Dallas Stars play Oilers victory song ‘La Bamba’ after Game 2 win

While trying to troll opposing teams and fans is nothing new today, the song has much more meaning to Edmonton than just being their win song.

It first had meaning for the Oilers dating back to the 1980s, when Joey Moss, a dressing room attendant for the team with down syndrome, began working for the team. La Bamba was his favourite song, and in 2021, Oilersnation’s The Nation Dan began campaigning for the Oilers to use it as the club’s goal song as a way to honour Moss’ legacy.

That became reality when on the opening night of the 2021-22 season, following a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks, La Bamba rang through Rogers Place not as the goal song but as the victory song.

It took on a whole new meaning, too, when late Oilers superfan Ben Stelter, who died at the age of six years old in August 2022, started saying, “Play La Bamba, baby.” He quickly went viral in the Edmonton market, and while he battled glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, the organization welcomed him around the team as one of his own a year after his diagnosis. Ben’s father, Mike, was diagnosed with cancer less than a year after his son’s passing.

The song clearly transcends hockey in Edmonton, and Dallas’s playing it is, at best, a misinformed move and, at worst, a paltry attempt to get under the opposition’s skin.

Nonetheless, it’s not a good look, doubly so, considering Saturday saw the NHL feature the Stelter family and Ben’s battle with cancer.