The Edmonton Oilers have already changed up their postgame win routine, and now there’s another new item making its way around the room.
At the start of the season, the team unveiled an original Wayne Gretzky Oilers helmet as the player-of-the-game award. That replaced last season’s setup, when Edmonton handed out two prizes: a piece of a pump jack and a high-vis vest.
But after Tuesday night’s 4-3 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild, the Oilers appeared to move back toward a two-award system. Along with the Gretzky helmet, a crowbar joined the postgame celebration.
Leon Draisaitl, who scored twice in the victory, explained the new addition to the locker room.
“Gonna add something to our postgame celebration,” Draisaitl said while reaching into a drawer at his stall. “We got the fking crowbar! This is going to the guy that fking battled his ass off the hardest: Sheasy, five blocks.”
The helmet is apparently reserved for the most influential player in an Edmonton win, while the crowbar looks aimed at the team’s hardest worker. Owen Michaels was the first to take home the helmet after scoring his first NHL goal against the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 1, and Ryan Shea was the first player to get the crowbar on Tuesday.
Shea, a 29-year-old defenceman, didn’t record a point in the game, but he finished with a team-high five blocked shots.
Edmonton had used two postgame awards after wins for a couple of seasons, so starting this year with just one stood out a bit. With the Oilers picking up their seventh win of the season, the extra recognition seems to be back in place.
Now it’s just a matter of how often both the helmet and the crowbar get handed out from here, through the rest of the season and into the playoffs.
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