BLOG: Oilers only at the halfway mark

EDMONTON, AB - The Battle of Alberta was built up to be a grand spectacle for everyone who enjoys the game of hockey, and for a series that was 31 years in the making, it absolutely lived up to the hype.
Despite all the jubilation and elation that comes with vanquishing your provincial foe, this isn't the end for the Oilers. It's only an intermission.
"It's a great feeling. I'm sure the people at home are very excited about it, but again we're only halfway," Leon Draisaitl said. "We're very excited, happy, and proud of what we've achieved so far this post-season, but there's more to be had for us. That's our ultimate goal. We obviously celebrate this for a day and be proud of it, but we're getting ready for the next round."

The fans who bleed Blue & Orange will get at least a few days to bask in the glory of a Battle of Alberta victory while the Oilers await the series winner between the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues.
Just getting to the Western Conference Final is a feather in the cap to a core group of Oilers players who have been a part of the organization during the post-season drought years. The group can feel a sense of validation that their efforts are being rewarded and the adversity the Oilers faced earlier in the season, and in the playoffs, has shaped this team and prepared them to prosper.
"As you guys know we've had a lot of down moments, a lot of moments where people were hard on us saying we can't win," Draisaitl said. "We haven't won yet, we're only halfway but it feels good to take that next step for now. It feels good to grow as a team and an organization. This was a hard series, that is a really good team over there and they made it hard on us. They pushed back and we had to push back twice as hard."

"We all want to win. Everybody wants to win. Our group has been through a lot this year and years past, it's just made us hungrier and hungrier to be successful," Connor McDavid added. "We had to learn a lot of lessons along the way. It's got us to this point, and we want to keep it going."
For the Oilers captain, who has had to deal with expectations that come with being the best player on the planet but hasn't had the lengthy playoff runs associated with others who have donned that moniker, the win provides a dash vindication.
McDavid has risen to the occasion and shown the growth that the entire Oilers team has gone through. The playoff's leading scorer was made for the moments like last night's overtime, and he delivered with the series clinching goal.
"That was great. It's hard to put into words what that one meant to me. I'm just happy to contribute on a night where maybe I didn't have my best," McDavid said about the winner.

The players in the locker room will enjoy the victory, but Head Coach Jay Woodcroft has made it clear that this iteration of the Edmonton Oilers has so much more that it can still accomplish.
"I think the Edmonton Oilers are a proud organization. We're proud of our history and the Hall of Fame people that have gone through our organization. We're proud of the different runs the team has gone on throughout the years, but our team wants to contribute to that type of history and our team is looking to make its own mark. The emotion of that moment, it was an important moment for that team, but that said we're going to the third round of the playoffs where there are only four teams left," Woodcroft said.
"Right now, we're going to enjoy this. I'm going to tell you that we are going to enjoy this one for however long the flight back from Calgary is, but to do this against your arch-rival and close them out in their own building in the fashion that we did, we will enjoy it. We're going to rest up and recuperate, and whoever comes out of that other series is going to be a really good opponent for us."