The Willingness To Get Your Hands Dirty

Net Front Presents?

The image above is from the game the other night.  Look at those netfront presents!  It was one of the few times I recall during the game where the Oiler players actually drove to the net looking for garbage.  Great work down low by Hemmer to shovel it out front, Horcoff got a rebound and tried to hammer it home.  Players were shoved all over the place, people were flying into the crease and out of the crease...even Backstrom was shoved into his net from the sheer netfront presence in front of him.  In short...the Oilers mucked it up in front of the net and almost got a puck in the net for it.  It appears to be something that lacks on a consistent basis this year with my beloved squadron.

Penner seems to bee one of the few guys that actually stands in front of the net...mostly on the powerplay, mind you, and mostly because he is told to, but he's there!  I was watching specifically the other night for the Oilers to employ something different in their offensive zone tactics.  Most of the season they seem to think that carrying the puck in the zone and firing the puck around or thru the defender from the half boards, hoping for a rebound, is going to generate a lot of chances.  Well, it mostly hasn't.  Either the half board "skilled player"loses the puck and turns it over or the shot is never taken and the play ends up going the other way with nothing to show for it.  The few times a shot does get thru, nobody is driving to the net to mop up...there's not traffic in front.  It's very frustrating.

Another thing....there's very little retained puck possession in the offensive zone for what ever reason.  Lack of willingness to compete along the boards?  Players that think they can stick handle their way out of anything?  A few cases of Individualitis which leads to lack of team play?A lack of desire to get their hands dirty?  I don't know what it is but the majority of Oiler shots seem to come from the perimeter.

So, that being said?  What do I want to see from the Oilers this evening vs. the Ducks?  Well...throw some fucking hits for one.  I wanna see more of JF Jaques hits that lead to Brodziak shots from high slot with Stortini's ugly mug right on top of the crease.  That's the kind of shit I wanna see tonight.  Play physical!  I don't wanna see (insert skilled forward name here) skate thru the neutral zone, fake slap shot, button hook outside, attempt cross ice pass just inside zone and have the pass intercepted and give up an odd man rush the other way.  I don't wanna see the shit.  I see enough of it watching the Oilers lately.

I also wanna see more images like the picture up there.  Bodies flying towards/in/out/on the net.  I wanna see some gritty playoff hockey where one of our players would put a puck in with his teeth if it meant the Win.  I wanna see the players look and play like they give a shit.  I want them to give me a reason to cheer.

That brings me to my other rant...Yesterday Dan Tencer's blog had an audio clip mixing audio memories of the '06 cup run with interjected pleas of mercy from Gilbert, Grebs, Gags, Struds and Horc.  They all wanted the fans to know that they need our support during the homestand.  They want us to cheer loudly and not boo them.  They want us to know that we give them motivation to play.   Well for fuck sakes.  I don't know why, but that rubbed me the wrong way.  Especially when Horcoff said "fans don't realize..."....  What the fuck do you mean Horcoff?  We realize you're not exactly mopping the floor with your oposition lately.  We realize you, Mr. Horcoff, are practically invisible during the game lately.  We realize you wiff on shots and passes.  We realize you are about to be the highest paid mook on the team next year.  We realize lots.  You need to realize that YOU need to play like you want it and the fans will get behind you.  Until then, expect us to be skeptical of your abilities and desire to win games with whatever it takes.  Give us a fucking reason to get behind you.  God dammit.

Ok... Now, I'm willing to put this rant behind me tonight and ravage a case of Bud Light while watching the game.  I'll cheer loudly and yell at my TV.  I'll even support Horcoff and his bid to get motivated.  I am a fan...always will be...always have been.  I just don't like you questioning my ability to support the team, Mr. Horcoff.  Now...go out there tonight and please play like you give a fuck.  Give me a reason to be happy again.

Sincerely,

The Towel Boy

They Killed The Baby Ewoks

Welp.  Looks like the baby Ewoks died for nothing.

...They play the Ducks tonight....I've got nothing to say right now.

TB, out.

Oilers at Endor vs. The Evil Galactic Empire

Allow me to nerd out for a moment...

