The buzz that made Wednesday night feel like a Friday in Edmonton died in the final minutes of Game 7 between the Oilers and the Ducks.
The teams faced off in a winner-take-all game in Anaheim on Wednesday.
Nearly 3,000 kilometres away, Oilers fans watched as the Ducks pulled ahead in the third period. Anaheim’s team took the game — and the series — with a 2-1 victory over the Oilers.
On Tuesday, Rogers Place sold out 18,000 tickets in two minutes for the Game 7 Watch Party at the arena.
Those fans flooded into downtown Edmonton after the final buzzer, joining the thousands more who watched the game at local bars and restaurants.
Instead of the usual cheering, chanting and dancing around Edmonton’s iconic Wayne Gretzky statue, fans beat a quiet retreat.
A heavy police presence supervised the crowd outside Rogers Place after the Oilers’ playoff exit on Wednesday. (Zoe Todd/CBC)
“I’m kind of disappointed,” said Terry Bains, a lifelong Oilers fan. “But I guess I got to be proud of our team here — we exceeded all expectations.”
Nothing will ever get between him and his team, Bains added.
“I love the Oilers, they’re my life,” he said. “It hurts right now but I know in the long run we’ll be better for it.”
‘There’s always next year’
Valerie Dittaro was one of the few people defiantly cheering “Go Oilers Go” as she left the arena.
“Always an Oilers fan, to the end,” she said. “There’s always next year.”
Oriya Baraness, another fan, agreed.
“In the next five years, we’ll definitely have our hands on the cup,” she said.
For now, the Oilers’ first post-season in more than a decade has ended. The Anaheim Ducks go on to face the Nashville Predators in Round 3.
With Edmonton’s exit, the Ottawa Senators remain as the only Canadian team in the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs.