Initiative at Rogers Place to give Edmonton unique advantage in rematch vs. Florida
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EDMONTON — Talk about holding the ultimate home-ice advantage.
Beyond potentially playing four of seven games of the Stanley Cup Final inside the friendly confines of Rogers Place — by virtue of finishing the season with a better record than the Florida Panthers — the Edmonton Oilers are upping the ante during the best-of-7 series thanks to a unique boost.
The ice at Rogers Place has been resurfaced with samples of ice from half a dozen hometown rinks where the Oilers’ Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Stuart Skinner, Evander Kane, Darnell Nurse and Calvin Pickard each grew up playing minor hockey.
“I didn’t know that, that’s pretty cool,” said Nugent-Hopkins, a forward who played minor hockey at Burnaby Winter Club in Burnaby, British Columbia. “A little piece of home here.”
The project is part of a Rogers initiative called “This is our Ice,” where ice from places such as Magna Centre in New Market, Ontario, where McDavid took his initial steps in his hockey career, was scraped into a thermos and transported to Edmonton to be combined with the NHL ice surface for Game 1 on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).
The Oilers (48-29-5, 101 points) have home-ice advantage after finishing with three more points than the Panthers (47-31-4, 98 points) during the regular season.
“Into our ice? That’s pretty cool,” said Skinner, who guarded the goal inside Confederate Arena in Edmonton long before he ever played for his hometown Oilers. “That’s really cool. That’s awesome, I’ll have a piece of some wins and some losses with me at all times.
“Either way, the ice is going to be great. The guys do a great job here. So, that’s a cool story. I like that.”
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Its plot combines the players’ past and present, literally reflecting the grassroots of the game on hockey’s grandest stage.
“All the buildings I was able to play in as a kid, it just brings back those good memories where you’re kind of just playing and having fun,” Skinner said. “Whether you let in a goal or stop a puck, you’re just a kid having a good time.
Skinner said his outlook may have changed over time, but not as much as you might think.
“No, when you get scored on it’s a little bit worse,” he said with a chuckle. “But that’s the nature of being a goalie.”
None of the players were given a heads-up as to what was happening, and only learned of the project during Stanley Cup Final media day on Tuesday.
“I didn’t even know that,” said Nurse, a defenseman. “It’s cool that they did that.
“It gives you a moment to reflect on the path and the journey.”
Nurse has come a long way from lacing up his skates as a youngster at Harry Howell Twin Pad Arena in Hamilton, Ontario, to appearing in the Cup Final for the second straight year.
It took a lot to get here. And not just of his own effort, either.
“There were so many different things,” Nurse said. “Obviously, first and foremost, family. My parents sacrificing time. I lived in Hamilton, but when I got older I played in Toronto and they sacrificed hours driving back and forth on the highway. And if you’ve driven through Toronto on any day, let alone five days a week …
“So, I’m very grateful for all the sacrifice that they made and it’s a huge reason that I’m at this point now.”
Nurse isn’t the only athlete in his family.
“I grew up with my sisters in a very competitive family and basketball was the sport of choice most days, but the competitive fire translates to any sport that we play,” said Nurse, whose father, Richard, played in the Canadian Football League, and whose sister, Kia, plays for the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.
Their cousin, Sarah Nurse, plays for the Toronto Sceptres of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, and their uncle is former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.
“I would say family is probably first, but whether it’s coaches, mentors, great coaches,” Darnell Nurse said. “I had one coach, Bob Marshall, when I was playing with Don Mills, who is one of those people in my life where you look back and are very grateful for a lot of the lessons that they taught me.
“So, there are so many ways and people I can reflect on.”
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