If the Oiler season could be a story arc of sorts, and one could compare that story arc to one of the greatest double trilogies of all time - "Star Wars"....this would be the point of the story in "Return of the Jedi" where we await to see if Han Solo can successfully disable the shield generator on Endor...with the help of the Ewoks, of course.

It's the moment where you think all hope is lost. The empire has seemingly won. The Ewoks are dying. The sad music is playing. Luke is about to get his ass tazed by the Emperor. It's basically as shitty as you can think it can get. Much like where some think the Oilers are right now in their season.

But you know what? You know who had hope? You know who Mr. Positive was? It was Han's old buddy Lando. Lando Calrissian. Lando believed in his heart that Han would get that shield generator down. But there was another believer. That believer was a five year old me. I believed Lando was indeed correct and Han would get that generator down. Why? Cuz even though I was five...I knew the story would suck if Han didn't do his job. The baby Ewoks would have died for nothing. Even a five year old knows baby Ewoks dying for nothing doesn't make good cinema.

I look at this next game coming up in Phoenix tommorrow night as the battle on Endor for control of the shield generator. The shield generator is, of course, a playoff spot and the Oilers are Han Solo. The happy ending all hinges on whether or not they do their job. If they wanna blow up the Death Star (win the Cup)...they need to win this pivotal battle to get there. Han didn't let the baby Ewoks die for nothing and I hope the Oilers have the same morals. Come on Oilers, do it for the baby Ewoks. With their cute little black beady eyes and fluffy fur. Do it for them! Let's get that generator down so we can blow up that Death Star!

/end nerdness.

What does all this Star Wars talk at all have to do with the Dessert Dog up there?  Absolutely nothing...but thanks for reading.

Your Pal,

The Towel Boy

Jedi Master

Oiler Cats vs. Red Wings...mrraawwr!

How totally awesome is that picture? What would the world be like without google image search? Crazy to think there was a time where google image searching didn't exist.

Allow myself to start with an old joke...stop me if you've heard this...oh wait, you can't...read it, bitch! (That was a bit harsh...wasn't it?-ed.)

The Detroit Red Wings foreign scout flies to Baghdad to watch a young Iraqi play hockey in the new American sponsored league, and is suitably impressed and arranges for him to come over to the US .

Ken Holland signs him to a one year contract and the kid joins the team for the preseason.

Two weeks later the Wings are down 4-0 to the Blackhawks with only 10

minutes left. Mike Babcock gives the young Iraqi the nod and he goes in. The kid is a sensation - scores 5 goals in 10 minutes and wins the game for the Wings! The fans are delighted, the players and coaches are delighted, and the media love the new star.

When the player comes off the ice he phones his mom to tell her about his first day of NHL hockey. "Hello mom, guess what?" he says in an Iraqi accent.

"I played for 10 minutes today, we were 4-0 down, but I scored 5 goals and we won. Everybody loves me, the fans, the media, they all love me."

"Wonderful," says his mom, "Let me tell you about my day. Your father got shot in the street and robbed, your sister and I were ambushed, raped and beaten, and your brother has joined a gang of looters, and all while you were having such great time."

The young Iraqi is very upset. "What can I say mom, but I'm so sorry."

"Sorry? You're Sorry? !!" says his mom, "It's your fault we moved to Detroit in the first place!"

Now Click Here

There...now that we got that groaner out of the way....on to the more important things...liiiiike:

How the hell did we thrash the Avs and come out on top of the Hawks on our roadtrip, but couldn't score a damn goal in Minnie on Sunday? Man. I was hoping to go 2 for 3 on the trip, and I pegged the Hawks game for a loss and hoped for a win against the Wild. It's still the same amount of points earned in the standings...but at least my way the Oil would have stuck it to the Wild-who are chasing us in the standings, far too uncomfortably close I might add. Oh well. I guess it was still a pretty good road trip, all things considered. The Oilers are still in a death grip* of 7th place in the West.

