Blue Mile

The Blue Mile or the Copper Kilometer is the name given by the local media to the Old Strathcona District's Whyte Avenue located on the southside of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada during the Edmonton Oilers 2006 Stanley Cup playoff run, since it closely resembled the events which took place on the Red Mile in Calgary. Whyte Avenue is also located for fashionable stores, restaurants and bars.

Following the Edmonton Oilers upset victory over the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the 2006 playoffs, several thousand Oiler fans flocked to Whyte Avenue and turning the district into a hockey party strip, as Oiler fans walked the streets cheering, chanting, high-fiving, horn-honking, and flag-waving for their team. Others surfed the crowd in a grocery-shopping cart, and still others climbed trees and traffic lights. This Oilers success has similarly spawned a website similar to flamesgirls.com, which the party strip is not only for thousands of Oiler fans, as estimated as high as 50,000 [ [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060605/hockey_oilers_060605?s_name=&no_ads= CTV.ca | Oilers in N.C. for Game One of Stanley Cup finals ] ] Oiler fans, cheering for the Edmonton Oilers victories but to include a Mardi Gras-like atmosphere, called "The Blue Mile". [ [http://bluemile.ca/ The Blue Mile] ] [ [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060510/blue_mile_060510?s_name=&no_ads= CTV.ca | New website records rowdies on the 'Blue Mile' ] ]

Unlike Calgary's Red Mile, Whyte Avenue in Edmonton gained national attention for its level of violence in May 2006. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/05/13/hockey-060513.html Hockey fans stabbed in Edmonton melee] - CBC.ca, May 13, 2006] The arrests at the Blue Mile are estimated at least 350 people through the Oilers Stanley Cup Playoff Run, including breaching the public peace, assaults, impaired driving, mischief, and alcohol-related offences. [ [http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Canada/2006/05/29/1603249-sun.html Winnipeg Sun Article] - People arrested at Stanley Cup finals celebration] [ [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060513/oilers_arrests_060513?s_name=&no_ads= CTV.ca | Violence on 'Blue Mile' mars Oilers celebration ] ] [ [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060617/stanley_game6_060617/20060617?hub=TopStories CTV.ca | Oilers defeat Hurricanes 4-0 in Cup's Game 6 ] ] [ [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060528/edmonton_fans_060528?s_name=&no_ads= CTV.ca | Edmonton Oilers fans looking forward to Cup final ] ] This rowdy behaviour led the mayor of Edmonton, Stephen Mandel, to threaten to close down the strip: "I hope this doesn't come down to having to shut down Whyte completely ... but this will not be tolerated going into the final series." [ [http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Canada/2006/05/29/1603250-sun.html Oiler fan turmoil] - Winnipeg Sun, May 29, 2006]

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