When the Oilers host home playoff games, Rogers Place is a sea of blue and orange. The hockey jersey will become the spring fashion of choice.
But, it’s one thing to own a blank jersey; it’s another to have one that’s crested. And, when you go to an Oilers game, you will see lots of 97s, loads of 29s, a few 93s and the old-school fans rocking the 99. But, there’s always that one fan who is wearing a jersey of an Oiler you’d completely forgotten about. There’s the fan who, somehow, has acquired a crested jersey honouring a guy who played for the Oilers for, like, half a season. Or was a high draft pick who didn’t work out.
And you wonder: Why does that fan have that random jersey? Of course, you first think “must be related to the player.” Then you wonder — are there really any Teddy Purcell uberfans out there? Who is in the cult of Scott Ferguson?
The thing is, we see these random jerseys… a lot. So, we asked Oilers fans: What’s the most random jersey you own?
We get the feeling Oilers fan Ryan Tomko is the kind of person who stopped listening to a band once it achieved its first record. “I don’t have any McDavid or Gretzky jerseys. Too commercial, man.”
Top 40 Under 40 alumnus Brent Oliver… has a Pat Hughes jersey. Signed. He did win two Cups with the Oilers — and he’s in the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame.
As part of a league-wide deal with RBK, in 2007-08, new jerseys were created for every team in the NHL. It was a collective fashion disaster, with a bunch of jerseys that looked like… practice gear. The bizarre piping on the front of the jersey, or the half-stripe on the sleeve? The Oilers weren’t good on the ice that season, and looked even worse.
Patrick Thoreson. Wow. The pride of Norway did go on to enjoy three 20-goal seasons… in the KHL.
Ryan Nicholas Brolley sent in this beauty image of a… Teddy Purcell jersey. Did you know Purcell was a -33 in 2014-15?
The Facebook account belonging to Dallas A. Hénault tells us he found this Linus Omark jersey for $99 — cheaper than a jersey with nothing on the back. It is now his lucky jersey. “It brought good luck every time I wore it during last year’s playoff run,” he wrote. That means the jersey is luckier for the fan than it was for Omark during his all-too-short NHL career.
