When I first began interning at the Nation I realized just how small the world becomes when the Internet is involved. During my first week in 2015 we hosted the Connor McDavid draft party. Hundreds of Nation citizens gathered at the Pint to witness history that day. If you were at the party, you would understand the feeling of not knowing anybody in the bar personally, only by their Twitter handles. The online community that is Oilersnation has created many friendships over the past years that allowed us to cheer, cry, and cry some more over the team together.

Well, the power of the Internet has struck again for the Nation as we’re getting ready to host two online friends of ours from Scandinavia this weekend! We’re extremely excited to have them out and show them what being a hockey fan in the City of Edmonton is all about. So who are they?

Uffe Bodin is the editor-in-chief at www.hockeysverige.se, a Swedish sports news site that covers the Swedish Hockey league, the National Hockey League, and more. He lives in Stockholm and is also a part of the hockey podcast, NHL-timmen. Uffe is very excited to come to Edmonton and see the city, as well as to watch Swedes, Oscar Klefbom and Adam Larsson play. You can follow him and his trip on his Twitter account! 

Joonas Larvinen is our second visitor that is flying in from Helsinki, Finland. Not only is he the number one hockey fan in Finland, but he also loves to travel to attend sporting events around the world. You can keep up with Larvinen’s journey to Edmonton on his Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, or by using the hashtag, #Larvinen. Maybe the timing will work out and Puljujarvi will get called up for Saturday so Joonas can see him play? #WishfulThinking

We’ve got a huge weekend planned for Uffe and Joonas! The trick is to fit all the cool, exciting things about this fantastic city into just a few days of touring. We have teamed up with Explore Edmonton to bring these two gents the full Edmonton experience! A few of the plans we have for them involve viewing the Gretzky statue, West Edmonton Mall, the Ice Castle, as well as touring the beautiful river valley. Joonas and Uffe will also be guest appearing on Jason Gregor’s show on Friday afternoon on TSN 1260 so be sure to tune in! We will be taking them to the Oilers game on Saturday night against Chicago as well, where they can finally see Rogers Place in person. 

Uffe and Joonas will be flying in on Thursday via Icelandair and will be returning home on Monday. Be sure to keep up with the trip on their social media channels, as well as our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. If you happen to run into us over the weekend, be sure to say hi!