Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
The Oilers are heading back to the Stanley Cup Final after beating the Stars and earning the trophy that’s presented to the winner of the Western Conference. However, some fans in Edmonton were not thrilled to see Connor McDavid touch that piece of hardware due to the jinx associated with it.
It’s hard to top baseball when it comes to the number of superstitions that sport has managed to spawn, but hockey also has plenty to go around.
For example, the “playoff beards” that have become a time-honored tradition in the NHL stem from the belief it’s bad luck to shave during the postseason, and players in the league won’t be caught dead touching the Stanley Cup if they haven’t earned the right to have their name engraved on it.
There are also a couple of less hallowed trophies linked to a supposed curse: the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl and the Prince of Wales Trophy, which are respectively presented to the teams that win the Western and Eastern Conference Finals.
On Thursday night, the Oilers secured the former by beating the Stars to cement their Stanley Cup Final rematch with the Panthers, and after the game wrapped up, Connor McDavid skated over to deputy commissioner Bill Daly to pose with the trophy he declined to touch ahead of his team’s loss to Florida last season.
The superstar wasn’t afraid to pick it up this time, but that development did not please a number of spectators at Rogers Place who vocally expressed their dismay.
Live Rogers reaction to Connor Mcdavid touching the cup pic.twitter.com/V6OKATYBgW
— maggie (@MaggieBodnar_) May 30, 2025
It’s worth noting there’s evidence that suggests not touching the conference championship trophy is actually bad luck; Sidney Crosby declined to do so in 2008 before reversing course ahead of Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup win the following season, and the Lightning touched it both times ahead of their back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021.
If you’re curious, the Panthers avoided the Prince of Wales Trophy before winning the Stanley Cup in 2024 (they touched it before they lost to the Golden Knights the previous season) and went the same route after beating the Hurricanes this year.