In sports, some things used to be sacrosanct. One of those was the belief that Canadian teams would always win the Stanley Cup. Of course they did, it’s the national sport in Canada, right? Some things used to be sacrosanct.
Used to be.
Because it’s now been an incredible 32 years since a side from the northern side of the border won a Stanley Cup – the biggest team prize in the NHL. Are we soon to see the end of what has become a collective monkey on the back of a hockey-loving nation?
History weighs heavy
Once upon a time Canadian teams were a shoo-in, or skate-in, for the NHL title. The Stanley Cup itself – one of the most iconic in professional sports – also happens to be North America’s oldest trophy and one that took its name from the man who donated it: Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of, you’ve guessed it, Canada.
Originally the trophy was contested over exclusively by amateur clubs from Canada, but after a period of mergers and differing formats, it took its current guise as the championship trophy of North American hockey in 1926, with the 1927 trophy the first awarded in what is widely recognized as the modern professional era of hockey.
The Ottawa Senators, from Canada of course, won the 1927 championship, defeating the Boston Bruins in a two-game series. The trophy then changed hands pretty regularly over the following years, and by the tenth anniversary of the Stanley Cup, the prize had been claimed five times apiece by Canadian and US sides. Six in a row by US franchises between 1936 and 1941 was the first real fallow period for Canadian hockey, but in the war years franchises from north of the border came roaring back: the period between 1942 and 1960 witnessing no fewer than 14 Canadian victories, shared between the dominant franchises of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. With titles won in the period 1915 to 1926 also being counted, by 1960, these two teams, along with the Detroit Red Wings, had something of a monopoly on the trophy: the Canadiens with 20 finals appearances and 12 wins to their name, including a streak of five in a row between 1956 and 1960. Their countrymen from Toronto made 17 finals appearances in that period, with nine series victories. From the States, Detroit were the standout, winning exactly half of their 14 finals series.
The 1960s were something of a golden era for Canadian hockey; the Chicago Black Hawks the only team outside of the country to claim the Stanley Cup in that period. And once more it was the Leafs and Canadiens who dominated. A couple of US wins in the early seventies were a brief respite, before the Canadiens returned with another four in a row between 1976 and 1979.
Changes
A New York Islanders dynasty between 1980 and 1983 was a sign that things were starting to change. It wasn’t that Canadian hockey was dead, but new challengers started to arise outside of the traditional strongholds of the East of the country. First up were the Edmonton Oilers, who won their first Stanley Cup at the second attempt in finals by ending that Islanders dynasty. The Oilers backed up that victory one year later but were supplanted by a side from their own province, the Calgary Flames, in the finals in 1986 in a series that was eventually won by yet another Canadian team, the Canadiens. The Oilers were not to be deterred and stormed back with two more victories, before the Flames finally got over the line in 1989, gaining revenge over Montreal. Canada had for a long time been the center of the hockey universe, but now that center had shifted west to Alberta. That fact was backed up the following year, 1990, when the Oilers claimed their fifth title in just seven short years.
Sean Couturier #14 of the Philadelphia Flyers redirects the puck past goalie Jakob Does #75 of the Montreal Canadiens
The end of a dynasty
With Alberta now boasting hockey clubs of the stature to rival the traditional powerhouses from Ontario and Quebec, hockey in Canada promised to dominate like never before. But if anything, this diluting of the powerhouse seemed to have the opposite effect. The previously all-conquering Canadiens claimed what is now their 23rd yet most recent Stanley Cup win in 1993. No Canadian team has won the iconic trophy since, while on seven occasions, five different teams from north of the border, including the Canadiens, have fallen at the final hurdle. Is this now a national hoodoo?
2025?
The good news for Canadian hockey is that teams from the country continue to go deep in the NHL playoffs, including in 2025 when three teams went past the first-round series. Yet Edmonton now remain as the only team in the running. Unfortunately for a team who enjoyed a golden era in the 1980s, one of the teams who lurk dangerously are the Florida Panthers, 2024 champs who defeated none other than the Oilers in an epic 4-3 finals series. That was pretty much as close as a Canadian team has come in 32 years. Can the Oilers go one better this time and finally end over three decades of hurt? If you were wagering with betting apps, you might take a glance at that history and consider the weight on the collective shoulders of Canadian hockey as the Oilers carry that burden.
