Canadians Join Canucks Bandwagon, Expect Vancouver to Win Stanley Cup

Many Canadians will support the Vancouver Canucks as they seek to deliver the first Stanley Cup victory for a Canadian-based National Hockey League (NHL) franchise since 1993, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,006 Canadian adults, seven-in-ten respondents (71%) say they will root for the Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final, and three-in-four (74%) say the team is “very likely” or “moderately likely” to defeat the Boston Bruins and become champion.

Respondents who are fans of the Canucks are obviously more likely to root for the team in this year’s final (94%) and more likely to expect a victory for their team (88%).

Canadians who usually root for other NHL franchises are joining the bandwagon. At least seven-in-ten respondents who are fans of the Calgary Flames (73%), Montreal Canadiens (75%), Edmonton Oilers (78%), Toronto Maple Leafs (83%), and Ottawa Senators (93%) say they will root for the Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final. In addition, at least four-in-five fans of any of the six Canadian-based franchises expect the Canucks to win the Stanley Cup.

Three-in-ten respondents (29%) say they are more interested in watching the series this year than in the past three seasons, when no Canadian team was featured. Only 14 per cent of respondents say they are less interested in the Stanley Cup Final this year—including 18 per cent of Montreal Canadiens fans.

Finally, half of Canadians (50%) say they are excited about the return of NHL hockey to Winnipeg, including clear majorities of hockey fans of the six current NHL teams.

Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)

Methodology: From May 31 to June 1, 2011, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 1,006 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panellists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 3.1% for both samples, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.


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