Tag: edmonton oilers

Toronto Trip Day 2

Well the conference wrapped up today, and aside from that, we didn’t do too much. We wandered around this evening trying to find a Wendy’s (for the recently returned Bacon Mushroom Melt) but came up empty. We settled for McDonalds instead (no shortage of those), where Dickson finally learned that the McDeals are gone (have been for weeks now!). We also watched more TV than we should have.

Tomorrow we’re going to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame, and in the evening, Ashish is joining us for the broadway production of The Lord of The Rings. Unfortunately, the show is the same time as the Oiler game, so I will be following along on my cell phone. If it’s really close near the end, I’m planning to ditch the show to find a TV. I am quite confident the Oilers will take the series tomorrow night however. If you’re in Edmonton, get some pictures of the parade (starts at noon) for me!

I’m still pretty tired, so I think I’ll sleep in a little tomorrow. Certainly not getting up at 7 again (5 in Edmonton) if I don’t have to! Hopefully the weather is nice here tomorrow, I hear it’s going to be lovely in Edmonton! Though I suppose it could be worse, I could be in Inuvik where they got a little bit of every season today (yep, it snowed!).

Edmonton Oiler Playoff Madness

Post ImageWhat an amazing game! The Oilers scored five unanswered goals to come back from a 3-1 deficit and defeat the San Jose Sharks by a final score of 6-3. Some really great goals in this game, like Samsanov’s out of the penalty box. The Edmonton Oilers website has a good recap.

Playoff fever here in Edmonton has reached crazy levels. I’m too young to really remember the madness of the dynasty, but some say this is worse (or better, depending on how you look at it). Whyte Avenue was shut down this evening, open only for pedestrians, because it was just too nuts. Jasper Avenue was pretty insane too, so I took some video of it. Loud horns, hundreds of flags, lots of jerseys, etc – very crazy indeed! The roughly 10-minute video features me walking into traffic, and Oilers music courtesy of 91.7 The Bounce. Enjoy!

Click here to watch the video at YouTube. Or if you’d prefer, you can download it (better quality) in WMV format, 25 MB, from here.

Go Oilers Go!

Read: Edmonton Oilers

NHL's low tech screws Oilers

Post ImageThe Edmonton Oilers just lost the game tonight to Minnesota in the shootout. We should have won though, as we scored a goal in the second period that was reviewed by the local goal judge who said it was no goal. After reviewing the overhead camera angle, any moron could see it was a goal, the puck crossed the line. Apparently the goal judge in Minnesota didn’t wait for Toronto to review the goal like he was supposed to, and it cost us a very valuable point in the race to make the playoffs. Completely unacceptable. All the league did was apologize.

I have the solution though. Since the league apparently cannot employ anyone who can view a simple goddamn television screen, let’s get rid of the video and opportunity for human errors. This low tech is costing teams valuable points. Let’s put little sensors, RFID or something, in each puck and on every net. The sensors would automatically detect when a puck crosses the line. This would also allow us to get rid of the red light people, no need for them when the sensors can do the work. I am sure there would be a few errors, but with some testing and tweaking, I am confident it would be MUCH lower than the error rate with humans involved. How much could it possibly cost? A few cents per puck? Almost nothing.

The current system is clearly not working. The only other option would be to have EVERY review go to the main office in Toronto, to get rid of all local video reviewing. I hope the goal judge in Minnesota is fired. Let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again. This is the year 2006, let’s get with the times NHL! Spend some money to go high tech.

The Return of Hockey

Post ImageToday is the start of the 2005-2006 NHL regular season, which means that finally, hockey is back. Tonight also marks the NHL debut of Sidney Crosby, and the coaching debut of “The Great One” himself. Gretzky’s Coyotes take on the Canucks tonight whose lineup will feature Todd Bertuzzi. Another “first” tonight will be the Philadelphia and NYR game, which will be the first ever NHL game telecast by OLN. Then there are the new rule changes which for many will be seen for the first time tonight. Lots of excitement!

There’s still a lot of questions surrounding the NHL though too. Are fans going to come back? Is hockey going to be able to recover from the lockout? Will the NHL ever become more popular than poker in the US? Is the game going to be exciting and fresh? Are the teams going to be more evenly matched now? Will Canadians be able to cope with no Hockey Night in Canada? Probably lots more too, most of which can’t be answered just yet. Make no mistake about it, this season is make or break for the NHL.

Here’s the NHL.com preview for tonight’s Oilers versus Avalanche game. I’m going to watch the game with some friends tonight at Boston Pizza on Calgary Trail, so feel free to stop by if you’d like to join us!

Read: NHL is Back