Welcome back to The Fan Experience. We took a couple days off for Christmas, but this week we’ve got some great insight from a longtime Oilers fan, known only to us as @ibleedoil.
1. How long have you been an Oilers fan?
1990 was the first year I started cheering for the Oilers, I remember them beating Boston in the Stanley Cup Finals that year, and thinking. “Oh, this is cool, I guess we do this every year or something.” Yeah… the follies of youth.
2. What prompted you to start cheering for the Oilers?
Really, it came down to nothing more than I was born in Edmonton, so I’m cheering for the Oilers, I was six years old, so that was pretty much the only reasoning I needed, that and the thank that I absolutely loved Bill Ranford’s mask – and Charlie Huddy’s mustache.
3. What is your first real memory of the Oilers?
The first NHL game my dad took me to, it was a game against the Winnipeg Jets, and my first trip to Northlands. I remember being in awe just most of the time, looking up at the rafters and seeing all these banners. We were sitting close enough to the action that I managed to get a couple of bucks from the pre-game warmup that cleared the glass. And of course, best of all, the Oilers won (of course) by a score of 6-3.
4. Did you have a favourite player when you first started cheering for them? Who was it, and why did you pick him?
My favourite player tended to bounce around a lot. It was the early 90’s so it was right when all the dynasty era players were being shipped off, I liked Mess, Huddy, Anderson, Tikkanen and Ranford probably the most. But when we got Doug Weight at I got to see him play live, he became my favourite Oiler – his playmaking ability was unreal, and he was really the only reason to watch the Oilers when they had that run of failure in the mid 90’s. He’s still probably my favourite Oiler of all time, and I remember being devastated when he was traded away. Still think the Oilers need to honour, if not retire #39.
5. Has it been hard maintaining enthusiasm for the team over the last few years?
It has. Part of the reason is I’m in my 30’s now, and I have more important things to worry about than sports, so overall, my enthusiasm about any team, any sport is a lot lower than it was before, but I won’t lie, the fact it’s been 10 years since the Oilers have been relevant plays no small part, and I don’t think I’d be watching anymore if they hadn’t won the McDavid sweepstakes.
6. What’s your favourite memory of seeing the Oilers live?
This is actually a pretty tough one – I haven’t gotten to a lot of Oiler games over the years, but I have seen some pretty memorable ones (and some real stinkers too, to be honest). I think I have to go with Gretzky’s final game at Northlands (or whatever they were calling it the late 90’s.. I think that was before Skyreach Centre was a thing.) I never got to see 99 play with the Oilers, and this was actually my first time seeing him live in person. I remember the atmosphere being incredible in the arena for that game – I don’t think he had actually confirmed he was retiring yet, but everyone was sort of sure that he was, so it was cool to be there for that part of history.
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?
They still have a lot of work – I think right now they’re a playoff bubble team, but they have little depth at RW and I’m still not confident in the defense. I think Talbot’s a good enough goalie to get you there, but they could use a better backup too. But this is a much better team that it was a few years ago – not that it says much. I think getting a RH powerplay QB Defenceman is probably the biggest need, followed by some RW’s who can play top 9.
8. What transaction (since 2006) would you change if you could? Why?
The Hemsky trade. Hemsky, after Weight, is probably my second favourite Oiler player of all time. I still think he’d bit a fit as a 3rd line RW on the team. I know a lot of fans turned on him because injuries kept him from being the player he should have been. He was just fantastic to watch, and for a long time, was the only player worth the price of admission to watch.
9. What’s the best part about being an Oilers fan?
That you always have lots of free time in the spring? Joking – it’s probably the fanbase, or at least the subsection of the fanbase that has a good sense of humour about still cheering for the Oil – because let’s face it, if you can’t laugh about the Oilers, well, all that’s left are the tears.
10. If you had to pick another team to cheer for, what would it be and why?
As of this moment? And I know this is probably going to get me a ton of heat, Toronto. They have such a fun, young exciting group of prospects, that they’re entertaining even when they’re getting blown out. I’ve always loved the uniforms too, and I’ve never really had the hatred for them that a lot of people seem to, I don’t find Toronto fans to be nearly as insufferable as say… Habs fans. (My father is probably going to disown me for this.)
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