United Cycle opens drive-thru Oilers merchandise shop before NHL playoffs

Edmonton Oilers fans can buy merchandise without leaving their vehicle as the team gets ready for its first playoffs appearance since 2017. (Dave Mitchell/CTV News Edmonton)

EDMONTON — Getting all geared up for what Edmonton Oilers fans are hoping is a long playoff run just got a little easier.

Fans can now shop for their favourite jerseys and car flags without getting out of their vehicles at a drive-thru parking lot location at United Cycle on Gateway Boulevard south of Whyte Avenue.

“It's playoff time and we haven’t been able to say that in a while, and it's gonna be different this year we know, so we had to do business different,” says Kelly Hodgson, United Cycle operations manager.

The tented location will be open from 7-11 a.m. every morning until the weekend.

The Oilers have just three games left in the regular season before they embark on the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

Long-time fan Baro Jacobs likes their chances of clinching a sixth Stanley Cup.

“I am thinking we win, that’s what we do around here. We’re E-town, baby, that’s what we do. We win! We are gonna win, we are gonna take the cup home.”

Added Hodgson: “They are doing some special things right now and I think they’re gearing up in the right way and of course we’ll have a very formidable opponent in the first one... but I think everybody is looking to get ahead and see what happens with us and Toronto.”

Since going to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006, where they lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Oilers have only managed a single playoff series victory in 14 years.

Later this month, the Oilers will take on either Winnipeg or Montreal in the opening round of the NHL playoffs.