The Redwings come into RX1 tonight. Not sure how I feel about that exactly. I do know the Oilers haven't faired well against the RougeWings this season. Let's see....4-0, 4-3, and 8-3....all losses for the mighty Oil. From a statistical standpoint it's fair to say, judging from the historical final score data noted prior, that the RedWings will likely score a number of goals evenly divisible by 2...and the Oilers will lose. That's what a statististishun would say**...but being that I have no knowledge of statistics and can only rely on my blind optimism as a hard core Oilers nut...I say the Oilers win this game tonight and stick it to the RedWings a la Cup Run 2006. The Oilers are in "Take no prisoners" mode and proved that prior games in the season series mean jack squat by beating the Blackhawks on Friday night...a team that, previous to the last game, had their way with the Oil.

I predict 4-2 Oilers.

GOILERS!

Towel Boy, out.

*perilously teetering on the brink of disaster

**no, probably not...you tool.

GOALA-GOALA-GOALA-GOALA-GOOOAAALLLL!!!!

Sam Gagner:

3 Goals. 1 Assist. First career hatty. 8 points in the last 5 games.

Jesus H. Christ, that was AWESOME! What a great time to bust that sophmore slump.

I still don't really know what just happened...but I love it. Who saw this coming!?!

On to Chicago boys!!

Towel Boy

LET'S DOOOOOOOOO THIS!!!

Hokay. The Oilers finally got that monkey off their backs and won a game in OT against the Blues. It was a badly needed win and so too was the extra point in the standings. I would have rather seen the Blues not get ANY points...but...whatever. I'll take it.

Great news! The Oilers head off on a gut check type of road trip with three games in four nights against the Avs, Hawks and Wild. There's even an awesome back to backer in there for good measure. Oh, and an afternoon game in Minnesota to sweeten the pot. Wait...how in the hell is this at all good news for the Oilers?

...yeah...I've got nothing either.

I just don't know how it's all gonna turn out...but I think the one game we SHOULD win for sure would be against the Avs. The Oil should be well rested and they actually won the last time they played in Colorado...oh, and the Avs suck. After that, it's a crap shoot. Chicago has had our number all season and, I'm too lazy to look it up, I can't remember the last time we won in Minnie...in an afternoon game none the less....so ..."yay" on that front.

Well...I've got no choice but to go into this with a "They can do it!" attitude and cheer them on in full force...with full beers. I'll do my part. Oilers, you better do yours!

GOILERS!


With love,

yoB lewoT

Patty O'sullivan and The Little People

HAPPY ST. PATRICK O'SULLIVAN'S DAY!

GOILERS!

WINNERS FIND WAYS TO GET THE LOSER POINT

K, so I'm sitting here trying to think of something positive to pry out of this sich-yay-shun the Oilers find themselves in of late.  Let's take a look...

The Negatives:
The PP sucks.  The PK sucks.  Three straight OT losses.  Hemsky isn't scoring.   Teams that are far below us in the standings seem to find ways to beat us.  It's friggin' cold and snowy in March.  Life seems to suck right now in Oil Country.

The Positives:

OMG!!!1!! moment:  I was staring at the standings waiting for something to jump out at me...and I quickly noticed the Oilers' startling inability to win in regulation has lead to the startling inability to win in OT as well.  Eureeka!  That's it!  This is the positive I've been looking for!  The wonderful LOSER POINT!  Five points in our last 10 from just gettin' er to OT.  Sweet baby jesus, whoda thought losing could somehow be a positive?  The Oilers are still in a play off spot cuz of it.  Another positve?  The Wild, Ducks and Stars, whom the Oilers are in a dog fight with for a ticket to the dance, all have less points in their last 10 games.  The other teams in the mix being, Nashville, Columbus and St. Louis have gathered more points in the last 10...but they're not running away with it either:

TEAM   PTS PTS in L10

Vancouver 81 15

Columbus 78 12

Dallas 74 9

Edmonton 73 11

Nashville 73 15

St. Louis 72 14

Minnesota 72 7

Anaheim 70 9

Yes, due to pitty points, the Oilers have eeked out 11 points in their last 10 games.  It's enough to stay in the mix, for now.   Who saw this coming!?!   By most standards this sort of record isn't great...mediocrity often isn't great by its very definition, but it could be much worse.   We could be Minnesota.  We could be Anaheim.   We could even be Dallas.   It would suck to be Dallas, but they have those sweet "Ice Girls".  Only in Texas could they somehow find a way to make cheerleaders part of hockey.  I love it.  Moving on...

