EDMONTON – The 2024 Stanley Cup Final is a battle between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers. Two teams from different countries with different legacies. Each team has its own philosophy on how to properly spend time on marathon inter-city flights.
The Stanley Cup Final is also Team Mario Kart vs Team Poker.
The Oilers and Panthers have set an NHL record for the longest distance between two teams in a Stanley Cup Final, at 2,541 miles. That’s a lot of time in the air and a lot of time to spend.
The Oilers spend that time playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo Switch console.
Fans first heard about these trips down Rainbow Road during Edmonton’s Western Conference finals series against the Dallas Stars. After his Game 5 win, goalie Stuart Skinner was asked if he had a chance to earn a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in Edmonton and how to calm his nerves about it.
“Just stay in the moment. Tomorrow I’ll be able to live my life, get on the plane and beat these guys at Mario Kart. I’ll probably get a couple first places. I’m sure of it,” he said confidently. .
He used Mario Kart with the same therapeutic means after the second game of the Stanley Cup Final, when the Oilers returned from Fort Lauderdale trailing 2-0 in the series.
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“I’m not going to turn on the TV. Just Mario Kart,” he said. “I was amazing. I won a lot of games. I lost a couple, but we don’t have to talk about that.”
Skinner said he plays as Toad, “but honestly, he could be anyone.” Oilers star Connor McDavid plays Luigi, while linemate Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is Mario.
“He wants to be like me, that’s why he casts characters with mustaches,” Skinner said.
Defenseman Darnell Nurse doesn’t play with a specific character.
“Darnell changes from time to time,” Skinner explained. “He just wants to find some way to beat us, which never happens.”
The Oilers aren’t the only team to reach the Stanley Cup Final while tortoise shells were being fired.
Both the Washington Capitals and the Vegas Golden Knights played Mario Kart 64 during the 2018 finals at their hotels. Forward TJ Oshie got so into the game that he bought a Nintendo 64 to practice at his house and, after Washington won the Cup, he got a tattoo of Wario, Mario’s enemy, on his thigh. he.
What’s up with NHL players and Mario Kart?
“I think it’s just being on a plane for six hours,” Skinner said. “You have to find something to do. Whether it’s movies, playing games, playing cards, whatever you can find. Take a nap. So we had a lot of time to hang out together.”
The video game also has a practical function.
“As fun as it may seem, it’s a really good way to bond with your teammates. It’s like laughing with each other and getting to know each other on a little better level,” Skinner said.
But it is competitive. Like the Panthers team’s plane poker games, which help participants pass the time and provide entertainment for spectators.
Case in point: The Panthers recently had their flight to Edmonton for Game 3 delayed due to torrential rain and flooding in South Florida. Sure, there were other ways to entertain themselves, like giving a standing ovation when a packed team coach walked onto the plane in the rain, but the game of poker was chief among them.
“The guys playing cards had a little more time to win or lose some money, and we were just watching how they did,” center Anton Lundell said.
There is a core group of Panthers who play poker on flights. Matthew Tkachuk, Nick Cousins, Aaron Ekblad, Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe are sitting. Gustav Forsling and Josh Mahura are close to them and also play.
“It’s pretty intense. We have a good time because it’s competitive as you would expect,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said.
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Some players know their cards. Others think so.
“I’m not good, but there are a couple of good guys who are,” Verhaeghe said. “I mean, Gustav is pretty good. And (Ekblad) thinks he’s pretty good.”
Bennett has called Cousins the worst player on the table. Ekblad said Kyle Okposo, who participates in some hands, has received “a lot of money from guys” since he joined the team at the trade deadline.
Defenseman Brandon Montour does not play.
“I make fun of some guys who are playing, but that’s it,” he said.
Why don’t you up the ante?
“Just because you have to be committed. Those guys will play, I don’t even know… how long is the flight to Edmonton? Like six hours? The guys will play from an hour before takeoff until as soon as we get there.” ground, so I won’t play for seven hours,” he said.
Seven hours would require quite a bit of money.
“For some,” Montour said, laughing.
Poker isn’t the only card game on Panthers flights. Center Kevin Stenlund said there is another table on the plane playing “Seven Up, Seven Down.”
“It’s different. But both games are intense,” he said. “It’s a long flight. There are a lot of letters, but it definitely helps pass the time.”
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