How the Oilers are drawing inspiration from a resilient dog sled musher: ‘It's about everyone'

New York Times

2 days ago

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Edmonton Oilers have adopted the mantra of 'We all pull in the same direction' for these playoffs. A sign is hung in their dressing room, home and away, whenever the players are present, with the No. 16 — the number of wins it takes to claim the Stanley Cup — and the emblem of a dog sled musher racing with his team.
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The imagery is not coincidental.
The Oilers received a motivational speech from musher Jason Campeau before the playoffs, and his message has served to help unite them and spur them ahead during difficult times. Now would be one of them, as the Oilers trail the Florida Panthers 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Final heading into Game 4 on Thursday.
'I love the fact of, it really does take everyone to do something great,' Campeau said. 'When I look at that message, it's so relatable to this team.'
Coach Kris Knoblauch sought someone to rally the group when the Oilers had a bit of downtime in San Jose during their final preparations before their first-round series in Los Angeles. Campeau came recommended by Oilers psychologist Dr. Marty Mrazik.
Campeau, 50, checked off a lot of boxes.
He's a former hockey player. While playing for the North Bay Centennials, Campeau scored the winning goal of the 1994 Ontario Hockey League final in overtime against a Detroit Junior Red Wings squad coached by Paul Maurice. He went on to play for the University of New Brunswick and attended training camp with the Toronto Maple Leafs before injuries halted his career.
He was also successful in the business world. He owned and sold a technology company, which allowed him to retire and start dog sledding a decade ago. Campeau fulfilled a boyhood dream sparked by driving past a dog sled touring company in central Ontario while on summer family vacations.
But the biggest reason Mrazik thought Campeau would be the perfect candidate to speak with the Oilers was because he had worked with him before — after a catastrophic accident during a dog sled race that almost cost Campeau his life.
'To hear from somebody who goes through very difficult times and something completely different than hockey was inspiring,' Oilers center Adam Henrique said.
'It was motivation to us,' goalie Stuart Skinner said. 'It brought things to light. That's where things started in the sense of really making sure we stick together going into the playoffs and through each series. It's not easy, but it's not easy what he does.'
Campeau was approximately one-tenth of the way through the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest in 2018 when he saw another musher slide out of control while charging up Rosebud Summit, one of the sharpest peaks in dog sled racing. Instinctively, Campeau tried to help as the other team slid down the cliff, but that sent his sled off-kilter and sent him toppling face-first to the icy tundra.
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He was unconscious for approximately 10 minutes.
'The remarkable part of all that is, if I'm not hanging on, the dogs typically would have taken an easy path and just gone right back down the mountain,' Campeau said. 'I got up and I remember every single dog holding the line tight, facing upwards on the mountain, just staring at me, ready to go, which is unheard of.'
With his dogs by his side, Campeau felt he could continue. It wasn't until a day later that he realized he wasn't functioning properly, after they'd made it nearly 300 miles down the trail.
At first, Campeau thought he was just sleep-deprived, but he kept stumbling and falling over as he fed and bedded his dogs, approximately 50 miles beyond Eagle, Alaska. His body shut down. He eventually passed out from a severe concussion with none of the other racers around, with his parka unzipped amid temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
'It came down to life or death,' Campeau said.
Other dogs might have left in a similar situation. Campeau's pack of Alaskan Huskies didn't. He's forever thankful to them, especially Spider, whom he compared to Oilers captain Connor McDavid as his 'generational dog.'
Spider and the rest of the dogs stayed with him until a trapper and his son found him later that day. He's not sure if they would have noticed him without all the dogs around. They transported Campeau, badly injured and hypothermic, to their nearby home.
'They slowly brought me back to life,' Campeau said.
A United States military helicopter was called to transport Campeau to a hospital in Fairbanks, Alaska, but a wicked storm prevented his rescue until the following morning.
Campeau asked to see his dogs before he was stretchered into the chopper.
'I'll always remember that,' he said. 'We built a bond, (to) where we're inseparable.'
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Campeau had finished one Quest and two Iditarods — the Stanley Cup of dog sled races — in the years prior to his 2018 harrowing experience. His story resonated with the Oilers.