Anyways, yes the team has issues, no question.  Maybe they'll make it, maybe they won't...but HOPEFULLY they can get their shit together real fast and hand it to St. Louis tomorrow night down at the Pharmacy.  Enough of this mediocrity...get to the winnin' already...and DON'T GO TO OT!

I still think this smells like '06.  Just sayin...

Love,

Towel Boy

Seriously...

Marty Fucking Reasoner?

*places head in palm of hands...weeps uncontrollably*

Ilya Kovalchuk To Edmonton (E5)

No lie. Ilya is coming to Edmonton tomorrow night. He's coming with his Atlanta Thrashers in tow to play a hockey match against the Mighty Oilers. I should mention here that he's coming in with his team on a 3 game winning streak and he's also coming in with 12 points in his last 5 games. Great. Just great.

Imagine the scene above, played out 45 to 50 plus times next season: The post goal bench flyby. Imagine your jubilation. Imagine your pride. Imagine Ilya Kovalchuk as an Edmonton Oiler.

*sigh...stares longinly into image dreaming of what could be*


Yes. I want to see Ilya Kovalchuk in Oiler silks next season. It's possible. He is a UFA next summer. If things go south, the Oilers will probably be looking to restructure their salary commitments somewhat and would likely love to find room for a Kovalchukian type of guy. I'm sure the Thrashers would love to resign him too and will probably do everything in their power to do so. Let's just hope Katz does a good sell job on him this summer and seals the deal with rides in his private jet, Rexall One.


I would like to think that if the Oilers strike out with Hossa this summer, they'll likely be looking to add a top gun of some sort to please fans like me who like flashy goal scorers. Ilya is exactly that: flashy, shiny, Russiany and goal scorey...ohh...to dream of what could be.

Oh that's fucking lame!

What the fucking hell just happened?!?

I honestly thought the Oilers were gonna blow thru this game.

After two periods they Oil were massively out hustling, out shooting, out chancing, and generally out awesoming the Habs.

Then the 3rd period happened.

Then OT.

Then a penalty by the new kid.

Then...FUCK!

OILERS VS. HABS - ROUND 2

The Oilers can't let this business about Bob Gainey stepping behind the bench get into their heads when they visit the Bell Centre tonight.  MacT should pay no attention either...no for real...he's safe.  Right?

For the second time in three seasons, Bob's back.  He decided that the shit show Carbo has been running isn't good enough to guarantee a playoff birth this spring.  I guess he thinks he can do better.  I guess the pressure is on to make the dance in the 100th season of the Habs.  

I don't know, maybe he can make it happen.  Maybe Guy just quit.  Maybe the players quit on Guy.  All I know is that coach firings are anyone's guess as to how the team will respond.  My guess is they'll come out swinging.  But like I said...the Oilers can't let this business of Gainey taking over interfere with THEIR compete level.  They need to bring it.

This is the same team that the Oilers mopped the floor with about a month ago putting up a nice healthy 7-2 win.  The Oilers need to channel those memories into this evening's affair and continue the moppage of the Habs in the season series.  The Oilers need wins badly if they want to make the post season.  Both teams have something to prove in that regard, so it should be a feisty affair.

Sounds like B.D.P. (Big Dustin Penner) sits tonight and Row-bert Neelson will draw back into the lineup after sitting and watching from the rafters for four games.  MacT says he can't wait anymore for BDP to get his shit together and, with Bobby heading back in the lineup, there's no room with the newly added depth for everyone.  So BDP sits.  

There's a good back and fourth started by Jonathan Willis over at Oilersnation.com about the surprising merits of BDP on the top line.  It's a good read.  It pretty much boils down to "yeah, BDP isn't the fastest moving guy, he's not the skinniest, and he's not the biggest producer...but he's probably the best option on the top line given what else we've got."  Who saw that coming!?!

