from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

These are not your father’s Edmonton Oilers, this swashbuckling young team, and for proof, consider the father of Thursday night’s scoring hero, Sam Gagner. Gagner was 7 the year his dad, Dave, played for the Flames. Dave Gagner was Jarome Iginla’s first centre in Iginla’s rookie season and helped him find his way in the NHL.

The younger Gagner has a picture of himself, as a boy, posing with Iginla at the Saddledome – and went on the ice there, the way children of NHL players do, after practice at Christmas, during school breaks.

The Oilers of 2012-13 are steeped in the tradition of the Battle of Alberta, which, after a few less than enthralling years, resumes Saturday in Calgary with a new, clearer focus. It is Edmonton’s youth and promise against Calgary’s veteran uncertainty. The Oilers feature Taylor Hall, who lived in Calgary until the age of 12 before the family moved to Kingston. There is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who played his junior hockey in Red Deer, the city perched right in the middle of the two cities, where some fan.

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