'He's out there by himself, but, at the same time, with a team,' Henrique said. 'He's got to rely on those dogs, literally, for survival. Everything is on the line. Trying to compare that to what we do — putting everything on the line every single night — it's not life and death, but it's win or lose. We've almost been able to have that mentality as the group.
'With the dogs and what he went through and how we persevered through that, at times, whether we're up or down, you try to bring those same thoughts into what we're doing.'
Campeau said he's always trained his dogs to be able to fulfill any role on his team. It's not unlike the Oilers during this playoff run.
Mushers typically have 16 dogs on their team, grouped in pairs. The first two are the lead dogs, such as Spider. The second two are the swing dogs, secondary leaders. Then you have the team dogs making up the next five pairs before the wheel dogs — which Campeau equates to the goaltenders — in front of the sled.
Campeau believes every dog plays a key role in a musher's success. He sees parallels with the makeup of the Oilers this spring, especially considering all the injuries they had entering the postseason.
'Everyone had to come in and buy in right away,' Campeau said. 'You needed everyone on the same page. The first two games (against Los Angeles) didn't go as planned, but since that point no one's looked back.'
Naturally, McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are most often at the front of the pack, but the Oilers have needed others to step into that role, too.
They wouldn't be in the thick of the Stanley Cup Final again if not for Evan Bouchard's heroics late in the first round and subsequent play, or a couple of monster performances from Evander Kane, or Kasperi Kapanen's overtime winner to knock out the Vegas Golden Knights, or Skinner's three shutouts. The way their defense stepped up without Mattias Ekholm — a regular swing dog — was crucial to them winning three rounds. For the last four games, they've been carrying on without winger Zach Hyman, another swing-dog candidate.
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'It's just like the dogs,' Campeau said. 'If one of your main leaders went down, someone from the back of the team might step up and fill that role.
'If you had one dog that wasn't fully pulling, the team wasn't running efficiently.'
Campeau expressed the importance of relying on your teammates during his April conversation with the team. There are times, he said, when he's been racing amid whiteouts and couldn't see a thing, so he'd have to trust his dogs to guide the way for up to 200 miles without him making a single command.
'With the team, it's about trusting that guy beside you and finding a different level,' Campeau said.
The Oilers have certainly relied on everyone. They've used 14 forwards and nine defensemen. Twenty of those 23 skaters have scored a goal in the playoffs. Both goaltenders have contributed at least six wins. Knoblauch said Wednesday there will likely be a lineup change for the pivotal Game 4 as the Oilers look to even the series. Whether that's Troy Stecher replacing John Klingberg, Jeff Skinner coming in for the banged-up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Calvin Pickard getting the start in net, the team's approach won't change.
'Everyone's got a role to play. It's about everyone,' said winger Trent Frederic, who returned from an ankle injury for the start of the playoffs. 'You've just got to hop in the pack and run with it and pull your part.'
They'll be drawing on inspiration from Campeau, whose dog sledding days didn't end after he nearly died in that 2018 race. He wouldn't go out like that. He competed in his third Iditarod the following year.
'I loved the challenge,' Campeau said. 'The harder it got, the more I liked it.'
Campeau's dog sledding career is on hiatus right now. He was training a young team to compete a couple of years ago until he suffered another major concussion, the result of a head-on car collision in Southern Alberta. He aims to run Iditarod again, and he plans to win.
'That's life,' he said. 'You face challenges. You're going to get knocked down many times. When you face adversity, you can't let it define you.'
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Campeau has been around the Oilers intermittently throughout the playoffs, depending on his duties at his ranch, located a 30-minute drive west of Rocky Mountain House, Alta. He was in Edmonton for the start of the Final, didn't travel to Florida but will be back in the Alberta capital for Game 5.
Maybe, just maybe, he'll be able to witness the Oilers winning the Stanley Cup soon, after his speech sparked their playoff slogan.
'I take pride in being just a small little part, but I love the message,' Campeau said. 'As far as this team goes, you can tell that they're destined.
'I just see the drive and the passion from the top down. It's incredible.'
(Top photo of Jason Campeau at 2019 Iditarod: Courtesy of Jason Campeau)