Oil Kings Celebrate Soldiers

Mark Pysyk / photo from Oil KingsThe WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings held their Military Appreciation Day over the weekend and broke out some specialty sweaters to mark the occasion.

On Sunday, the Oil Kings hosted the Kootenay Ice, sporting jerseys made of red and blue camouflage. They're quite a sight, and in case this one picture isn't enough, the team has you covered with a full photo gallery on its website.

I've never seen a camo jersey looking quite like that. Two completely different hues on one uniform. And it may look silly but it's for a good cause. As usual, the sweaters were auctioned off after the game.

The Oil Kings wore special edition Military Appreciation Day jerseys to honour the Canadian Armed Forces, and the game-worn uniforms were then auctioned off. An impressive $7,475 was raised from the jersey auction, with proceeds going to Soldier On, a program that improves the quality of life of injured or ill Canadian Forces personnel and former personnel through physical activities.

That really is impressive when you consider it averages out to more than $350 per sweater. But Canadians do seem to love their junior hockey. Perhaps I too will learn that joy when I finally will myself to a Seattle Thunderbirds game.

Sadly, the Oil Kings lost 2-1 to the Ice on Military Appreciation Day. If you'd like to know more about the event and/or the game, look no further than the team's website.