It wasn't long ago that some Canadians were up in arms about hockey legend Wayne Gretzky's ties to U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

But as the Edmonton Oilers skate their way through the Stanley Cup final, hockey fans say it's time to let bygones be bygones.

"I don't think it matters," said Craig Hiscock, a longtime Oilers fan, as he posed Wednesday for a photo with a statue of Gretzky outside Rogers Place in Edmonton ahead of Game 1.

"Let's forget about the past. What he did here was a lot for the city, a lot for hockey."

The Gretzky statue was vandalized in March and smeared with what appeared to be and strongly smelled like feces. On Wednesday, a hip-high metal fence was up around the bronze figure.

An online petition started in February calling for a new name for Wayn

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