From Hamilton to Edmonton: Ice from NHL players' hometowns used to resurface rink for Stanley Cup final
When Darnell Nurse of the Edmonton Oilers takes to the ice in Rogers Arena Wednesday, a little part of his hometown of Hamilton will be underfoot.
Rogers picked six Canadians on the team — including captain Connor McDavid and forward Evander Kane — and collected ice from rinks where they grew up. Then they transported the ice to Edmonton and used it to resurface the NHL ice ahead of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final.
It's the first time the company has done it — and a neat way to give "home-ice advantage" to the Oilers, says Ryan Kinsella, rep director for the league that plays at the Hamilton arena where Nurse's piece of ice comes from.
On Saturday in Hamilton's Flamborough region, Rogers scraped the ice at Harry Howell Twin-Pad Arena to honour Nurse.
The 30-year-old defender started playing at Bill Friday Lawfield Arena on the Hamilton Mountain when he was four years old, but that arena is closed for the summer, Rogers Communications spokesperson Victoria Ahearn said in an email.
Nurse is the brother of professional women's basketball player Kia Nurse and cousin to professional hockey player Sarah Nurse, who's also from Hamilton.
"I think [this] gives a real good feel to the minor hockey players … knowing some of their ice that they play on a regular basis is going to be part of the Stanley Cup," Kinsella told CBC Hamilton.
Flamborough Hockey plays games at Harry Howell. Kinsella, who was born in nearby Waterdown, played for the Flamborough Sabres and now has three boys who play hockey in the community.
Harry Howell is one of the city's busiest rinks, he said, hosting hockey teams, coaches and a skating club.
The ice rink initiative will hopefully help inspire kids to reach for their goals, Kinsella added. "Little initiatives like this help to keep those dreams alive."
Ice transported by thermos
Rogers worked with the rinks to scrape ice into sealed thermoses. Those were transported to Edmonton where, on Monday, they were poured into the ice making tank of the Rogers Place Zamboni, Ahearn said.
Other rinks Rogers took ice from are:
The Magna Centre in Newmarket, Ont., where McDavid played for the York-Simcoe Express AAA organization from about age 10 to 15.
The Rink in Winnipeg, where Calvin Pickard practices during the off-season.
North Shore Winter Club in Vancouver, where Kane started playing minor hockey at 14.
Burnaby Winter Club in Burnaby, B.C., where Ryan Nugent-Hopkins played minor hockey from 2006 to 2008.
Confederation Leisure Centre in Edmonton, which is affiliated with the hockey program Stuart Skinner played with while in high school.
"Hockey's biggest stage should reflect where the game truly begins — in hometown hockey rinks across Canada," Terrie Tweddle, chief brand and communications officer for Rogers said in a statement.
He said the initiative, called This Is Our Ice, is about celebrating "collective pride in Canada's game as the Oilers play to bring home the Stanley Cup."
Other Hamilton-area players are competing for the cup, too
The Oilers are having a rematch with the Florida Panthers, the defending Stanley Cup champions who beat them 2-1 in Game 7 of the final last year.
Then, there were four players in the final with connections to the Hamilton-area: Nurse and Adam Henrique of the Oilers and Carter Verhaeghe and Brandon Montour with the Panthers.
Verhaege brought the Stanley Cup home to Hamilton's Waterdown area in August. In July, Montour — who now plays for the Seattle Kraken — brought it home to Six Nations. Henrique is from Brantford, Ont.
WATCH | How the Oilers playoff run helps newcomers find community:
How the Oilers playoff run helps newcomers find community
5 days ago
Duration 1:55
Within a week of landing in Edmonton, a group of young newcomers is getting introduced to the Oilers and Rogers Place. As CBC's Travis McEwan reports, some advocates say the playoff run creates a great opportunity to find community.
When asked if he'd rather see Nurse or Verhaeghe bring the cup to Hamilton this year, Kinsella laughed. "It's a bit of a torn situation," he said.
Kinsella has met Nurse's dad, and worked with some of the same coaches as him, but said he also appreciates Verhaege.
Ultimately, Kinsella said, his middle child is a huge McDavid and Oilers fan, so Kinsella will be rooting for them. "Hopefully we can see a Canadian team bring it home."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
14 minutes ago
- CBC
Tataskweyak wildfire evacuees in Thompson 'meeting place' hoping to reconnect with family all over
Social Sharing Grace Beardy's youngest child was born in Takaskweyak Cree Nation on May 19, Victoria Day. Ten days later, power in the community was out. The boy was about two weeks old when he became an evacuee. "It was sad, especially going through postpartum and carrying the little one," Beardy said Wednesday. "I was alone out there with him for four days, until my sister came." Tataskweyak, also known as Split Lake, declared a state of emergency on May 29, with a wildfire only about a kilometre away from the northern Manitoba First Nation. Beardy and her three children were among the more than 2,400 Tataskweyak residents forced to leave their homes because of the fire. Northern Manitoba evacuees frustrated with lack of resources, information 4 hours ago Duration 2:33 Many evacuees fleeing wildfires in northern Manitoba say they're feeling a mix of emotions, from confusion and frustration to exhaustion. Over the past week, 2,400 residents of Tataskweyak Cree Nation were forced from their homes, and many are now trying to find refuge wherever they can. "There was buses coming in and they were just loading people up," said Melanie Spence, who was in Thompson for a day trip as the evacuation began. "People were kind of hesitant to go," she said. "They didn't know how big the fire was going to be there. They were hoping that it [would] be put out every day. We've never seen anything like this." PR 280 connecting the community to Thompson on the west and Gillam to the east is the only road servicing Tataskweyak. The road was closed off last week because of the fire. With the way home blocked off, Spence decided to help evacuees who ended up in Thompson, which is about a 100 kilometres southwest of the community, as the crow flies. She's been directing people to the city's Wawatay Inn, which is owned by Tataskweyak and usually serves people coming for medical appointments. "It's the closest thing to home," she said. "They serve food here. So I figured, well, this will be … the meeting place." Duke Beardy, an economic development officer with the First Nation, said the facility is open to evacuees from Tataskweyak as well as other communities. "There's people from Lynn Lake here too, and Nelson House too.… If there's room, then they stay here too," he said. But with only 18 rooms, space at the inn is limited. 'It's been chaos' Sylvia Saunders said about seven people in her party — including a baby and a toddler — were staying in the same room at the inn as of Wednesday. "It's been chaos for everybody here. Still a lot of people don't have rooms," Saunders said. "I did manage to fit everyone in there and to try and have a comfortable sleep." Saunders said people have resorted to sleeping in couches at the inn's lobby because of the lack of rooms. Edwin Beardy said the situation is already stressful enough. "It's frustrating as well as sad because of family, … they're all over," he said. "From what I'm hearing, my family, some of them are in Gillam, some of them in Winnipeg and a few are in Niagara Falls…. It's hard." Grace Beardy, who was also staying at the inn as of Wednesday, said she was waiting to connect with family who ended up in Winnipeg. Leaving the community "was cold and sad," she said. "But I couldn't be sad in front of my kids. I had to stay strong." The fire at Tataskweyak was about 21,000 hectares as of the latest provincial fire bulletin Friday.
