The Edmonton Oilers went up against Kölner Haie, also known as the Cologne Sharks, in Germany on Wednesday night and it was a pretty special homecoming for Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl.
During the pre-game player introductions, the public address announcer saved Draisaitl’s name for last and the Cologne, Germany native got a hearty ovation from the hometown crowd.
Before the public address announcer could get out ‘Draisaitl’, the home crowd took over and shouted his last name out together.
“It was pretty special. I’m used to that from the German fans, for some reason they like to yell out the last name really loud,” Draisaitl told Marc Ciampa of EdmontonOilers.com.
Swiss fans did something very similar the other night for New Jersey Devils forward Nico Hischier, as they gave the Brig, Switzerland native an incredible ovation during the pre-game player introductions earlier this week.
The Oilers and the Devils will open up their 2018-19 regular season on Saturday night in Sweden.
(H/T Edmonton Oilers)
