Edmonton Oilers take home ice to new level to open Stanley Cup Final
There is going to be a little extra home in the home ice for Connor McDavid & Co. when the puck drops on the Stanley Cup Finals against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday (8 p.m., CBC, Sportsnet).
While the Edmonton Oilers hold the advantage thanks to a three-point difference in the standings, a new initiative by Rogers called This is Our Ice aims to bring a little slice of home to hockey's biggest stage.
Ice samples from six rinks across the country where McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Stuart Skinner, Evander Kane, Darnell Nurse and Calvin Pickard played minor hockey have been collected and brought to Rogers Place to be added to the ice surface before the championship series gets underway.
For Kane, that means there will be an essence of the Northshore Winter Club underneath his feet.
'Oh, really? Obviously, I didn't know that story,' the Oilers forward said at the podium during media day at Rogers Place on Tuesday. 'It's kind of cool.'
Before Kane and the rest of the Oilers get a chance to earn Edmonton's sixth Stanley Cup, and first since 1990, there were plenty of milestones along the way to help them reach that point.
And they all happened far away from the same type of spotlight that is set squarely on Rogers Place right now, even though they were no less important to their younger selves at the time.
'We had some great teams in minor hockey, won a Quebec tournament, Western Canadians, we had a lot of success in junior and won a lot at an early age,' said Kane, 33, who grew up in East Vancouver, and is playing for his sixth NHL team since being drafted fourth overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009. 'I've always joked — you go through your youth hockey career and you kind of win everything — won a Memorial Cup (with his hometown Vancouver Giants in 2007), won a world junior (with Team Canada in 2009), all that type of stuff.
'And then you get to the NHL, and if you're a top pick you go to one of the worst teams in the NHL. So, it's tough to get used to losing, but to get to this point in my career, to be able to have a chance to win again is special and it's something I definitely don't take for granted.'
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On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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