Kelly Buchberger

The Edmonton Oilers have had a lot of great players over the years. Wayne Gretzky. Mark Messier. Paul Coffey. Jari Kurri. Grant Fuhr. Kevin Lowe. Glenn Anderson. Ryan Smyth. I could go on.

Through sheer determination and hard work, Kelly Buchberger achieved immortalizing fame in the city of champions, far eclipsing his athletic ability and his tenure with the less than great times in the later 1990s.

Yet he is very much an Oilers legend and a fan favorite. No one, not the Oilers and most certainly not Buchberger himself, could have ever imagined that when he walked into the Northlands Coliseum for the first time.

Born in Langenburg, Saskatchewan, the wide eyed youngster can recall his first NHL game with special clarity. He was called up from the Moose Jaw Warriors and inserted into the Edmonton line up in the 1987 Stanley Cup finals! He would play three games in those finals, helping the Oilers knock off the strong Philadelphia Flyers. Buchberger would get his name on the Stanley Cup, the first of two such engravings in his career.

The kid must have been in great awe back then. The 188th overall draft pick from 1985 was suddenly playing for the Stanley Cup. His teammates were named Gretzky and Messier. It was every western Canadian kid's dream come true in the 1980s.

And Buchberger was living that dream, though he must have been in so much awe that he probably was certain he did not belong. But as was his trademark throughout his career, he was determined to somehow prove he did.

The Kelly Buchberger Story

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