EDMONTON — Lauren Kyle McDavid plans to stand by the fireplace in her downtown Edmonton bar while watching Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.
It's the same spot where she watched her husband — Edmonton Oilers captain and superstar Connor McDavid — stickhandle a puck into a net in Game 5.
"It's a feeling and, if anything positive happens, you got to stay in that position," Kyle McDavid said with a laugh during an interview at her business on Monday.
"It's really silly, but everyone has superstitions."
The 28-year-old interior designer and business owner says ensuring she's in the same position when the Oilers are playing, and wearing the same heels with the same red handbag, is a silly thing.
But it goes to show how invested she is in the games, she said.
So is her husband.
"(Connor) does a lot of things before a game. He is extremely, extremely ritual based. But I'm going to actually leave that as a secret."
The Oilers play the Florida Panthers in a make-or-break Game 6 on Tuesday. The Panthers, leading the series 3-2, could clinch the Cup on home ice, or the Oilers could push it to Game 7 in Edmonton on Friday.
The Oilers lost to the Panthers in Game 7 during the Stanley Cup Final in 2024.
"Now we're in the same position we are in last year, so there's more pressure around it," said Kyle McDavid. "At that same time, we've been here before ... and we know what to do and we're prepared for this."
She said wives and girlfriends of other Oilers players will be joining her in watching Tuesday's game projected up on a wall at Bar Trove, which she opened earlier this month.
She also owns an interior design firm, a furniture showroom and designs clothing for the Oilers. She also plans to release a cookbook this summer.
Kyle McDavid said watching Oilers games with her girlfriends and generally spending time with them helps her get through the pressure of being in the limelight.
"There's misconceptions around being a hockey wife and that's just an easy narrative for people to chime into. People assume that it's really easy. Our husbands are playing hockey, making money," she said.
"But it's actually very difficult. There's a lot of stress. There is such a strain on your family. People don't know about the struggles that are on the inside ... I just quiet that noise, because there's a lot more positivity than negativity out there."
Born in Sudbury, Ont., she said she grew up with two brothers but was never interested in hockey.
"They both played hockey, when they were younger. So I had a little knowledge, but I wasn't really a fan."
Her main interests have been painting, photography, interior design and architecture. "I grew up always rearranging my room, since I was like five years old."
She names her mother and Martha Stewart as her role models.
She studied fine arts at the University of British Columbia then interior design at Ontario's Toronto Metropolitan University. It was around the same time, she said, she was introduced to Connor McDavid by her cousin.
She travelled to Edmonton for the first time to watch him play against the Philadelphia Flyers after he recovered from a fractured collarbone.
She didn't know he was "famous," she added.
As he went on to become the team's captain, she grew her own career. "I always knew I was going to be an entrepreneur before I even met Connor," she said.
She also became a bigger Oilers fan.
"Watching the person you love play every night ... you become a very passionate fan."
She said it has been great to see Edmonton identify around the sport and rally around the team. "There's a sense of Canadian pride."
After Tuesday's game, she plans to go on a walk with her husband and their dog, Leonard, in the city's lush river valley, like usual.
"We'll usually do a loop around the neighbourhood after games. And then we usually watch a show and we chat."
They talk about their day, the game, what went right and what went wrong. They like to focus on ways of improving, she said, following a piece of advice they were once given.
"(We were told) don't be afraid of a massive mistake ... just lean into it,'" she said.
"We both are leaders in a sense. He's a captain on his team. I manage different employees. And although our careers are so different, the principles are the same ... Mistakes are great. They expose gaps. And then you work on constantly improving and finding gaps."
After the series, the couple plans to spend the summer doing what they usually do: attending weddings, spending time at their cottage in Muskoka, Ont., hosting parties, and playing pickball, cards and trivia games.
"I'm super competitive. Anyone who knows me would say that about me and Connor," she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2025.
Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press
