Edmonton Oilers win the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, but don’t hoist the trophy

The Edmonton Oilers have advanced to their first Stanley Cup finals since 2006, when they lost a heartbreaking Game 7 to the Carolina Hurricanes. This trip will mark their eighth in franchise history. The Oilers have won five of their seven previous finals appearances, defeating the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers twice, and New York Islanders once. They’ll face a new opponent this year, the Florida Panthers.

 

After the historical handshake line, the winning team’s captain is awarded the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl. There has long been a superstition around the NHL that you shouldn’t hoist the trophy as it’s “not the trophy you want.” And there’s proof of this from just last season.

In the 2023 Stanley Cup finals, the Panthers decided to touch the trophy and paraded around the ice with it, while their opponent, the Vegas Golden Knights, did not. The Panthers would go on to lose the series 4-1.

However, the Panthers learned their lesson this year and did not touch the trophy.

Edmonton followed in their footsteps after a Game 6, 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars when NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly presented Connor McDavid with the trophy; he and his teammates did not touch the bowl.

Since the Edmonton Oilers last appeared in the Stanely Cup finals, just two Western Conference teams have reached the bowl: the 2022 Colorado Avalanche, who defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games, and the 2018 Vegas Golden Knights, who lost to the Washington Capitals on home ice in Game 5. Nine of the 15 teams who won the bowl and did not touch it went on to win the Stanley Cup.

It remains to be seen if McDavid and his teammates made the right decision not to hoist this trophy they earned. Their focus now shifts solely to the biggest series of this core’s lives, against the Florida Panthers.