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Hockey loyalties divided

With just two Canadian teams standing after the first round of the NHL playoffs, not everyone is rooting for a Stanley Cup final showdown between the Ottawa Senators and the Edmonton Oilers.

Take Dan Fougere, for example.

The manager of Halifax's Bubba Ray's Sports Bar Too would like one-half of that matchup in the final — the Oilers.

From the Eastern Conference, however, Fougere is pulling for the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins — and a Sidney Crosby-Connor McDavid clash.

"I think that's what a lot of people would love to see," he said in an interview Tuesday. "If you somehow get those two facing off for the Stanley Cup final I don't think it could get any better than that."

Fougere has even changed the bar's Facebook cover photo to include images of the two superstars.

Crosby is, of course, the local favourite, hailing from nearby Cole Harbour, while the 20-year-old McDavid has been one of Canada's top talents since entering the league in 2015.

Not surprisingly, the Edmonton Journal's editorial board has a firm opinion about where Canadian fans should direct their attention now.

"For so many reasons, the choice for the national team is obviously the Oilers," the paper wrote Tuesday, the day before the team was scheduled to open second-round play against the Anaheim Ducks.

"The team is led by captain Connor McDavid, a homegrown superstar-in-the-making and at 20, already the league’s most exciting player. Unlike Sidney Crosby, who patriotic fans have obligingly supported over the last decade in some measure because of his citizenship, McDavid plays for a team on the right side of the border.

"Make no mistake. Ottawa is a fine team, but its best player is Erik Karlsson — from Sweden."

In Montreal, one of the three Canadian cities whose team was eliminated in the first round, the editor of a website dedicated to all things Canadiens says the locals aren't feeling that great.

"Passionate fans were devastated with the first-round loss," said Rick Stephens. "Montreal finished first in their division, has a world-class goaltender in Carey Price and was generally expected to go further this season.

"The fans are angry. They are calling for big changes; there was talk of trading Carey Price. They want to win now."

Montrealers will have to wait and, in the meantime, their choices for the playoffs aren't obvious, Stephens said.

His readers have divided loyalties, he explained, and not necessarily between the two teams left.

"Ottawa is going to be a tough team for Canadiens fans to cheer for," Stephens said. "There is a budding rivalry there. Not at the level of Boston or Toronto, but it's getting there."

Edmonton, he said, is more likely to be the Canadian team of choice for Habs fans.



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