The Edmonton Oil Kings are the 2012 Western Hockey League Champions and winners of the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
Last night, the Oil Kings punched their ticket to Shawinigan, Quebec and the MasterCard Memorial Cup with a 4-1 victory over the Portland Winterhawks in game seven of the championship series.
My initial reaction during the game however was simple. Where were all of the fans? I know perfectly well that there was a satisfactory crowd last night and the 12, 514 fans need to be commended, but the capacity of Rexall Place is 16,839 which is 26% less than a sellout.
This was the biggest game ever the Oil Kings could have possibly played. There is no bigger than game seven of a league championship series, but the Edmonton sports fan seemed to have not got the memo.
The Calgary Hitmen meanwhile had a better crowd for two regular season games this season (14,982 fans versus Kootenay on March 17 and 13,100 fans versus Red Deer on March 11). This could have been a very special night for the Oil Kings. It still was, despite the empty seats.
Tags: Edmonton Oil Kings, memorial cup
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