Draisaitl tosses puck to Oilers fans who made the trek from Germany

If there was ever any doubt about the lengths some fans would go to see their favourite athletes, well, German-based Edmonton Oilers fans have put that rumour to bed.

The Oilers have long been one of the most popular teams in Europe, dating back to the days of Jari Kurri in the 1980s. More recently, the team has developed a fanbase in Germany after drafting Leon Draisaitl back in 2014.

And on Tuesday’s contest against the Ottawa Senators at Rogers Place, Draisaitl honoured a pair of fans holding up a German flag by tossing them a puck during the team’s pregame warmup.

“These two travelled all the way from Germany to catch tonight’s game,” the Oilers tweeted.

One thing about Leon is that he’s going to show love to his Deutschland fans! These two travelled all the way from Germany to catch tonight’s game & in return they caught a puck 🙂🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/MsH3DcJ3Cn

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 15, 2023

The Senators-Oilers game was a natural one for these two to pick, with Draisaitl facing off against his countryman in 21-year-old Ottawa centre Tim Stützle.

But they weren’t the only two making the trek out to Alberta from Deutschland, with Oilersnation’s German chapter organizing a trip for over 20 Germans who are visiting the city for a week.

Add more to the tally! We got 22 amazing German Oilers fans who flew out here for this home stretch!! @Oilersnation_de pic.twitter.com/H3316YgveP

— Kennedy (@kennedystrash) March 15, 2023

And what a game it was for them to take in, with Stützle and Draisaitl scoring a pair of goals each in a 6-3 win for the Edmonton Oilers. It was a mirror image of the last time these two teams faced off, with Edmonton also picking up a win this past February at Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Place.

The fans arrived in Edmonton on Monday night, as per Oilersnation’s Zach Laing, and will also be checking out the local squad as they host the Dallas Stars tomorrow night at Rogers Place.

Amazingly, Draisaitl is already the all-time leading scorer among German-born NHL players, having racked up 716 points in his 624 games. And while he’s still a ways off from Draisaitl, Stützle is already eighth on the list himself, having picked up 160 points in his 195 career games with Ottawa to date.

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