Current odds out there on the internets have the Oilers at a 55.2% chance of making the playoffs.  It could go up as high as 70% after tonight if the following longshot happens:

1. The Oilers win.
   
2. The Caps beat the Preds.
3. The B's beat the BJ's.
4. The Sharks beat the Wild.
5. The Blues beat the Stars.

So yeah...if those five events take place tonight.  Big gains in the Odds tonight.  Yeah, I know...good luck right?  Yah.  Nothing better than relying on other teams to improve your playoff hopes.

On a side note:  I wouldn't be too disappointed if somebody decided to cream Plekanic tonight...if you recall it was he who decided to be a dirty shithead and sloughfoot Grebs into the end boards in their meeting at RX1 last month. 

Eneh-wayse...

GOILERS!

Sincerely,

Robert R. TowelBoy

HNIC Prime Time vs. The Leaf Blowers

Hockey Night In Canada. The first game of the Saturday night double header is versus the Leafs with a tight playoff race on the line.

It doesn't get any bigger than this. ...Until next game. But for now, this is huge.

The Oilers showed up in the "Nation's Capital" on Thursday and proceeded to bring the suck. The new parts acquired at the deadline looked tired and the team didn't seem to have any umph. Gagner played a pretty good game all by himself. Everyone else took the night off.

Moving forward to this evening, I expect an up tempo, physical game from the Oilers. I expect the Leafs to suck. I expect Hemsky, Horcoff and Souray to find the score sheet finally after quite a number of games of being fairly invisible. I expect hits, forechecks, backchecks, passes and goals. I expect good hockey. I expect explosions, lasers, fog, holograms and face melting guitar solos too.

Ok Oilers and Leafs...Entertain me.

Lovingly yours,

The Towel Boy

Well for fuck sakes

Twelve seconds into the game last night I knew I was about to witness a piece of shit hockey game.

I don't know what it is with the Oilers these days, but these so called "must win" games down the stretch here don't look like much of a big deal to most of the team.

Lazy plays, lazy players, indifferent looking superstars and all around general bone headed plays are killing this team lately.  A complete lack of effort on the part of some players.

I wanna see some god damned PLAYOFF INTENSITY FROM HERE ON OUT!   DAMMIT!

The kind of intensity that people lose 5 teeth from an errant clearing attempt and come back after getting a few stitches to set up the game winner.  The kind of intensity that causes your Captain to play with dislocated shoulders.  The kind of intensity that causes pucks to enter the opposition's net by sheer fear.  The kind of intensity that takes you deep into the playoffs.  

Leave it all out on the ice type of shit.

Rollie seems to be the only player that is consistently playing at this level lately.  The rest of the team seems to be invisible one game and there the next.  Except for Sam Gagner over the past few games.  Quite solid.

Gagner played his wee little heart out again last night.  He was all over the ice.  Banging, crashing, scoring, passing, preparing donairs for Penner and generally being the little buzz saw we hoped he'd be out of the gates this season.

MacT didn't sound terribly impressed with most of his defensive core in the post game comments last night.  In fact, it was probably one of the few times this season where he didn't try and spin the game to sound like it was better than it was.  There was no "Well, I thought we played good, we got a lot of good looks at the net."  There was no "The score wasn't indicative of how well we played."  No...just MacT calling out his defense and looking generally pissed off at most of his team.  

GOOD!  Now maybe something will happen to kickstart this team into playoff mode.

One can only hope.

Towel Boy, out.

Trade Deadline Day Hangover

 oooohhhhh...my head hurts.

Ok.  So the trade deadline came and went.  It looked like it was shaping up to be a deadline where the Oiler brass would sit on their hands and not get anything done.  I had my fire and venom blog almost completely written when about 20 minutes after the deadline passed, word came down that the Oilers had possibly made a trade.

I says "Pardon?"

*deletes venomous blog*

With my ears glued to the Tradecenter broadcast from TSN I impatiently waited, for what seemed like an eternity, to find out what the hell the Oilers had actually done.  News slowly started to trickle in...and It was confusing.

"The Oilers have completed a trade with Carolina"  was the first word we received.

...oookkk....  Robin Brownlee over at Oilersnation.com had mentioned a couple weeks ago that if the Oilers traded Erik Cole, Carolina would probably be their dance partner.

