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

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

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.