Okay So I Lied...

I am angry coming away from this game and it is not because of an injury, nor is it for the reason most would think it is.

First let me say that it appeared to me that the game was poorly called, I'm not usually one to bring the refs into things but tonight it seemed that they turned a blind eye to some things that were blatant-take into consideration though that I am an Oiler fan and as such come with a built-in bias. This is not what made me angry, and this is not what ruined the game for me.

What ruined the game for me was the people that were sitting around me, on either side of me and behind me to be exact.

The man on the left of me: I don't think he could possibly have been any more negative if he tried. He criticized everything the Oiler players did, and I mean everything, they lost the game by one goal guys; one goal-calm yourselves. What's worse is that most of the time the criticism was unwarranted or over-exaggerated: yes, the Oilers were not at the top of their game tonight, but if we're dissecting the Oilers' game tonight then we have to also acknowledge that the Sens didn't have a real great game either-and I didn't hear their fans cutting their team down at every opportunity. Both he and to woman next to me kept saying that Garon should've had that second goal, and it wasn't the best goal to let in no doubt, but I'm pretty sure that Souray deflected and/or screened that goal himself. Garon had a solid game I thought, he made a few stops that kept the team in the game and that is all I ask of my goaltender: that he keep the game within reach. Garon did that.

The woman on the right of me: also criticized the Oilers' every decision, except she clearly did not know what she was talking about. Other times she would act like her advice was the best thing ever and that the Oilers should have just taken her advice and they wouldn't be in the trouble they're in. The problem was that her advice was not as comprehensive as she would've liked to think. For example when Souray took the penalty that lead to the third goal she said, "I hope they don't score." Promptly following the goal she stated, "See? I said I hope they don't score." Like that wasn't something the Oilers knew already. I think when I really lost it on her (in my head, not literally), was after she insulted Ladislav Smid. Now, we all remember who my favourite player is right? That's right it's Smid, so when she starts talking about him like he's the worst player to ever suit-up for the Oilers I am bound to hate her guts. Especially when this is after he merely couldn't hold the point and still ended up retrieving the puck from the Sens player (I think it was Vermette). "Ugh, Smid is terrible!" She yells--I just about killed her, she is lucky that I have good temper control.

The guy behind me: This actually had nothing to do with the Oiler game. This guy's buddies were discussing the Canada VS Kazakhstan game and he decides to throw in, "Man, I could've suited up for that Kazak team!" His buddies all agreed that they could've as well. All I have to say is this: have some f***ing respect. This is a nation that clearly wants to learn to play hockey and wants to be able to compete against the best in the sport. Yes, perhaps thus far they have been unsuccessful, but they are still submitting for the tournament every year and that shows great perseverance on their part. The first goaltender, Yankov, was actually pretty good I thought, especially for his being 5'8" and only 120-some-odd lbs. Sometimes I think that Canadians take their success in Hockey for granted, I think they forget that there was definitely a time where we weren't very good at hockey either, there just wasn't a nation around that was great at hockey so we didn't get our faces shoved in it year after year. Kazakhstan wants to play hockey, and I hope I see the day when they submit a team that competes against the best and has a shot at winning, a good shot.

Any way other than that the game was alright, the Oilers didn't have a horrible game, but it wasn't great either. I think had Hemsky been playing that game would have been a little more entertaining, or maybe it's just me who thinks he brings the majority of the entertainment value to the team. We would have had a better shot at winning as well.

On the Senators side I thought Spezza had a pretty good game, the save that Garon made on him in the first was complete fluke on his part and probably should have gone in. Regardless he still had a strong game, as did Alfredsson. I didn't really notice any of their defensemen for good or bad, except when, I think it was Phillips, ran into Alfredsson: turning the puck over and directly resulting in an Oiler goal.

I still don't think Vermette is gelling with the Sens any more, and I'd really like to see him in some Oiler gear sometime soon.

Senators Are in Town.

The Oilers are back in action tonight trying to extend their winning streak to 4 against the Ottawa Senators. By all accounts this game is definitely a winnable contest, the Senators: a team that was originally thought to bounce-back from a disappointing first-round exit last season, are kind of similar to the Oilers in one respect: neither team is living up to the pre-season hype.

The Senators are my second-favourite NHL team, I love them a lot but they will always be a second to the Oilers. I will be at this game tonight, I'm lucky I managed to get a couple of tickets to the game, on the 14th of November most of the games that were released were like a barren desert in terms of tickets actually available for sale. In a way this game is a win-win for me, of course I would prefer the Oilers to win, but the only way I come away angry tonight is if there is an injury caused by a dirty play.

There are a lot of people in Oil Country who think that Spezza is a good option for the Oilers. As a someone who watches him play for the Senators whenever I have the option to watch them on TSN or CBC I have to disagree with those people. Spezza is not the answer to our prayers, but that is just my opinion. I'm also of the opinion that Kovalchuk is not the answer either, that said I have no solution of my own to offer so perhaps I shouldn't be judging others' proposed solutions.

I hope the Oilers win tonight, as per usual (the hope is the usual event, not the win). But seeing as the Senators have already lost their last three, including one against both Calgary and Vancouver I am a little apprehensive.

EDIT: Looks like Hemsky is out for tonights game, this is not near as upsetting as the fact that he likely will not play tomorrow against Calgary either, that is a lot more worrying. Garon gets back between the pipes tonight and with a good game from him combined with perhaps Cole and Gagner continuing their good play (I am almost positive Cole will have another great game), I think we still win tonight. But a rusty Garon and a snake-bitten offense could spell disaster with a desperate team at the other end of the rink.

Canada Vs Czech Republic/Oilers @ Canucks

First let me start by saying that, despite the lack of size up-front, I love the look of Canada's WJ team this year.  I'm quite impressed with Eberle's play thus far and I hope he continues to play at this level. 

Any way, Canada wins 8-1 Vs the Czech Republic.  I'd also like to note that the Czech Republic is my second favourite international team.  I don't even know why, I just love them!  Maybe it's because most of my favourite players, if not from Canada, are from the Czech Republic.  Or maybe it was when the World Juniors were in Pardubice last year; something about watching all the shots of kids playing pond hockey and the general feel the country seemed to have made the Czech Republic so completely charming to me.  I hope to go there some day, I'll probably have to learn some of the language first.

The Oilers are about to start the game versus the Canucks and, of course, I hope they can pull out a win tonight.  That would just completely make my day.  Sundin's plane comes in tomorrow and he likely won't play 'til the new year so that is something the Oilers don't have to worry about, at least for tonight.

I really want Sammy to have a great game tonight.  Like REALLY want his to have a good game.  I need to find him a lucky egg to kiss methinks.

Elaborating Previous Statements.

So there aren't a whole lot of the points I made about last game that need to be elaborated but I'll cover the couple that do.

-The guys sitting behind me probably made that game the best all-around hockey experience I have had as of yet.

The men sitting behind me were the most awesome people I have ever met. They were the type of fans that make comedic colour commentary throughout the game, not the annoying 'I know everything' type either. Here are some of the comments and happenings that I remember clearly from that night.

-"Watch Brodziak man, just watch him... He's a king among men." (this was said because the guy thought that Brodziak wasn't making mistakes, until he made a terrible pass in his own zone up the middle to the Phoenix defensemen, at which point he said...)

-"Okay so that was a bad mistake, but I forgive you Brodziak."

-At the beginning of the third period two of them stood up and promptly, and loudly, informed the entirety of our section that there had been a lack of wave participation at the game, this was after one had gone and talked to one of the ushers who told him that there was at least one wave per game (which is bull. There was definitely no wave at the Chicago game, though that's not hard to understand why). They must have tried to start a wave at least 12 times throughout the third period, which is where this comment comes in:

-Lastly I would like to call out to every one who was sitting in sections 201-216 and 236 and their respective 100 and 300-level numbers.

You all SUCK at continuing the wave.

The wave died every time at the same spot, section 236.

There were many other things that the guys said, and I found them very funny at the time. However I cannot seem to remember them for the life of me.

Also: the lady in the row in front of us did not find these guys amusing.

Just Back From The Game...

...And I'm dying of exhaustion but I wanted to make a few notes on this game's experience.  I will elaborate on a few that require elaborating tomorrow when I am more coherent.

-Strudwick's fight was the most entertaining fight I have ever had the chance to see live.

