A SNES Cartridge, a Mexican–Canadian Grandfather, and 8 Brazilians Screaming for the Oilers at Midnight

About twenty years ago my late grandfather saw me playing NHL 96 on the Super Nintendo and told me that anyone from his side of the family had to cheer for the Oilers, the team from the city where he was born. At that time I was only ten and the only “hockey” I knew came from the old Disney Mighty Ducks cartoon.

The whole story comes from a bit of family migration. My great-grandfather was Mexican and moved to Canada during one of the Mexican revolutions in the 1920s, if I am not mistaken. My grandfather was born in Edmonton, eventually went back to Mexico in the late 1940s, and later moved permanently to Brazil, where he met my grandmother.

In 2002 my uncle, the son of that same grandfather, gave me a Super Nintendo. Back then it was completely normal to use older consoles if you were not very rich. He gave it to me with a Super Mario cartridge and an NBA game. But ironically a neighbor offered to trade my NBA cartridge for a Dragon Ball one, and he came back with an NHL game instead 💀

When my uncle saw the game he told me to show it to my grandfather, because my grandfather always talked about this sport that almost nobody followed in Brazil. When my grandfather saw me playing he told me about the city where he was born and how he used to follow hockey seasons through sports magazines that only occasionally printed updates. At that time the internet barely existed here and TV was basically soccer, F1, boxing and volleyball.

That was the moment he asked me to at least play with the Oilers. He said hockey would be hard to understand at first, but since I was young I would eventually get it.

Fast-forward to a few weeks ago, more than twenty years after that conversation. I was on Discord with some friends, the same guys I usually watch Brazilian football and the NBA with. I said it was a shame hockey never became popular here the way the NBA did in recent years. One of them mentioned the Oilers and said that if we ever followed the NHL that would probably be our team. That memory of my grandfather came back immediately, so I told them the whole story. Out of nowhere we decided to follow the NHL together and support the Oilers, even though we all support completely different teams in football and the NBA.

Our first game was that 9 to 1 beating against the Avalanche. Even after that shock everyone kept showing up to the watch parties on Discord, even though the games start very late for us, usually between 9:30 and 11 p.m. I do not know how familiar you are with Brazilian football, but we support teams in a very intense way. Now we have eight people yelling at midnight about Skinner’s saves and mistakes, McDavid’s beautiful goals, and screaming at last minute ties or losses.

I honestly thought I would be the only one taking this seriously because of the family connection, but everyone else jumped in completely. They are studying the history, the rules, the players and the teams. I do not know how strange this sounds to you, but even from 8,000 kilometers away (or about 3.5 thousand miles) there are people enjoying the NHL a lot.

I was writing this during the Oilers vs Florida game, and I am finishing it right as we score our empty net fifth goal 👀

Let’s go Oilers 🛢️🛢️🛢️