Blind fan has blast cheering on Oilers at Global Series

GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- Sixty-seven fans traveled in one of the tour groups following the Edmonton Oilers in Europe. Sixty-six of them came to see their favorite team.

One came to hear it.
Jim Bennett, 79, is blind. Yet there he was with his wife, Del, 78, the two of them wearing orange Oilers jerseys at Scandinavium on Saturday as the Oilers played the New Jersey Devils in the 2018 NHL Global Series.
He soaked it in his own way, listening to the action, cracking jokes.
"You probably have to be nuts to spend this kind of money to go this far," Jim said. "But I think it's just getting out and …"
"Meeting people," Del said.
"Yeah, and having fun with them," Jim said. "It's almost like a big family."
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Jim has been blind since age 3. Del said that according to his older sister, he had what the family thought was pink eye. The medication they gave him made the back of his eyes cloudy.
That didn't stop him from loving the game.
He played blind hockey, or tin-can hockey, with rocks inside a tin can so the players could hear the puck.
When he went to the Ontario School for the Blind in Brantford, Ontario, before Wayne Gretzky was born there, the students got to go to Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on occasion and met legendary radio announcer Foster Hewitt.
His favorite line was Ted Kennedy between Sid Smith and Tod Sloan, which scored 15 goals in 11 games when the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Cup in 1951.
Jim and Del were season-ticket holders when the Oilers played in the World Hockey Association in the 1970s. Though they have been to only a handful of games since and haven't been to Rogers Place since it opened in 2016, they try to follow every game on television at home, Jim listening, Del watching.

His favorite hockey memory: "May 19 of '84," he said. May 19 is Del's birthday, and that year her present was the Oilers winning the Stanley Cup for the first time.
What does Jim think of Oilers center Connor McDavid?
"I can't even in my wildest imagination picture how fast he even is," Jim said. "When I played blind hockey, I figured I was the fastest guy there because none of the guys could see me."
Jim laughed.
"I don't think he's very big," he said. "They say his hand-eye coordination is out of this world. Well, Gretzky could spot guys on the ice too, I guess."
When the Oilers made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2017, they defeated the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference First Round and lost to the Anaheim Ducks in the second round. Jim and Del heard how much fun fans had on the road in California.
"We said, 'Damn it, next year we're going to do it,' " Jim said.
Well, the Oilers didn't make the playoffs in 2018. So when Jim and Del heard about this trip, they decided to go with a group through Newwest Travel. They did what everyone else did, touring the main attractions, enjoying meals and beverages, going to the games.
Jim became pretty popular.
"Oh, he's the best," said Jay Humphries, 47, of Edmonton. "Totally humorous guy. Always upbeat. Always making everybody laugh. … On the bus, he's funny. In the morning, he's funny. At lunch, he's funny."
In Cologne, Germany, Jim and Del ate bratwurst and schnitzel. They drank Kolsch beer. They went to the Cologne Cathedral.
"I loved it," Del said. "I liked the bells. I thought they were wonderful. But he wasn't fond of the bells."
"I don't mind it on the dog," Jim said.
They went to the Oilers' 4-3 overtime preseason win against the Kolner Haie at Lanxess Arena on Wednesday. Jim loved the European vibe. There was a sellout crowd of 18,400, and in the lower bowl, the fans at each end sang, chanted and cheered to the beat of a drum the entire game.
"It was a hell of an atmosphere," Jim said.
In Gothenburg, Jim and Del ate fish twice. No meatballs, though.
"I don't know where Ikea is," Jim said.
They sat in Section A, Row 12, in the end zone over the goaltender's left shoulder, for the regular-season opener against the Devils. Scandinavium was smaller -- sold out, the crowd was 12,044 -- and the crowd was less crazy. But that allowed Jim to take it all in.

When the second period began, the music started, the fans clapped and Del tapped Jim's left thigh to the beat.
"Let's go, Oilers!" he yelled.
Del didn't narrate much.
"I don't know how much he's taking in, so I let him ask," she said.
Jim sat still, breaking into a little smile, listening intently for the scrapes of skates, the smack of pucks on sticks, the thud of pucks on boards, the thunder of body checks. He knew the Oilers were defending the opposite end of the ice, and he was surrounded by Oilers fans, so he could tell roughly what was going on just by the sound around him.
"The hot and the cold," Jim said.
Quiet meant the Oilers were at the far end of the ice. Loud meant the Oilers were at the near end of the ice, on offense.
It was far too quiet.
"Aw," Del said after the Devils scored on the power play to take a 2-1 lead.
Jim shook his head.
"Smarten up!" he yelled.
The Devils made it 3-1, and Jim didn't need anyone to tell him. The mascots banged drums. The crowed oohed and aahed. Near the end of the period, Oilers defenseman Adam Larsson shot the puck from the point. It clanged off the glass in front of Jim.
"Good shot," Jim said. "Got to hit the net."
Jim heard the announcer say the Oilers were outshot in the period 10-4.
"It was lousy," Jim said. "Four shots, and probably they lied about three of them. You can tell the Edmonton fans are starting to fade."
The Oilers ended up losing 5-2, and Jim and Del are headed home. But what an experience, eh? They will keep following the Oilers, Jim listening, Del watching. They might even get to Rogers Place.
"Oh," Jim said. "We've got to go one of these days."