-Stortini had a good game, and a goal to boot.

-Sam was working hard all night, Cogs had a very strong and consistent game.  I think that has been what has separated Cogs from the rest of the 'Kid Line' this season, his consistency.

-The guys sitting behind me probably made that game the best all-around hockey experience I have had as of yet.

-We still had a second period melt-down, we could have run away with this game had we played consistently at the level of the first and third periods.

-Phoenix's game was good until they got into some penalty trouble, what really bit them was the unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, I think they were both from Carcillo?

-Roloson had a good game, I think (if I'm remembering correctly) that the two goals in the second for the most part Roloson had no chance on.  Well maybe he had a chance, he always has a chance, but what I mean is that they were not his fault.

-There were a couple of weak calls, and I don't think these were just against us either.  There were even one or two called on the 'Yotes that I clearly remember thinking, "really?"

-The jumbotron guys kindly pointed out to us that both of the referees happened to be wearing the same number that night.  #34

-It was kind of funny when the Rexall announcer mis-credited the 4th goal to Horcoff when it was in fact Cogliano who scored.  It was not, however, difficult to imagine why the mistake could have been made--it was the exact same play we see Horcoff benefiting from on the powerplay so often, that sweet pass from Hemsky on the half-wall or down-low resulting in essentially an empty-net goal for his fortunate team-mate waiting back-door.

Lastly I would like to call out to every one who was sitting in sections 201-216 and 236 and their respective 100 and 300-level numbers. 

You all SUCK at continuing the wave.

That is all.

Phoenix @ Edmonton

So tomorrow night the Phoenix Coyotes are in Edmonton at Rexall Place. The Oilers will be hoping to end a three-day losing streak including the most recent: a 53 shot effort that resulted in a 3-2 shoot-out loss. Meanwhile the Coyotes will be hoping to extend their win-streak to 3, their point streak to 7.

If the Oilers put the same kind of effort in that they did for the majority of the Anaheim game they should be able to put this one away. However if they decide to have a slow first or second period they will be in for a very long night.

I will be at Rexall to watch this game tomorrow night, and I can only hope that the result will be much better than it was the last time I was in Rexall (which was the 9-2 loss to Chicago).

I'm really hoping that Sam Gagner has another good game and I hope that Cole continues his excellent quality of play. I really want a decent effort out of the boys tonight, and I want a good crowd involvement.

I'll be interested to see who is in net, I'll have to wait for the pre-game tomorrow to find out. JDD hasn't started in a while so maybe he gets the nod tomorrow night.

Canucks Sign Sundin

First I want to congratulate Vancouver, this could possibly be the move that puts them deep into the playoffs, as much as I hate to say it. Vancouver is on my list of least liked teams, and they’re pretty close to the top of that list, but this was an excellent show of patience by the Canucks’ organization. Word is that the Canucks are still looking for another top 6 forward, but if Sundin works with their line-up the way they want and expect him to I don’t think they’ll suffer without one.

Back to my team however and I hate the Canucks for signing Sundin, moreover I hate Sundin for signing in Vancouver. The North West division is difficult enough to win against as it is and Vancouver (a team that has not been a leader in the division for the past few years, and when they were they were not taken as a legitimate threat) just raised the bar even higher.

Like I said last night, I don’t know what this organization needs to do. I have some opinions on things that are of regular debate in Edmonton: whether MacT should stay, what kind of holes do we have in our line-up, should Robbie Schremp have been sent down, do the Oilers want Spezza/Kovalchuck and are they willing to sell the farm to get it done etc. But at the end of the day the fact is that my opinions on these matters do not count for anything aside from continuing a fire-y debate on the OMB.

I want our team to do well, but I can’t see that happening with the current trend in the Oilers’ play. There needs to be change, and I don’t know exactly what it is but I don’t think that changing the lines is all it will take.

I don’t want to wake up one morning and not want to watch the game that night. I don’t want a new season to start and not have the will to program the schedule into my phone. I don’t want to see the day where one of my friends asks, “so what do you think about the trade?” and I have no idea what he/she is talking about.

Those would be sad days indeed.

NOTE: I am a long way away from seeing those days.

Oilers Lose Second Straight.

I am surprisingly not all that angry after our second straight loss. It is not the 'second straight' part that is concerning, because teams go on losing streaks all the time (althought apparently this season's San Jose Sharks are exempt from this phenomenon), the issue is the way in which the games were lost. There seems to be a serious lack of heart in our game these days, and this is something I am not used to seeing. I've always seen a hard working emotional team on the ice in the past, and I guess it is a bit of a shock to see the way the Oilers have been playing of late.

Kind of like being in the shower when the hot water cuts out.

Regardless I hope there is some sort of change on the horizon, I'm not going to pretend to know what this organization needs, but as a fan I'd really like to see the Oilers playing with heart again.

I'll leave you with some song lyrics, look this one up - it's a gooder.

Revolution is My Name - Pantera

68 into the world born
And the seventies, a breath after the war
Life was confusing because of my age
Should my eyes open for tomorrows gains?
I cant help the way I am
Theres no trust and theres no end
What is my name?

(chorus)
It will never change
So here it stays
Forever is my name

From now on, cant look the other way
Keep in mind and listen to what I say
Take under wing all the ones who are lost
Build up around them an infinite wall
Dont you know just who I am?
Take the hand of wisdoms friend
What is my name?

(chorus)
Its time to change
It cant stay the same
Revolution is my name
It will never change
So here it stays
Forever is my name

What is my name? (x4)
Forever...

What is my name? (x4)
Revolution...

(2nd chorus)

Oilers @ Canucks

The Oilers play their second game of a back to back set tonight. After being absolutely humiliated at home last night, a game which I unfortunately witnessed first hand, they had best actually show up to the rink tonight.

The Oilers have played better on the road this season than they have at home, I'm not sure why that is. It could be that there is too much pressure from the home crowd in Rexall, and if that's the case maybe we should just follow them around to their road games to get something to actually cheer for, instead of being treated to a 9-2 loss at the hands of a team that, on paper, we should be just as good as, and the performance last night tells me that there is something seriously wrong with this team.

Regardless we play a Canuck team that we shutout on Saturday, which will make them come out with a bit more fire than they had last time, and they most likely have a better home record than we do. However I think the show that the Oilers put on last night will provide more fire, this could be a chippy game.

We need to get on the body and keep ourselves out of the box, I'm sure that our PK stat took another hit last night. What are our special teams at now in the league? I'm too lazy to check. I want to see some actual emotion out there. There were not many Oilers that could say they did not suck last night, I'd name some who could but it's all kind of subjective anyway.

Remember what I said last post boys? What was it I wanted?

That's right: Effort.
And boys? You didn't give that to me last night so you better have it tonight.

Blackhawks at Oilers

The Oilers strap on their skates tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks at Rexall place.

Let's hope we brought our legs tonight or this one will get ugly real fast.

Last season the Oilers and the Blackhawks were seen as teams with the same game-plan, bring some kids up to the big show and run with their skill and speed.

Last season this seemed to work a whole lot better for the Oilers than it has this season, most likely because the kids are not a surprise anymore. However in Chicago Teows and Kane have still managed to put up respectable point totals: 23 and 34 respectively.

The Oilers are going to need a good effort out of their young guns tonight if we're going to push past the Hawks, a good offensive as well as defensive game is in order. The last game the kids looked good, Nilsson looked a little shakey coming off his injury, but he'll straighten his game out. Gagner and Cogliano were feeding off eachother all night and I want to see the same kind of effort tonight, hopefully with more evidence on the scoreboard for their work.

Long story short: The Oilers need to come out with their feet moving and minds sharp and keep their hands on their sticks and their sticks on the ice. Chicago's speed will land us in the penalty box if we're not careful, but if we bring our jets tonight we will be of equal danger to them.

I'll be going to the game, despite my having an exam tomorrow at 9:00 AM. If the Oilers squander this one away I may be a little sore about losing about 3 hours of study time.

Effort boys, that's all I'm asking for.

Please Excuse Me While I Flatter.

See this guy?

On the off chance you don't know who he is, or maybe don't recognize him because this is actually a fairly good picture of him, this is Ales Hemsky. My love for this man has not always been present; I always appreciated his talent but I just wasn't that fan who raves about him any chance they get. I'm sorry for those of you who hate those people but I have become that fan.

