How do you bring a country together around a team that technically only represents one city? You find a way to make it everyone’s home ice.

That’s exactly what we did with This is Our Ice, the latest and greatest extension of Rogers’ “This is Our Game” platform, and a campaign that gave new meaning to home-ice advantage during the 2025 Stanley Cup Finals.

In a year where hockey pride was already running high - from the success of the 4 Nations tournament to the Oilers’ epic run - Rogers wanted to go beyond just broadcasting the game. They wanted to make the playoffs personal. Tangible. National.

So, we set out to build a campaign that could turn a symbolic gesture into something real. The big idea? Collect ice from the hometown rinks where Oilers stars like McDavid, Skinner, and Nugent-Hopkins first laced up - and bring it to Rogers Place in Edmonton, for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Each rink scraped a bit of their surface into thermos-style containers, packed them up, and shipped them off to Edmonton. There, the Oilers’ ice crew poured it all into the Zamboni tank and on game night, the team hit the ice on a mix of hometown pride and frozen dreams.

Because nothing says “Canada’s game” quite like literally putting a piece of Canada into the Cup Final. 

Rogers had already planted the flag as Canada’s Home of Hockey, but we saw an opportunity to go deeper. A chance to unite fans across regions, rivalries, and time zones by turning nostalgia into national pride. Hockey is emotional - it’s not just played in big arenas, but on frozen ponds, under flickering rec-centre lights, and behind chain-link fences. It’s where Canadian kids grow up dreaming.

And when those dreams make it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final? That’s not just Edmonton’s win - it’s everyone’s. 

That insight laid the groundwork for an idea that was equal parts symbolic and spectacular; it was a gesture so simple and sincere, it struck a national chord.

Of course, turning it into reality was another story.

Working with Rogers, the NHL, and rink partners across the country, we coordinated ice collection from:

· Magna Centre (Newmarket, ON) - Connor McDavid

· Burnaby Winter Club (Burnaby, BC) - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

· North Shore Winter Club (Vancouver, BC) - Evander Kane

· Harry Howell Arena (Hamilton, ON) - Darnell Nurse

· The Rink (Winnipeg, MB) - Calvin Pickard

· Confederation Arena (Edmonton, AB) - Stuart Skinner

From a production standpoint, this one took hands-on collaboration - across facilities, time zones, and playoff schedules. But creatively, it was seamless: a clear, visceral extension of the This is Our Game platform. And a reminder that sometimes, the smallest details carry the biggest emotional weight.

“Every player starts on community rinks in hometown arenas that shape the soul of Canadian hockey,” said Vini Dalvi, Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Canada. “By bringing that ice to the Stanley Cup Final, we’re not just celebrating the players, we’re honouring the millions who lace up from coast to coast and prove it’s Canada’s game every time they play.” 

The campaign rolled out nationally across traditional channels, but the real traction hit online - fast. Fans didn’t just love the idea, they ran with it. Local rinks flooded social with photos, proud families reshared the story, and Canadians everywhere rallied behind it. Within 48 hours alone, nearly 700 outlets picked it up - including the New York Times. In a sea of playoff noise, This is Our Ice became the story everyone was talking about.

Because at the end of the day, this campaign wasn’t just about the Oilers. Or even Rogers. It was about turning playoff hockey into a collective Canadian moment, and doing it in a way that no other brand could.

This is our ice.
This is our game.