
What's with the Oilers and this Pink Pony Club song?
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It's the best-kept secret of the Edmonton Oilers ' playoff run.
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And it has nothing to do with who's starting in net, or whether Leon Draisaitl will play on the top line next to Connor McDavid.
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Everyone has become familiar with the Oilers victory song, La Bamba, which has become synonymous with winning at Rogers Place.
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But if you've been listening at all since the stretch drive prior to the Oilers' latest long playoff run, you would have heard another tune echoing off the walls in the bowels of the arena.
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Wayne Gretzky might not know if it's a band or a song, but Pink Pony Club, by Chappell Roan, has been adopted by the Oilers as their unofficial celebration song inside the dressing room.
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'I mean, it's fun when you hear it because it means you won, right? So, that's kind of where it's at in my head.'
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The song didn't play for the first time in six games, with the Panthers winning 5-4 in double overtime Friday at Rogers Place to tie the best-of-7 series 1-1, but the Oilers will get another chance to keep on dancin' as the scene shifts to Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla., for Game 3 on Monday (CBC, Sportsnet).
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Here are some other takeaways from Friday's Game 2:
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Viljami Marjala is seen skating in this undated photo. (Source: Twenty-two-year-old Viljami Marjala from Finland has signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers, the team announced Saturday morning. The forward has spent the past three seasons with the Finnish Elite League's TPS, dressing for 129 games, scoring 29 goals, and counting 72 assists. In the 2024-25 season, he tied for the most points in the club at 52. Marjala was originally selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the fifth round of the 2021 National Hockey League Draft, but never signed a contract, instead spending two seasons with the Quebec Ramparts before returning to play in his home country. The Oilers are currently tied with the Florida Panthers heading into Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.


Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘He's a battler': Veteran forward Corey Perry playing key role for Oilers
EDMONTON – Mark Hunter remembers pulling Corey Perry aside for a chat. The co-owner and general manager of the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights wanted to make sure his player understood the consequences. 'Grit, hitting people and punching people,' Hunter recalled of the skinny teenager's on-ice approach. 'He was like 160 pounds … 'Seriously Corey, don't be doing that. You might get hurt by somebody.' 'But he didn't want to be pushed around. There was desire to be the best.' Not much has changed. The 40-year-old Oilers winger in his 20th NHL season is playing important minutes and making big contributions as Edmonton sits tied 1-1 with Florida in a Stanley Cup final rematch. Promoted to the team's top line alongside superstar captain Connor McDavid since Zach Hyman suffered a dislocated wrist last round, Perry forced overtime with 17.8 seconds remaining in regulation in Friday's Game 2 before the defending champion Panthers secured a 5-4 victory in double OT. The motivation remains the same as when he played for the Knights. 'To win,' said Perry, who was selected 28th overall by Anaheim at the 2003 draft and won his only Cup with the Mighty Ducks in 2007. 'I love being around the rink, I love being around the guys, I love the competitive fire that's still inside me.' The Peterborough, Ont., product joined the Oilers midway through last season following an ugly end to his brief stint with the Chicago Blackhawks. Signed to mentor an up-and-coming roster, the club terminated his deal in November 2023 after alleging he violated his standard player contract and team policies 'intended to promote professional and safe work environments.' Neither the Blackhawks nor Perry were willing to provide details. Perry apologized for his actions and said he'd started seeking help for alcohol abuse before signing with Edmonton after a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. 'The situation that happened, it happened,' Perry said earlier this week. 'I've dealt with it and I've learned from it. It was unfortunate.' McDavid said Perry's calming presence was for a team that roared back to force Game 7 in last year's final against the Panthers after falling behind 3-0 in the title series. 'Makes great, subtle, little plays,' said Edmonton's No. 97. 'His gamesmanship, understands the ebbs and flows of the games, the intricacies that not every fan sitting at home understands. He's played in every big game.' Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said Perry was crucial in last year's run to the final that ended in heartbreak. 'Allowed the team to settle things down,' said the second-year head coach. 