Listen, I keep getting all this guff from people about how I should be patriotic and cheer for any and all remaining Canadian teams in this 2017 NHL playoffs.
Uh, no.
With a 40-plus-year rivalry between the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers (yeah, yeah. No team for 15 years, blah, blah, blah) and with all the lack of success the Jets had against them (I'm even talking about the regular-season debacles that unfolded year after year; not just our annual early playoff exits)
How could anyone think I'd be glad to see the team that perennially dashed my hopes as a young Jets/hockey fan? Shame on them.
Of course, these are the same people that give me guff for watching the Canadian Football League (Canadian) over the NFL (American). Where is their patriotism then? Oh. Right. It's hockey. So all hypocrisy takes a powder.
Anyways, the Oilers are gone from the 2017 NHL playoffs, so they will no longer be a pervasive distraction to my enjoyment of the playoffs. Seriously, how could I enjoy the pageantry and intensity of the NHL playoffs when all I can do is wish the demise of the hopes of my enemy?
Well, that's done now. The pressure's off. Now, I can enjoy and still root for a Canadian team without being a hypocrite about it.
Oilers fans have had enough fun and success. Does it matter to me that their last championship was in 1990? Nope. Does it matter that they haven't been to the final since 2006? Nope, Do I care that the Oilers, up until this year, didn't make the playoffs for 10 glorious years? Nope. In fact, it looked good on them.
The Oilers are gone. All is right with the hockey world again.