I am that person that gets their hopes up every time Hemsky touches the puck.

I am that fan who lovingly addresses him as 'Hemmer' despite not actually knowing him personally.

I am that girl who, fully knowing it to be puck-bunny-esque behaviour, melts a little inside whenever Hemsky puts on his "gee-golly did I do that?" act following one of his spectacular plays.

This season something has changed about Hemsky, and I can't quite put my finger on what it is. Hemsky just seems to be doing every thing right at times, and I realize that there are also times where he drives every one crazy as well, but no one can deny the fact that he is the main offensive force on our team as it stands: he is the team leader in assists, goals and points. Points and assists are nothing new for Hemmer but it's the goals that are a bit of a surprise, not that it should be.

What I mean by that is that Hemsky has this absolutley wicked wrist-shot. I can't remember too many times where Hemsky gets a chance to think about his shot and it doesn't reach the twine. He has also perfected the art of utilizing the defender as a screen, catching goaltenders off guard sometimes. Combine those skills with the skill he has with the puck and why shouldn't he score goals? Simple: he always used to pass it off. Hemsky was always known as a pass-first guy, and now that he is shooting more often the goaltenders and defenders are, or at least have been thus far, caught off gaurd when they expected him to pass to Horcoff or Penner or whoever happens to be on the ice with him at that time.

Also something I've noticed and get particularly excited when I sense it is this feel that Hemsky gets to his play sometimes. There are certain times in a game when Hemsky gets the puck and you just know that that puck is going into the net. There's this determination factor that I notice and when that shows up I know there will either be a goal or a serious momentum shift in the game.

Seriously, women of Edmonton: get on this guy (and I mean that in the least vulgar way possible), he's a keeper and I'd like to see him in Oiler silks for a long time to come, so marry him already will ya?

Eberle to Play This December in World Juniors.

Jordan Eberle has officially made the World Junior team that will be playing their first game of the tournament come 'Boxing Day.' Jordan scored two goals and an assist in three intrasquad games played this past week. And being that the team decided to go heavy on the defense rather than the forwards, meaning they will have 8 defensemen and only 12 forwards: this also pretty much gauruntees that he will play, most likely in the top 6.

For me it will be nice to get a chance to see him play. I don't watch a lot of WHL hockey and as such do not see him play on the Pats. The fact that he plays in Saskatchewan does not help matters, but one thing that I never miss is the World Juniors following the big day. The 26th actually competes with the 25th for this reason in my opinion. I have missed my fair share of shopping deals so that I could watch the tournament pan out. Hopefully we will find ourselves with, what is it now, a five-peat? Go for gold boys.

The Canucks Are In Town.

The Oilers are back in action tonight following a tough loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. A game where the Oilers out-shot and generally out-played the opposition, and Anderson, the current leader in SV%, shut us down big time.

That was then and tonight is now and we’re going up against a Vancouver team that no one expected to be good this year. It didn’t look like they were making big moves this past off-season, and they’re still waiting to hear about the whole Sundin debacle, (yes I am calling it debacle, after 6-7 months of waiting it has become a debacle and I’m sure everyone can hardly wait for the decision to be made so we can stop talking about it. I kind of wish he would just go back to TO, but that’s just my opinion). And yet here they are, leading the NW division with 35 points. The Calgary Flames also have 35 points but the Canucks have a game in hand. Personally I don’t think their success will continue, but if they’re playing this well without Luongo who knows what will happen when he returns.

Back to the game at hand: I’m scanning my memory for games that we’ve played well in against Vancouver and I’m not coming up with many. We lost the only other match-up of the season thus far to Vancouver and we split the season series with them last season, although three of our wins came in the SO, make of that what you will.

Nilsson draws back into our line-up for the game; he will be reunited with Gagner and Cogliano as the ‘Kid-Line’ gets another shot, and for their sake I hope it goes well because it seems most of Oil country want Gagner sent down and have Schremp or Brule take his place. I am not a member of this philosophy.

Roloson gets the start tonight in hopes that he can perform like he did against San Jose again, if he doesn’t this could just complicate the goaltending issue, and to be honest I’m at the point where I think they just need to make a decision. If we don’t choose soon this will come back to haunt us, I’ll guarantee that.

Oilers go Down to Anderson

The Oilers managed to get 41 shots last night, something they don't do often, against a Florida team that had won 4 of their last five. After last night it is now 5 of their last 6.

The story last night was Anderson. The goaltender for Florida who has been around the league for a fair while but just now is starting to make a bit of noise. In place of Vokoun last night Anderson made all 41 saves to post a shut-out and steal a game his team didn't look like it was going to win.

As far as the Oilers go I'm not angry at the loss. I'm not even that frustrated, the bottom line is that we played well. Probably our most complete game yet. All teams lose, and sometimes the best team loses, and I think that was the case last night.

There has been some debate over whether Schremp should have been benched in place of Gagner, in fact a few comments I read on the OMB were quite ridiculous, a lot of people seem to think this was a bad move. The main argument here seems to be that Schremp was a point per game, Gagner cannot say the same. I just want to say one thing: Schremp had a point per game which totalled... Let's see... 3. Yes, that's right, three points. He's played three games. As of today he's played four this season in total and he did not look like anything special last night. Now, do not get me wrong, I like Schremp, I think he'll do well in the NHL when he gets a legitimite chance; but Gagner had a decent game last night so why wouldn't MacT try Gagner with Cogliano in the third to see if they could rekindle some of their chemistry? Makes sense to me.

I would like to note that had I been the one making the decision (which is somewhat irrelavent because obviously I'm not) I would have benched Pouliot instead of Schremp. But I think we all know why Pouliot, the defensive forward, got ice time instead of Schremp last night. I'll give you a hint: it's not because he's a better player.

In other news Petr Sykora finally got his first hat-trick in a 9-2 thumping by the Penguins on the Islanders last night. I just want to say a big congratulations to Petr, personally I wish you were still playing for the Oilers but we can't always get what we want I suppose.

Oil Vs Panthers

Rexall ice will be covered in 'Oil'-y Panthers tonight as Florida comes into our building attempting to extend their win streak to 2. Not so impressive as the fact that they've won 4 of their last 5, 5 of their last 8 (two of those losses were in overtime). Their wins come against some decent talent in the league, minus their last which was versus the Senators. They even managed to shut-out the Rangers 4-0 on the 30th of November.

They've played one more game than the Oil and have one less point (12-12-3). For a team that has 6 players out to injury, at least two of those players are ones the team definitely misses (Horton, Booth), winning 4 of their last 5 is something I would consider impressive. The Oil on the other hand are missing Nilsson, MacIntyre and Pisani. I would consider all of those players to be ones that the team misses, though thanks to our organizations depth the call-ups have been faring rather well in their absence.

On another note it's been said that Gagner draws back in tonight following a minor concussion, his absence might have been more for safety than anything. TSN reports that he's playing on the fourth line with Brule and Reddox: not his usual line mates by any stretch, but Cogs, Schremp and Pouliot have been playing really well together so at this point it might be a petter plan for them to stay together. Regardless it will be nice to see Sam back on the ice.

I haven't been watching the Panthers at all this season, so I don't know anything about the actual quality of play that their team is generating. The Oilers are on a three game winning streak and I'm sure every one in this city would really like for them to extend that to four. Here's hoping for one of our recent good first periods, it would be even better if they could continue the effort throughout the entire game. That said I won't get my hopes too high as I don't think the team has played a full 60 minutes yet.

Go Oilers Go!

Laddi Smid: About to be Traded?

There have been whispers around the Edmonton Oilers' grapevine that there is some possibility of Ladislav Smid being on the move. It is mentioned in passing in an article of the Edmonton Sun; I know, not the most reliable source. [ SOURCE ] But when one thinks about it that could be a possibility coming across the horizon.

Ladislav has not been played very often, guys like Grebeshkov and Strudwick are taking his place, not that I agree with that choice it is the choice that the coach has made. Personally I think the Oilers have loaded themselves up on so-called puck movers and are going to find themselves in a bind when they don't have any defensively oriented guys on the blue-line. For the money it will take to sign Grebeshkov this off-season: I would rather have Smid at the contract he would receive.

