The Oilers are putting on a reunion for the 1984 Stanley Cup Champion team that kicked off the Oilers dynasty, the last great dynasty of the NHL. That team, complete with the legendary heroes of 1980’s hockey, will be on hand. Kurri, Messier, Gretzky, Coffey, Fuhr, and Sather, all Hall of Famers, will be there to celebrate. There will be stories told, musical acts performing, and memories to be re-lived.
Full disclosure, my initial reaction was jaded. I am an Oiler fan and I love the Dynasty history as much as the next guy, but a 30 year anniversary would be much more impactful if the club hadn’t had a 29, 28, 27, 26, 25…year anniversary for those teams as well. Ok, they weren’t official celebrations, but this town and this team have been accused of living in the past for good reason. They HAVE been! Their 1st ever pick is the Grand Czar of Hockey Ops and MacT has occupied several coaching and management positions with the team. This team is so steeped in tradition you cant walk down an aisle in Rexall without having to scrape it off your shoe.
The team was so over the top with the veneration of the past that when Eakins came in he took down a bunch of photos in the dressing room so that the players could actually feel like it belonged to them and not a collection of ghosts. The emphasis was put on the current team because all the team had been able to do right for the past 25 years has been to celebrate what it did 30 years ago and that needed to stop.
Well it turns out a Leopard cant change its spots and the Oilers are reverting back to hanging its hat on past accomplishments.
But there’s one key aspect of this 1984 reunion that’s breaking up the jaded thoughts from forming like a dark cloud in my head, it’s that the proceeds of this event will be going to the Stollery. At $99 a seat, all going to Edmonton’s Hospital for Children, the club is going to make a pretty penny for the institution and it’s going to help families and children who desperately need all the help they can take.
So, yes, Edmonton and the Oilers will continue to live off of their gloried past yet again. Oh well. They’ll make a great spectacle of it. Arguably, it’s what they do best. The stories will be tremendous, the atmosphere will be inclusive, and the profits benefit a worthy cause. And if you roll your eyes at the thought of Edmonton re-living its glory days one more time, I don’t blame you for it one iota.
That said, it will still be better than the Canucks Cup Championship 30th Anniversary Reunion that will be held at some unknown future date plus 30 years.
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