EDMONTON -- Mike York can’t help staring at the Stanley Cup plaques and photos crowding the walls from the Edmonton Oilers’ locker room to the rink. The ghosts of Edmonton past -- Messier, Gretzky -- are just a wee bit intimidating.

York is still a Ranger in a strange land -- it has been only three days since he landed in subarctic Canada after being traded -- but his new teammates, the 2002 Oilers, are a bunch of close friends who are happy to welcome newcomers to the fold. Even York, though he’s replacing two of the most popular Oilers, Tom “Potsie” Poti and Rem “Remmer” Murray. But it's a tricky task, especially because Remmer was such a class clown prankster, and York is so quiet he could out-giraffe a giraffe.

Luckily for York, the Michigan State connection is in effect: his old Spartan pals, Shawn Horcoff and Anson Carter, have already talked him up to the other guys, who spot the MSU vibe immediately. “Mike’s a carbon copy of Horc, only smaller,” says York’s new linemate, Dan Cleary. “And he and Remmer have the same laugh.”

York’s Michigan State ties even help against old nemesis, Mike Comrie, a former Michigan Wolverine who just happens to be the Oilers’ scoring machine. The Mikes hated each other back in the day, but Horcoff and Comrie are good buddies now, so Comrie goes out of his way to help Yorkie. Comrie even gives York a lift in his Dodge Durango to the Bavaria BMW dealership for a loaner set of wheels.

Afterward, York and Comrie head to Horcoff’s place to catch their former teams in the NCAA men’s hockey playoffs. It’s just like the old days: York heads straight for Horc’s fridge, scavenging for a jar of pickles.

First up: Michigan State vs. Colorado College. The Spartans storm onto the ice. “You know I’m rooting for Colorado,” says Comrie. Josh Green shows up, amped for a Colorado win. Everyone noshes on potato chips, Goldfish and pistachios.

“Your cell phone is huge,” Comrie says to York, pointing to a Verizon monstrosity. York smirks, and mimes answering a call. He looks like he’s hoisting a fire ladder. He puts his ear to the “ladder,” straining under the weight. “Hello?” York deadpans. “You got a backpack for this battery?”

During the game, the guys pick his brain on ex-teammates (Matt Barnaby: pretty good guy, Mike Richter: great guy). York tells them about the time Scotty Bowman spent the pre-game skate knocking all the mikes off the side of the rink with a hockey stick. And they hang on his every word when he talks about 9/11 and visiting Ground Zero with the Rangers only eight days afterward.

After the second period, Horcoff leads the guys upstairs for a round of cutthroat, stealth-style. In this version, players pick three numbered balls out of a plastic bottle and hide them from their opponents. When all your balls are sunk, you’re done, and the last man still left on the table wins.

Horcoff and Greenie split the first two games. In the third, York expertly angles in a ball, pausing at the solid knock of ball against wooden pocket. But then he pauses, smirking, and reaches in his pocket and tosses one of his red balls into the plastic shaker.

“You knocked your own ball in?” Green asks incredulously.

“I, too, like a challenge,” York says seriously, raising an Austin Powers-esque eyebrow. Horc, MC and Greenie crack up.

A challenge? Getting his new squad into the 2003 playoffs or answering his ridiculous cell phone -- definitely. But fitting in with the Oilers? Mais non.

Anne Marie Cruz is a senior reporter at ESPN The Magazine. Email her at anne.marie.cruz@espnmag.com.