The team may be south of the border on Friday night, but that doesn’t mean Edmonton Oilers fans can’t still enjoy a near-game day experience at Rogers Place.
The team is holding watch parties at the downtown Edmonton arena for away games. Games 3 and 4 of the first round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings are taking place in California.
The team first opened the doors to the empty area when the team got into the playoffs a few years ago.
“We test drove a really cool concept in 2016-17 and that was playing the road game on the Jumbotron at Rogers Place,” said Tim Shipton, executive vice president with the Oilers Entertainment Group.
“We’re doing that again and we expect a really big turnout of Oilers fans into Rogers Place.”
Shipton said concessions will be open and it will be just like a home game, minus the team on the ice. The tickets are $5 and proceeds from the watch parties go to the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation.
“We got a good chance to fill the building. Last time, we had over 13,000 fans come out. We think that the excitement and interest is going to be as high, if not higher.
“So we expect Rogers Place to be very full on Friday night.”
For season seat and premium licence seat holders, tickets go on sale on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Tickets for the general public go on sale at noon. There is a max of eight tickets per person per watch party and all tickets are sold through Ticketmaster.
For Game 4 on Sunday, tickets will be available Friday at noon. For both games, the doors open at 7 p.m. and the puck drops an hour after that.
The team said Molson Hockey House and Ford Hall will be closed during road game watch parties.
“We’re encouraging fans to come out, hang out with fellow fans, cheer on the team, come down to Ice District and celebrate.”
For future dates when Rogers Place may not be available due to a concert or Oil Kings game, the team said a watch party will instead take place in the plaza outside the arena. Otherwise, away games will only be broadcasted on the scoreboard inside.
– With a file from Kirby Bourne, 630 CHED