Stanley Cup Playoff Madness Spreads Across Canada

When you think of Canada, one of the first things that comes to mind is hockey.

The country that created the sport has seven teams in the NHL, each with a passionate fanbase. And when the Stanley Cup playoffs begin each spring, things get turned up to 10 in the areas fortunate enough to see their team to make a run for the Cup.

Five Canadian teams made the playoffs this season, with the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators losing in the first round. The three Canadian teams that remain — Winnipeg, Edmonton and Toronto — each has its unique way of celebrating a playoff run. 

Winnipeg Whiteout Tradition in Full Force

In 1987, during a playoff series with the rival Calgary Flames, the Whiteout was born in Winnipeg. The Flames told their crowd to color coordinate for home games, wearing all red. The Jets responded with their first Whiteout crowd and nearly 40 years later the tradition is stronger than ever.

“My parents, who are retired in their mid-sixties, still have the original white pom poms from 1987,” said Natalie Thiesen, vice president of tourism at Tourism Winnipeg. “Across our city we’re in full whiteout mania. For the playoffs only, the city takes out everything white. Whether it’s Jets jerseys or costumes at the Whiteout Street Parties or in the arena, and also within restaurants and bars and all sorts of establishments.”

The Canada Life Centre is one of the best scenes in sports when the Jets are in the playoffs. The team experienced perhaps its greatest playoff win ever when the Jets tied Game 7 of the first round with less than two seconds left against the St. Louis Blues, then won in double overtime.

“The city is electric. There’s a sense of pride, not just for Winnipeg, but in terms of a Canadian city making it to the next round,” Thiesen said. “It’s unique and it’s hard to articulate the feeling unless you’ve experienced it firsthand. Game 7 was a pretty emotional moment for all of Winnipeg.”

When the Jets have a home playoff game, not only is the arena filled, but there’s a crowd of 5,500 fans at the Whiteout Street Parties surrounding the arena. When you add up the more than 16,000 fans crammed into the Canada Life Centre to the thousands outside, it equals a dream for local businesses in downtown Winnipeg.

“This playoff run is driving increased local business, particularly in the downtown core, but also surrounding areas at the restaurants, bars, local retailers selling team merchandise, sporting goods — they’ve seen a noticeable uptick,” Thiesen said. “Places are benefiting from extended business hours; this is the boost that many small businesses need.”

Tickets are sold for $10 for the Whiteout Street Parties, with half of the money going to the United Way, a charitable organization that supports social programs across the city. There are giant screens with the game on and food trucks, with the area opening two hours prior to the game.

“That’s where everyone wants to be in Winnipeg,” Thiesen said. “There are so many great times of the year to be in Winnipeg, but the energy during the NHL playoffs is palpable and there’s a sense of real pride for Winnipeg. We have some of the best fans and an experience that can’t be matched by any other arena.”

When the Jets play a road game, there’s a watch party in the arena for fans to gather. People around the city wear white to the office on game days in unity. Signs, ballons, pom poms —  everything is white around the city.

Thiesen was in Edmonton last June when the Oilers played in the Stanley Cup Final and hopes Winnipeg experiences that feeling soon.

“Even though my team was out, I was definitely in full support behind the Oilers at that moment in time,” Thiesen said. “Canadian hockey fans support each other if our team is out.”

Edmonton Electrified During Playoffs

The Edmonton Oilers had one of the greatest runs in hockey history when the franchise won five Stanley Cups between 1984–1990. In a blue-collar city that bleeds orange and blue, the area is at a fever pitch when the Oilers are making a playoff run.

“The great thing about the Oilers is they’re so rooted in the community that whether you like hockey or not, you want to be a part of it,” said Reed Clarke, Sport Edmonton chief executive officer. “We have a city of over a million people now and a lot of them have never put on skates before — or maybe just came to the city or province the last couple of years — and you see them rocking their Oilers jersey.”

Edmonton has an insatiable appetite for hockey. Rogers Place packs in more than 18,000 people for a home game and Clarke says another 25,000 to 30,000 attend the various outdoor fan parties during a home playoff game with what’s shown on TV just a small portion of what’s going on in downtown.

The televised area is called the Moss Pit, which is named for Joey Moss, a long-time locker-room attendant with the Oilers who passed away in 2020. The Moss Pit is only the tip of the iceberg, with 3,000 people. The Oilers in recent years have opened two additional fan areas to accommodate demand.

