The original Oil Kings, owned and managed by Bill Hunter, were one of the league's founding franchises in 1966, and one of its most successful, winning back-to-back championships in 1970 and 1971.

[2] However, the arrival of the Edmonton Oilers in the World Hockey Association led to the Oil Kings relocating to Portland in 1976, becoming the Winter Hawks.

[3] The Oil Kings were briefly resurrected for a single season in 1978–79, when the Flin Flon Bombers played in Edmonton before moving on to Great Falls, Montana.

[4][5] These challenges, along with similar difficulties in Calgary, Vancouver, and Winnipeg, suggested that the WHL struggled to compete with professional hockey in Western Canada's largest markets.

[6] With no takers, and with the 2004–05 NHL lockout looming, the Oilers chose to relocate their American Hockey League affiliate to Rexall Place.

However, beginning in 2011–12, their fifth season, and led by the likes of Griffin Reinhart, Curtis Lazar, and Tristan Jarry, they began a three-year run of success.

In the 2014 meeting, the Oil Kings avenged the previous year's loss in a seven-game series, earning a berth in their second Memorial Cup tournament in three seasons.