Leafs or Oilers? Hockey fans split on which team will end Canada's Stanley Cup drought
The end of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) regular season is just days away and four Canadian teams have punched their ticket for the playoffs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks each have a chance to not only win the Stanley Cup, but also put the nation’s more than three-decade NHL championship drought to an end.
However, opinion among Canadian hockey fans appears to be split as to which team represents the best chance to bring the Cup home.
A new survey of 1,615 Canadian adults by the Angus Reid Institute shows that one in five respondents believe either Toronto (21 per cent) or Edmonton (20 per cent) will take the trophy. Fourteen per cent of those surveyed think Vancouver will end the drought and five per cent think Winnipeg will get it done.
Asked which team respondents would “like” to see win the cup, an overwhelming 42 per cent voted for the Leafs, which the poll notes is largely influenced by Ontario’s larger population, 23 per cent voted for Vancouver, 22 per cent voted for Edmonton and 13 per cent voted for Winnipeg.
The last time a Canadian team won hockey’s biggest prize was back in 1993 when the Montreal Canadiens hoisted the cup. Since then, five of Canada’s seven hockey clubs have come close, but all failed to reach the top.
It’s no surprise then that the percentage of hockey fans in this country who don’t care which Canadian team wins the Cup is growing.
“For many Canadians, the team to win has evidently become less important than the act of winning,” the institute said in a news release issued Monday. “In 2016, 57 per cent of Canadians said they didn’t care which team ended the drought…Now, nearing two-thirds (64%) say they’ll cheer for any team that calls Canada home.”
Toronto heads into the playoffs 46-24-10 behind Auston Matthews’ league-leading 69 goals. Edmonton is 48-25-6, led by former Leaf Zach Hyman’s 53 goals.
The schedule for this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs has not yet been released.
Methodology
The online survey was conducted from April 9 to 11 among a randomized sample of 1,615 Canadian adults. The institute says a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.