Edmonton Oilers

Have not posted for a while now but got some spare time to discuss my passion...the Oilers.....

10-1 in shoot-outs...last year Dallas was credited with being "talented", "skill-ful", "amazing" for their 12 shoot-out wins....this year Edmonton is labelled as "lucky", "too bad their ain't no shoot-out in the play-offs", "crappy team that cannot finish a team off", and "we play for the shoot-out"....blah blah blah.....my thoughts with these negative comments about our record are this:

1) It's the rules get used to it, the shoot-out is going no where (pointed at Canucks/Shames fans who love to whine about our shoot-out record).

2) If we are such a bad team that people try to think we are teams like Detroit, Anaheim, St.Louis, Vancouver (3x I may add) should be more than able to beat the second youngest team in the NHL....but then again are we really that bad. Consider this of all twelve games that have went to extra time/shoot-out (total record 10-2) we let the opposing team tie the game 7X we only had to come back 4x and of those 7x we let in a goal with less than 3 minutes left in the third. So if we suck these teams should be burying us well ahead of OT.

3) The most annoying comment that too bad there is no shoot-out in the play-offs arguement....I want to ask people who say this absurd comment to think that do you really believe that the Oilers would lose 100% of the times if we went to periods of 5 on 5 OT....give your heads a shake it is impossible to predict that.

4) I have watched every minute of all the Oilers games this year and I have yet to see us play for the shoot-out. We give it are all in OT and most of the times we try for the winner so bad we give up golden opportunites to boot.

Sorry I needed to vent about the shoot-out record. Now just a blurb about some players as I have not done one for quite sometime.

Horcoff - Well he introduced my foot to my mouth with his play this year....close (or in) the top 20 for scoring and has the third most goals for center-men and is top five in ES scoring.

Hemsky - Kid is getting better and has found a shooter....and that is Horcoff

Penner - Conditioning has paid dividends for this mammoth and is now logging close to 19 minutes a game and is playing with the potential I knew he could....gets better each game.

Now I stole this from edmontonoilers.com (or hfboards) I post at both but it is my new favorite line name....PiGaNi Line.....our new found scoring line

Pisani - I never realized how much he meant to the team till he returned...I may respect him more than any other Oiler

Gagner - 18 years old and is going to be a super-star has veteran vision on the ice and you can see he is getting comfortable out there.

Nilsson - Also playing to his potential that the NYI thought he lost...had an eight game point streak snapped last game but still looked dangerous.

Pitkanen.......SIGN HIM FOR 10 YEARS!!!!!!!!! Flyer fans are happy with Lupul and we are ecstatic about Pitks (8-3-1 since he returned from injury)...both teams made a great deal to address their needs.

Souray (Oilers 3-0 since his return) and has a three game point streak going....however he handles the puck like a hand gernade....still rusty has he missed his previous 25 games...however I never looked to him for hos defence abilties...provides the required heart and strength we dearly missed for the first 1/4 of the season.

Garon.....amazing the BIGGEST STEAL OF ALL UFA SIGNINGS...get this a winning record....has stopped 18 of 20 shots in the shoot-out and we have this year for $1.2MM and next year for $1MM.....WHAT A STEAL!

Anyway this team is on the rise....I expect us to fight all the way to a play-off spot and we all know what can happen when we get there.

Rygar wrote:

I don't think Souray's puck handling 'like a grenade' is rusty; I think it is normal :P

At the start of the year he was honestly great on D-side of the puck...since his return I think he started watching Pitkanen too much as he has been trying to dangle up the ice....scares me all the time...lol.....

small town beck wrote:

Go OILERS!! I better get to a game soon now that I am out here!!!

Hey RiC, Long time no see. I was trying to arrange a meet up out here.

Should be a good night!!!

meet up????

Go Oil! Back in the hunt....I was losing faith for a while there....
Penner is finally playin the way he can...Horcoff having a stellar year...Torres is gone...things are lookin up!

small town beck wrote:

Go OILERS!! I better get to a game soon now that I am out here!!!

Hey RiC, Long time no see. I was trying to arrange a meet up out here.

Should be a good night!!!

Hey how's it going?????

Yeah this game on the 5th will be last time I get to Edmonton before moving to Calgary in April......things going good down in Calgary for you????

small town beck wrote:

Not bad. Not bad, thanks. could be worse, could be better. Still haven't made it to an Oilers game yet I went to a Flames game in the box but meh.. that was a Flames game

That is pretty sweet to get those tics!!

Yeah it is pretty sweet.....I hate the Flames...now that they won six in a row I bet Calgary is already planning their parade route for the Stanley Cup....man I start to shake talking about the Flames....lol.....

small town beck wrote:

LOL I hear ya


So you are moving here in April? We will have to have a meet up then.. if I am still here

Already thinking of leaving?

small town beck wrote:

No I am not sure. I still want to move to Dublin and now I am wishing I had done that but I will be here for a bit longer I will be here until at least April anyway. I am just not sure if I can spend a summer away from the water

Yeah I guess you are most likely going through not culture shock (scenery shock I guess lol). Personally I love the mountains more than anything so I think Calgary is a good fit for me (big snowboarder/hiker).

You also have the dream to go over-sea's, me too I really want to move to London for 5 years (considering it after four years in Calgary). I have some good friends over there (one is inmanagement in ticketmaster....which you know what that means as for concerts go...any ticket you want and where you want it).

Hopefully you do what makes you happy at the end of the day though.

to make the play-offs, the Oilers need to get the majority of their games into a shoot-out