where did the edmonton oilers get their name
Edmonton Oilers On November 1, 1971, the Edmonton Oilers became one of the 12 founding WHA franchises. The original team owner was Bill Hunter. Hunter owned the Edmonton Oil Kings, a junior hockey franchise.[3] He also founded the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League (now known as the Western Hockey League (WHL)).[3] Hunter's efforts to bring major professional hockey to Edmonton via an expansion NHL franchise had been rebuffed by the NHL. So, he looked to the upstart WHA instead. It was Hunter who chose the "Oilers" name for the new WHA franchise. This was a name that had previously been used as a nickname for the Edmonton Oil Kings in the 1950s and 1960s.[4]