It’s not a secret that Edmonton Oilers fans are among the loudest and most passionate fans in any room. However, if you’re wondering just how far an Oilers fan will to share their love for the team and ultimately hockey, then you must know the story of Mike Hominsky. That’s because the 30-year-old fan arguably held the most remote Oilers watch party in history.
At a time when reports of NHL viewership inconsistencies are doing their rounds, the Ontario-born NHL fan hosted a watch party near the South Pole. Yes, you heard that right, when Homski gathered his colleagues to tune in to the Oilers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs game on Sunday, February 2nd, he was in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet, 2578 miles from Antarctica.
How the Edmonton Oilers fan spread the love of hockey
When Mike Hominsky signed up for a job at the remote research outpost last October, he didn’t forget to bring his Edmonton Oilers jersey with him. While the Oilers the Edmonton Oilers fan knew the fridge South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands wouldn’t be the ideal place to follow the NHL season, the 30-year-old knew he’d give it his best shot.
While the Canadian didn’t find it difficult to keep track of the NHL, the Edmonton Oilers fan faced a different problem. “On the build team, there is me from Canada, a fella from Australia, a guy from Scotland, and another guy from England,” Hominsky said as per the Daily Hive. It was a similar situation with the research team, who also hailed mostly from the United Kingdom; A place where hockey isn’t so popular.
So it was slow-going at first. “Being a hockey fan, it’s been trying to introduce that down here, saying that it’s a pretty good sport… I’ve been convincing and slowly hyping things up,” explained Hominsky. The dedicated fan did everything from dressing up in his Oilers jersey for Halloween to dishing out hockey facts at random. However, his biggest success came when he got everyone to watch the Oilers vs. Leafs game, albeit with the help of a genius idea.
The reward that compelled everyone to participate
As you may have guessed, the team at the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands can’t just walk down the road to grab a bite between shifts. Instead, they have to rely on supplies and rations. So Mike Hominsky cleverly used his chocolate bar rations after meeting a colleague who was fond of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The solution was to do a 50/50 raffle among all the team members. “Down here, each month, they give you a couple of chocolate bars… I didn’t eat any of mine so I saved them up and that was the 50/50 raffle,” revealed the Hockey enthusiast. “That brought a lot of people out actually, more than the hockey,” added the Edmonton Oilers fans.
And although the Tornotno Maple Leafs ultimately trumped the Oilers on February 2nd, the thrilling game drew almost everyone to the watch party. “I definitely convinced people to pick a side before coming to the game,” added the 30-year-old. While Hominsky noted that there were slightly more Oilers fans than Maple Leaf fans, the watch party and the 50/50 raffle were a resounding success.
However, what Mike Hominsky managed to do at one of the most remote places on earth was quite poetic as an Edmonton Oiler fan. That’s because in a way the 30-year-old was also like his colleagues who didn’t grow up watching hockey. While Hominsky loved hockey, he became an Oilers fan during his previous job at Edmonton.
Living close to Rogers Place and catching a lot of Oilers games, it didn’t take long for him to “convert” to an Oilers fan. Now, thousands of miles away from Edmonton, Hominsky has done something similar to his colleagues. Talk about coming full circle.
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