“Lots of people have been telling I need to buy their next lottery ticket or make their next sports bet for them.”
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Like many of us, William Dmytrow had a hard time trying to come up with his high-school yearbook quote in 2018.
As the deadline loomed, the graduate of Centennial College high school in Saskatoon decided to go out on a limb and make a pretty bold six-word prediction: Edmonton Oilers 2024, watch it happen.
The Edmonton Oilers winning the Stanley Cup in 2024?
Six years ago, that would’ve been a pie-in-the sky thought. The team was coming off another year without making the playoffs and had missed the postseason 11 of the past 12 years.
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But look at his prediction now, as the Oilers are just two wins away from winning the sixth Stanley Cup in franchise history.
“I had hit the deadline, and I was like, I don’t even know what I’m going to say, and I was like you know what? I’m going to predict my favourite team in the whole world to win the Stanley Cup, and I just threw in a random year, and lo and behold, it was 2024,” said Dmytrow.
“Lots of people have been telling I need to buy their next lottery ticket or make their next sports bet for them.”
Dmytrow admits he had forgotten what year he had predicted in the yearbook, and with the way the Oilers started the season near the bottom of the NHL standings, he had no real reason to go back and look. But when the team started to make their climb up the standings, and showed they could be a legitimate contender this year, he brought out his yearbook to double check.
“When they went on their big 16-game win streak, something made me go look, and that’s when I remembered this being the year,’ said Dmytrow.
And as the season wore on, and the Oilers started to make their push in the Stanley Cup playoffs, he’s been getting constant reminders from friends and family, and his prediction has since gone viral as he’s been getting attention from outlets like TSN’s Bardown, and the NHL’s Twitter account made mention of it.
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“My phone is blowing up, there are a lot of notifications on my phone. I had to turn them off, it’s gone crazy,” said Dmytrow.
It’s common for kids to latch on and cheer for championship winning teams. How many kids growing up in the Los Angeles Lakers era of the early 2000s with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant became fans of the Lakers, or the late ’90s, early 2000s era of the New York Yankees with Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera become fans of the Yankees.
But as a kid, Dmytrow stuck with the Oilers, despite going through their “Decade of Darkness.”
“I’ve been an Oilers fan through all their tough times. I’ve always loved them. I’ve never not questioned not cheering for them. I feel like it would be betrayal,” said Dmytrow.
“When I was younger and the team was going through hard times, it was hard as a fan. I’ve never wavered on that, and I love the Edmonton Oilers.”
His prediction hasn’t fully come true yet, but despite being down 3-0 to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final the Oilers have fought their way back to force a Game 6 in Edmonton. Although they’re still down 3-2 in the series, the momentum seems to be on the side of the Oilers, and Dmytrow is confident his favourite team can pull through.
“When I made that Facebook post (about his graduation prediction), I had a lot of people laughing at me when the Oilers fell behind 0-3, but I just told them, I still believe, and I think since then people are starting to believe,” said Dmytrow.
“I’m confident, man. The Stanley Cup is coming to Edmonton. Oilers in seven, baby!“
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