First the good news.Fully 83% of Canadians who will be following the finals are cheering for the Edmonton Oilers, while only 10% will cheer for the Florida Panthers, according to the latest Leger poll.The bad news?Almost two thirds of Canadians — about 58% — don’t really care or could care less. Americans? Even less so. About the same number of Quebeckers feel the same.According to the Leger data, only 42% of Canadians will follow the outcome “very” or “somewhat” closely. Only one-quarter of Americans (27%) will be following the Stanley Cup finals..“And all I remember is sitting beside you You said you didn't give a f--- about hockey And I never saw someone say that before”Gord Downie/Tragically Hip.The numbers vary by where one lives.Albertans (58%) and men (50%) are more likely to follow the finals. Around half of Americans who are following the finals (49%) will be cheering for the Florida Panthers, while one-third (32%) will be cheering for the Edmonton Oilers.While the highest numbers were in Alberta, the lowest — somewhat surprisingly — were in Quebec. Just 30% of traditionally hockey-mad Québécois care. Over 70% said they just don’t give a damn at all.On the bright side, 93% of those rooting in BC, and 92% in the Maritimes are rooting for the Oilers — compared to just 81% in Alberta. The numbers were probably skewed by Flames fans..The online survey was conducted from June 7-9, with 1,528 Canadians and 1,003 randomly recruited Americans aged 18 or older. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey, Leger said. For comparison, a probability sample of 1,529 respondents would have a margin of error of ±2.5 %, and a probability sample of 1,003 respondents would have a margin of error of ±3.1 % 19 times out of 20. “Results were weighted according to age, gender, mother tongue, region, education and presence of children in the household in order to ensure a representative sample of the Canadian population and according to age, gender, region, education, ethnicity and number of people in the household in order to ensure a representative sample of the American population,” it said.In other words…