When one thinks about it we have three defensemen who are seen as 'puck-movers': Visnovsky, Gilbert and Grebeshkov. Souray moves the puck well as well but that is not his 'type'. Visnovsky won't be traded, and no one will want Gilbert with his new contract. But Grebeshkov is still up in the air, this is a contract year for Grebs and I'm not sure that I would renew for the kind of money he'll want, which is Gilbert type money being as they are comparable talents.

So what does that leave us should we send Smid away? We'll resign Grebeshkov, and hope that Strudwick, Staios and Souray can hold the fort while the other three rack up the turnover count? I'm not ragging on the 'puck-movers' for this, that's just the style of play that they create, high-risk/high-return type plays.


The rumour is that the Senators could be involved, at least that would appease me as the Senators are my second favourite team; I could still watch him play. That said, I think the Oilers would regret letting this kid go this season or in the off-season here-after.

Three-Headed Goalie Monster

This will be my last post on the goaltending issue of the Oilers, I promise, I just need to clear some things up.

First: I do not hate Roli, by any means, when he is on his game I'm sure he is one of the most frustrating tenders for opposing teams to play against because he just always seems to make saves that leave you sitting there with your mouth gaping, eyes wide and mind thinking 'what-the-f---!', of course you're not saying this because the idea of speech has temporarily left your skill-set. My original post on the whole 'Roli or Garon' issue was written purely out of frustration and I was perhaps too hard on Roloson, though I still think Garon should have started the game on the 26th (I am not, however, going to say that we would have won that game for sure had Garon been in net).

Second: I still think that Garon is our #1 guy for at least this season; you may chalk this up to my affinity for the guy if you like. Garon is younger than Roloson, and I realize this is an argument that has been iterated and reiterated millions of times, but the fact is that it is true; I'm not saying that Roloson is not going to be in the NHL next season (though I may have said that earlier, I can't remember), I'm saying that I don't think he will be with the Oilers next season. Of course if the whole thing with Pete Peeters is true perhaps it will be Garon who leaves, and if he isn't allowed to play then it will be on his own request.

Third: JDD is not ready to piggy-back this team; yet. There is no question, he will be ready and he will be a No 1 tender in this league eventually but to throw the kid between the pipes as a number one so early would be somewhat akin to being a neglectful parent. The result could potentially be a disaster. Now, I can't say I've been watching hockey for long enough to have a clear idea of how the average goaltender develops, but when I think of players who were thrown in too early I think of the most recent most relative to this current Oiler team: one Ladislav Smid. (I'm not saying we've completely ruined Laddi, I think he's coming around nicely this season, but after the onslaught that he received in 06-07, his season following was one that I personally would like to forget. I still don't think Ladislav should be playing with Steve Staios but that is a topic for another post.)

In summation: JDD, in my opinion, is not ready for the #1 position yet. As such we need a number one tender to take over until the day that JDD is ready, whenever that happens to be. I think our best option is Garon, though I also like to positives that Roli can bring to the table. If we go by 05-06 then it's clear that Roloson can handle the mix, but the two seasons following tell a different story, save for the last twenty or so games of last season. Garon played exceedingly well last season, but has had his struggles this season, and if we go back to his time in LA he was relatively inconsistent there.

The bottom line is that there are strong points and weak spots for both goaltenders. Garon lets in some goals that Roloson quick glove hand would have saved, Roloson doesn't make some saves that Garon's flexibility would have kept from hitting the twine. In the end there is no clear runaway choice here, only gut instinct and favouritism. I favour Garon, in case you didn't catch that.

I think that this monster is much like Fluffy here in this picture, they are both three-headed, both monsters, and both are standing on top of a door. In Fluffy's case that door leads to the Philosopher's Stone; in the Oilers' case that door leads to the playoffs.

Roloson gets the start versus the Sharks.

And he steals a game that by all accounts on paper we shouldn't have won.

I'll admit, I am a fan of Garon's, not of Roli's. But putting Roli in the net tonight was clearly the right decision. He played his best game of the season thus far tonight, and I thought he was outstanding.

I still think that Roli will not be here next year, that said if Garon continues to not be played, (yes I know he played the last two games before tonight), he most likely will not be resigning here in Edmonton, thus perhaps it would be a good idea to keep Roli around. Garon is still young, comparitively, he is 30 years old, he still has several years of hockey ahead of him, and I doubt he wants to spend those years mentoring a young goaltender and playing the odd game in support of said young goaltender.

Other positives from the game include Ales Hemsky's continuation of his excellent play and Penner's continued success on the first line. We also scored a powerplay goal and the PK didn't look half bad. All in all I think the Oilers are turning a corner, they're doing it slowly, but progress none-the-less is being made.

Roloson Starts Tonight.

What the H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY-STICKS is going on here?!?

What happened to the 'whoever is winning plays'? Or even, 'whoever is playing well plays'?

I don't know what the EFF is going on, but I am quickly loosing faith in the coaching staff of the Oilers. Roloson is NOT winning and he is NOT playing well. Everytime I see his bloody five-hole I wanna puke; stop holding on to the idea that playoff Roli is back, he is not back: end of story. Roloson has not been able to put a consistent streak of games together for the past two years: he plays well, he plays really well... And then? He tanks. I'm not talking he plays a marginal game here, I'm talking plays like a forty-year-old goaltender, who in my opinion is well past his prime, which would be fine (that's what he is) if we weren't seemingly relying on him for this team to succeed.

We need to play Garon, or at the very least JDD. Roli is not the future, and I hope to H*** that he is not here next year. All I hear about in the media right now is that as a team we are not living up to our potential, but we also are not giving ourselves the best opportunity to win: this season and in the seasons to follow. JDD needs to play more, and Garon needs to play.

I want the Oilers to win tonight, but I want Roli out of the net more... If it takes a game where he tanks completely to get him out then so be it.

Oilers Vs Kings

The Oilers are back on the ice after almost a week-long layoff, and here's hoping the days off have been used wisely. This team has yet to live up to its potential, but I feel as though the Oil are close to a break-through.

We play the L.A. Kings tonight, a team that was decimated by the Flames 6-2 last night. All things considered the Oil should play well against the Kings, but the Kings are only one spot lower than the Oil in the conference standings. This means that if the Oilers decide that they are going to come out with the same lack-lustre first period or two performance they have made a habit of the past few games it will come back to bite us; not that we've been getting away with it with other teams either.

On another note tonight is the first return of Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene. I can't say I've been paying attention to their play in L.A. but it will be nice to see them on the ice tonight.

See you after the game,

Go Oilers Go!

Oil Vs Wings: Post-Game Thoughts

Disclaimer: I did not watch the game. I did, however, listen to it in its entirety. These views are based mostly on Ched's commentary and a few comments from the OMB.

The Oilers fell down early, and they fell down hard. The velocity of a penny dropped from the CN Tower hard. It sounded as if the first of the three goals allowed by the Oilers in the first maybe could have been on Roli's shoulders, the other two were screened powerplay tip-ins. Roli was pulled in favour of the goaltender who I think should have got the start to begin with, and I sure hope this means that he will get the start in the next one.

So, Roli lets in 3 of 10 and Garon comes in to give the team a chance, letting in 1 of 25. Now, I am not one who usually blames the game on a certain species of official that is black and white, and in the "Great Magoo's" case red all over; however, it is hard to ignore the calls in the first, you know, the ones the ref's on the ice managed to ignore.

Souray was a beast on the ice tonight, again. The man is living up to his contract BIG time. I'm loving him more and more each game he plays, each shift he has.

I think I heard it mentioned in passing that Ladislav may have been injured again. Something about a jammed wrist? If this is so I will be very sad.

In short, for a team that was down by three goals for the majority of the game we played pretty well. Looking forward to next game, maybe I'll watch that one... In 6 days.

Oilers Vs Detroit

The Oilers are on Rexall ice tonight versus the team that schooled them in a 4-0 Oiler loss on Monday.

It is not yet known who will start in net tonight, but it is likely that Roli gets the start. I'm not saying that I don't want Garon to start, because it's painfully obvious from my last couple posts that I really do; but Roli had an excellent game versus Columbus so it is probable that he will start with MacT's current goalie-rotating philosophy.

There seem to be some murmurs around that are saying Laddi starts on the wing tonight, which scratches Stortini and Boulerice. It'll be interesting to see how this works out, I think MacT just wants some size up on the wing, but I'll be hoping for a successful game for Ladislav. Mostly because he's my favourite.

