Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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EDMONTON — Home ice advantage will take on a whole new meaning for some Edmonton Oilers as they head into the Stanley Cup Final.
Over the weekend, ice from the hometown rinks of six Oilers players was scraped into Thermoses, shipped to Edmonton and added to the Rogers Place ice sheet mix for Game 1 against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday.
Some came from the Magna Centre in Newmarket, Ont., where Oilers superstar Connor McDavid spent a few years with the York-Simcoe Express before jumping to the Ontario Hockey League at age 15.
Another donation was scraped from the Burnaby Winter Club in Burnaby, B.C., which forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins called home ice during his bantam years with the BWC Bruins.
Just north of Burnaby, ice from the North Shore Winter Club and minor hockey home of Evander Kane was also shipped to Edmonton.
Doing the scraping in North Shore was Kyle Turris, who spent the final two seasons of his 15-year NHL career in Edmonton before retiring in 2022.
“It’s just neat to have minor hockey rinks across Canada do this,” said Turris, who now manages the winter club, which he also considers his minor hockey home.
“It really unites our country through the game that we love the most and feel like we’re a part of the Stanley Cup.”
Rogers organized the project.
“When the puck drops at Rogers Place for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Canadians across the country can claim this is our ice,” said Terrie Tweddle, the company’s chief brand and communications officer.
“Hockey’s biggest stage should reflect where the game truly begins — in hometown hockey rinks across Canada.”
Turris said the Panthers, who crushed a city’s worth of dreams by beating Edmonton in Game 7 to win last year’s Stanley Cup, may have got better. But so too have the Oilers.
“I want them to have as much success as possible, so I’m really hoping they win,” he said, adding he wants to see Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner “silence all his critics.”
Skinner will also be getting a home ice boost for the final, as ice from Edmonton’s Confederation Arena, where he played bantam and midget hockey, was transported from the south side of the city to the downtown arena.
Ice also came from The Rink in Winnipeg, where Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard practises in the off-season, as well as a rink in Hamilton, Ont., to represent the hometown of defenceman Darnell Nurse.
Kevin Lowe, a longtime Oilers player, coach and team executive, compared the endeavour to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, when a Canadian ice maker hid a loonie, a nickel and a dime in the ice for good luck. The Canadians beat the Americans in the gold medal game.
“It’s another spin on that for sure,” said Lowe, who was part of the management group for the men’s hockey team in Salt Lake City.
“It never ceases to amaze me … for smart people to come up with these kinds of ideas to really engage hockey fans across Canada.”
Lowe, who was the Oilers’ first-ever draft pick in 1979, won six Stanley Cups throughout his career.
He also knows what it’s like to lose in the finals only to play the same team again in a rematch the very next year.
In 1983, the Oilers were swept by the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Final. But in a rematch the next year, the Oilers won five games and marked the beginning of what many consider the last hockey dynasty.
Lowe said he sees many similarities between this year’s Oilers squad and the 1984 team.
“I’m not suggesting they’re going to mow Florida down,” Lowe said. “But I’m really confident that they have all the pieces in place: the personnel, the history, the experience and probably, most importantly, the will and the want and the desire to win the Stanley Cup.”
Like Turris, Lowe said he hopes the ice project at Rogers will see Canadian fans buy in and maybe see what he sees in the team.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2025.
Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
