from Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal,

Fans who gobbled up 12,000 tickets in less than an hour will Friday watch the Boys on the Bus return to Rexall Place after 30 years.

But the 1984 Oilers Stanley Cup champions might be more excited about their reunion than even the city is about hosting them, Wayne Gretzky said.

“This team had such pizzazz and flair about it, so many Hall of Famers ... it was the perfect formula for memories,” said former Oiler Dave Lumley, his fingers grazing his Stanley Cup ring....

“It kind of reminds me of Grade 10, back in high school, when everybody goes their separate ways in the summer,” Lumley said. “Now take away how everybody looks ... and it’s like it was only three months ago that we were all together.”

The ’84 Oilers are now grey-haired men whose reunion has not only brought them back for the first time since that championship, but has also rekindled memories for those who watched them go on to win a total of five championships over the heady course of the next seven years.

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