The Fan Experience with Camper Dave

This week in The Fan Experience, we hear from Camper Dave, a longtime Oilers fan whose boundless optimism about this team and this season is a refreshing change of pace on Oilers Twitter.

1. How long have you been an Oilers fan?

• Lifelong fan but more specifically since 1986. That’s when I was told I went to my first Oilers game. It was against the Kings.

2. What prompted you to start cheering for the Oilers?

• My dad cheered for the Oilers so I guess they became my defacto team because of that.

3. What is your first real memory of the Oilers?

• I have almost zero recollection of that first game in 1986. I vaguely remember the tickets and seeing the Kings in their Gold and Purple garb. My first concrete memory is August 9, 1988. I was playing in my room and my mom came and grabbed me to come watch something important on TV. I watched the press conference as a 7 year old kid. I was devastated. I remember crying on the couch watching it. I never changed my allegiance but it was a sad day. The 1988 cup is spotty in my head but I remember 1990 and hearing all the cheers in the streets after the last game was over.
• I also remember walking through the LRT tunnels and hearing LRT flute guy playing as we went to the Coliseum. He was always part of the atmosphere going to games.
• I met Mark Messier when I was a kid. He was signing autographs in Westmount shopping mall. It was probably between 87 and 89. Just flashbacks about that, nothing concrete.

4. Did you have a favourite player when you first started cheering for them? Who was it, and why did you pick him

• My favorite player was and will always remain Wayne Gretzky. He was the best player at the time and I guess as a born and raised Edmonton kid, that’s who I picked. There was no real logic to it.

5. Has it been hard maintaining enthusiasm for the team over the last few years?

• It has not been hard. As a fan who is lucky enough to go watch the team live multiple times a season, every season, I always cheer. I’m not one to get caught up in the analytics movement (I give those who dedicate all that time to examining the game at that fine of detail huge credit) to determine how the team is going to do. I may have an idyllic view of fandom and the team but every year starts off the same in my mind – We are going to make the playoffs and compete for the Cup! I keep that view until I am mathematically proven otherwise. Don’t get me wrong. It’s super disappointing to not have a good hockey club in Edmonton in a decade and it’s not fun when other hockey cities and the media mock Edmonton for the past decade. The bluster of the 2 previous GM’s was ridiculous and it cost the team a bunch. McDavid was lightning in a bottle for the team and certainly helps make things better.

6. What’s your favourite memory of seeing the Oilers live?

• All of the 2006 playoffs. I watched all 11 home games and the feeling in the building during the 2 series clinching games, the triple OT game and game 6 of the finals was incredible. Not that we’ve had any reason but the building has never sounded like that since. The closest I would saw would be the Yak goal against LA in his rookie season. That building was rocking in those last minutes. 2005/2006 was just a special time. I remember picking up our tickets and the Oilers had a BBQ for the STH at the Agricom. I got a chance to meet about 90% of that team that day. I remember sitting with my buddy and saying that it sure would be nice to get to round 2 of the playoffs that year. Little did we know what would happen.
• I remember in high school in 1998 a couple friends and I decided that we wanted to go watch the Oilers in the playoffs. We called the ticket office during lunch and bought tickets to see one of the Colorado games. It was so different back then. We called and we got tickets. Simple as that. It was the same way in 2003 when I bought my first set of season seats. We just called one day in the summer and boom, tickets.
• In 2006, I won the move of the game during the Anaheim game in which the Oilers clinched their playoff berth. Got to watch that game right up close and remember watching Hemsky wind up in his zone and score with a minute left to play to win the game.
• 2003 Heritage Classic was one cold ass day but awesome to have experienced!
• In the early 2000’s I remember organizing a group outing with students in my faculty at the UofA. It was against Montreal. Niinimaa got a penalty and I remember wagering a jug of beer with the guy sitting next to me that Niinimaa would get sprung from the penalty box, go in on a breakaway and score. He did exactly that. We had a good time at the bar that night.

7. Do you think the Oilers are on the path to a Stanley Cup, or do they have more work to do to get there?

• I think that we have a team. It’s obviously super early in the season and we’re going to have to wait and see. We have players that should be able to get us to the playoffs. Those 90’s playoff teams and that 2006 team didn’t have the makings of a contender but they scrapped their way into the playoffs. I’d like to see the team get that feelings once again. The McDavid factor should get us there. I really, really hope it does. Chiarelli and Mclellan are on year 2. I said to myself when they were hired that they have 3 years to do something. The last year was just taking stock of what they inherited. This past summer had significant moves that seem to be paying dividends early. We shall see.

8. What transaction (since 2006) would you change if you could? Why?

• The Smytty trade. I mean WTF. He should have never left. Maybe things could have been different had he been on the team. Who knows. He was the embodiment of the Oilers at that time and it seems like he was cast aside for whatever reason. A real low point, no pun intended.

9. What’s the best part about being an Oilers fan?

• I love the community of being an Oilers fan. I mean we just went through a decade of painful hockey and yet we still somehow manage to sell out the building every night. The fans for the most part stick together and relish in the history that this team has given our city. Everyone around my age reminisces fondly about 2006 and we connect there. I love the passion that this fandom brings whether the team is winning or losing. As long as everyone remains vocal, we have a very healthy fan base IMO. Also, that feeling when you beat Calgary. It’s so satisfying every single time.

10. If you had to pick another team to cheer for, what would it be and why?

• Nope. Never crossed my mind. Never will.

Camper Dave is one of the finest Oiler fans there is. We would all do well to remember how lucky we are that we have a team to cheer for (even when they lose twice in a row to the Coyotes).

OILERS RIG LIVE4MS

Our 4th annual fundraiser for the MS Society of Alberta is set for January 21, 2017 at The Pint Downtown, at 6:30pm

It’s a Battle of Alberta on HNIC, with the Oilers in Calgary. Puck drop is 8:00pm.

We’ll have a great lineup of silent auction items, as well as raffles throughout the night. We might even have tshirts for sale (but we’ll let you know as we get closer to the date).

All proceeds from the fundraiser go to the MS Society of Alberta.

See you there!