Edmonton Oilers superfan Jeff Ottmeier enjoys a day off at his home in Sherwood Park, Alta. on May 17. His collection of Oilers memorabilia includes aisle seat from the old Gold Club section at Rexall Place and many signed photos of Oilers, past and present.Megan Albu /The Globe and Mail
Jeff Ottmeier got a buzz cut on Aug. 1, 2015. That was 3,212 days ago, a few weeks before Connor McDavid’s first training camp in Edmonton.
He hasn’t had a haircut since. Shortly after the last one he pledged not to visit a barber again until the Oilers won a Stanley Cup. His hair is Fabio-length now.
“There are lot of people in my life who have never seen me without it,” says Ottmeier, who has a beard but trims that.
He is 44, born two weeks before Edmonton played its first game as a member of the NHL.
He has a Stanley Cup tattooed on the back of his right leg, wears Oilers socks and has 20 Oilers jerseys hanging in his bedroom closet.
“I’m obsessed,” he says. “Like Big O obsessed. I am all in on this team.”
He grew up in Edmonton and now lives in the suburbs in Sherwood Park, where he has become famous for taking to the streets in an orange and blue wig and waving a big flag on game days. Firefighters, paramedics and police salute him.
He started to do it in 2021 for his own and others’ entertainment when he was laid off from his job as a thermal-expansion operator during the pandemic. (He works in the oil and gas industry). He has walked about 1,000 kilometres around Sherwood Park since, even when it is minus 40 C, which is not all that rare during the winter in Edmonton.
People bring him coffee, hot chocolate and banana bread. Once someone gave him a Tim’s gift card. When he opened it a while later he discovered it was for $50.
A note was attached: “You have helped my mental health more than you know.”
“I cried when I saw it,” he says. “I was unemployed at the time.”
In the basement Ottmeier has an elaborate fan cave. Above the stairs, an Oilers Avenue sign. Seventy-five autographed pictures of players line the walls. There is a large picture from the first Heritage Classic game on Nov. 22, 2003.
Of course he attended that frigid contest against the Canadiens at Commonwealth Stadium. His poster is signed by Guy LaPointe, Guy LaFleur and Steve Shutt.
He paid a couple hundred dollars for a seat section sign – 334 335 – from the Oilers’ old arena. He later found a picture of himself seated in Section 334.
“The sign came with dust on it and concrete attached,” he says. “I told them not to touch anything.”
He also has an aisle seat from the old Gold Club section at Rexall Place – Seat 22, Row 10 – that sits in one corner of the basement. He attended the last game there, too. In his collection he has pieces of the net and Plexiglas from that night.
He also has a piece of ice – encased in plastic – from the 2023 Heritage Classic. Of course, it is water now, but still a fond Edmonton hockey memory.
There are sticks signed by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Ales Hemsky, a pictured signed by Wayne Gretzky. An Oilers rug. A Stanley Cup banner. And so much more.
On Saturday afternoon he can be found walking through neighbourhoods in Sherwood Park dressed from head-to-toe Oilers in an attempt to raise spirit and perhaps help his beloved team to a victory.
“My payment is putting a smile on someone’s face,” Ottmeier says. “Everyone is going through something.”
He has a framed photo of McDavid in the living room. He was once walking on the grounds of the legislature when No. 97 ran past him.
“Nice shirt,” the superstar said, noting that he was wearing an Oilers T-shirt.
Ottmeier will watch Game 6 on television with his tabby, Copper. (The Oilers’ old colours were copper and blue.)
“She is an Oilers fan,” he says.
Why of course.
He would love to see Edmonton rally in its second-round series against Vancouver. But he’s not worried about a haircut.
At the start of the playoffs, he posted a photo of himself on social media that showed his hair cascading down his back.
“It got 11,000 views in the first 24 hours,” he says. “People get excited.”