If we have any hope of winning tonight the offense will have to be ready and rearin' to go. No one wins a game when they don't score.

Also, stay out of the bleedin' penalty box boys, their PP rate is over 30%, which is ridiculously high. We don't want to tempt fate tonight.

I won't be watching tonight, I'll be at work, but I will definitely be listening, although Laddi on the wing is almost worth buying the last period and a half or so. Here's hoping for an Oiler's win!

Who Woulda Thunk It?

The Oilers won tonights game with goals to spare; not something Oiler fans have been accustomed to thus far in the season; what with most of our games involving the team holding on for dear life and crossing their fingers that the buzzer sounds before the last tally of the previous two goal lead is equaled.

Credit where credit is due and Roli played well tonight, not amazing, but well. I still think Garon should get a few starts, but maybe that's just me.

Pouliot scores one tonight, for the first time this season. His hard work tonight really shone through and he created chances by moving his feet. Not too many chances though ; )

Penner had a monster of a game comparatively speaking. He hit players, he used his big body and he even scored a goal; one that I definitely did not expect to find its way into the net. He was also put back on the powerplay and raised to the second line with Cogs and Gagner.

Speaking of guys who had big games, Cogs was absolutely delicious. He was moving his feet all night using all of that highly-tauted speed to catch Columbus off gaurd. He even had a nice deflection on his goal that put the Oilers up 2-0.

All in all it was a good game with few things to be negative about; the question is: can we keep this level of play up consistently?

Only time will tell.

Oilers at Columbus

So the Oilers are back in action for their umpteenth back to back set on the road versus a somewhat hot Columbus team that definitely has the personnel to come out and give us a good old fashioned beat down.

Some quick things to point out:

Pisani is out with a broken ankle, so that means that Penner is in.  I thought it was a pretty bogus move by MacT to call the guy out and not let him play directly following the comments, almost like punching a guy when he's being held down.  I hope Penner comes out tonight and plays like the monster he was at the beginning of the season, when every thing was roses and daisies.

Word is Roli is starting again, I think I made it perfectly clear who I thought should be starting the game tonight in my last post so I won't reiterate it here.  MacT give your head a shake, that's all I'm saying.

Looks like the kid Reddox will be playing again, as he damn well should.  The kid has been playing his ever loving ass off for this team since he got the opportunity to play a couple games ago, and when no one else is playing with intensity it's nice to see someone have some emotion in their game.  Play on Reddox, play on.

I think it is entirely possible that we come out of tonight with another in the L column, but if we can bring a good work ethic to the game and some good morale (which I'm sure is rare these days) we may be able to make a game of it with a few punishing, clean, but punishing hits.

Preferably on Torres.

Here's My Issue.

And as much as I hate to say it, it definitely involves MacT.

For the most part I have not been one of the many fans who rag on MacT every time we lose a game, make a stupid play or take a stupid penalty; but simply cannot stomach his decisions of late.

1. What the H-E-double-hockey sticks was he thinking with his comments against Nilsson and Penner?  I'll start with my issue with the Nilsson comments: Bobby is not even close to being the only player to go 5-7 games in-between goals/points.  If you are going to call one player out on the fact that he seems to be a bit inconsistent then you have to call them all out, and lets be honest here: its the whole damn team that's inconsistent.  My issues with the Penner comments are various.  Most of my problem is with the manner in which MacT chose to call Dustin out.  Comments including: he's just never been in the shape to help the team, that Penner viewed his contract as a finish line, and once again inconsistency comes up.  If I'm not mistaken the first one or two games of the season where we won?  They were a direct result of Dustin's play.  The whole contract finish line thing is just ridiculous, the fact is that Dustin wasn't the player that the Oilers wanted him to be in Anaheim; so if he wasn't that player then, why is it that we decided to pay him 4 and a quarter?  Take a chance on a kid who was not drafted and had a good year playing on a stacked Anaheim team?  If we're pointing fingers here Craig then we need to point a few more.  One needs to go towards Kevin for signing him, and I'm not saying that I can't understand why we signed him, we were in need of a big move and we thought this was it. And one needs to be turned around and pointed at yourself: Penner lead the team in PP goals last season and he played on the first line.  Penner has been yanked from the first line down onto a checking third line in favour of Cole (and that's from the beginning of the season), and he gets comparatively miniscule time on the PP if any also in favour of putting Cole on the PP.  If you're going to rag on a guy for being inconsistent, perhaps you should look at the difference in the way he's been used all season.  The Oilers didn't sign him to be a defensive guy, okay but maybe he shouldn't play on the checking line then; just saying.

2.  Why the F--- has Garon not been playing?  Isn't he supposed to be our starter?  Why are we rolling three goalies?  That didn't work out too well for us last time if I recall correctly.  Garon hasn't played since the 6th of November, there were at least 5 games in between his last three.  Roli has not been that good, JDD has played well but lets be honest with ourselves: the kid is not our #1 guy this season.  Play Garon MacT, use your head, but that may require for you to pull it out of a certain place first.

3. Pouliot.  I hate to rag on one player, but I was at the game when Toronto was in town and this kid got completely schooled all night.  So MacT benches Brodziak, calls out Penner and what happens to Pouliot?  He gets put on the Powerplay.  In fact in the game against Colorado on Saturday he was given a shot in the shootout.  What the F--- are you thinking MacT?  This kid is a fourth-line grinder at best, and you are not getting anything better from him any time soon, so he gets a SO chance before Cogliano?  Cole?  Horc?  I noticed at least three or four instances where the play completely DIED when the puck was given to MAP, so why is he on the powerplay if the play dies with him so often?  Speaking of lack of scoring MacT, as of today hasn't it been something like 23 games since Pouliot has scored?  Selective memory I guess.

/END RANT

Quick Second Period Notes

PK looks really good.

Our PK resembled our PKs of seasons past.  Also we took less penalties than the past couple games.  One thing is for sure.  Our PK is much better with Pisani on it.

Scoreless through 2

This is not good for us, but it's not good for the Bruins either.  This is a neutral point but but still worth mentioning.  We need to score something.

Gagner is still looking good.

Still snake-bitten, but playing strong none-the-less.  Still creating chances and making plays, hopefully he can see some reward from it soon.

Cole looks great

He was playing like a man possessed this period, there was mention that he may be double-shifting on the LW on the fourth line every so often.  Obviously MacT is noticing something in this guy, most likely his fitness level and hard working attitude.

Hemsky is still playing well and drawing penalties

Hemsky is looking more like the Hemsky we wanted to see at the beginning of the season.  He's drawing penalties and dominating on puck possession, it seems as if most of the passes he was attempting in past games he is succeeding in executing this game.

Another note is that our defensive play is much better tonight that it has been in the last few games.  <insert bid for Ladislav to play on a regular basis here>.  But seriously I think this guy needs to play, he finishes his checks and as much as people don't like his activities after the whistle so much, I quite enjoy having someone to clear the crease following the play.

Quick First Period Notes

First period is newly done, and here's what I noticed:

Shots 15-10

At one point I think we were being outshot 13-3, by the end of the period they had evened out to 15-10.  This is a good sign, though the shot clock is not always the best measure of how a game is going.  But our period was pretty darn good, leaps and bounds above last game.

Gags is good.

Gagner has been everywhere thus far.  He's creating chances, he's taking shots, he's strong on the puck and he's fore-checking.  We have nothing to worry about this kid, his time is coming.

Hemmer is good.

Hemsky has also been very noticeable thus far.  He's playing incredibly well, drawing penalties and I definitely see a break-out on the near horizon...  Perhaps later tonight.  Also, I LOVED the brief period we were treated to with the Nilsson-Gagner-Hemsky line.

We're on the PP, and the PK withstood the lone penalty kill we had.

This encompasses many things.  First, we're on the PP and it looks good.  Despite the fact that we took a penalty on the first PP (an extremely weak call if you ask me), our powerplay looks a lot better than the past three games.  Second our PK looked relatively solid as well, at least more solid than, once again,  in the past three games.  Third, we only took two penalties, one of which was an incredibly weak call, in my opinion of course, Tim Thomas was clearly out of his crease.

Perhaps more next break.

