The Edmonton Oilers have began their 2006 ticket drive campaign “buy a ticket damn it”. The campaign kicked off this past weekend at the Rexall Place with the Oilers July mini camp. It was a chance for the fans to meet some of the new talent in Edmonton. And more importantly allow GM Rink Rat another on ice view of where the team is and what must be done next.
The event started on Saturday with an open practice followed be an autograph session for the kiddies. The impression left in everyone was “wow can this team skate”. There has been a huge turnaround in Edmonton in the past month. Players like Holik, Dvorak, Mellanby, Richardson, Mr. Marcus Nilson (obvious fan favorite), young goalie Leneveu, De Vries. And now Huselius, frolov and michalek, have all been traded since the last mini camp held in June.
New to the Oiler mini camp were all-stars Sergei Samsonov and Alexei Morozov, also young goaltender Devan Dubnyk had a chance to strut his stuff. On the Sunday scrimmage the two new Russian additions immediately added entertainment for the crowd. Combined on a line with Lecavalier in the middle, this top line looks awesome. Again young Jeff Carter looked very good between Zherdrev and Hossa. This line just may stick, and Carter became in instant fan favorite with the array of talent he possess. The puck control and skill level of these two lines is unbelievable especially when you consider their age. The third line showed a lot of aggressiveness and determination, the trio of Doan, Knuble, and Roberts looks to be our checking line with a scoring touch. All three of these guys can put the puck in the net and will add some grit to the team.
Behind the Blue line, the main reason the oilers went to the finals last year has been left alone. These guys played together last year and did a hell of a job. Why mess with that?
After the conclusion of the mini camp GM Rink Rat shared these comments “ Wow that is a hell of a team. My job as GM is to bring the owner a cup. I am not a public relations kind of guy, so I will be blunt. In order for me to bring you the top talent in the CPHL I need this stadium full. We need ticket sales period. We have the reality of having on of the smallest stadiums in the league (16,839). We need that barn full, and with the talent level on this team there is no reason we should not have a season ticket base of 15,000. I am sure that would be no problem in a town lets say
Hamilton, Ontario, or Charlettown P.E.I.. We need a 15,000 season ticket base here period”
These comments obviously heard around the hockey community has towns like Hamilton, Charlettown and Halifax buzzing.
First the Anahiem Ducks in a recent article named Halifax as a possible future destination for the Ducks, and now the Oilers……… What is up in Halifax?
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