The day after beating their provincial rivals in the 2023 Heritage Classic, the Edmonton Oilers held their annual Halloween party. How do we know this? No, this writer didn’t get an invite to the party, unfortunately. And I promise I didn’t sneak in either. Rather, in the age of social media, photos were posted by the Oilers players and organization itself.
It really is a great idea, as it helps show the players’ personalities, and helps remind us that they are in fact human beings, not just robots with no emotion (despite how the majority of their interviews appear to substantiate that premise).
However, this is a hockey blog, in a hockey mad town, and so we must still scrutinize their efforts and performance, even in a social setting. No one has come up with any advanced fancy stats for this kind of thing yet though—what would they even be? Expected scares per minute?—and so we will have to rely on the good ol’ eye test to determine who are bona fide franchise players like Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger, or disappointing busts like any Saw movie after Saw III.
Also, it appears none of the players took note of any of the suggestions in our Oilers’ Halloween Costume article, for some strange reason. Almost like they didn’t even read it.
Hogwarts Class of 2023
If you are like me, you love a group costume. Mostly because then you don’t have to think too hard about coming up with one, and if it flops then it’s not just you who is embarrassed.
Many of the Oilers’ took that approach this year, as Jack Campbell, Connor Brown, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Cody Ceci, Zach Hyman, and their significant others teamed up for what is definitely the winning costumes this year.
The big winner is a tie between Jack Campbell’s Dobby the Elf costume, and Jamie Ceci’s Volde-He Who Must Not Be Named costume. It appears that Campbell was officially voted the best costume, but I will chalk that up to the fact that if you had to pick a player on the Oilers to play the fan favourite, means well but sometimes gets in his own way Dobby, Soup is probably the most spot on.
Another aspect of this troupe that I love is how Hyman and Nuge, who every Oilers fan agrees have to be super nice to the point of likely being in Hufflepuff (in a good way!), dressed up as two evil characters Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape. And don’t give me any BS about Snape’s redemption arc. I could go on a rant but I’ve been told that I’m already pushing it vis a vis the amount of hockey content in my articles.
The final props to this group costume has to go to Connor Brown and his wife Madison doing a literal couples costume of Ron and Hermione (and further props to Brown for leaning into his ginger roots). Although, I won’t lie, the Cecis going as Dumbledore and HWMBN definitely raises some questions that I’m sure there is a fan fic about out there that none of us would ever want to read.
I will give this contingent a total grade of 8 butterbeers out of 10.
The Beckhams
Speaking of couples costumes, Leon Draisaitl and girlfriend Celeste Desjardins dressed up as David Beckham and Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham, undoubtedly influenced by the recent documentary.
As Draisaitl’s jersey states, the couple definitely looked sharp in their get-ups, and props to Draisaitl for the fake full sleeve and neck tattoos (at least I assume they are fake – if not, then even more commendable on the commitment to the bit).
I give this one 4 soccer balls out of 5. If they re-enacted the “what car did your dad drive” scene from the documentary, then it is a perfect score.
The Green Jacket Irony
Ok I added the “Irony” part. But it seems like a slight swing and a miss for Evan Bouchard, who has been a bit maligned this year for his defence with a team worst -7, to wear a golf costume which represents the player with the lowest score.
If this is in fact a meta, self-aware and self-depreciating costume, then this goes from a max stroke penaly needing a mulligan to a hole-in-one. So either way, this costume was an albatross.
Men in Black
Stuart Skinner and his wife pulled off their look as MIB agents, although admittedly it isn’t the most difficult costume to put together. The only real knock is the lack of neuralyzers, which I’m sure Stu would love to have to forget the first few games of the season (although based on his play on Sunday, maybe he did use it already).
At least I’m pretty sure there were no neuralyzers in the photos I saw.
We’ll give this one 3 alien worms out of 4 (you gotta watch for Neeble).
Warren Wonka
Warren Foegele went as Willy Wonka this year, which seems pretty appropriate as it appears he has won the golden ticket, ending up on the first line on Sunday’s game.
Oompa Loompa, Dippity Dirty, this costume gets the same rating as his goal pace of 30.
Shark Boy and Lava Girl
Ryan McLeod and his girlfriend dressed up as Shark Boy and Lava Girl. I could only find one photo, being a close up selfie, and so it is difficult to fully evaluate the costume, but the wigs definitely seem on point, especially to a guy who has never seen the movie and looked it up real quick on Wikipedia right now.
Bieber Fever
Darnell Nurse and his wife Mikayla dressed as another married couple, Justin and Hailey Bieber, and they absolutely nailed it, right down to the facial expressions.
This costume gets as many stars as the number of times the word “baby” is said in the Justin Bieber song “Baby”.
Survivor
Connor McDavid dressed up as Jeff Probst while his girlfriend Lauren Kyle dressed as a survivor contestant.
The good news is that as the host, Connor cannot get voted off the island. Right?
The Pint Bouncer
Vinny Desharnais decided to keep it local, and dress up as a bouncer from the Pint (or so I’ve been told. Definitely not me recognizing it instantaneously and immediately checking to make sure I have my ID on me and ready to go).
Let’s be honest, while any professional athlete would probably make a good bouncer, one who is 6’7″ and 226 lbs would probably be the best at it.