Bruins @ Oilers

The Oilers are on the ice at Rexall Place tonight playing a Bruins team that they have yet to beat since October 17th 2000.  Besides that fact the  Oilers have lost their last three games and the fans that will populate the arena tonight will be expecting that steak to be snapped. 

The Bruins are coming off a win in which they beat Atlanta 5-4, snapping their own three game losing streak.  Milan Lucic scored a hat-trick in this one, two goals of which were in the third period, the last coming with less than two minutes to play in the third.  According to Lowetide's blog post here, Milan Lucic is a machine.  I can't say I've watched him a whole lot, but if his last game is any sign of what we might be dealing with tonight I hope our defence magically got immeasurably better over the last couple nights... 

I'll be buying this one tonight, so I hope the Oilers at least show up with a good effort.  But if we lose I give you permission to blame it on the fact that I payed for the game.

Here's hopin' for a breakout game for either Hemmer or Gagner, perhaps both...  Yeah that would be nice...

Okay, Positives vs Negatives from last nights game.

Positives:

• Hemsky was flying, at least for the first period and a good chunk of the second.  I particularly noticed him several times on the powerplay resembling the force that I hope he can be.  It's only a matter of time, there will be a break-out game and soon enough Hemmer will be the dominant force we all want him to be, especially if he plays with Nilsson consistently and they develop more chemistry.  I definitely noticed a compatibility between the two of them, and it will only become more prominent the more they play together.
• Nilsson has continued his elevated level of play.  Last season I barely noticed Nilsson, perhaps it was because of the hype that followed his linemates, Gagner and Cogliano, everywhere.  But this season it seems as if he's working harder, backchecking effectively and creating chances whenever he's on the ice, and this can only be a good thing.
• Cole was absolutely flying on his natural wing, until he was ejected of course.  I look forward to seeing him play a complete game on the right side, as he is clearly more comfortable and dominant in that position.  His strength on the puck is excellent, and I think its only a matter of time until he starts to produce like we hoped he would at the start of the season.
• Our breakout and movement through the neutral zone was leaps and bounds better than the two games prior to last night.  We were giving the puck up less (we haven't lowered the giveaways quite low enough yet, but we're getting there), and our passing is getting better, there seems to be less kicking a pass from a player's skates up to his stick.
• We scored three times.  This is self explanatory, in the two games we played prior to this one we only scored once, thus three goals in one game is a vast improvement over the last two games, although 4 or 5 perhaps would have been ideal we can still win a game on 3 if we buckle down defensively.

Negatives:

• Our special teams are dismal.  The powerplay seemed to be tugging along at a decent rate early on in the season, and if we can get it back on track it won't be a worry anymore; however, our penalty-kill has been terrible all season, this past game we were running around and seemed to be breaking our box a lot in favour of chasing the puck.  Vancouver scored 4 powerplay goals on 6 opportunities, and we all know that Vancouver's powerplay is not that good (not good enough to be operating at 67% at least).  It can be said that we lost two of our best penalty killers over the summer in Reasoner and Stoll, but we need to find a way to kill these penalties.
• Which leads me to this: we took too many penalties at inopportune times, not that there really is a good time to take penalties.  Now granted, and I'm not blaming the loss on the refs by any means, some calls (Horcoff's interference call) were less than stellar, but I thought that the majority of calls made were calls that weren't outlandish at all.  We have to take less penalties, as our penalty kill is failing miserably as of late.

     Cole...  Do up your strap.  Enough said.

• Our defensive play was weak, there were too many odd man rushes coming down on Garon, and in particular on the 6th goal he was left out to dry as a 3 on 1 barrelled down on him.  Perhaps something needs to be done about poorly advised pinches, but the most notable problem is our tendency to make difficult and/or risky passes, and it seems that they always end up being picked off resulting in a chance in our end.

I actually found more positives from last game than negatives, I thought we put in a good effort for the majority of the game, although the typical phrase "we have to play for the whole 60 minutes" definitely applies here.  I look forward to hopefully watching most of the glaring negatives disappear and seeing this team become the team we thought they would be at the beginning of the season.

And so ends a streak.

The Oilers lost to the Chicago Blackhawks last night in, from what I could assume after listening to the third period, what was a terrible effort from the Oilers.  I'm sure I heard them say that if the Oilers played like they did in the third period for the rest of the game they wouldn't have been down 3-0.  Now forgive me if I'm wrong, I understand I did not watch the game, and as Chicago obviously did not score during that period it probably was better than the other two; however, from what I heard during the third period I'd think the Oilers would have had to play better than that if they had expected to win that game.

Moving on, we play again tonight against an Avalanche team that definitely did not play last night, which is something to be concerned about.  Of course we can only hope that the Oilers will come back with a-vengeance tonight, I assume that Garon will be in net tonight, which makes me happy.  The Avs are coming off a three game winning streak, so I guess we will see what happens.

On another note, how did Roli play last night?  What did those of you who watched the game or listened to the whole thing think?

Oilers @ Chicago

Tonight at 7:00 PM our beloved Oilers are on the ice against one of the few other teams in the league that are as young as we are.

Word is Roloson gets the start tonight, I'm not a big fan; that being said if we are to trade him sometime this season he has to play sometime. Hopefully he comes out with something to prove as it has also been said that he requested a trade sometime within the last month, which would mean it only benefits him to play well tonight. My only concern is if he turns the notch up to 15 tonight instead of 11 and we lose the game because of wanting it too much, resulting in poor positioning and premature reads of the play. My fingers are crossed.

Also of importance, Sam Gagner draws into the line up after a, I assume minor, lower body injury; most likely his leg or knee. This is definitely a plus, for while I enjoyed Penner's big body presence on the 'kid' line last game I definitely missed Sam's speed. Also we have to give Sam a chance to razz Pat Kane about crying on National Television don't we? (Yes, I'm a terrible person).

On the other hand it looks as if Sheldon Souray will not be gracing the ice with his presence tonight, which probably means we will see some more of Ladislav Smid if this is the case (Yay!).

I'll be missing something like the first two periods of the game tonight, and I will definitely not pay $13 to watch the final period, so I'll be listening to Rod Phillips and trying to piece together whats occuring when he loses himself, not that I don't appreciate Rod's experience.

Quick Second Period Comments

We shall do this point-form style, as there is not much time left before the third period.

-We are being outshot miserably, which is what I was afraid of, it seems that this trend continues after the preseason, this is something that must be fixed.

-We are failing at the face-off dot. This is self explanatory, I'm sure this will either be fixed or we will bring some one in to do the fixing.

-The Avalanche scored, thus tying the game. It was on a scramble of sorts, the third shot at Garon went in, I believe it was Sakic.

In short we need to do better in the third, we looked pretty good at several different times in the second, and if we can capture that more often in the third, we may be able to pull this one through.

First Period Break Check-Up

So one period of play is in the books on the Oiler's home opener, and we're up 1-0. Good right? Yeah, but we've been outshot by a count of 10-6, which is okay as we are in the lead, but it is definitely far from great.

We had a couple of good chances, one in particular that actually sent off the goal horn and I'm assuming the goal light also went on. It was an excellent chance but perhaps the goal judge needs glasses, there was no semblance of a puck behind the goal line.

The Avs also look pretty good, my heart was in my throat a couple of times throughout the period. Those of note include Sakic's 'goal,' (when I thought they were actually going to count it) and, was it Arnason? That somehow missed that wide open net? Nerves perhaps?

Shawn Horcoff said it best during the intermission interview, we need to tighten it up, less sloppy play is never a bad thing.

Perhaps I'll write more next intermission.

EDIT: The intro was amazing! The idea of the greats of the past handing down the legacy by passing the puck to the Oilers of today, leading to goals, was absolute brilliance. Not to mention that the Rod Phillips clips were perfectly blended, it would actually have been believable had the video clips not been so obviously different. Regardless, it was absolutely brilliant.

First Game-Day of the Season!

I'm so excited I think I'm literally buzzing; don't touch me or I'll zap you! But maybe you're into that kind of thing.

Hockey is officially back for Oiler fans tonight, playing against an Avs team that lost their opener to Boston. I, of course, am hoping for an Oiler win tonight, but I'll be satisfied with a solid effort so long as there is a good show of energy out-the-gate. I actually laughed a little during the pre-game interviews when Dustin Penner said that the player introductions make him nervous, something about the possibility of tripping and falling in front of about 17,000 people I suppose...

