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.