Whats your favorite run in with an oiler...

[SourOil]

A few more:

The most common drink ordered among them was probably coke.

 

[thadd]

I had run ins with Oilers when I was a super young kid, but I can't really remember much.
When living in Vancouver I served Mark Crawford when working on the North Shore.
It had been a long busy day and I'm working behind the till all day and the next dude gets to the front of the line and my eyes bulge as I notice that Mark Crawford is standing in front of me. The minute that he realized that I recognized him there was this look of scorn on his face. I gave him a nod, allowing him to know that I wasn't going to scream "OMG VANCOUVER'S SHITTY COACH IS HERE!" and draw attention to him. He nodded back and said "thanks a lot" before jetting out of the building.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

Messier and Anderson were here recently and both were decent to deal with.

Omg we found one guy! its a miracle, after 30 years there is one positive story.

Seriously i met a big portion of the Oilers roster in the 1989-1990 season. Messier was by far the nicest. Though how does one judge a person on his character based on his interactions with a young kid? Most adults are nice to kids, even the shitty adults. The biggest boob of the bunch was Glen Anderson. Mess asked me what position i want to play and i said goalie because Bill Ranford is my favorite. Anderson snickered sarcastically and said oh yeah another one of those ones huh? Its like he was mad at me for not saying him. Seriously, who acts like that around a kid? I was confused but now i am even more confused.

Does Glen Anderson hate goalies? is that why he made his living crashing the crease? I figured it out guys! it only took me 28 years.

 

[Bangers]

Back in the day, I used to run into a lot of the Oilers in night clubs: Weight, Comrie, (a young at the time) Horcoff, Grier and Laraque predominantly. All (minus Comrie) were pretty cool guys, not distant at all. Comrie was a bit of a prick. They always seemed more like they were just out to chill and have a few beers with the boys than being out to pick up the ladies.

My funniest (non-Oilers) Edmonton athlete story:

One of my ex-girlfriends had just moved to Edmonton from Eastern Canada for family reasons and was working in a retail store.

A few days before I met her, while she was working in the store, this guy started chatting her up. She said it was her birthday, but since she didn't know anybody, she was probably just going to hang out with her mom.

When the guy asked her out, her response was that she was sorry, but she didn't feel comfortable going out with a stranger. The guy looked shocked. "But I'm Gizmo Williams."

When she said, "So?", he said, "the Edmonton Eskimo."

Her response? "I don't mean to be rude, but you're African-American. How can you be an eskimo?"

She said Gizmo looked shocked for a second, then near ****ed himself laughing. He explained that it was a football team and then gave her an autograph saying, "happy birthday from your favorite black eskimo."

 

[McShogun99]

Back in the day, I used to run into a lot of the Oilers in night clubs: Weight, Comrie, (a young at the time) Horcoff, Grier and Laraque predominantly. All (minus Comrie) were pretty cool guys, not distant at all. Comrie was a bit of a prick. They always seemed more like they were just out to chill and have a few beers with the boys than being out to pick up the ladies.

My funniest (non-Oilers) Edmonton athlete story:

One of my ex-girlfriends had just moved to Edmonton from Eastern Canada for family reasons and was working in a retail store.

A few days before I met her, while she was working in the store, this guy started chatting her up. She said it was her birthday, but since she didn't know anybody, she was probably just going to hang out with her mom.

When the guy asked her out, her response was that she was sorry, but she didn't feel comfortable going out with a stranger. The guy looked shocked. "But I'm Gizmo Williams."

When she said, "So?", he said, "the Edmonton Eskimo."

Her response? "I don't mean to be rude, but you're African-American. How can you be an eskimo?"

She said Gizmo looked shocked for a second, then near ****ed himself laughing. He explained that it was a football team and then gave her an autograph saying, "happy birthday from your favorite black eskimo."

Gizmo is 100% a class act. When I was a teenager I bumped into him walking down 112 ave so I asked him for his autograph. He took me into a local pawn shop, bought a card of himself, signed it and gave it to me. He also does a lot of volunteer work for kids and youth football programs.

 

[rboomercat90]

I've been able to meet my fair share. Ones I had the worst experiences with were

1- Taylor Hall
2- Georges Laraque

Hall had no interest in meeting a fan and was visibly upset when I asked for a signature. This was at an Oilers signing event after the lock out so it's not like I sat between him and his gf in a theater and asked for it. I had won some time with Yakupov who was great, bumped in to Hall after that and he was not nearly as accommodating.

Laraque was in our town for a charity event and was Mr. Big Shot. Came off as very snobby to a lot of us.

All my other experiences have been positive. Shared a flight from Victoria to Edmonton with Dwayne Roloson last summer, he was really nice.

Messier and Anderson were here recently and both were decent to deal with.

We had Owen Nolan, George Parros and Marty Mcsorely take over our restaurant a couple years ago making pizzas and donairs. All were great, Mcsorely and my dad both know Sam Abdul Hassen the tailor and hit it off right away.

Louis Debrusk is probably my favorite to interact with. Was able to meet him a few times and he's always been awesome to us.

