said Medynski.
For now, fans are figuring out different ways to pass the time now that the chase for the Cup will have to wait another season.
“I guess I’ll garden work early this year,” said Renauld.
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