“It’s a pretty young crowd — I would say early twenties. If the game is at 7 or 8 local time, they’ll be lining up starting at noon and waiting around to get into one of these spots just to be in that vibe and to hang out there,” Clarke said. “You’re looking at about 25,000 to 30,000 people coming down to one specific area of downtown to watch a game, so the economic boost is huge.”

There is not a bar, restaurant or any kind of retail store downtown that does not have some type of special related to the Oilers, whether a drink special or merch sale. “They really count on this traffic, during both home and away games. It’s very significant,” Clarke added.

When the Oilers are playing a road playoff game, the team fills Rogers Place at $10 a pop for watch parties, with proceeds going to the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation. Even during road games, thousands show up in the streets as well.

“I would compare it to a giant football tailgate experience,” Clarke said. “If people have other events going on, everybody’s changing their times so it doesn’t interfere with the game. It’s like those scenes you see of Friday Night Lights at a high school football game in Texas where everything’s shut down for the game. It takes over everything.”

The Oilers have not won a Cup since 1990, but made a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006 and lost in Game 7 of the 2024 Final to Florida. But one thing that has not changed with each generation is the rabid fan base.

“I remember during Game 6 last year, it was insane even trying to get anywhere downtown,” Clarke recalled. “It was hard to get within 10 blocks of the arena. Cars were going crazy, everyone was lined up, honking and high fiving on the street. People were reaching out of their cars giving high fives.”

The city is getting plenty of free publicity during playoff games, which includes drone shots of the city and a showcase of how passionate sports fans are in the region.

“Those shots show how an arena and all the developments around it have been a catalyst for the city,” Clarke said. “And I think some of the shots show what the city actually looks like — that this is a big metropolis in Northern Canada.”

Clarke hopes the showcase will lead to more professional sporting events coming, including NBA exhibitions, WNBA games, PWHL, rugby, football or baseball.

“We’re a sports town. We’ve always been a sports town. It’s in our DNA and we’re all about that,” he added. “And the sports tourism side of our economy is significant — I think it’s over 10 percent. We’re always looking for other things we can attract, and we want to show the world that we always show up, we support and we love having a party and hosting an event.”

Maple Leafs a Huge Draw in Toronto

Toronto is the fourth biggest city in North America. It has 3 million people in the city and another 4 million in the Greater Metro Area. And when the Maple Leafs are making a playoff run, those 7 million people are along for the ride.

“Hockey is definitely a massive draw. And we always have people that come in regionally and will drive into the city or take the train for a day during a playoff game,” said Kathy Motton, senior manager of corporate communications at Destination Toronto.

“Sometimes they stay a night and book a hotel, which is obviously great for the city as well, because anytime anybody does that, they’re going to do more than one thing in the city. There’s a high likelihood that they’re not just going to go to the game or watch the game — they may go to a restaurant or a bar, or maybe they’ll hit an attraction. So that spending does spread throughout the city.”

Scotiabank Arena can hold nearly 19,000 people for a Maple Leafs game and several thousand more are at the watch party in Maple Leaf Square, adjacent to the arena. There are dozens of bars that host watch parties, led by Real Sports, which is located in Maple Leaf Square and features a 39-foot HD screen. Scotiabank Arena and its surrounding area is a stone’s throw from Union Station, Toronto’s transportation hub.

“A lot of people jump on a train and come in from outside of the city and it’s actually quite easy for them to come in,” Motton said. “Not all cities have their arena located right downtown like that. So it means that people can come in and easily walk over to the arena or any of the bars or shops, and then get back out of the city by train.”

Toronto has several other professional sports teams including the Raptors, Blue Jays and Toronto FC. On the women’s side, the city has the Sceptres in the PWHL as well as AFC Toronto and a WNBA franchise coming next year.

“We’re very much a sports city, but we really are a hockey city,” Motton said. “Even during the regular season in Toronto, the arena is always full and there are always people in sports bars across the city watching the game. So when you look at a series in the Stanley Cup playoffs, it just elevates it.

Motton points out the 2024 NHL All-Star weekend in Toronto generated an estimated $54 million in economic benefits for the city and hotel demand was up 35 percent over that period. And while the Maple Leafs haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967, the Leafs have for years had one of the best rosters in the league and one would have to think eventually they will break through.

“If we can continue to proceed further into the playoffs, you’re going to see that excitement increase,” Motton said. “Winning the Cup would be massive. Luckily, we do have the recent experience when the Raptors won the NBA championship in 2019. So we know what that party and that level of excitement afterwards looks like and we’ll apply all the learnings if the Leafs were to win.”