Introducing Hunter.



The first official mascot in Edmonton Oilers history will make his debut tonight in the first NHL game in Rogers Place, the annual split-squad game against the Calgary Flames.



In a way, it’s been strange that the Oilers have taken so long to get into the mascot game. Edmonton’s International Mascot Corporation is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of mascot costumes. For over 25 years for hundreds of professional and college sports teams, major events including Olympics and thousands of companies including A & W Restaurants, the Hershey Corporation, Carnival Cruise Lines, SeaWorld and the like.



To add a mascot produced by Edmonton’s worldwide leader in the industry to work in the new building constructed by Edmonton-based PCL, a worldwide leader in the stadium construction industry, is somehow appropriate.



“We used Edmonton’s International Mascot Corporation. And they’ve been absolutely fantastic,” said Oiler Entertainment Group senior vice-president of marketing Jeff Harrop.



They also used a lot of kids. One of the main criteria was to select a mascot that was approachable and huggable.



Over 2,200 students from kindergarten through Grade 9 were surveyed to identify the most popular of the mascot candidates produced and Hunter, the Canadian Lynx, was “far and away the most popular” according to Harrop.



The other day they took the newly created Hunter to one of the schools used to test market the mascot to show them the result of their input.



“Thursday we went back to one of the four schools we did that market research with Hunter and they absolutely loved him,” said Harrop.



Why, after all these years, would the Oilers decide they needed to have a mascot? Why would they decide to make him a Canadian Lynx? And why would they name him Hunter?



If there’s going to be controversy about this, it probably won’t come from the answer to the third question.

Hearing rumours that the Oilers are looking to trade Hunter the Lynx for a right handed Koala Bear. — Andrew Grose (@GroseAndrew) September 26, 2016

Hunter the Lynx looks like Smarf from Too many cooks. pic.twitter.com/5IvSIeu3kl — Tim Plamondon (@TimPlamondon) September 26, 2016

So am I the only one that thinks Hunter the Lynx is actually kinda cool looking? Kids will dig him. #Oilers — Tom Vernon (@TomVernonGlobal) September 26, 2016



Hunter was named as a tribute to Wild Bill Hunter, the legendary hockey promoter, organizer, general manager and coach who founded the franchise in the World Hockey Association in 1972. Thus, Hunter will wear No. 72 on his orange Oilers jersey.



The decision to bring Hunter into the world now is mostly a matter of timing. When the Oilers take the ice tonight, so many new aspects of the game experience are going to be dramatically different. The timing was perfect, OEG believed, to bring on a mascot and, like any rookie, allow Hunter to try to find his role on the team.



“With the new building, we have so many tools at our disposal, he’s going to be a complementary piece, not our only piece,” said Harrop.



“The character is going to evolve as we go forward. The character is going to get more and more personality and get more engrained with the game experience. We have so much to play with, Hunter will be able to find his fit with all of it.”



Hunter will not be running around the lower bowl in danger of having his tongue ripped out, like Harvey The Hound in Calgary by Oilers coach Craig MacTavish a few years ago.



“The mascot character will certainly not be at the forefront of our game-night experience but will add a new element to our presentation toolkit,” said Harrop.



“Having that mascot character to do the things in the community, especially in the child-centric places, whether it’s festival, hospital or school visits, is going to be a nice piece to engage those future Oilers fans.”



Hunter will appear in Ford Hall and on the concourse tonight. He will eventually expand his role throughout the arena and on the ice.



“We had a North American-wide search to find the right talent. I used David Raymond as a sounding board for me. He was one of the mascot pioneers. He developed the Phillie Phanatic. He was great to work with and helped me along this journey immensely.



“We wanted our mascot to look quite athletic and nimble and create a costume to allow him to do some fun stuff on skates on the ice. We looked at all the characters in the NHL, NBA, major league baseball, minor league baseball and the ones with the costumes that were conducive to that. Through Raymond, we had people from all over Canada and the U.S, applying for the role.”



They’re down to the final two contestants. And they’ll be competing for the full-time, year-round job during training camp.



