Coming off the heels of a breakout season after more than a decade of playoff futility, all the Edmonton Oilers would want to talk about is hockey two days before the new NHL season gets underway. But when it came time to speak to reporters on Monday, Oilers head coach Todd McLellan said he wanted to start by addressing the violent attacks on a police officers and civilians that rocked Alberta’s capital this weekend.
“On behalf of the organization and the players and everybody involved in the OEG (Oilers Entertainment Group), they recognize the EPS (Edmonton Police Service) for the great job they did here on the weekend,” he said.
“We’re thinking about the victims of that tragedy here in our city, and they’re part of our team.
“We consider all the fans part of our team and we hope that they all heal well and then of course the tragedy in Vegas, we’re all thinking of that today too so it’s hit our team, we’re all aware of it and prayers go out to everybody.”
Watch below: On Monday, Oilers head coach Todd McLellan and Oilers forward Connor McDavid offered their thoughts on a violent weekend in Edmonton that saw a police officer and four others injured in two different attacks. Nancy Carlson has details.
On Saturday night, a violent chain of events began when Const. Mike Chernyk was rammed by a vehicle before being stabbed while working a crowd-control shift outside Commonwealth Stadium at the Edmonton Eskimos game. Later, four people were hurt when a U-Haul truck slammed into them in what police believe was an intentional act of violence in downtown Edmonton.
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Watch below: Some videos from Global News’ ongoing coverage of the attacks in Edmonton on Saturday.
“It hits home,”Oilers captain Connor McDavid said on Monday. “You live in Edmonton, it happens in Edmonton and it’s so sad.
“Your thoughts are with everyone who’s affected and it’s sad but Edmonton’s strong, Edmonton’s proud.”
Over the weekend, the Oilers team and forward Milan Lucic took to Twitter to respond to the violent acts.
“Thank you to our brave Edmonton Police and all #yeg first responders for everything they do to keep our city safe. #yegstrong,” the Oilers tweeted on Sunday.
“United as a community and united as a city! #YEGSTRONG,” Lucic tweeted on Sunday.
The Edmonton Oilers play their first game of the 2017-18 NHL regular season on Wednesday when they host the Calgary Flames at Rogers Place.