Less than two hours until puck-drop, I'm buzzing, Dustin Penner is nervous and I'm hoping that I'll be in an equally good mood following the game.

More later... Perhaps in between periods.

Mish-Mash Time.

I write to you today overflowing with happiness that my first wave of midterms has come to an end.  With relatively few bruises to my GPA I write with no worries about how these ten to twenty minutes will affect my study time.

I am hardly able to stand myself as I lay in wait for the Oilers' season to start on Sunday.  I'm excited despite the fact that Laddie Smid will not be in the starting line-up for Sunday's game, I'll say just one thing about that:  I realize that I have a little too much patience for Smid than I should, but I think it will be a grave mistake to keep him out of the line-up for too long; especially when in his place you're playing Strudwick.  Don't get me wrong, I have no qualms with Strudwick, I'm just a fan of Laddie--thus my patience.

On an incredibly positive note: I kicked the hypothetical ass of my Classics exam last night--go me!

Okay, One Last Post...

Okay so I had to mention that the Oil did win tonight bringing their preseason record to a staggeringly impressive 2-2-3. I hope you caught the sarcasm there because if you didn't I wouldn't know how to make it any more obvious than by putting these tags around the sentence <sarcasm> </sarcasm>.

In all honesty I don't know how Garon pulled this game into the win column, although by studying Rod Philips' voice levels I'm pretty sure he transcended the realm of mortal motor skills and had no business saving at least one of Dallas' shots. You know the type I speak of, the same quality that Luongo makes about 10 times a night in order to put his team into a position where they could make the playoffs but don't because there is a lack of up-front firepower. But I digress. Oil win, Eskies win, I'm catching up and I hope the preseason is not a sign of the way the regular season will go, we all know it wasn't last year.

Back to English...

A Catch-up Game...

I'll be the first to admit I've been playing a major catch-up game this past month. Hell, I haven't even been on top of my Oilers' pre-season games this year; my phone politely reminded me today at 5:00 PM that the Oil were to take on the Stars tonight at 6:00 PM. Now because I had for some reason thought that this game was tomorrow I did not make plans to do my grocery shopping earlier, say this morning or yesterday. As such I listened to the majority of the first period in my car instead of the comfort of my living room.

That is the end of it, I am getting a hold on things and finally going to keep up with everything that I have going right now. I will know when the Oilers play, and who they play against, ahead of time, I will read my English readings BEFORE my professor gets frustrated that we haven't read them, I will understand the philosophy concepts prior to partaking in the debate in class. And I will actually get work done at work, as I do have a lot of free time. Free time that I should not be spending daydreaming about the sexy guy in my Biology class or plotting my television show conquest schedule. I will spend my time getting caught up and keeping up with the flow of my life; now if you'll excuse me I have a few pages of English left.

Serious catching-up to do

It has been FOREVER since I've posted on here, and I confess I have not been too busy to do so just merely forgotten.  I know, I'm a terrible person...  Back to the matter at hand.

Hockey season is back!  And although the Oilers have lost three of their four preseason games we haven't looked terrible, in fact I would say we looked pretty damn good for the most part.  Tonight is preseason game #5 and its on TV, so there is no excuse for you not to watch it.  Sportsnet West will be broadcasting both tonight's game and the rematch this Friday.

On a different note the Eskies aren't doing fabulously well, not terribly bad, but definitely not well.  We have dropped into a tie with BC for third in the West, the only upside I see would be the fact that the Eastern conference is sucking it big time this season and there will most likely be a cross-over team and we are in the mix for that position.

I would love to sit here and talk some more however I have a midterm tomorrow that I need to study for.  But not before I head down to pay this next months rent - perhaps on the way down I will figure out why our rent is over $1600 a month.

Just a Catch-Up Post...

So my Eskies won last night, and I have to say I got chills when Kamau Peterson Caught that ball and lifted his jersey to see '83' on the shirt beneath. This win, which was clearly for Jason Tucker, as I'm sure the majority of the wins this season will be, puts Edmonton in Second in the West with a 4-2 record.

In other news one of my favourites went home last night in Last Comic Standing, Sean Cullen was eliminated along with Adam Hunter and Ron G. Happily Iliza Shlesinger and Jeff Dye (my #1 fave) made it through to the top 5.

In Oiler news Kevin Lowe has been promoted to President of Hockey Ops, while Steve Tambellini comes in as the new GM. Interesting to see how this plays out for the club during the season, see how it works I guess.

So I'm Sitting At Work And...

And I realize how utterly boring my life is right now.  What with no hockey, the Eskies only playing once a week if that, no major assignments to hand in, no bills to pay, and after I finish the book I'm currently reading I will have to resort to re-reading novels I own, some of which I've probably already re-read once or twice.

I need a plan...  Something that will keep me occupied for hours at a time.  It wouldn't be so bad except I have absolutely nothing to do at work for the 5-6 hours a day that I'm here.  And combining that with the fact that I work 6 days a week makes a seriously bored existence...

A CFL Update.

So my favourite CFL team the Eskies is currently 3rd in the west and will be going into Sunday's game with a 2-1 record. Toronto, the team we will be facing for a second straight game after we obliterated them 47-28 last Thursday, comes in at second in the east with a 1-2 record. Apparently the East is sucking a little this season as their first place Montreal Allouettes [hate, hate, HATE them] have the identical record to ours, while the western division's leader, the Sask. Roughriders are undefeated.

Calgary coming in second in the west with a 3-1 record and BC bringing up the rear with a 1-2 record. In the east Hamilton is third with a 1-3 record, while Winnipeg has yet to win a game in the basement.

So the standings look like this...

WEST

Saskatchewan 3-0; Calgary 3-1; Edmonton 2-1; BC 1-2.

EAST

Montreal 2-1; Toronto 1-2; Hamilton 1-3; Winnipeg 0-3.

Does Not Compute...

So about three weeks into the top 24, several months into the competition (from audition to Wednesday night) and approximately one month after he became my favourite contestant ever to grace Canadian Idol; Gary Morissette was booted swiftly from the CI stage in favor of some severely less talented vocalists with smooth voices, childish tones, and performance styles that will have you half way through your REM cycle by the time you get to the chorus.

I can't really say I'm surprised that he was eventually voted off, as my favourites have not been the winner of any 'Idol' show to date. I was however surprised at how soon he left, I would have thought at least top 6 or 7, at the VERY least.

The fact is that Canada got it wrong, and not just in Gary's case either. The fact that the eldest Pigott brother, Oliver, who was quite possibly one of the most sincere singers I have witnessed in my lifetime, also left that night was an utter travesty, the same could be said for the departure of Omar who's vocal range and smooth transitions from chest voice to falsetto were a joy to listen to.

Not saying all of the top ten don't deserve to be there, but there certainly are a few whom I am less than impressed are there ahead of those previously mentioned.

A complete and disgusting, but not entirely unpredictable failure by Canada this week.

That is all.

PS: Planning on making a road trip down to see his band "Unknown Culprits" play, if you want to check them out they're on MySpace.

Unknown Culprits MySpace Page

Oil Sign Strudwick.

So regardless of the age of the picture to the left, although by looking at the size of the jerseys I think we can all assume that this picture is a minimum of a season old, it seems that the Oil have signed a fighter. I realize that this post is a few days late but the newest player to be donning the Oil silks this coming October will be Jason Strudwick.

Now correct me if you want but browsing through this guy's career stats it seems to me that we just got a much older Matt Greene... 8 years older to be exact. Similar point production, which with all things considered is next to nothing, similar penalty minutes, Strudwick has never played an entire 82 games, neither has Greener but at least he has come to within 4 games of a full season. Don't know how I feel about this signing, although upon the mandatory youtube review of incoming players I have found him to be a relatively decent fighter, maybe that was Klowe's motivation?

Also of notability is that he's a fan favourite of sorts, quite the character from what I've heard.

Colour Me Whatever Colour Means I'm Not Surprised.

So after celebrating a birthday party, not mine but an excellent friend of mine's, and having a rough time sleeping on a couch in the basement, surprisingly comfortable for a couch but for some reason I'd taken on the qualities of an insomniac; I find myself waking up to the sound of my phone vibrating on a wood table with 'TSN BREAKING NEWS ALERT ... Jaromir Jagr signs two-year deal with Avangard Omsk of Russian league... MORE AT TSN.CA'

While my stomach did not drop a little like it did when I received this text: 'TSN BREAKING NEWS ALERT ... Marian Hossa has signed a one year, $7.4 million deal with the Red Wings ... MORE AT TSN.CA' I did have to suppress a slight groan of frustration to prevent myself from waking the Birthday Girl, which I ended up doing anyway.

