Everyone has a confluence of variables impacting their fandom and shaping it - I would say being a Canadian abroad weighs in more prominently for you under the spectre and auspices of an American ultra nationalism that vibrates through your every day in ways Calgarians only experience distantly as echoes.
You I would suppose are not surrounded by Oiler fans nor do you face the very real prospect of running into one at any moment out there in the world, leaving a cafe with a most decadent blueberry crumble at your lips, ready to bite into it and fill your heart with music, only to see a two-legged horror in a disgusting orange-blue Oilers jersey, throwing your inner sanctuary into tumult.
I will say I've felt more conflicted than ever before in cheering for a fan base that chants "USA! USA!" by virtue of the heightened antipathy I feel towards the USA, their leaders having challenged my national identity and contributing / falling victim to the illiberalization (is this a word?) of democracy that's germinating and spreading around the globe. Me, though, I am not okay with Edmonton winning - not emotionally - but I am accepting of its possibility. I will refuse to let it ruin my week if it happens, though.
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