“We’re going to grow into the character. But the one thing we wanted from Day 1 was athleticism and our final two have that, that’s for sure. The guy we bring in will do everything from our games to our hospital visits.”



Mascots, of course, have been a big part of the professional sports experience ever since Canadian Ted Giannoulas became a sensation as the San Diego Chicken in 1974. The Phillie Phanatic might be the greatest of them all with Montreal Expos Youpi, now employed by the Montreal Canadiens, ranking right up there.



The problem with the Oilers is they could never figure out what kind of character to come up with. Last year their Bakersfield farm club decided to create an oil-drop headed, caped super hero creature.



Team president Matthew Riley, in introducing a name-the-oil-drop-head contest, explained the decision.



“The mascot provides another link between the Oilers, the community and here in Kern County,” he said of the oil capital of California. “There have been tough times in the oil industry and we look to our oil-themed superhero to save the day.”



Fortunately, the Oilers resisted the urge to give oil drop head a big brother.



But what in the name of Wild Bill does a lynx have to do with Oilers or Edmonton?



“We worked with the Edmonton Valley Zoo to identify some animals in the region to create some mascot concepts and execute some market research,” said Harrop.



“The Canadian lynx was identified as one. We found it had extreme popularity with visitors of the Valley Zoo and discovered there are more Canadian Lynx in Alberta than anywhere in the world.”



Your correspondent did his own research and couldn’t find anybody who had actually seen a Canadian Lynx out there anywhere.



“The Lynx is a recluse animal and it’s not like there’s an abundance of them that people have seen in the river valley,” said Harrop. “Sightings are rare. Quite frankly, they are hard to spot anywhere.”



Perhaps instead of Hunter, the Oilers mascot should have been named Daryl in honour of the recluse Oilers owner.

Gone is the P.A. voice of Mark Lewis. Gone are the Octane cheerleaders.

Tonight the fans will be introduced to a whole new look and feel for the franchise that includes not only the first official mascot in the history of the franchise but a new P.A. announcer, a co-ed Orange & Blue Ice Crew, a new organ, a new goal song and $113 million worth of new electronic and video enhancements, including the largest true HD centre-hung video board in the NHL.

When it comes to the technological components, not all will be in play tonight or during the pre-season. Other features will be dialed down.

A good example is the on-ice projection system.

“We may test certain pieces of it as we go, but the first unveil of it will be Oct. 12,” said Oiler Entertainment Group senior vice-president of marketing, Jeff Harrop, of the season opener.

“We’re going to use the scoreboard all night, for sure. Obviously there are going to be some neat surprises and big pieces we’ll save for the regular season, but certainly we’re going to be fully using it in the pre-season.”

During the past few days the new Hammond A-162 organ has been getting tested and is good to go tonight.

The goal horn from Rexall Place was one thing they decided they wanted to keep but the Oilers will have a new goal song when they score in the new building.

“That will be revealed for the first pre-season game,” said Harrop. “We were looking for something that was going to be fun and exciting for the fans. You see some of the best buildings in the world where when the home team scores the fans are clapping along and singing along.”

The new co-ed Orange & Blue Ice Crew will be working the game, too, but dressed down for the pre-season and not revealing their regular season outfits until the Oct. 12.

“We have a roster of roughly 25. We were in a tenant relationship at Rexall so we couldn’t do what we’re going to do now. We want them to be great ambassadors for the brand and engage with our fans, whether they are doing that in the bowl or connecting to what they are doing on ice, from a look and feel, and certainly getting out in the community. They’ll clean the ice and in-bowl be doing all the promotions and engage with fans on the concourse. And sometimes they’ll be out with the mascot in the community.”

More than 100 would-be new P.A. announcers sent in audition tapes and several were given live auditions in the building with a small group of finalist brought back to work periods of pre-season games in the building involving local college teams.

“We want to have that classic sound but at the same time have a uniqueness in himself,” said Harrop of the successful candidate.

Will the voice you hear on the P.A. tonight be the final guy? The betting is yes but no scoop here on who he might be.



terry.jones@sunmedia.ca

@sunterryjones

