Oilers fan surprises Sask. father-daughter duo with tickets to SCF

For Shawn Mullin and his daughter Audrey, their impromptu Father’s Day trip to Edmonton didn’t start off as planned.

The two are from Swift Current and decided to drive up last Friday night to Edmonton for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers.

“I had gone with a buddy of mine to Game 1 for the watch party at the arena just because as an Oilers fan it was the final and I wanted to go to Edmonton and experience it somehow,” Mullin explained. “When I told my kid about it, she was a little jealous because we go on a lot of little adventures together and we talked about different times going to Edmonton and she wished she’d gone.”

After Mullin returned to Swift Current after Game 1, he floated the idea to Audrey about taking her to Game 4 and the watch party outside of the arena.

“The idea of tickets never really came into our minds because at the time you were looking at $1,300 per ticket. That was not in our range,” Mullin said.

The two packed their bags and left Swift Current at 8 p.m. and began the nearly seven-hour drive to Edmonton, Alta.

On the drive, things started to take a turn for the worse.

“About halfway up I clipped a deer that jumped out in front of me and I ended up in the ditch. (I) was wondering what to do? I lost my bumper and the car was damaged,” Mullin explained. “Was this sort of a message that it’s time to turn around? Something told us to just keep going.”

Mullin said it was the first time he’d ever hit a deer.

The two were eventually able to get into Edmonton around 3 a.m., but more problems arose when they checked into their hotel as their beds appeared to be covered in bed bugs.

“We barely got any sleep, so it felt like the trip was cursed a little bit,” he said.

On Saturday after the sun came up, the two decided to explore the city.

When they got to the Ice District next to Rogers Place where the Oilers play, they noticed the line to get into the watch party was long – that was mostly because Shania Twain had a concert before the game.

“Security told us a lot of people would clear out after the concert, so it would be easier to get in at that point. We went and ate and it was colder than we expected, so we went and got Audrey a sweater,” Mullin said.

When the two finished eating, they began walking back to the watch party and talked about their plans.

Shawn Mullin and his daughter Audrey with an Oilers super fan outside of Rogers Place. (Shawn Mullin)

A couple walking behind them overheard their conversation and then surprised them with the gift of a lifetime.

“We just heard a voice say, ‘Hey, do you guys have tickets?’ You’re kind of going like, ‘What?’ Thinking that someone was selling and I said no we don’t,” Mullin explained.

The couple then invited Mullin and Audrey to go inside Rogers Place and into Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final with them.

“It still really didn’t sink in for a while. (They) just wanted to do something nice and make someone’s night. They were planning on giving the tickets away and I don’t know why they had them (extra tickets),” he said. “The whole time we were walking over to the arena there was just this little part in your brain waiting for the other shoe to drop. How can we be going into Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final like this?”

The tickets the couple gave Mullin and his daughter weren’t just any tickets either – they were seated in Section 101, Row 1 – which is centre ice and right next to the Oilers bench.

The couple that gave them the tickets were Joe and Joanne Whitehead from Cold Lake, Alta.

According to Mullin, the couple went out of their way to make sure they had the best time ever.

They got pictures with super fans, Hunter the Oilers mascot and Audrey was even given a puck by an Oilers player during warm-ups.

“Just very genuine people. I was really moved by what they did for us,” he said.

Mullin said he offered to buy Joe and Joanne food and drinks multiple times but they refused.

“You could tell they just really enjoyed doing something for someone and making that experience for them,” he said. “The generosity was very genuine.”

What made the night even better was that the Oilers defeated the Panthers 8-1 and kept their season alive with the victory.

Mullin told his story about his experience through a thread on Twitter which has since gone viral.

In the replies of that same thread, he said many people have reached out to him saying they know Joe and Joanne and that’s just the people they are.

Mullin said he’s not sure if the whole experience of Saturday night has settled in yet for him.

“It was so out of the realm of our mindset going there. I would sometimes stop going back and forth to the bathroom and look around and go, ‘Am I actually here?’ It was just quite an experience,” he added.

Mullin is hopeful his Oilers will be able to come back from a 3-0 series deficit and win the Stanley Cup.