Wayne Douglas Gretzky is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999, retiring at the age of 38. Nicknamed "the Great One", he has been called the greatest ice hockey player ever by the NHL based on extensive surveys of hockey writers, ex-players, general managers and coaches. Gretzky is the leading career goal scorer, assist producer and point scorer in NHL history, and has more career assists than any other player has total points. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season, a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, Gretzky tallied over 100 points in 15 professional seasons, 13 of them consecutively. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and 6 All-Star records.
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which opened in 2016. Kris Knoblauch is the head coach as of November 12, 2023, and Stan Bowman was named general manager on July 24, 2024. The Oilers are one of two NHL franchises based in Alberta, the other being the Calgary Flames. Their proximity has led to a fierce rivalry known as the "Battle of Alberta".
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. The team was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent Cooke was awarded an NHL expansion franchise for Los Angeles on February 9, 1966, becoming one of the six teams that began play as part of the 1967 NHL expansion. The team plays its home games at Crypto.com Arena in Downtown Los Angeles, their home since the start of the 1999–2000 season. Prior to that, the Kings played for 32 years at the Forum in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.
Red Deer is a city in Alberta, Canada, located midway on the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. Red Deer serves central Alberta, and its key industries include health care, retail trade, construction, oil and gas, hospitality, manufacturing and education. It is surrounded by Red Deer County and borders on Lacombe County. The city is in aspen parkland, a region of rolling hills, alongside the Red Deer River.
CBXT-DT is a CBC Television station in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé station CBXFT-DT. Both stations share studios at the Edmonton City Centre in Downtown Edmonton, while CBXT-DT's transmitter is located on Wye Road in Sherwood Park.
Northlands Coliseum is a defunct indoor arena in Edmonton, Alberta, on the north side of Northlands. It was used for sports events and concerts, and was home to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and National Hockey League (NHL), and the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League (WHL). The arena opened in 1974, and was later known as Edmonton Coliseum, Skyreach Centre, and Rexall Place, before returning to the Northlands Coliseum name in summer 2016.
The Jim Pattison Group is a Canadian conglomerate based in Vancouver. In a recent survey by the Financial Post, the firm was ranked as Canada's 62nd largest company. Jim Pattison, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur, is the chairman, CEO, and sole owner of the company. The Jim Pattison Group, Canada's second largest privately held company, has more than 45,000 employees worldwide, and annual sales of $10.1 billion based on investments in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Europe, Asia and Australia. The Group is active in 25 divisions, according to Forbes, including packaging, food, forestry products.
SaskTel Centre is an arena located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The facility opened in February 1988 and is currently the home venue of the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League, the Saskatchewan Rattlers of the Canadian Elite Basketball League, and the Saskatchewan Rush of the National Lacrosse League, with the arena being referred to as Co-op Field at SaskTel Centre during Rush games.
The Peavey Mart Centrium is a two-tier 7,111-seat multi-purpose arena in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. The arena is a multi-use facility accommodating national events, concerts, hockey, rodeo, trade shows, and even graduations. It was built in 1991 and is the home arena of the Red Deer Rebels hockey team. The arena can hold a maximum of 7,819 people when floor seating is used,making it the third largest WHL arena not shared with an NHL team. "Half house" seating is 3,357 when floor to ceiling divider curtains are used to mask off unused seating.
Edmonton Northlands, operating as Northlands, was a non-profit volunteer organization in Edmonton, Alberta. The organization owned exhibition grounds in northeast Edmonton collectively known as the Edmonton Northlands, which included venues such as the Northlands Park raceway, the Edmonton Expo Centre, and Northlands Coliseum–the former home of the Edmonton Oilers. The organization also hosted the annual exhibition K-Days, and the agricultural show Farmfair International.
The Edmonton Convention Centre, is a meeting, entertainment, and convention venue located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Opened in 1983, it is managed by Explore Edmonton, the destination marketing organization of the city of Edmonton.
The Hlinka Gretzky Cup is an annual international under-18 ice hockey tournament administered by Hockey Canada, the Czech Ice Hockey Association, and the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation.
Servus Credit Union Place is a $43-million multipurpose leisure centre that opened on September 30, 2006 in St. Albert, Alberta. At 320,000 square feet (30,000 m2), Servus Place includes three NHL-sized arenas, an aquatic centre, fitness centre, indoor playground, leisure ice surface, three gymnasium courts, two field houses, a teaching kitchen, plus food service outlets (Booster Juice, Skybox Grill, Starbucks, and formerly a Source for Sports. It is a competitor to the Millennium Place in Sherwood Park, and TransAlta Tri Leisure Centre in Spruce Grove.
Rogers Place is a multi-use indoor arena in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Construction started in March 2014, and the building officially opened on September 8, 2016. The arena has a seating capacity of 18,347 as a hockey venue and 20,734 as a concert venue.
The Red Deer Vipers are a Junior "B" Ice Hockey team based in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the North Division of the Heritage Junior B Hockey League (HJHL). They played their home games at Red Deer Arena until 2016 when it was torn down to be rebuilt. The Vipers played home games out of Red Deer's Collicutt Centre which only sat about 500 with standing room for a season & a half. In January 2018, the Vipers returned to downtown Red Deer to play in the new Servus Arena which seats about 1,300.
The 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup was an under-18 international ice hockey tournament held in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta, Canada from August 6–11, 2018 at Rogers Place in Edmonton and Servus Arena in Red Deer.
The 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup was an under-18 international ice hockey tournament that was held in Piešťany, Slovakia and Břeclav, Czech Republic from 5 to 10 August 2019 at Alcaplast Arena in Břeclav and Easton Arena in Piešťany. Team Russia won the gold medal for the first time since 1995 with a 3–2 defeat against Canada in the final.
The 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships were the 46th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, played from August 9 to 20, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Jake Neighbours is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted by the Blues in the first round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft with the 26th overall pick.
The 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup is an under-18 international ice hockey tournament held in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada from July 31, 2022 – August 6, 2022 at Peavey Mart Centrium.
