Canucks' Soucy sees support from former school, somewhat

VANCOUVER -- Carson Soucy understands why kids and teachers at his old school in Irma, Alberta are conflicted about who to cheer for in the Western Conference Second Round against the Edmonton Oilers but the Vancouver Canucks defenseman still took note of who wore what jersey for a school photo.

Soucy, who is from Alberta and grew up cheering for the Oilers, pointed to the photo from his old school in Irma, a small town of less than 500 people located just over 100 miles southeast of Edmonton, and noted the split in jerseys.

“They had a big Oiler section and Vancouver section,” Soucy said. “A little more Oilers jerseys than I would have liked to see but I understand that's hard for lifetime Oilers fans to root for the Canucks this postseason. But I'll be taking notes on who's wearing Vancouver jerseys. Obviously, I got a lot of relatives back home repping the Canucks jerseys yesterday, so it's good to see.”

Irma School posted photos of students and staff wearing jerseys and holding a flag for each team. There is a sign-up sheet with a picture of Soucy on one side and Oilers star Connor McDavid on the other, and all the possible outcomes in the best-of-7 series, including which team would win and in how many games, for everyone to sign their name to a prediction.

There are also Canucks and Oilers flags flying in front of the school, with the Canucks on top heading into Game 1 because they swept the four-game regular season series and plans to change the position based on the outcome of each game. 

The Vancouver flag remained on top after a 5-4 win in Game 1. 

“A little extra motivation,” Soucy said. “But I understand the Oilers mean a lot to that part of Alberta so you can see why there's still lots of Edmonton jerseys.”