CTV News
20 minutes ago
- CTV News
‘We can't live in fear': Vancouver prepares for large-scale weekend events after Cirque du Soleil crash
Several large events and festivals are taking place this weekend and police are ramping up security as fears remain high. Police are gearing up for a weekend filled with large-scale festivals in Vancouver, just six weeks after the Lapu-Lapu Day attack. The festivities also come in the wake of a frightening incident at Pacific Coliseum, during which a driver apparently in the midst of mental health crisis crashed into the entrance during a Thursday performance of Cirque du Soleil: Crystal. The Vancouver Police Department said more than 300 additional officers will be deployed across the city from Friday to Sunday, using the newly acquired median barriers expedited last month for the Vancouver Marathon. On Saturday, the B.C. Lions kick off their season with a performance by Snoop Dogg before the game. A festival is also scheduled for Terry Fox Square to welcome the more than 50,000 fans. The team's president, Duane Vienneau, said parts of Robson and Beatty streets will be closed to traffic and lined with archer barriers to help secure the area. 'We're safety first,' said Vienneau. Vienneau and others responsible for holding events across the city have been working to ensure that everyone attending is safe – and feels safe. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to flood Commercial Drive on Sunday for Italian Day on the Drive, and similar to the B.C. Lions home opener, archer barriers will stretch across closed roads to prevent vehicles from getting near crowds. 'We can't live in fear,' said Melissa De Genova, vice-president of the Italian Day Festival Society board. 'We have the utmost confidence in the VPD and the city has been very diligent in the planning.' Other events taking place this weekend in the Lower Mainland include the West Vancouver Community Cultural Fest, Burnaby Heights Hats Off Day, Doors Open Richmond, and Car Free Day Newton in Surrey. The Surrey Police Service told CTV News it is prepared to welcome the expected crowd of 5,000 to the latter event.
CTV News
34 minutes ago
- CTV News
‘It's hope for our people': Sacred ribstones returned home to Siksika Nation
More than 100 people gathered at Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park for a repatriation event involving the return of two sacred items called ribstones. Two artifacts are back home at Siksika Nation after being removed more than a century ago. More than 100 people gathered at Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park (BCHP) for a repatriation event celebrating the return of two sacred ribstones with ceremonial drumming, dancing and storytelling. 'With them coming back, it's a sign of good renewal, I think,' said Megan Jerry, a museum tech with BCHP, where the ribstones are now placed. Siksika Nation says reclaiming pieces of their culture is important to healing and revitalizing their traditions. 'It offers a form of spiritual healing to our people,' said Lynden Many Heads, a cultural programmer at BCHP. Experts say the large ceremonial rocks were important landmarks for the nomadic Blackfoot people for centuries. 'We put these all up when we went east as far as the buffalo, especially if we had a successful kill, let's say, and we were able to get our stores for the winter and we knew we were going to survive and were going to make it to the next year, we would give thanks to the creator,' said Grant Many Heads, senior interpreter and education cultural programmer at BCHP. They say one stone was removed in the late 1800s, the other in the early 1900s, and the artifacts eventually ended up at the Canadian Museum of History. A delegation from Siksika was invited to Ottawa in February for ceremonies before the ribstones were returned. It was Elder Duane Many Shots' first time on a plane and a special journey. 'We welcomed them to come back home where they belong,' he said. The ribstones are not the first and likely not the last items to come home. Over the past two years, Siksika members say they brought back items including a headdress and war shirt from England and are working with other museums to repatriate more artifacts. 'It's not going to happen overnight, but they are coming back home, and it's hope for our people,' said Elder Gabriella Many Shots, who was part of the delegation that flew to Ottawa. Elders Duane and Gabriella Many Shots with two sacred ribstones that are back home at Siksika Nation after being removed more than a century ago. Members of Siksika Nation hope the event promotes better understanding with the wider community about what was lost and how to move forward. 'I understand they could be tough conversations for some people in the community, but these are things that we would like to change and promote and help educate people throughout Canada and Alberta,' said Lynden. 'I think it's important that we not only attend these and observe them but really embody them in our journeys into everyday life,' said Jae Barker from Calgary, who attended the event with her nine-year-old daughter, Amaya.
