Connor McDavid (credit: wikimedia commons)
The Edmonton Oilers are back in their hometown to play game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Florida Panthers tonight at 8 p.m.
“I think you know they’re obviously doing their best. I think they deserved a better fate after game one. Game two wasn’t really the best game for them but I think they did deserve the victory in game one, which was disheartening but as long as they win all their games at home and head to Florida with the series tied to 2-2,” says Danny Syvret, a Triple-A London Junior Knights Coach who played for the London Knights and was drafted to the Edmonton Oilers back in 2005.
After losing the first two games in the final series, Syvret is hoping that having the home advantage will lead the Oilers to their first win.
Other London Junior Knight Triple-A coaches agree.
“I think you know going back home, they’re going to be ready to go and have a lot of momentum,” says Jordan Fuller.
Fuller thinks the Oilers winning the cup will have an impact on the Canadian Hockey community, but others say that no matter who wins it will still be Canadian players who take home the cup.
“When you look at these teams the way they’re created though, 70% of the players in the NHL now are Canadian,” says Triple-A coach of London Junior Knights, Tony Mandarelli.
With the first two games being losses the coaches think the best way to win is to ‘distract’ the Florida Panthers goalie.
“When your playing a team like Florida, who has a high level goalie like Bobrovsky you got to take his eyes away and once you do that, and you’re putting pucks in the net, you should be able to at least get a couple in there at some point right,” says Mandarelli. “If you can get a couple of goals on Bobrovsky here, I think at some point he’s gonna break and you’re going to be able to win these games”.
The next two games of the Stanley Cup Final series will be held in Edmonton before going back to Florida for game five.
