How Edmonton Oilers fans in B.C. cheer for their team on the other side of the Rockies

Jon Azpiri · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 08, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

A sticker connected the doorway of the Black Frog Eatery successful Vancouver's Gastown neighbourhood features an Edmonton Oilers logo and the words "Welcome to Oil Country!"

The bar, located steps distant from Gastown's steam clock, has agelong been a location distant from location for Oilers fans and has been peculiarly engaged during the team's current NHL playoff run. 

"It is bananas. The champion benignant of bananas," said the Black Frog's front-of-house manager Michelle Thorne-Speir. 

Following the Oilers melodramatic 4-3 overtime triumph successful Game 1 connected Wednesday night, Black Frog patrons danced to Los Lobos's mentation of La Bamba and Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan.

"The joyousness is overwhelming, everyone is successful it together," Thorne-Speir said. "It's similar an affectional roller-coaster with each move, but we're each doing it together."

Thorne-Speir said the Black Frog became a hub for Oilers fans successful Vancouver acknowledgment to its original owner, who was a bartender astatine the Black Dog pub connected Whyte Avenue successful Edmonton. He moved to B.C. and wanted to bring a portion of bluish Alberta to the West Coast. 

After the barroom changed hands, the caller proprietor wanted to support the Black Frog's Oil Country vibe intact. 

'Strange bedfellows'

While galore Oilers fans connected the West Coast are transplants from Alberta, others are cheering connected the squad for the archetypal clip successful the hopes they can yet extremity Canada's 32-year Stanley Cup drought.

 Vancouver Canucks instrumentality Harley Desjarlais says he's holding his chemoreceptor arsenic helium cheers connected the Oilers.

The Prince George antheral says helium supported the Panthers implicit the Oilers erstwhile the 2 teams met successful past year's Stanley Cup final, saying it felt earthy to cheer against Edmonton, the Canucks' part rival. 

This year's rematch felt different, helium said. 

"A batch of this 51st-state garbage and worldly similar that makes it existent hard for maine to cheer for an American squad against a Canadian team," Desjarlais said.

"There's that saying, 'politics makes unusual bedfellows.' Well, I conjecture this is an lawsuit of that."

Desjarlais said a caller travel to Edmonton besides helped him alteration his tune. 

"I met a batch of bully people," helium said. "They were Edmonton fans and I could spot however overmuch they were into it and it kind of gave maine a small spot of perspective, you know, that it's not conscionable astir the team, it's astir the assemblage and however galore radical are having a bully clip implicit there."

WATCH | Oilers instrumentality successful Kelowna, B.C., shows squad emotion by mowing logo into his lawn

Jeff Krause of Kelowna, B.C., got acceptable for the Stanley Cup last the aforesaid mode helium did past twelvemonth —  carving a elephantine Oilers logo into his beforehand yard.

It's thing that Krause, who is primitively from Edmonton and moved to the Okanagan successful 2005, has done implicit the past 2 decades whenever the Oilers marque it to the 2nd circular of the NHL playoffs. 

He said helium doesn't request stencils oregon templates, conscionable a mower, a dependable hand, and a steadfast spot of grass. 

He says his lawn creation continues to garner plentifulness of attention.

"Horns honking driving by, immoderate radical stopping taking pictures, doing selfies out front," helium said. "It conscionable means determination is simply a batch of excitement astir the team."

Given the Oilers person not won a Stanley Cup since 1990, Krause tried to premix things up this twelvemonth by cutting the logo earlier than usual. 

"Tradition hasn't yielded the results yet," helium said. "So determination is thing incorrect with changing it up."

The Oilers suffered a 5-4 overtime nonaccomplishment to the Panthers successful Game 2 of the Stanley Cup last connected Friday night. Game 3 takes spot Monday at Amerant Bank Arena successful Sunrise, Fla.