For the 33rd Straight Year, Canada Will Not Win the Stanley Cup

On Friday night, the Montreal Canadiens tried to fight inevitability and lost, as the youngest team in the playoffs was eliminated by the heavy favorites, the Carolina Hurricanes, in the Eastern Conference finals.

Although the Canadiens came out hot against the then-undefeated Hurricanes in Game 1, knocking them down and taking the first game on the road, the optimism didn’t last long as they were smothered across the final four games of the series.

Along with the Canadiens being eliminated, the final Canadian team in the NHL was also ousted from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, leaving us with only the Vegas Golden Knights and the Hurricanes remaining.

For the 33rd straight year, a Canadian team will not be lifting the most prestigious trophy in all of hockey.

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It’s been a gut-punch of a first half of the year for Canadian hockey, first by losing both the men’s and women’s gold medals in overtime to the United States of America during the Winter Olympic Games, and now not having a team advance to fight for Lord Stanley.

If we’re looking at silver linings, this Canadiens team got this far way ahead of schedule and should only build upon this foundation for years to come. The Toronto Maple Leafs have the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. The Ottawa Senators could be building something out in the nation’s capital.

Yet it’s still a disappointment for a country that is the lifeblood of professional hockey, with its last championship won by the Canadiens, who defeated the Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings in 1993.

So while American pundits fight over two small American markets fighting in the Stanley Cup Finals and wonder how many people will tune in, the nation of Canada will continue to watch.

Heartbroken for their teams, but watching the sport they love, rain or shine.

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This story was originally published May 30, 2026 at 12:12 PM.