Edmonton Oilers 'Ruff Ruff Relay' Dog Race Is Electric And Needs To Be Added To The All-Star Skills Competition

The NHL All-Star Skills Competition has gotten a little gimmicky over the years. Guys saucing passes at a dunk tank in South Florida is cool, but give me Jeremy Roenick going 4-for-4 in the accuracy shooting event any day of the week, However, the Edmonton Oilers may have stumbled across a gimmicky skills competition event that I can get behind: dog racing.

Specifically, the players' dogs.

The Edmonton Oilers hosted their own skills competition in front of a sold-out Rogers Place.

In addition to your typical skills competition fair, the team holds what they call the Ruff Ruff Relay. the way it works is the players bring their dogs to the rink then they start on the goal line one at a time to see whose pooch can make it to the far blue line the fastest.

It is electrifying.

Last year's champion was Connor McDavid's dog Lenny. There's just something about that McDavid name that just brings some serious speed.

However, Lenny ran into a surprise challenger who stole the show with some sneaky speed...

You can watch the thrilling event for yourself down below.

Well, it was a bit of a disappointing performance from Lenny McDavid — who was DQed for not finishing — but there was some serious speed this year from a few four-legged competitors.

D-man Evan Bouchard's dog Ollie threw down a blistering sub-7.4-second time. Just unreal. He could've run down and back again and still have beaten Lenny's winning time from 2022 (Ruff Ruff Relay fans will recall it was 22.12).

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' dog Willow ran well, but the run of the night belonged to Cody Ceci's French bulldog, Hugo.

French bulldogs look like they would have about as much straight-line speed as a VW Beetle. However, I have one and can assure you they are sneaky fast. I don't know how they do it. They've got short legs and aren't even remotely aerodynamic. Yet, somehow they can wheel around a dog park (or across the Rogers Place) ice like nobody's business.

Congrats to Hugo Ceci on a heck of a showing this year!

The Ruff Ruff Relay is an Oilers tradition, but I think the NHL All-Star Game could use its own version of it. Is it gimmicky? Oh my god; hell yeah it is. But it's fun gimmicky. Not lame gimmicky.

Plus who doesn't like dogs?

Would you want to see the Ruff Ruff Relay in the NHL Skills Competition? If not and you have a better idea for a new event, let me know by sending a message to matthew.reigle@outkick.com.

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