'Play La Bamba Baby': Newest giant sign echoes Ben Stelter call to hear Joey Moss' favourite song
"Play La Bamba Baby" is the most recent Oilers cheer to show up in giant orange letters against Edmonton's skyline.
The lettering at the south end of Walterdale Bridge is a show of support for the Edmonton Oilers, who face off against the Calgary Flames Tuesday night for Game 4 of the second round of the playoffs.
The sign also calls to memory the late Joey Moss, the team's former locker room attendant and superfan.
Ritchie Valen's "La Bamba" was Moss' favourite song, and has since been adopted as the Oilers' victory anthem during playoffs.
The phrase "Play 'La Bamba,' baby" is equally special to Oilers fans thanks to five-year-old superfan and official Edmonton Oilers' "playoff ambassador" Ben Stelter.
Stelter has been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer. Throughout the season, Oilers fans have cheered him on as loudly as they have their favourite team.
After every win, Stelter's dad posts a video of him saying, 'Play 'La Bamba,' baby!"
Moss died in 2020 at age 57.
The Oilers' playoff run is the team's first without Moss in the dressing room.
"Joey would just be over the moon right now," his nephew Adam Walker told CTV News Edmonton over the weekend. "He'd be just as nervous as I think we all will be. But, he also knows the Oilers will win."
There are also calls to rename the ICE District Plaza the "Moss Pit."
Giant Oilers numbers have popped up around Alberta's capital city throughout playoffs: first Leon Draisaitl's 29 in Landsdowne, then Connor McDavid's 97 at Whitemud Drive and 145 Street, then Mike Smith's 41 in Belgravia.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.