The Edmonton Oilers had Canada's best chance at breaking their infamous Stanley Cup drought last night in over a decade as they took on the Florida Panthers in game seven of the Stanley Cup finals. The last time a Canadian team even made the finals was in 2011, when the Vancouver Canucks blew a 3-2 lead over the Boston Bruins. With the Panthers winning, that makes it 30 years in a row an American team has won it all.
Naturally, fans have come to believe that Gary Bettman is tipping the scales in favor of American teams. This largely stems from the fact that the NHL is still trying to grow the sport in the United States. Hockey has been mainstream in Canada since its inception, but it still lacks behind in American markets. Famous Youtube creator UrinatingTree even made his own statement about the finals.
We did get one good thing to come from all of this though. After the Panthers won the finals, the memes immediately started pouring onto social media.
When will the Canadian cup curse end? Perhaps when Gary Bettman finally steps down as commissioner. Only time will tell.
Source: HabsFanatics
Gary Bettman finally addresses his favouritism for American teams
POLL | ||
JUIN 25 | 402 ANSWERS Gary Bettman comes clean about his preference of American NHL teams Do you think NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has a bias against Canadian teams? | ||
Yes | 312 | 77.6 % |
No | 90 | 22.4 % |
LIST OF POLLS |
G | A | PTS | ||
Valeri Nichushkin | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
Steven Stamkos | 3 | - | 3 | |
Zach Hyman | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Jean-Gabriel Pageau | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Auston Matthews | - | 3 | 3 | |
Cole Koepke | 2 | - | 2 | |
Nathan MacKinnon | 2 | - | 2 | |
Mitch Marner | 2 | - | 2 | |
John Tavares | 2 | - | 2 | |
Brady Tkachuk | 2 | - | 2 | |
Matthew Beniers | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Connor McDavid | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Artemi Panarin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Mikko Rantanen | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Macklin Celebrini | - | 2 | 2 | |
Ross Colton | - | 2 | 2 | |
Noah Dobson | - | 2 | 2 | |
Simon Holmstom | - | 2 | 2 | |
Sam Malinski | - | 2 | 2 | |
William Nylander | - | 2 | 2 | |
Complete stats |
STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 64 | 44 | 16 | 4 | 92 | |
Capitals | 63 | 41 | 14 | 8 | 90 | |
Stars | 63 | 41 | 20 | 2 | 84 | |
Panthers | 64 | 40 | 21 | 3 | 83 | |
Golden Knights | 62 | 38 | 18 | 6 | 82 | |
Maple Leafs | 63 | 38 | 22 | 3 | 79 | |
Hurricanes | 63 | 37 | 22 | 4 | 78 | |
Oilers | 63 | 37 | 22 | 4 | 78 | |
Lightning | 63 | 37 | 22 | 4 | 78 | |
Avalanche | 64 | 38 | 24 | 2 | 78 | |
Conference | Cumulative |