Rogers blends hometown pride into Oilers ice for Stanley Cup Final

As the Stanley Cup Final approaches, Rogers—partner of the Edmonton Oilers and the NHL—is uniting Canadians in a meaningful way through its “This is Our Ice” initiative.

In a symbolic gesture of national pride and community roots, ice has been collected from local rinks across the country.

The campaign identified six current Oilers and coordinated with their hometown arenas to gather ice from the surfaces where their hockey journeys began.

Among the featured players is Oilers captain Connor McDavid, whose roots trace back to the Magna Centre (Newmarket Recreation Centre), where he played many games for the York-Simcoe Express AAA team before entering the Ontario Hockey League at 15. McDavid has continued to support the facility throughout his professional career.

Other players represented include Darnell Nurse (Hamilton), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Burnaby), Calvin Pickard (Winnipeg), Stuart Skinner (Edmonton), and Evander Kane (Vancouver), whose local rinks also contributed ice to the project.

With help from arena staff, representatives scraped ice into special thermos-style containers. The ice was then transported to Rogers Place in Edmonton and poured into the Zamboni’s ice-making tank by the Oilers Entertainment Group’s engineering and ice operations team. The hometown ice was blended into the NHL surface ahead of Game 1.

The Stanley Cup Final kicks off June 4 at 8 p.m. and, if needed, will run through to a possible Game 7 on June 20.

Photo: Newmarket Mayor John Taylor scrapes some local ice as part of Roger’s This Is Our Ice initiative. (Rogers photo)