So now I guess my question is...

Now what?

Two Camps for Die-Hard Oil Fans.

It appears fans who 'Bleed Copper 'N Blue' will be members of one of two camps tonight; let me lay them out for you.

Camp # 1: Fans in this camp either stayed up all night last night on the Oiler message board discussing the idea of Hossa or had a rather restless sleep involving nightmares of Hossa signing with the Calgary Flames/Vancouver Canucks, the reality of it all being nearly as bad but not quite there. These fans will be spending another night either on the message board, refreshing TSN/Sportsnet every 3-10 seconds or both.

Camp # 2: Members of this camp also had a long night last night either on the message boards or dreaming of themselves kicking in their television screen after Pierre Mcguire explains the ins and outs of Hossa's new deal with one of the teams in the Nortwest division for the Nth time, after which Glenn Healy was supposed to list and describe in coloured detail the teams he thought were going to be good and which teams he thought were going to be a terrible disappointment. And lets face it; no one wants to listen to that. These fans differ from the first camp in that they will be spending the night in bed attempting to get some sleep, some probably actually falling asleep only to wake up with a terrible empty feeling and rush to their computer while turning on TSN or Sportsnet depending on whether Connected or Sportscenter is on in desperate need of information. Some of these fans will then look at the clock and realize that it is only 3:00 AM and likely there hasn't been much progress on the Jagr front.

Either way tonight will be another long night in Oil Country.

I don't know which camp I'm in, but I won''t be getting much sleep tonight.

EDIT: According to recent reports we could be waiting for as long as a week for Jagr's decision, here's hoping thats not the case. It may be more than one long night in Oil Country.

No News So Let's Discuss 1-2 Day Old Leftovers.

It has recently come to my attention upon discussing the Pits for Cole trade that I should maybe take another look at Cole. Carolina fans seem to have a sort of love for him akin to Edmonton's love for Smytty... Okay so maybe not quite that strong, but pretty freakin' close. It seems that he's got some wheels and is a pretty big body on the ice, garners about 50-60 pts a year inclusive in that stat are 20+ goals per year. Seems like he's got a lot of character, so I am a little more excited to see him on the ice next year.

Which line though?

Here's the options:

1- He plays on the first line misplacing Dustin Penner to be pushed down to the second/third line.

2-We split up the kid line and send Nilsson down to the third line.

3- We place Cole on the third line to tear it up as a scoring threat on the checking line.

Okay. I don't think we should break up the kid line. Call me crazy but I really enjoyed watching them play together last year and they were clearly better together than they were split apart. Thus if we were to do option #1 Penner would have to be put on the third line, that is in my mind [this is all opinion based] and I won't even consider option 2. So Cole or Penner on the first line? I suppose we shall have to wait and see, where's the chemistry at?

Interesting to see if we add any more players to the line-up.

Lost Out Again.

While I'm not usually one to buy into the so-called hesitation by UFA/RFA players to play/live in Edmonton, its getting a little difficult to remain with the opinion that Edmonton is a great hockey city and it isn't the city that is the problem when a player signs in another city for notably less than what Edmonton was said to have been offering him. Honestly I don't have any hatred towards Hossa, he is still a great player, I'm just frustrated with the fact that for the past couple years we have had some problems signing big name players, and regardless of whether it is actually because they don't want to play in Edmonton, situations like this certainly don't silence such rumours.

I'm actually pretty comfortable with not signing Hossa, obviously he was not going to play in Edmonton for the same price so there's no sense being upset about it. Right after I heard about it I was a little more upset, but now I'm just wondering what move we're going to make next.

See you in a bit; hopefully with some better news to discuss.

First Post Ever...

Ah yes, well then to the point; I have never done this before, and to be quite frank I have an excess of opinion and to be honest I think the people I personally know are a little tired of hearing it, so I shall use this as an outlet of sorts. On to my favourite topic - The Edmonton Oilers.

So Raffi, Joni, Stolly and Greener are on their way out; actually they're already gone. I confess to being a little disappointed with the fact Greene is gone, if for nothing else than his sense of humor. I also have to admit to being moderately un-impressed with the choice to move Stoll after one lackluster season, there were a lot of questions of whether he would ever recover from his concussion, and he certainly did not silence these inquiries with last season's effort; however I think I probably would have given him another shot. That said I can't say I am at all surprised that Raffi is on the outs, and after we acquired Lubomir Visnovsky in return for Stolly and Greener I definitely was not surprised when it turned up that Joni wasn't going to return to our organization.

To be honest I can't say I know much about any of the players we received in exchange, but I do remember cursing Visnovsky's name at least a few times while the Oilers were playing the Kings last season for reasons that can only be considered good now that he is to play for my team. From what I've heard he is an offensive defensemen who is an excellent powerplay quarterback he is also said to have fairly good skating ability but somewhat lacking in defensive responsibility. Okay so let me get this straight; We traded Matt Greene, one of our few stay-at-home defensemen and one of our best two-way forwards [last season excluded] who was also one of our most reliable penalty killers as well as a quarterback on our powerplay for an offensive defensemen who is a smooth skater and loves to jump in on the play. This made no sense until Joni was traded, then obviously it was a little easier to understand. Here's hoping Ladislav can step it up this season, I know he can, I see great potential in him to be a great defensive D-man with an offensive upside and if he can be a little more like what I believe he will become that would be great. [If that made sense at all.]

Alright so lets get this out of the way: To save you from trying to figure out for yourselves which players/teams are my favourites and which ones are on the other end of the stick I'll give you a short rundown.

Teams I like:
The Edmonton Oilers - Obviously. They are who I would refer to as 'my team.' Being from the Edmonton area I am obsessed with the Oilers and if I start talking about them it takes a lot to make me stop. I watch every game with the exception of games that I am away from my house for, then I have someone stationed in front of my television sending me frequent descriptive text messages explaining the current situation in the game. My family are enablers who say they think my love of the Oil is crazy and yet still buy me Oilers things all the time.

The Pittsburgh Penguins - I don't know exactly when this liking brewed, but one day I was watching a random game just because it was on and I found myself pulling for the Pens to pull it through, they were behind at the time which leads me to believe that I began to love them mostly because of the supposed 'underdog' status they had in that particular game which reminded me of the Oilers at that particular time. They lost the game, which also reminded me of the Oil.

The Ottawa Senators - I began to like this team about three or four years back, mostly because of their playing style, I enjoy watching them play regardless of the fact that they were horrendous the last half of last season despite the strong start.

Teams I Dislike:
Vancouver Canucks - There was a time when I would have placed Calgary in the top spot, but recently Vancouver has nestled itself into that spot and they don't seem to be leaving anytime soon.

Calgary Flames - I am from Edmonton and as such I was raised to hate Calgary, or at least harbour a healthy competitive dislike. Then when I moved there for a year in primary school I actually got a reason to dislike Calgary, not that this is any knock on the city or the people who live there, the atmosphere there is just much different then it is in Edmonton.

Toronto Maple Leafs - My dad loves this team, why? I have no idea, he's from Winnipeg so he can't even say he grew up there. I personally have a serious unfounded dislike for this team, why? As I said it is an unfounded dislike, thus it has no root, I just don't like the team.

Favourite Players:
On the Oilers: Ales Hemsky, Ladislav Smid, Sam Gagner, Kyle Brodziak.

On the Penguins: Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Petr Sykora, Kris Letang.

On the Senators: Antoine Vermette, Mike Fisher.

On other teams: Sergei and Andrei Kostitsyn, Rick Nash, Mike Green, Jonathan Teows.

I'd get into players I don't like but I don't really like to pin-point certain people or players as ones that I don't like as I often won't dislike then in about a week or two.

Any way it is almost 12:00 AM so I think I shall go and sleep for a couple hours until I'm up waiting for news on the Hossa front, which I am also torn on.
I love Hossa's upsides, as there are many, but the financial end of it worries me a little but I'm sure if the deal does go through that management has a plan for the financial stuff, or maybe I'm putting to much faith in the management.

Time will tell.