Thousands of Oilers fans lined up early—some very, very early—to see their favourite player at the West Edmonton Mall on Monday.

“We got here at about 2:30 in the morning,” said Rainer Doberstein, who was one of the first two people in the lineup for captain Connor McDavid.

“It definitely was something very special. (For) me and my best friend to come here and be the first two people is pretty cool.”

Twenty-five of Edmonton’s NHL players held an autograph session at the shopping centre Monday.

Fans were allowed to line up at 11 stations to wait for an opportunity to meet their favourite player. Because of high demand, only the first 400 people in line at McDavid’s station were guaranteed access.

“It’s definitely worth being here,” Doberstein’s friend, Sean Deren, told CTV News.

“We planned this out to get here as early as humanely possible and lucky that we thought of the hotel, because it’s open 24 hours.”

Afterwards, the friends proudly held up signed pictures from Number 97.

“This is unreal,” Deren said. “Fanboying pretty hard.”

“Definitely a once in a life time opportunity,” Doberstein added.

The pair told McDavid how early they had arrived.

“He was kinda like, ‘What the heck’s wrong with you?’” Deren recalled.

“It’s all for this team. This city is just Oilers crazy.”