Loud Oilers fans kept interrupting post-game press conference

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The party is on in the Alberta capital after the Edmonton Oilers officially booked their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final with a gutsy 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars in Game 6. 

It was a moment that came down to the very last moment, but the Oilers were able to fend off the Stars to uproarious applause from the hometown crowd. While the fans were sure to stick around to see their team get awarded the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl for winning the Western Conference, the cheering poured out onto the streets in front of Rogers Place as well.

Fans were so loud that they kept interrupting the post-game press conferences with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and head coach Kris Knoblauch.

It was such a spectacle that each one of McDavid, Draisaitl, and Knoblauch took time to wave to the crowd, which garnered even more cheering. The chants were fairly simple and focused on the next task at hand: The Stanley Cup.

They didn’t even stop to give Stars head coach Peter Deboer some time to address the media after getting eliminated.

The fact that the Oilers were able to accomplish this feat in front of their hometown crowd is something they aren’t taking for granted. Draisaitl knew how special this was for the fans.

“It means a lot… a lot of painful years that we’ve gone through and lots of learning along the way,” Draisaitl told Daily Hive after the game. “To be able to do it at home and for this city and for these fans and for ourselves is great.”

Even a veteran defender like Mattias Ekholm was in awe of the fan support. He played many years in a loud Nashville arena but he was at a loss for words for the type of environment that Oilers fans created for the team.

“Unbelievable… I don’t think I’ve ever heard a louder building in my career,” Ekholm told reporters after the game. “It’s just awesome. You see the fans, you see everybody staying afterwards to really soak in the moment and hopefully, we got more in store for them.”

This marks the first time that the Oilers will play in a Stanley Cup Final in 18 long years. The last time Edmonton made a run this far was all the way back in 2006 when they lost in Game 7 to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Oilers forward Zach Hyman says he remembers watching that team as a kid and said the crowd during that magical run was one of the reasons why he wanted to play in Edmonton.

“I was doing an interview after [the game] and I couldn’t even hear the questions it was so loud,” Hyman said. “This is one of the reasons I wanted to come here… This is why you come to a market like this to play in front of fans like this. This is what you dream of.”

Of course, this moment is that much more special for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The longest-tenured Oiler has been through a lot during his career in Edmonton and this marks his first trip to the Final.

The love that fans feel for “The Nuge” is certainly reciprocated.

“They just keep getting louder and louder every year, every series, every game,” Nugent-Hopkins told reporters with a smile. “It’s nice to be able to do this in front of them tonight and we rally behind their support every night.”

The Oilers will now have some time off before they head to the East Coast to take on the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night.

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