The Oilers Girls

The Edmonton Oilers Girls (left to right): Margaret Zygaldo, Jackie Czaja, and Pam Twerdy. Photo by Michael Sciarpelletti / Oilverse

Not Just a Pretty Face

The Edmonton Oilers in a way have fallen prey to the changing times. When the other teams in the NHL toyed with the idea of mascots, hockey purists in the City of Champions jumped all over the idea and probably saved us from seeing an over-sized oil drop fidgeting around Rexall.

And while some teams have girls in pom-poms the Oilers too have put some attractive girls up to the task of a kind of cheerleading, but you should know that the Oiler Girls don’t like to be called cheerleaders. In fact, you’d be surprised to realise that not only do our Oiler Girls or ice girls as they are affectionatly referred do more than just that, you’d also be surprised to learn they probably know more about hockey than you do.

“Well different teams use different strategies to get people excited during games. Our fans in Edmonton don’t need short skirts and pom poms as you put it to get pumped and into the game. It’s enough that we are there interacting with fans and just having fun,” says Margaret Zygaldo, who has been an Oiler Girl since the start of the 2008-2009 season.

John Ulan / The Globe and Mail / Epic Photography

“We set up and carry out the promotions that happen during games,” says Margaret Zygaldo, ” So things like t-shirt tosses, give-aways, on camera shots, intermission contests.”

That means that if you are seeing Margaret, it might just be your lucky day.

They Know Hockey

Margaret also knows her players, pointing to Sheldon Souray as a solid Oiler on and off of the ice.

Margaret Zygaldo says that she likes his charitable efforts for the shoot out for kids with cancer during an Oil Kings game.

Zygaldo points to Souray’s fantastic point production as another reason to love #44.

I suppose you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, and Oiler fans should appriceate rather than hate on the Oiler Girl movement because they do nothing but help promote our game.

Even when our game isn’t very fun to watch.