Oil Kings Celebrate Soldiers
Tuesday · Jan 4 · 2011 | 1:37 AM PST
Mark Pysyk / photo from Oil KingsThe WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings held their Military Appreciation Day over the weekend and broke out some specialty sweaters to mark the occasion.
On Sunday, the Oil Kings hosted the Kootenay Ice, sporting jerseys made of red and blue camouflage. They're quite a sight, and in case this one picture isn't enough, the team has you covered with a full photo gallery on its website.
I've never seen a camo jersey looking quite like that. Two completely different hues on one uniform. And it may look silly but it's for a good cause. As usual, the sweaters were auctioned off after the game.
The Oil Kings wore special edition Military Appreciation Day jerseys to honour the Canadian Armed Forces, and the game-worn uniforms were then auctioned off. An impressive $7,475 was raised from the jersey auction, with proceeds going to Soldier On, a program that improves the quality of life of injured or ill Canadian Forces personnel and former personnel through physical activities.
That really is impressive when you consider it averages out to more than $350 per sweater. But Canadians do seem to love their junior hockey. Perhaps I too will learn that joy when I finally will myself to a Seattle Thunderbirds game.
Sadly, the Oil Kings lost 2-1 to the Ice on Military Appreciation Day. If you'd like to know more about the event and/or the game, look no further than the team's website.
Reader Comments (14)
Get to a game ASAP you will LOVE it.
As a deployed military man myself...I definitely appreciate the sentiment. However...doesn't prevent me from calling this...a very ugly jersey. Way to beat around the bush Chris...Congrats on the fund raising though. We always appreciate those who appreciate.
Go check out a T-Birds game. IMO they have the best jersies in the WHL. (The hockey is pretty entertaining too)
Haha! This is too funny. Yesterday, I'm harangued for apparently writing only extreme viewpoints. Today, I'm beating around the bush. Is there no way to win?
Not to knock the charity auction efforts in Canada, but the NAHL team in Wichita Falls regularly pulls $40,000 a year in their jersey auction.
Minor Hockey is the closest equivalent we have to College sports in the US. I mean we do have University hockey teams up here but nobody cares about them, so everyone just cheers for the local CHL team.
Alos, Chris. Just state your opinions. It is YOUR blog, after all. If people complain about you being too extreme not extreme enough. Then fuck them, they can create their own blog.
That is when the NAHL team is not trying to rip someone elses logo off (Port Huron ring a bell to people on this site) Marc.
i kinda liked this. pretty creative and not as bad as a few other camo jerseys i have seen. I wound want to see this full time, but still
Actually, these aren't bad as far as military-themed jerseys go. The Forces' logo looks good as a shoulder patch.
@Chris: I'm sure you'll love Jr. hockey. IMO the CHL is second only to the NHL as far as skill goes and is often more exciting (the players never take a game off).
@Johnny Canuck: I like the Giants jersey's more than the T-Birds. Their colours are pretty nice. Than again, I am a Giants fan...
Those jerseys look AWFUL! If your going to put camo on them at least match the military your honoring. Also if you're going to honor soldiers then give them tickets to a game or donate proceeds of tickets to wounded veterans organizations or the USO (or Canadian equivalent) not some jersey gimmic. Notice it was auction buyers, not the team itself, giving the money.
I wasn't a big fan of these jerseys when i saw them. As for raising money, the idea of Fund Raising is for an organization not to pony up the cash, but find ways of enticing people to donate. These jerseys were pretty horrid looking In my opinion, and I wouldn't necessarily bid on one of them but the cause was a good one.
I love the jersey, but I can't stand the solid socks. If there wasn't tape on it, the socks would be solid red. Not a fan of the lack of striping, or any texture.
I've seen worse.