Jefferson Hagen and his first jersey. Terence J. Fougere / The Griff

People around MacEwan share their ‘first jersey’ stories.

The communication student

McKenna Golden is a first-year Communications student at MacEwan who despite not growing up in Edmonton, has been and remains a huge Oilers fan. Like many Canadians, she grew up in a hockey home. “Hockey is something me and my family share,” says Golden.“My first ever sports jersey was a pink Edmonton Oilers jersey.” The jersey was a Christmas present from her parents, which fostered her love for hockey that she could share with her family. Like most sports fans, that jersey was the first of many. “At my brother’s hockey provincials, I won a signed Kailer Yamamoto jersey, and he was like my favourite player at the time, so I was, like, over the moon,” Golden says. Hockey is undoubtedly the most popular sport to watch in Canada, and for many young Canadians, that sport felt like the biggest thing in the world. When those same kids grow up, hockey can serve as a form of comfort or, in Golden’s case, a community. “I feel like there’s always that unspoken sense of connection, not only to my family but to the sport. I feel like Canada is always so united with hockey, so it’s just a very overarching sense of community.”

“I remember bringing it back to Edmonton, and people, my peers, and others would say, ‘Oh wow, where did you get that jersey from?’ So it was unique as well.”

– Neill Fitzpatrick

The SAMU sports guy

Mike Wilson is SAMU’s event coordinator and resident “hockey guy.” He is also a devoted Oilers fan with a “modest” Oilers jersey collection. “I think I own ten Oilers jerseys,” Wilson says. “I like collecting jerseys, so I think this one [his first jersey] was what started it all.” The first jersey that Wilson got his hands on was the 2001 Oil Drop Amulet jersey designed by Todd McFarlane. Wilson got the jersey at the age of ten when the Oilers made a run to the Stanley Cup Final during the 2006 playoffs. This jersey isn’t the only one in Wilson’s closet with an interesting backstory. He also has a Jordan Eberle jersey that he found during the Oilers’ 2024 Cup run in the stairwell of his apartment.  Wilson is known around the SAMU office as the hockey guy for a reason. He’s been watching and cheering on the Oilers since 2006, staying with them through all the ups and downs, including the “Decade of Darkness” and now, getting to watch them reach back-to-back Stanley Cup finals. If that isn’t the mark of a true fan, I don’t know what is.

The professor

Neill Fitzpatrick is an assistant professor in the communications department at MacEwan who didn’t get his first jersey until he was 17 years old in 1976.  He went on a trip to Las Vegas and purchased a University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) Running Rebels basketball jersey.  The UNLV basketball team had been a mediocre program for years, but had begun to climb the rankings thanks to the 1973 hiring of legendary basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian. At the time, they were in the early years of what would end up a nearly two-decade-long era of dominance. When Fitzpatrick came back home, everyone was very interested in the jersey. “I remember bringing it back to Edmonton, and people, my peers, and others would say, ‘Oh wow, where did you get that jersey from?’ So it was unique as well.” Fitzpatrick’s love for the team came from the engaging narrative surrounding the program. “The coach was a real character, and the team itself, they were kind of like underdog badboys,” Fitzpatrick says. “The school later got in a lot of trouble for recruiting athletes that didn’t really belong at a university level, but at the time, they made a lot of waves because they were this small university that was knocking off some of the big guys.” And isn’t that what we all love about sports – the story, the drama, rooting for who we know will never win?

“I feel like there’s always that unspoken sense of connection, not only to my family but to the sport. I feel like Canada is always so united with hockey, so it’s just a very overarching sense of community.”

– McKenna Golden

The athletics guy

Jefferson Hagen is the sports information and communications coordinator for MacEwan Athletics. He brought in his childhood jersey when he played peewee hockey in Camrose, AB, patrolling the blue line for the Alberta Machinery Monarchs. “I played for nine years. I quit after bantam because the opportunities just weren’t there,” Hagen says. 

Like many young, small-town Canadians, Hagen played hockey for the love of the game. “We had a lot of fun, I remember my dad and my uncle were the coaches.” Hagen got to make hockey a family game, but at the same time was able to be aggressive on the ice. “My only thing I was really good at was hitting, peewee back then was the first time we could hit.” Hagen got to be as aggressive as he needed to be. “I would get like seven or eight hits a game,” he says. Growing up, Hagen’s favourite player was Mark Messier. “I was a very gritty player myself, and I liked the grit he brought.” Hagen is an example of a tough player who grew from loving to play the sport into loving to watch, culminating in his building a career in sports, supporting the MacEwan Griffins all year long — regardless of the sport.