"The Oilers have traded with Carolina, for Patrick O'sullivan" was the second words we received.

.....oookkk....  But O'sullivan doesn't play for them.  What the fuck TSN?  Gord Miller, are you on the sauce again?

"Ok, the Kings have made a deal with Carolina for Justin Williams for Patrick O'sullivan."

...oooKKK!....It became clear, at that point, that the Oilers, Kings and Hurricanes got down and dirty with some raunchy 3 way action!

Sweet!

But wait...what'd we give up?  Not Erik Cole...Not Erik Cole...NOT ERICK COLE........fuck...it was Erik Cole.

I liked Cole.  I thought he was just starting to hit his stride with the team.  He was looking good over the past few weeks and had a helluva game in Nashville the other night.  But in this crazy, 

salary capped NHL, it all comes down to asset management and with Cole being a UFA this summer, Tambo couldn't risk the chance that Cole would walk and the Oilers would be left with nothing but a nice parting handshake.  So, I GUESS...from that standpoint, the deal is alright.  We also got a 2nd round pick in the deal.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.

But wait...what was this?  ANOTHER deal had happened with the Mighty Oil?  Jesus guys, it's like 30 minutes past the deadline?  I waited impatiently once again to find out what the hell happened.

Turns out Tambo struck a deal with the Sabres to bring Ales Kotalik over for a 2nd round pick.  Ohhhhhhhhh....but wait........I thought the Sabres brass absolutely hated everything about the Oilers and would do anything in their powers to fuck us over cuz of the whole "Vanek Offer" sheet debacle in the summer of '07.  I guess they burried the hatchet, or simply wanted to do the deal cuz they needed to shed salary from roster to give some breathing room after the Tim Conolly extension they inked earlier in the day - plus they wouldn't have to deal with Kevin Lowe.  Either that, or Tambo is a smooth operator and had Darcy Regier eating out of the palm of his hands.  I like to think the the latter.  Honestly - WHO SAW THIS COMING!?!

Wow, guys, sexy pictures.  I hope you play hockey like you look in pictures.

So far, this season is like shades of ‘06.  The team is kinda floundering, hovering around the last playoff spot. People are calling for MacT’s head on a plate. The team is maybe somewhat lost in the weeds, some players aren’t playing up to their contracts… and then the trade deadline comes along. We pick up some somewhat fringe players that are kinda noteworthy, but not superstars, basically throw some duct tape on the roster and head on down the stretch. All of a sudden the playoffs arrive and our team is playing the best hockey we’ve seen them play in years and voila…SCF.

Let's hope history has a way of repeating itself.

Towel Boy signing off from the TBHQ Tradecenter HQ Headquarters Center and Conference Center, Toronto

Ohhhhh MAN!

Trade deadline day! W00t w00T!

I just don't know what the Oilers are gonna do today. I'd like to think Bobby Nilsson is gonna have a new address after today...but I just don't know what Tamb-lowe-lini are gonna do today.

*crosses fingers for something good*

TB, out.

I should just shut my cake hole...

Ok, so my powers of prognostication need a little work. I did NOT see this coming!

I thought I had this one pegged and in the bag. Seriously. I was so sure that the vision I saw while taking my morning shit was the front page of the Edmonton Journal for tomorrow and I could have sworn the headline read "Hemsky, Hero in Nashville!"

I guess it was "zero"...not "hero".

Honestly...where was the kid tonight? Wow. Everytime he touched the puck it was a turnover or a botched stick handling move. Not cool.

Now the Preds are tied with us in the standings. FUCK!

Poo, Sam and Cole played a stellar game though. Gotta love that.

But man, was I wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.

At least we got a point...right?

...whatever...and to think that I spent 3 days making that cool AVP photoshop thingy too....gah.

Love,

The Towel Boy (aka Sylvia Browne...send me money and I'll let you talk to your dead aunt)

AVP - Ales Vs. Predators

Big game tonight.

Huge.

Collossal interstellar battle.  Good vs. Evil.  Ales vs. Predators.

The preds currently sit one big comfy point behind us in the log jammed Western Conference standings.  This is yet another one of those proverbial "4 point" games.  

