Bob Nicholson’s finger prints appeared to be all over it.

When the Edmonton Oilers showed up at practice wearing Edmonton Eskimos hats Thursday, it was a sign that the cold war was over.

One of the things Nicholson listed as being on his “to do” list when the former head of Hockey Canada become umbrella boss of the Oilers organization under owner Daryl Katz, was to bring back the long gone wonderful working relationship with the pro football team.

So when the Oilers were wearing the Eskimo hats (other than Jordan Eberle and the Saskatchewan-born-and-raised ones) to promote Friday’s football game with the Roughriders, it was just assumed it was the work of Nicholson.

“You know what? That was all Craig MacTavish,” swore Nicholson, who even had an alibi, being away to be inducted into the B.C. Hall of Fame at the time.

“I know Len Rhodes from the Eskimos called me and thanked me. But I said ‘Don’t. It’s unbelievable, but don’t give me credit where I don’t deserve it. It really did come from Craig MacTavish.

“I guess Eberle always marches his Saskatchewan stuff out and I guess Craig thought it would be great for the team to ‘Get him this year and show him where we live.’”

Nicholson said MacTavish just got ahead of the curve on his intent to have the Oilers make a U-Turn in the direction they were going in their relationship with the football team.

Nicholson wants to get back to the era when they were both winning Cups and there was a remarkably good relationship between both the teams and the players.

From it was born the City of Champions with the two teams winning the Stanley and Grey Cups the same year and putting the trophies together in the middle of the field in Commonwealth Stadium, inviting everybody in town to come and get their pictures with them while every radio station in town set up on the track to hold remotes and sponsor Safeway had to empty their stores of wieners and buns to meet the free hot dog and soft drink demand.

Ann Sather and Louise Campbell, wives of Oilers Glen and Eskimos Hugh, ran a fabulous event featuring the players of both teams for several years titled ‘Carnival of Champions’.

“It’s real important to me,” said Nicholson.

“We’re going to build that relationship stronger. I think it’s important that the Eskimos and Oilers have a good relationship. The two teams should have a freaking unbelievable relationship. Wherever we can help each other we should be doing it.

“There’s not that much overlap in our seasons. There’s no reason we should be at odds. We should just be looking at great platforms to build stronger relationships with each other and into the community. We should be encouraging fans to be supporting both teams. That should be part of our DNA.

“The City of Champions. That’s what we both want to get back to and I think we can both help each other,” he said.

The perception of the Oilers being an arrogant organization going forward into the new $606 million arena is not going to exist with Nicholson at the helm.

“I can tell you very, very clearly that I’ve come into this role and had great discussions with Daryl Katz,” he said.

“I want to reach all parts of this community and I want the Edmonton Oilers organization to be intertwined with the Eskimos, the University of Alberta, underprivileged kids, into the schools, into all types of businesses.

“You know me and what I did with Hockey Canada. That’s what I want. We’re going to build up the whole schools package. It’s probably going to take a year or a year and a half. We’re going to work with Hockey Canada to do promotions for underprivileged kids. There’s a lot here to build out. If we can build a relationship with Hockey Canada and Edmonton minor hockey, we can do so much to promote the game. That’s very much going to be part of this as we roll out the new facility.

“All of that’s going to be real high on my agenda as we go forward.”