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It’s been a while since a Canadian team took home the Stanley Cup. The year 1993 was the last time a Canadian team won, so the drought is approaching thirty years. Hopefully we won’t get there though; the Leafs, the Jets, and maybe the Oilers are looking like contenders. Here’s how long it’s been since a Canadian team took home the Stanley Cup.
1993: Montreal Canadiens
The Canadiens beat the LA Kings in five games to take home their twenty-fourth Stanley Cup. This isn’t to say that the LA Kings were pushovers though. Led by Wayne Gretzky, the best player to ever go the show, the LA Kings had beaten the Flames, Canucks, and Leafs to earn their first-ever spot in the finals. And things started out dicey. The Kings took the first game 4–1 in front of a stunned crowd at the Forum. But Patrick Roy proved to be nearly a brick wall for the rest of the series, and the Canadiens took home glory in the fifth game. Patrick Roy took home the Conn Smythe Trophy.
1990: Edmonton Oilers
Could the Oilers win a Stanley Cup without Wayne Gretzky? The Oilers dominated hockey in the eighties, but the Trade happened in 1988, and in 1989 the Oilers lost to the team who took him, the Kings. But in 1990, led by a Mark Messier recovering from injury, they beat the Jets, defeated the Kings led by Gretzky in the second round, and won the conference finals against the Blackhawks. They met the Boston Bruins in the finals, winning in five games.
1989: Calgary Flames
The Flames fought hard to make it to their Stanley Cup finals. Though they were 43 points behind the Flames in the regular season, the Canucks took them all the way to game seven, and game seven went into overtime. Next, they faced the LA Kings, newly led by Gretzky. Shockingly, this wasn’t a challenge, and the Flames took the series in four games. After beating the Blackhawks in five games, the Flames faced the Canadiens in the final, which went to six games. The Flames are the only team to have defeated the Canadiens in the Forum in a final game to win the Stanley Cup.
1967: Toronto Maple Leafs
The last Stanley Cup of the Original Six era, the Leafs were relatively old, with Johnny Bower being 42 and Allan Stanley 41. The Leafs were also noted for having five guys suit up as goalies during the season, though fans today might only recognize the names of Johnny Bower and Terry Sawchuk. Of course, Bower didn’t wear a goalie mask in the ’67 season (and Sawchuk had only been wearing one for a few years), so goalie injuries weren’t uncommon in the era. Thanks to the strong defence by their goalies and valiant scoring from Dave Keon, the Leafs beat the Canadiens in six games.
Ottawa Senators, Vancouver Canucks, & Winnipeg Jets
The Senators, Canucks, and Jets have never won the Stanley Cup.
The Senators’ last shot was in 2007, when they faced the Anaheim Ducks, who took the series 4–1.
The last time the Canucks went to the finals was in 2011, when they lost to the Bruins in seven games. The occasion was marred by unfortunate riots downtown, evoking the 1994 riots when the Canucks lost the finals to the New York Rangers.
The Winnipeg Jets have never been to a Stanley Cup final. The closest they came was in 1987, when they beat the Flames in the first round but lost to the Oilers in the next. That said, they’re looking great this year, and depending on the fortunes of the Leafs and the Oilers, they have a decent chance of being Canada’s team.
