When an orange wave of Oilers fans in Edmonton head toward the downtown core on game nights during the NHL playoffs, an ocean away in Akureyri, Iceland, Pavel Viking Landa says he makes his own way to his man cave in the dead of night.
The extreme Oilers fan says he can’t stop himself from turning on his TV in the room, where hockey jerseys hang on the wall, and watching the games, even if it goes until 4 a.m. his time.
“My family don’t like it, I watch deep in the night because I’m waking them up by screaming, ‘let’s go,”‘ said the 42-year-old in an interview from the Nordic island.
“My partner thinks I’m stupid. I’m just a normal, happy guy.”
Landa was in Edmonton last week to watch the Oilers take on the Florida Panthers in Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup final.
“I thought for a little while I’m going to lose my hearing because of fans cheering,” he said.
“It was unbelievable.”
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But he has since returned to his home to watch the remainder of the series in Iceland, with the next game scheduled for Wednesday in Sunrise, Fla.
He said he has been making the two-day journey from Iceland to Edmonton every year to watch the Oilers play since 2015.
Landa, who works in construction, said that’s the year he fell in love with the team.
“I met a Canadian guy from Edmonton in a bar here. We started chatting. Life is funny,” said Landa.
“He said, ‘you should come’ … and within two months I was in Edmonton first time for hockey.”
He said he went directly from the airport to the former Edmonton Oilers arena known as Rexall Place to watch the Oilers, including his favourite player at the time, Ales Hemsky, take on the Vancouver Canucks.
“It’s a really nice memory and, I think the Oilers won 5-4 then,” he said.
However, Landa said it’s not the win that has kept him coming back to Edmonton every year.
It’s the fans.
“It really surprised me how [fans] get really, really loud. I got goosebumps,” he said about the 2015 game.
“The general atmosphere, the general feeling on the streets, everybody’s happy. Everybody’s high-fiving.”
He said Oilers fans are unlike others.
“I went to a couple of games outside of Canada. I don’t think they go to the hockey games for hockey. They think it’s like, “ah, I have a date. I go to cinema, or hockey,'” Landa said.
“In Edmonton, you can see that the people are interested in the game.”
He said the only year he didn’t visit Edmonton was last year.
That’s because it was easier to go to Florida and watch Game 7 of the NHL final that saw the Oilers fall one game short of a comeback for the ages.
After winning three games in a row to tie the final series, the Oilers dropped the deciding Game 7 to the Panthers by a score of 2-1.
“I’m not ashamed of it. I shed tears,” Landa said.
“I was really sad, but not angry. I was sad because it was set up to be a really good story.”
Landa isn’t the only one who goes on long journeys to watch the Oilers.
Kevin Follett, a 49-year-old heavy equipment operator from Fort McMurray, Alta., said that since last year, he has been driving 430 kilometres south to catch every playoff game in Edmonton.
“I love hockey in general and now that we’ve got the two best superstars in the world, how can you not come down here and miss this?” he said, referring to Oilers captain Connor McDavid and forward Leon Draisaitl.
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“You’ve got to be part of it. This is history.”
But before he gets to the game, he spends two hours getting ready.
His wife paints him in blue and orange, and puts a wig on him as he pre-drinks.
“My [daughters] like it when I get dressed up,” he said.
“I get too excited. I’m not shy.”
He also carries a five-gallon pail resembling the Stanley Cup at the games.
He said he made 20 of them by stacking a bowl on top of a trash can and sold them to crazy fans at Edmonton’s Moss Pit in the city’s Ice District.
Among the people seen regularly leading cheers at the Pit with Follett is William Blaise.
The 19-year-old also paints himself in orange and blue before every game.
He also wears a hard hat and overalls.
“We paint up every single game to look like oil rig workers. Alberta is known for oil,” Blaise said.
“I love the Oilers because this is oil country. We work hard and we play hard.”