'When he spoke, guys listened because of the respect that they have for him.' Dale Hunter — Mark's brother and the Knights' head coach who had Perry in London from 2001 to 2005 — said his passion for the game hasn't wavered. 'He's a battler,' said Dale Hunter, who won the Memorial Cup with Perry in his final junior season before the Knights also climbed Canadian junior hockey's mountain in 2016 and again last month. 'He loved hockey, and it's never changed.' The Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP in 2011 with Anaheim has 448 goals and 487 assists for 935 points across 1,392 contests with six franchises over his two decades in the league. He's added 62 goals, including eight this spring alone, and 77 assists for 139 points in 233 playoff contests. Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse said he and Perry, who is in his sixth Cup final and plans to play a 21st campaign in 2025-26, have talked about their past battles. 'We've had some fun moments,' said Nurse. 'He's been so important for this group — the experience and all the big moments that he's played in.' Perry, who had 19 goals and 11 assists in 81 games in 2024-25 while averaging just under 12 minutes of ice time, said getting ready each summer — especially the short ones after long post-season runs — is an increasing challenge. 'You try to give your body some time to rest,' he said. 'But you're also like, 'Man, we've got to be back in camp in six weeks.'' These are good times for Perry. His seven-year-old son, Griffin, is a staple around the Oilers, including at NHL media day before the start of the Cup final. He's also been through some tough times. Apart from the contract termination in Chicago, he was bought out of the final two years of his long-term deal with the Ducks in June 2019 for salary-cap reasons. 'The highest of highs and some pretty low moments,' he said. 'I use that as motivation.' Mark Hunter said players — their desires and priorities — often change with age. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. But not Perry. 'They lose that gleam in their eye,' Hunter said. 'If you watch him, there is excitement, passion, desire, loving the moment. It's hard to find at 40. People don't usually have that, but he does. 'Makes him special.' — With file from Daniel Rainbird in Rimouski, Que. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025.


Calgary Herald
5 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
Hockey's ultimate rat Brad Marchand took big bite out of Oilers in Game 2
Article content When somebody asked Brad Marchand before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals how he's feeling with all those plastic rats sailing onto the ice now that he's a real-life member of their Florida Panthers' rodent fraternity, he rolled his eyes. Article content 'Man, they're bullying me,' said hockey's top vermin. Article content Actually Marchand can handle himself just fine. He's gnawed his way into the hearts of the Stanley Cup champions day by day, and on Friday. He took a large bite out of the Edmonton Oilers hopes of going up 2-0, soring his second-ever finals shorthanded on a breakaway on Stu Skinner in the second period—exactly 14 years to the day he had his first one when he was with Boston against the Canucks. And he got the 5-4 second overtime winner, also on a breakaway, on his seventh shot of the game, to end the 88-minute exhausting piece of theatre. Article content Article content It was the first time in Oilers history they had ever lost a Cup final game in OT. Jari Kurri (1987 against the Flyers), Petr Klima (1990 triple OT to beat the Bruins), Fernando Pisani (2006 shorthanded to stun the Hurricanes) and Leon Draisaitl in Game 1 Wednesday were all W's until Marchand struck. Article content Article content In between his goals, there was a near-one from the trade deadline steal in the first OT period, when Marchand was robbed by a Skinner pad save, then slid the puck under the goalie and out the other side. And, the face washes, the snow showers in the crease, the fake chicken wing thrown at Leon Draisaitl when the former Boston Bruins' captain skated by both Oiler players. Article content Even one verbal Tale of the Tape exchange at a face-off where Marchand and fellow smurf Viktor Arvidsson are going at it, with Marchand quite possibly saying, 'I could eat an apple off your head.' Article content Article content 'In the northern parlance…he's a beauty,' said the dry Florida coach Paul Maurice. Article content Article content 'Brad's an incredibly positive human being, a honest man who loves the game, the people around it…he's on the bench pumping tires, telling people to stay in the fight, and you know, he'll be the same way at breakfast, he'll be jacked and he'll be high-fiving everybody,' shrugged Maurice. Article content The coach saw a conga line of high-fives from his players on the ice eight minutes into the second OT after Marchand's goal ended it as Draisaitl got a stick on him on a valiant back-check, only to have the puck trickle over the line. Article content The NHL is a young man's sport but the 40-year old Corey Perry outmuscled Florida winger Eetu Luostarinen to a loose puck to tie it with 18 seconds left and the 37-year-old Marchand won it on his 10th Stanley Cup final goal as his mother Lynn cleared her throat, yelling 'Way to Go Bradley' from the seats.