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A new poll suggests Canada’s increasing sense of national unity carried over into the NHL’s Stanley Cup race.
In a poll released by the non-profit Angus Reid Institute on Friday, 71 percent of Canadian hockey fans said they were cheering for any Canadian team to win this year’s Stanley Cup – not just their favorite squad.
That’s up from 64 percent who said the same thing in 2024 and the 57 percent in 2016.
The incendiary comments from U.S. president Donald Trump, who has said multiple times he wants Canada to be America’s 51st state, has had a profound effect on Canadians who bristle greatly in reaction to those comments.
That said, there are clear favorites as to which Canadian teams people are specifically rooting for to win the Cup – and two Original Six Canadian franchises lead the way.
Three in ten Canadian hockey fans want the Toronto Maple Leafs to win it all this year. The same goes for the Montreal Canadiens.
The Edmonton Oilers finished third with 18 percent, followed by the Winnipeg Jets (15 percent), and Ottawa Senators (six percent).
As for who those surveyed think will actually end Canada’s Cup drought, whether it happens this year or later, the Maple Leafs garnered 22 percent of the votes. That’s up from 21 percent last year, but down from 26 percent in 2021, when the Canadiens made the final.
Even though the Winnipeg Jets won the Presidents’ Trophy this year, they ranked second with 19 percent of the vote. The Oilers were one win away from winning the Cup last season, but they sit third at 16 percent.
The Canadiens received 14 percent of the vote, while the Senators and Vancouver Canucks each received three percent of the vote. The Calgary Flames only got two percent. Only two percent said no Canadian team will ever win the Cup again.
The online survey underscores Canadians’ increasingly passionate defense of their homeland.
It’s only natural that such heightened Canadian nationalism would affect Canada’s favorite pastime.
The online survey polled a randomized sample of 1,607 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid forum from April 21 to 24. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of plus-minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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