Welcome back to another edition of Ask Dubey, where this week we have a very special guest joining the show.

Edmonton Oilers fans know him well from the key role he played in the team’s run to the 2006 Stanley Cup Final, and on this week’s episode, Chris Pronger joined me to share some of his best memories.

Dubnyk: We’ll get into your time in Edmonton, which I remember was when I was just signed. I was in the background for that ’06 run. I was watching like a little kid, cheering you guys on. Talk to us a little bit about that run, what you remember from it, and what made it special.

Pronger: It was a long process, as you know, when with a team coming together and they made the trade for myself, Michael Peca, Jaroslav Spacek in February, and then obviously the deadline guys. And there were a couple of signings, Todd Harvey and a couple of other guys that kind of came on at the same time, and just finding chemistry. But I think more importantly, finding that belief in one another and really understanding what we could accomplish when we come together as a group. There’s no greater time than that. Late in the year, we think it was Game 79 or so where we made the playoffs. And I think we beat Anaheim. I can’t remember if it was in overtime or late in the third period, but Ales Hemsky scored a huge goal. And just thinking back on that run in the time, Fernando Pisani went on that crazy scoring run. We had everybody, from an offensive side, everybody kind of be a part of it and participate in scoring big goals.

I think the biggest thing that, that I remember is just how we came together and that belief we were willing to do whatever it took, game in, game out, different guys stepping up, blocking shots. I remember one game in Detroit late in the game, Shawn Horcoff dove to try to block a shot with his face. And moments like that really resonate. If he’s willing to do that, why can’t I do that? And why can’t the next guy? It spirals from there and snowballs.

We battled so much adversity, not only in that Detroit series, but going down 2-0 to San Jose, looking like we’re going to get wiped out in Game 3 in Edmonton and coming back to win that game and then go on to win four straight against San Jose. Then we kind of felt, you know, we got something special here.

We had a cast of characters that I don’t think a lot of our guys had won a playoff round, let alone go to the Conference Finals and then let alone go to the Stanley Cup Final. So, you know, obviously, a lot of excitement. It was my first Cup opportunity and everybody else. That was the chance that got away, I think, losing a heartbreaking Game 7. Dwayne Roloson gets hurt and the rest of that.

It still doesn’t sit well. I still think back to us being up 3-0 in Game 1. Yeah, I scored the penalty shot goal, but we’re up 3-0 late in the second period. They scored a late goal, and that kind of gave them a little bit of juice coming out for the third. Rollie gets hurt and everything kind of spiralled from there. It was a valient effort to come back in the series. Shorthanded overime winner by Pisani in Game 5, come home and dominate in Gme 6, and we came up a little short in Game 7.

Unfortunately, somebody’s got to lose. We didn’t feel like we deserved to, but I’m sure they felt the same.

Dubnyk: I think that’s what was so cool about that run, too, is kind of everything you touched on, just the cast of characters and how everybody came together. You mentioned Horcoff. I remember Ethan Moreau, same thing, just going headfirst in front of shots… You guys went from, you know, this team just squeaking in the playoffs to all of a sudden everybody chipping in and dominating and really, really looking like you can beat everybody. One question that was written in that we mentioned before, what were the vibes like in the city around?

Pronger: The Oilers hadn’t been in the playoffs in a long time. I think they’d only won the one that Todd Marchant scored that overtime goal against Dallas. It’d been a little bit since they had gone to the playoffs and played on that stage. The fact that we were able to get in late, I think that really brought our team together.

But coming back to Edmonton and just the vibe in the city, the energy with each series, you could feel the temperature rise in the marketplace and just the buzz in the city. Whyte Ave kind of getting after it. And, you know, I had my brother and some buddies coming in for a lot of the games, and they said it was a lot of fun.