Fans Down Under drumming up playoff passion for Oilers

Two fans from Australia have caught the attention of the Edmonton Oilers from 16 time zones away. CTV News Edmonton's Evan Kenny has the story.

Fans around the world are cheering on the Edmonton Oilers, hoping they can keep their dream of a Stanley Cup alive.

Two such fans are Georgia and Ammon Chesworth, Oilers enthusiasts from Down Under.

One could say the couple comes by their fandom honestly.

While they hail from the eastern Australia town of Noosa – which is located in Queensland, north of Brisbane – Georgia’s mom hails from the east-central Alberta town of Innisfree and brought her love of the team with her when she moved to the other side of the globe.

“I did grow up with a photo of Wayne Gretzky on my fridge,” Georgia recalls. “She would have referred to him as her boyfriend. That was my introduction to the Oilers and hockey.”

Ammon married into the fandom and has had Oil running through his veins ever since. He never misses a game.

The plumbing business owner is known as the local Oilers super fan.

“If I’m on site (working), I’ve got it on my phone playing, and all the boys, just listening in and forcing them to be Oilers fans, too,” he told CTV News Edmonton this week.

“If I’m in the office, I’ll have a spare screen set up, or I’ll sneak inside and chuck it on the TV.”

Their fever for Oilers hockey really started three years ago, when they booked a trip to the Great White North at Christmastime, travelled to Edmonton and attended a game against, in Ammon’s words, “the bloody Panthers.”

“We lost,” he said.

They returned to Edmonton the following Christmas and saw three more games.

The couple started posting about their love for the Oilers on social media, hoping to find more Aussies with whom to watch games.

They say they want to recreate Edmonton’s atmosphere.

“To put ourselves in that environment and surround ourselves with so many passionate fans would just be incredible, and share that enthusiasm and passion,” Georgia said.

The team saw Chesworth’s passion online and has reached out to them.

“They were excited to see us cheering them on from all the way over here,” Georgia said.

The Chesworths say if the Oilers make the finals for a third year in a row, they want to take in more games live.

“We would just love to be there to experience the Moss Pit or experience a playoff game,” Georgia said.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Evan Kenny and Stephanie Prues