Edmonton Oilers fan hosted a watch party in one of the most remote places on Earth
Everyone knows that the passion of Edmonton Oilers fans is unmatched within the Alberta capital, but their popularity is starting to spread to some unexpected places.
The Stanley Cup Final showcased how much the Oilers mean to the city, with thousands upon thousands of fans descending into the downtown core to watch each game. So many people crowded Rogers Place that the team had to open up two watch parties south and west of the arena.
Even when the team was in Florida, nearly 5,000 km away, for Game 7, there was a noticeable cheer from Oilers fans in that arena when Mattias Janmark scored the team’s only goal.
The Oilers’ popularity stretches far beyond the Edmonton city limits and has even made its mark in one of the most remote places on Earth: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which sit about 4,150 km north of Antarctica.
This is due to the efforts of Mike Hominsky, an Ontario-born tradesman who has been on the island since October after taking a job at a research outpost.
“I am not a researcher, I am part of the build team down here,” Hominsky told Daily Hive. “I don’t know how I got the job, but I made it here.
“On the build team, there is me from Canada, a fella from Australia, a guy from Scotland, and another guy from England.”
Mike Hominsky
The 30-year-old was born in Ontario and grew up as an Ottawa Senators fan. However, after moving to Alberta for work at the spry young age of 18, he became enamoured with the Oilers.
Part of his time in Alberta was spent living in Edmonton, near Rogers Place, making his conversion to an Oilers fan that much easier.
“I lived really close to Rogers Place in Edmonton for a little while so I ended up going to watch the Oilers a lot,” Hominsky said. “Eventually — it didn’t take very long — I converted over to an Oilers fan and, when lived in Edmonton, would try and go quite often to see some games.”
Hominsky has since moved to Hinton, Alberta, but, with this new job, has uprooted his life to live on South Georgia island for a while. He brought a part of his Oilers fandom with him, packing a jersey for him to wear around the living quarters.
He also started entertaining his non-hockey fan coworkers by slowly, yet surely, planting the seed of his love of the sport in their heads.
“I’ve been slowly introducing the hockey theme,” Hominsky said. “Being a hockey fan, it’s been trying to introduce that down here, saying that it’s a pretty good sport.
“Most people from here are from England and the UK, so hockey is not really a big sport. I’ve been convincing and slowly hyping things up. For Halloween, I dressed up as a hockey player… I’ve been telling people random hockey facts.”
Mike Hominsky
Once he met a fellow hockey fan, a UK woman with an affinity for the Toronto Maple Leafs, an idea crept into his head. The Oilers were set to meet the Maple Leafs in a game shortly after he learned this, and he figured it would be a great idea to host a watch party on the island for the game. The island’s population fluctuates often, but Hominsky estimated that about 20 people currently occupy the remote location.
To help convince everyone to get on board, he cooked up an Oilers-specific incentive.
“We held a 50/50 because that’s part of the Oilers it seems like, the 50/50 is a pretty exciting time,” laughed Hominsky. “Our 50/50 prize was chocolate rations. Down here, each month, they give you a couple of chocolate bars that have to last until the next month, I think you get about 10 a month.
“I didn’t eat any of mine so I saved them up and that was the 50/50 raffle. That brought a lot of people out actually, more than the hockey.”
Hominksy said that it was a late night for the group as the Oilers-Leafs game didn’t start until 10 pm for them, but he said everybody was abuzz after the fact. Toronto ran out to a quick 3-0 lead, but the Oilers staged a late comeback and seemingly tied the game at 4-4 in the dying seconds before it was called back on an offside challenge.
The people who showed up for the watch party made sure to look the part of true hockey fans.
“We made little Oilers signs, the other opposing fans made Leafs fans, and we decorated the little barn that’s down here,” Hominsky said. “Everyone had a good time watching the event.”
Mike Hominsky
Hominsky said that there was a true split of those supporting the Oilers and the Leafs, but he thinks that Edmonton held a slight edge in fan support at the end of the day.
“I think it worked out about 50/50 [Oilers and Leafs fans],” Hominsky admitted. “I definitely convinced people to pick a side before coming to the game, and you got an extra 50/50 ticket if you came wearing the team’s clothing or had a little sign supporting your team.
“There were maybe slightly more Edmonton fans, but it was pretty close to even.”
It seemed like Hominsky successfully fulfilled his duty of spreading the good word about hockey to those who may have never gotten into it otherwise. He also proved that the term “Oil Country” knows no bounds.