The Edmonton Oilers play in the National Hockey League (NHL) and are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In the year 1972, the Alberta Oilers joined the World Hockey Association as a founding member. Hunter had previously owned the Edmonton Oil Kings and founded what would become the Western Hockey League, but his efforts to bring professional hockey to Edmonton had been planned by the NHL. Originally, the team was named the Alberta Oilers. For various reasons, possibly financial reasons, the team played all of its games in Edmonton, and changed their name to reflect the following year.
The Alberta Oilers became the Edmonton Oilers as Bill Hunter returns to the front office. On the Ice the Oilers post a 38-37-3 record for the 2nd straight season. They made the playoff by finishing in 3rd place. However, in the playoff the Oilers were knocked off quickly by the Minnesota Fighting Saints in 5 games.
With an incredible core of young players, the Edmonton Oilers became one of the greatest dynasties in hockey history with their domination of the NHL in the 1980s. The Oilers made a name for themselves very early, making the Stanley Cup Playoffs in just their first season. Although they were swept in three games by the Philadelphia Flyers. The Oilers, in the 1981-82 season, became the league's strongest team in the regular season. In 1983 they made it to their first-ever Stanley Cup Finals, but were swept in four games by the three-time defending champions, the New York Islanders. A year later, however, Edmonton defeated the Islanders in five games and won their first Stanley cup.
Logo of Edmonton Oilers:
In 1970's the jersey was changed to the blue base with orange trim, but with some minor differences. The logo that appeared on programs and promotional material remained the same, however the logo that appeared on the home jersey had a white oil drop, on a dark orange field, with the team name written in deep blue.
After winning so many cups has just increased the number of fans for the team. It is still having that distinction of being a time outside US which won the stanley cup.
