Sometimes being a fan means knowing when to take a stand.
There are moments when sports are about more than sports.
This is one of them.
Mary Loewen — better known to Edmonton Oilers fans as Mama Stanley — has become one of the most recognizable faces surrounding the team.
With her sequined Stanley Cup costume and unmistakable enthusiasm, she became part of the atmosphere around Oilers hockey. A longtime fan dating back to the team’s glory years of the 1980s, Loewen developed the Mama Stanley persona in recent years and became a familiar presence around Oilers games and playoff watch parties.
This week, she made a difficult decision.
She said she could no longer support the Edmonton Oilers while Alex Formenton is a member of the team.
We believe her decision deserves respect.
But before going any further, something needs to be stated clearly.
Alex Formenton was acquitted.
He was one of five former members of Canada’s 2018 world-junior hockey team charged in connection with an alleged sexual assault following a Hockey Canada event in London, Ontario. The players were acquitted.
On September 9, the Edmonton Oilers announced that they had signed Formenton to a one-year contract.
An acquittal matters.
The presumption of innocence matters.
North of Polite will not declare someone guilty when a Canadian court did not.
But respecting a court’s decision does not require every individual fan to feel comfortable with every decision subsequently made by a hockey organization.
Those are two different things.
And that distinction is at the heart of what Mama Stanley has done.
She has not claimed to be a judge.
She has made a decision about herself.
About what she can support.
About what her public persona represents.
And about where she draws her own line.
That takes courage.
Fandom isn’t ownership
Professional sports organizations sometimes forget something important.
The jersey belongs to the team.
The loyalty doesn’t.
Fans give it voluntarily.
They buy the tickets. They wear the colours. They fill the arenas. They watch through losing seasons and celebrate through winning ones. They introduce their children and grandchildren to the game.
And sometimes they become part of the identity surrounding a team.
Mama Stanley did.
That doesn’t mean the Edmonton Oilers owe every fan veto power over personnel decisions.
Of course they don’t.
Management has the responsibility and authority to build its roster.
But fans have an equally legitimate authority:
They decide whether to keep cheering.
Mama Stanley decided she couldn’t.
That isn’t overturning a court decision.
It isn’t demanding that everyone else reach the same conclusion.
It is a woman saying:
This is where my conscience takes me.
And there should always be room for that.
There are survivors watching, too
This conversation is bigger than one hockey player, one fan or one organization.
Sexual assault is an extraordinarily difficult subject.
People carry experiences that aren’t visible when they’re sitting beside us at work, riding the bus, shopping for groceries — or cheering at a hockey game.
Sports organizations operate within those communities.
That doesn’t mean someone who has been acquitted must be permanently excluded from professional life.
But it does mean organizations should understand that decisions involving cases such as this can have a profound effect on some of the people who support them.
Those people deserve to be heard without being mocked, dismissed or accused of misunderstanding the justice system.
Mama Stanley acknowledged the acquittal herself.
She nevertheless decided she could not reconcile the Oilers’ decision with her own conscience.
Both facts can exist at the same time.
What does Mama Stanley belong to?
Perhaps the most important part of Loewen’s statement wasn’t about Formenton at all.
It was about Mama Stanley.
She made clear that the character belongs to her, not to the Edmonton Oilers organization.
She also explained the values she associates with Mama Stanley: belief, kindness, children, survivors and community.
That’s worth thinking about.
Because somewhere along the way, Mama Stanley stopped being simply a costume.
She became something people recognized.
Something children could smile at.
Someone fans wanted photographs with.
Something associated with the community surrounding Edmonton hockey.
The Oilers didn’t create that.
Mary Loewen did.
And if she believes continuing to wear that costume in support of the team would compromise what she built it to represent, then she has every right to walk away.
You don’t have to agree with her
Some Oilers fans will continue supporting the team.
Others will support the signing.
Some will believe Formenton’s acquittal should end the discussion entirely.
Others will feel exactly as Mama Stanley does.
That’s Canada.
People are allowed to disagree.
But disagreement doesn’t require cruelty.
We can respect the justice system and respect an individual woman’s conscience.
We can recognize Formenton’s acquittal and recognize that survivors may experience the Oilers’ decision very differently.
We can love hockey without pretending hockey exists separately from the communities in which it is played.
And we can disagree with Mama Stanley without attacking her for taking a principled position.
North of Polite doesn’t need to tell Edmonton fans whom to cheer for.
That’s their decision.
But we will say this:
There is something admirable about knowing what you believe, knowing what it may cost you, and standing by it anyway.
Mama Stanley built something people recognized because it represented joy.
Now she has decided what else she wants it to represent.
Integrity.
For that, she has our respect.
North of Polite stands with Mama Stanley.
Not because everyone must agree with her.
Because everyone should have the courage to decide what they stand for — and the freedom to stand there.
© 2026 North of Polite. Original reporting, analysis and commentary. All rights reserved. 🍁
Unapologetically Canadian. We stand for a strong, sovereign and united Canada. No party owns our loyalty. If you make a claim, bring the receipts. We will too.
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