City of Champions, stand up!
Edmonton beat British Columbia twice on Saturday night, and Cody Fajardo was there for both wins.
At Commonwealth Stadium, Fajardo led the Elks past the BC Lions 28-16 in the West Final, sending Edmonton to its first Grey Cup since 2015. A few blocks away at Rogers Place, the Oilers were beating the Vancouver Canucks 4-2.
Fajardo made it to that game too. The Oilers posted video of him in the building, still celebrating.
Fajardo sends Edmonton to the Grey Cup
The West Final kicked off at 5:30 p.m. in front of 40,182 people, the biggest crowd the Elks have drawn since 2017.
Edmonton trailed 9-6 at halftime. After the break, the Elks outscored the Lions 22-7. Fajardo completed 25 of 30 passes for 274 yards with no interceptions, threw a touchdown to Austin Mack, and ran for 84 yards and another touchdown. Vincent Blanchard made all five of his field goals.
The Oilers make it two
At Rogers Place, Mattias Ekholm opened the scoring off a McDavid pass, and Max Sasson tied it for Vancouver with nine seconds left in the first. It stayed 1-1 until the third period. Then Edmonton took over.
Jason Dickinson put the Oilers ahead 49 seconds into the third. Draisaitl made it 3-1 on the power play, one-timing a McDavid pass. Brock Boeser got one back for Vancouver late, and Draisaitl sealed it with an empty-net goal with 45 seconds left.
Devon Levi made 20 saves after missing seven games with a lower-body injury. “Love it, man,” he said. “It was a fun game.”
The win ended a two-game skid and moved Edmonton to 12-3-3. Vancouver is 3-15-1 and has lost 15 of its last 16.
McDavid is five games from Gretzky
McDavid’s three assists stretched his assist streak to 18 games, tying Adam Oates (1992-93) for the second-longest in NHL history. Only Wayne Gretzky’s 23-game streak from 1990-91 is longer.
McDavid has at least one point in every game this season and leads the NHL with 47 points (10 goals, 37 assists). To tie Gretzky, he needs an assist in each of the next five games. The first is Monday at home against the New York Rangers.
The Oilers are first in the Pacific
Edmonton has the second-best record in the Western Conference, and nobody in the Pacific Division has more points than the Oilers.
After 18 games, Edmonton is 12-3-3 with 27 points. The Oilers have scored 74 goals, second-most in the NHL. McDavid has 47 points. Draisaitl has 34, including 16 goals.
This is Mike Babcock’s first season behind the bench. He came out of retirement at 63, after six years away from the NHL, to coach a team that lost the Stanley Cup Final to Florida in 2024 and 2025 and then went out in the first round to Anaheim last spring. Babcock has 700 career wins, 12th in league history, and won the Cup with Detroit in 2008.
The worry before the season was defence and goaltending. Last year, the Oilers gave up 3.23 goals a game, 25th in the league. This year they’re allowing fewer than three, which puts them in the middle of the pack. That’s not great, but it’s better.
The goaltending has sorted itself out faster than anyone expected. Levi came over from Buffalo in July as a backup and is now 7-1-0. Tristan Jarry is 4-1-3.
Then there’s the other side of the province’s B.C. rivalry. Vancouver is last in the Pacific at 3-15-1. On Saturday night, both of Edmonton’s teams beat the last-place team in their own league’s standings.
What fans said
Within minutes, the comments under the Oilers’ video were all about B.C.
“Alberta has a tight hold on BC today. Elks won and Oilers did too!” one fan wrote. Another: “Rough night for BC.” Several fans noticed that Fajardo has been to Oilers games all season, not just this one.
And the comment that got the most agreement: “Won the game, sent the team to the Grey Cup and hit the Oiler game right after. Give this man the key to the city.”
Next stop: Calgary
The Elks face the Montreal Alouettes in the 113th Grey Cup on Sunday, Nov. 15 at McMahon Stadium. Kickoff is 5 p.m. Mountain time.
That matchup puts Fajardo against his old team. He led the Alouettes to the 2023 Grey Cup and was named the game’s most valuable player. Montreal traded him to Edmonton in December 2024.
If you’re heading south, keep in mind that the free Grey Cup festival is at Stampede Park, southeast of downtown, while McMahon Stadium is in the northwest. Our Grey Cup guide has the festival schedule and how to get to McMahon by CTrain.
The Oilers play in Toronto the night before the Grey Cup. Fajardo came to their game, so they’ll probably be watching his.
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