A sticker on the door of the Black Frog Eatery in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood features an Edmonton Oilers logo and the words “Welcome to Oil Country!”
The bar, located steps away from Gastown’s steam clock, has long been a home away from home for Oilers fans and has been particularly busy during the team’s current NHL playoff run.
“It is bananas. The best kind of bananas,” said the Black Frog’s front-of-house manager Michelle Thorne-Speir.
Following the Oilers dramatic 4-3 overtime win in Game 1 on Wednesday night, Black Frog patrons danced to Los Lobos’s version of La Bamba and Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan.
“The joy is overwhelming, everyone is in it together,” Thorne-Speir said. “It’s like an emotional roller-coaster with every move, but we’re all doing it together.”
Thorne-Speir said the Black Frog became a hub for Oilers fans in Vancouver thanks to its original owner, who was a bartender at the Black Dog pub on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton. He moved to B.C. and wanted to bring a slice of northern Alberta to the West Coast.
After the bar changed hands, the new owner wanted to keep the Black Frog’s Oil Country vibe intact.
‘Strange bedfellows’
While many Oilers fans on the West Coast are transplants from Alberta, others are cheering on the team for the first time in the hopes they can finally end Canada’s 32-year Stanley Cup drought.
Vancouver Canucks fan Harley Desjarlais says he’s holding his nose as he cheers on the Oilers.
The Prince George man says he supported the Panthers over the Oilers when the two teams met in last year’s Stanley Cup final, saying it felt natural to cheer against Edmonton, the Canucks’ division rival.
This year’s rematch felt different, he said.
“A lot of this 51st-state garbage and stuff like that makes it real difficult for me to cheer for an American team against a Canadian team,” Desjarlais said.
“There’s that saying, ‘politics makes strange bedfellows.’ Well, I guess this is an instance of that.”
Desjarlais said a recent trip to Edmonton also helped him change his tune.
“I met a lot of good people,” he said. “They were Edmonton fans and I could see how much they were into it and it kind of gave me a little bit of perspective, you know, that it’s not just about the team, it’s about the community and how many people are having a good time over there.”
WATCH | Oilers fan in Kelowna, B.C., shows team love by mowing logo into his lawn
It’s an unusual sight in Canucks country, but Edmonton Oilers fan Jeff Krause says he wanted to show his love for the team and support them — by mowing the team’s logo into his front lawn.
Jeff Krause of Kelowna, B.C., got ready for the Stanley Cup final the same way he did last year — carving a giant Oilers logo into his front yard.
It’s something that Krause, who is originally from Edmonton and moved to the Okanagan in 2005, has done over the last two decades whenever the Oilers make it to the second round of the NHL playoffs.
He said he doesn’t need stencils or templates, just a mower, a steady hand, and a healthy patch of grass.
He says his lawn art continues to garner plenty of attention.
“Horns honking driving by, some people stopping taking pictures, doing selfies out front,” he said. “It just means there is a lot of excitement around the team.”
Given the Oilers have not won a Stanley Cup since 1990, Krause tried to mix things up this year by cutting the logo earlier than usual.
“Tradition hasn’t yielded the results yet,” he said. “So there is nothing wrong with changing it up.”
The Oilers suffered a 5-4 overtime loss to the Panthers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final on Friday night. Game 3 takes place Monday at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla.
