‘We came close’: Oilers fans stunned as Stanley Cup dream ends in Florida

Hours before the puck was set to drop Monday to decide the Stanley Cup, a wave of Edmonton Oilers fans overwhelmed the city’s downtown, sluicing merrily through sidewalks, streets and patio bars to the continuous primal honk of car horns.

Happy International Fight Week to all who celebrate. The UFC’s annual celebration of the sport goes down in Las Vegas this week with Saturday’s revamped pay-per-view card generating plenty of buzz.

UFC 303 was supposed to be the anticipated return of the biggest star in mixed martial arts history, however, the injury gods had different plans for Conor McGregor and several other fighters originally set to compete at the June 29 event at T-Mobile Arena.

With the organization’s 12th International Fight Week officially underway, let’s look at the significant overhaul this event has undergone, plus what else fans can look forward to this week. 

Original main event: Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler
Original co-main event: Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree Jr.

A blockbuster co-main event is typically not required when McGregor is atop a PPV main card and instead of marketing the Ian Machado Garry vs. Michael “Venom” Page matchup as the co-main, which would’ve given the event an added “the Irish have invaded Las Vegas feel” with Garry also being from there and emulating McGregor in many ways, the UFC decided instead to put former 205-pound titleholder Hill against fellow knockout artist Rountree Jr.

Rumours began to swirl the main event could be in jeopardy at the beginning of the month when a special press conference scheduled for Dublin was cancelled last minute under vague circumstances. It is clear now the reason for the cancellation was the fact McGregor broke his pinky toe.

The UFC began hitting the phones behind the scenes when it began looking like McGregor could pull out. Once it was official McGregor would not be fighting at the event, the UFC scrambled to revamp the International Fight Week main card and the contingency plan they’ve cobbled together on late notice is compelling and ultimately left the UFC 303 card slightly deeper than it initially was.

New main event: Alex Pereira vs. Jiri Prochazka
New co-main event: Bran Ortega vs. Diego Lopes
New main card bout: Anthony Smith vs. Roman Dolidze

One of the only viable title fights that could’ve been put together on such short notice was a rematch between Pereira vs. Prochazka, both of whom were victorious in highlight fashion at UFC 300 in April. Pereira beat Prochazka in November when they headlined UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Pereira has become a top star in the UFC and his legend as a two-sport, two-weight champion grows week by week. The Brazilian kickboxer also stepped into the UFC 300 main event slot on relatively short notice after the UFC was having some difficulties figuring out what the main event for that historic card was going to be.

With McGregor no longer on the card, the UFC decided to bump the featured light-heavyweight matchup down the card one spot and introduced a brand new, fan-friendly featherweight co-main event between Brain Ortega and Diego Lopes to supplement the lineup.

The matchup that began as the Hill vs. Rountree Jr., co-main has changed four times this month. Carlos Ulberg originally replaced Rountree Jr., after Roundtree was suspended for a banned substance then Anthony Smith was announced as a replacement for an injured Hill. Late last week, Ulberg withdrew from the event and Smith was left without an opponent until rugged middleweight Roman Dolidze accepted a short-notice fight up a weight class.

The preliminary card, which features three Canadian fighters, has remained intact except for one bout. Cody Durden withdrew from his scheduled flyw