The Oilers appear to be floundering somewhat of late.  They haven't put forth a solid full 60 minute effort in...well...I'm too lazy to remember.  What I can remember off the top of my head is that they got lucky against Minnie last Saturday and had Rollie steal the show, they laid up a stinker against the BJ's and almost had Rollie steal the show, they got lucky against the Bolts and got an empty netter to make the score look much better than it actually was and of course they blew a 3rd period lead with just over a minute to go against the Flames - only to blow the shootout with ZERO shots on net.  ZERO.  The SHOOTOUT.  Skater + Goalie + Puck.  ZZZZzzero shots. 

Anyways, I think the Oilers are gonna win tonight.  4-2.  Hemmer with the strong game.  We need a big game out of Hemmer.  I think he's gonna bring it.  He seems to like the road games.

Towel Boy

R-O-L-A-I-D-S spells "OILERS WIN"

With my pilgrimage complete I arrived home somewhat road weary, but relieved.  Afterall, I had just travelled thousands of kilometers over land and sea to catch the Mighty Oil win a game in person.

After unloading the dog sled, the kid, the wife, the luggage and the 543 flat pack boxes from IKEA, I settled back into my Oilers themed PJ's and Housecoat and went down to the 5th subterranian layer of TBHQ and sat down to watch the game that I had just attended only 24 hours earlier.

Why? Cuz I wanted to see if I could find myself on TV mostly. I could see the back of my head on TV...AND I made it on the Jumbotron during the game too...thanks, mostly, to my fake boobs. 

I also wanted to PVR the game cuz when you view a game in person you miss all those little nuances that make a TV broadcast from CBC such a delight. Nuances like Scott Oake fumbling with preamble for 139 seconds to ask a one liner question and the likes of Mark n' Marc fumbling with player's names and also their illfated attempts to call the play.   "Dwayne Rolofson" anyone?  Straight up quality broadcasting is what I'm all about.

What a game I was at!!!  Well, alright, the win was a nice touch but there were some issues and/or points of concern:

• Sam Gagner can't buy a goal and is in real danger of losing the scoring race with Zack Stortini.  I believe Zack has cut Sam's lead in half now.  6 for Sam.  5 for Zack.  *shakes head*  Sam had some nice looks at the net though and almost sneaked in a nice backhand off the rush.
  
  
• Three shots on goal in the third had me looking for a beer vendor that would sell me a Nyquil chaser for my beer to help calm me down.
  
  
• Dustin Penner looked like he was wearing a parachute out there. I guess MacT saw it too, cuz it didn't take him long to slap The Red Ox on the top line
  
  
• Can Rollie honestly play every game from here to the end? He did look pretty good out there though.
  
  
• 17 minutes during intermission isn't enough time to get out of your seat, line up to get out of the seating area, find a bathroom, relieve yourself, wash your hands, go to a food vendor, stand in line, wait, keep standing in line, wait some more, order your food and beer, wait some more, show your ID to the 19 year old kid working the counter, get your food, slap some condiments on it and  run back to your seat.  I missed Zack's sweet snipe cuz of that.  I had to watch it from the stairwell.  :(
  
  
• I hope Moreau's eye isn't permanently damaged.  It didn't look good.  A guy like Moreau would play with missing limbs and when you see him squirming on the ice in pain...you know it's bad.
  
  
• Sitting in front of two doctors and having to listen to them debate the pros and cons about buying either a Lotus, a Maseratti or an Aston Martin all while the play is going on can be somewhat trying.  They also had a nice convo about the winter cars they've had and which ones were better: the Hummer, the Range Rover or the Porche Cayenne.  *rolls eyes*

In all, I think the Oilers played a good physical, hard nosed game for about half of the game.  The other half they were on their heels and let the Wild take the play to them.  They owe this win to Rollie though...the old man's a gamer.  I liked a bit of what I saw in terms of effort but a complete 60 minutes is going to be required from here on out...from every player.  Nobody can be allowed to take even one shift off.  Not even the nice usher lady in section 120...yeah...you remember now lady?  Remember letting me down into the club section without checking my ticket?  Yah...that kinda stuff won't fly coming down the stretch.  Shape up or ship out.

TB, out