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For nearly a decade, the door to the Edmonton Oilers' locker room was marked Exit Only.
They'd find and develop talented players, but the economics of life in a small Canadian market doomed them to run in place.
...
"Calgary was pretty crazy when we were up there," Duck defenseman Sean O'Donnell said, "but those Canadians, they love their hockey. They love it up there. Edmonton's been waiting a long time to get this far in the playoffs again, after having been spoiled in the '80s. They can see the prize at the end of the tunnel.
"Coming in, all the talk was about Calgary and Ottawa, but they're the last Canadian team left, so there's a lot of pride up there. Games 3 and 4 up there, it's going to be nuts."
They'd find and develop talented players, but the economics of life in a small Canadian market doomed them to run in place.
...
"Calgary was pretty crazy when we were up there," Duck defenseman Sean O'Donnell said, "but those Canadians, they love their hockey. They love it up there. Edmonton's been waiting a long time to get this far in the playoffs again, after having been spoiled in the '80s. They can see the prize at the end of the tunnel.
"Coming in, all the talk was about Calgary and Ottawa, but they're the last Canadian team left, so there's a lot of pride up there. Games 3 and 4 up there, it's going to be nuts."
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