Ha ha, this is awesome. Was that Owen Nolan in the first donair picture?

 

[rboomercat90]

Back in the day, I used to run into a lot of the Oilers in night clubs: Weight, Comrie, (a young at the time) Horcoff, Grier and Laraque predominantly. All (minus Comrie) were pretty cool guys, not distant at all. Comrie was a bit of a prick. They always seemed more like they were just out to chill and have a few beers with the boys than being out to pick up the ladies.

My funniest (non-Oilers) Edmonton athlete story:

One of my ex-girlfriends had just moved to Edmonton from Eastern Canada for family reasons and was working in a retail store.

A few days before I met her, while she was working in the store, this guy started chatting her up. She said it was her birthday, but since she didn't know anybody, she was probably just going to hang out with her mom.

When the guy asked her out, her response was that she was sorry, but she didn't feel comfortable going out with a stranger. The guy looked shocked. "But I'm Gizmo Williams."

When she said, "So?", he said, "the Edmonton Eskimo."

Her response? "I don't mean to be rude, but you're African-American. How can you be an eskimo?"

She said Gizmo looked shocked for a second, then near ****ed himself laughing. He explained that it was a football team and then gave her an autograph saying, "happy birthday from your favorite black eskimo."

I’m glad you shared this story. I wanted to post something about Gizmo too. Back around 1990 or so I was a beer pourer at John Ducey Park. Gizmo was a frequent visitor to the ball park. Across the concourse from where I worked was an arcade game. He’d spend most of his time there playing video games with the kids and they all loved him. He looked and acted like a big kid himself.

I mentioned earlier in the thread that I’d never heard a positive story about Anderson in thirty years. I’ve never heard a negative story about Gizmo.

 

[The Head Crusher]

George Laraque was by far the best one for me. As a kid I was like a deer in the headlights when I saw him in West Edmonton Mall. He sensed I was too star struck and came up and offered an autograph.

 

[Mowzie]

Ha ha, this is awesome. Was that Owen Nolan in the first donair picture?

Yup!

 

[TheNumber4]

Saw Hall at Hudsons after his first year with us. Drunkenly yelled at him to NEVER LEAVE EDMONTON. He kind of ignored me. Also, saw him try to pick up a chubby chick and fail pretty badly. While Ebs was with a hottie. I think Steve Smith was chaperoning that night. Anyways, Hall listened to me and never did want to leave. But we traded him anyways.

Saw Klef and Lars shopping at the grocery store like a week before opening season in 2017-2018. Turned around saw them and said "Woah its Larsson and Klefbom. Turned to Klef and asked him "You ready for the season!?" He nodded. Little did I know I planted the seed of doubt in his head about his readiness and he went on to have a horrible season.

 

[Gunnersaurus Rex]

Back in the day we used to see the Oilers at all the clubs, Barry T's, Denny Andrews, etc. Had a certain goaltender from the Cup years, who was quite intoxicated, spill a drink all over me and my buddy at DA's and just keep stumbling along. Those were the days...

 

[Paperbagofglory]

Back in the day we used to see the Oilers at all the clubs, Barry T's, Denny Andrews, etc. Had a certain goaltender from the Cup years, who was quite intoxicated, spill a drink all over me and my buddy at DA's and just keep stumbling along. Those were the days...

Did you kick the shit out of him?

 

[Captain Fantastic]

In the early 90s, I met Craig Simpson in a nightclub restroom. A very nice person. Glenn Sather asked me for directions to Sport Chek when I worked at WEM. Saw Gretzky across a bar in Miami when he played for the Rangers but didn't approach him but just stared at him...lol. Youth, met Gretzky, Messier, Anderson and one other at an autograph signing in the early 80s. Anderson was probably the friendliest of the bunch. Also met an ECHL player once in FL.

 

[NABIL11]

So many to mention. Sammy was so down to earth. he must have even lived in Mill Woods because I saw him at so many places here. He had a particular fondness for takeout. he probably wasn't much of a cook so you'd see him at Tintin Chinese restaurant, Subways, etc just lined up shooting the ****. Of course with Sammy towering it was impossible not to notice him as he was head and shoulders above everybody else, but not in attitude. Had a smile for everybody and I loved that grin. The man knew he had a good life. RIP Semenko.

I haven't mentioned all the WEM Oilers stories and recollections either. Oiler citings almost any time you walked in the Mall. Mess's sister used to even have a boutique shop in the Mall that I think he helped her to finance. She was into arts and crafts and marketing and they made Blue Jeans items with lots of of other fabrics stitched in. It was eclectic and expensive stuff but if somebody in town was wearing one you knew where it came from. Mary Kay is her name. She's continued to do well in business. Has to be tough though to be a female and have a rugged face that looks like a photoshop of Mark Messiers face photoshopped on a women. She always looked like that. Somebody that never knew her, never knew of her, could spot her in an Arizona lineup and say. "Hey, you must be Mark Messier's sister"

A family friend used to work there, I'm pretty sure the store was called Number 11 . My dad owned a couple suits from there, and I had t-shirt of a Moose wearing an Oilers jersey . Still wish I owned that.