‘Tis the Season

Oilers fans have a lot to be happy about this Christmas. The goalies are good, the forwards are better then they’ve been in years, the coaching staff is improved and it appears management is too. Players that wish to be traded from their other teams are no longer leaving the Oilers of their list of wanted destinations. These are all good things, and I’ll be toasting to them tonight at my Christmas dinner.

I’m also going to toast to the continued success of the Oilers Rig, It’s been a fantastic year. Sure there have been some ups and downs. We had some major site reliability issues in October and November but we’ve worked through that for the most part, thank you all for your patience. We’ve also done some absolutely fantastic things that I’m very proud of as well. Allow me to toot our horn for a minute.

We hit our 1,000,000th view on the site this summer, and continue to see growth and returning readers coming to the site. As a group that considers this blog a hobby its absolutely amazing that you the reader reward us by reading our opinions.

In March last year we held the 2nd Annual #OilersRigLive4MS and with your help raised roughly $5000 for the MS Society. We were also able to donate $1000 to The Really Long Run to end MS, a mind blowing adventure by our writer Sean Wingrave who runs, yes runs, about 90KM between Nisku and Camrose to raise money and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis, Great work Sean we’re proud of you.

We sponsored a scholarship to be awarded to a junior dancer who exemplifies a love of the sport, sponsored a member of the Edmonton Police Service in the Families First Charity hockey game. We also sponsor a beer league hockey team now as well. 1 day beer league, next day the NHL, right? I think that’s how this works.

I personally am very proud of the charitable work we are able to support through this site. We host local Edmonton businesses for advertising revenue and a large portion of the money we make ends up in the hands of charity. It’s rewarding all on it’s own.

2016 promises to be another great year as well. Of course we’ve already announced the 3rd Annual #OilersRigLive4Ms this year is a little different as we are selling tickets to this years event at On The Rocks on Jasper Ave. $12.50 gets you in the door and a free beverage from the bar, their will be a silent auction, prizes and more as this event just keeps getting better. And of course 100% or proceeds from ticket sales and the silent auction go the the MS Society. You can read more about the event here, and there is a link at the bottom of this article to purchase tickets.

I’d also like to mention another event that is happening on January 2nd in Fort Saskatchewan. It’s a charity hockey game between the Fort Saskatchewan Fire department and the Oilers Alumni, with Ryan Smyth, Rob Brown, Louie Debrusk and more. Now I, or the Oilers Rig aren’t involved in the event, but it is for a very good cause;

The game is called Brothers for Bo, and Bo is a member of the Fort McMurray Fire Department who has been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) for the 3rd time since 2011. Bo’s treatment options are limited and he is not in Maryland undergoing tests to see he’s eligible for a more promising experimental Car T Cell drug treatment. This experimental form of treatment is not approved in Canada yet, and unfortunately by the time it is approved it will probably be to late and of course it is very expensive. There is a go fund me page set up with a goal of raising $500,000 to pay for the treatment, but the latest I’ve heard is that the treatment is closer to $650,000USD so there is a long way to go.

The reason I’m passionate about this is that my father is a retired fire fighter from the Fort McMurray department, I grew up in fire halls, I see how they treat each other as brothers and sisters. I’ve seen the sacrifices that people like Bo make without hesitation to keep us safe. We have an opportunity to repay Bo for his sacrifices here, and it’s not just Bo, Fire Fighters around the country are doing what they can as I’ve seen numerous reports of different departments holding different events to raise funds. For more information on the charity game you can check out the page on facebook, and of course if you’d like to help out click here for the go fund me account.

Global News Story

Edmonton Journal

On behalf of everyone here at the Oilers Rig, Alex, Jackie, Jon, Megan, Sean and myself I’d like to thank you and wish you all a very happy, healthy and safe Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Thanks so much for reading.