We placed this series to commemorate Edmonton's NHL Playoff Bubble. During the 2020 NHL playoffs, players, coaches and team staff were kept "in the bubble" without contact with outside people, to prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus, meaning that they could not spend time with families, friends or fans. Only a series loss would allow them to return to that bit of normalcy.
Edmonton hosted Western Conference teams from St. Louis, Colorado, Las Vegas, Dallas, Nashville, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Minnesota, Arizona and Chicago, and of course the Oilers participated as well. The last eight teams listed competed in a "play-in" round and the winners played the first four in the first round of the playoffs, with all games held at Rogers Place in downtown Edmonton. A similar bubble was created at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto for Eastern Conference teams.
This geo-art is centred just north of the Terwillegar Community Recreation Centre, which features four hockey rinks and where NHL teams spent countless hours practicing in August of 2020. The facility was off limits to the public during that time, but luckily the playoffs had progressed far enough by the end of August to allow minor hockey and other sports to resume.
The cache is NOT at the posted coordinates, but you may begin your search from any point in the world with the code provided below. You will need to know the jersey numbers of the following players, during the 2020 playoffs (and play-ins), to solve for the code: AA = Vancouver player Bo Horvat; BB = Edmonton player Ethan Bear; CC = Calgary player Sean Monahan.
51AA51
BB4531
1057CC
NOTE: Because the original host has died, the container is located in an alternate host 6 m south of GZ. Final coordinates have also been adjusted on gc.com.
The cartridge is available to download from the wherigo.com website. This Wherigo converts your player into a virtual version of the "Reverse Cache Box" which tells you the distance to the cache, but not the bearing. You may begin your search from any spot in the world using your Smartphone or Wherigo compatible GPS to navigate to the cache.