Tag: sports

Roloson is out, what now?

Post ImageAs you probably know by now, the Oilers lost game 1 tonight against the Hurricanes, and worse still, Rolson is injured and likely out for the remainder of the playoffs. So the choice now is either Jussi Markannen or Ty Conklin. Listening to Overtime Openline on 630 CHED, I need to point some things out:

  • Al Stafford keeps pointing out that Ty/Jussi won over half the games they played for the Oilers, so don’t discount them. He’s missing the point. Most of the games we lost with those two could have been won if only we’d had one or two key saves, something Roloson has been able to do.
  • Don’t kid yourself. The main reason the Oilers are in the finals is Dwayne Roloson. He’s been able to keep us in games when we’ve needed it most. We’ve been outshot almost every game so far in the playoffs.
  • If you take out the first three games Roloson played for us this season, he’s been amazing, and better still in the playoffs.
  • Not Bergeron’s fault? There was no need to hit the player into Roloson – it was completely boneheaded. I would bench Bergeron, he played an absolutely terrible game.
  • Ty Conklin should never be allowed to play for the Oilers again after a play like that. Miscommunication or not, cold or not, that just isn’t something you can do in the Stanley Cup Finals. There’s a reason he isn’t a starting goalie, and he proved it right there.

There’s lots of faith by a lot of people that Ty or Jussi can step up, and I just don’t think it will happen. And we need the goalie to be amazing, it’s the way we play. Giving up lots of shots, sending lots of players up on rushes, etc. I mean the Oilers have still got a good shot, they’re playing amazingly well as a team, but losing Roloson is a serious blow. I guess we can only hope the Oilers will find a way to get it done.

I say play Devan Dubnyk. He’s a young guy, with something to prove, and the rest of the team can rally around him. And he doesn’t carry any negative stuff with him, like both Ty and Jussi do. Either that, or let’s put Pronger in net. He stops more shots than Conklin, seriously!

Oilers going for the cup!

Post ImageFor the first time since 1990, our beloved Edmonton Oilers are heading to the Stanley Cup finals against either Buffalo or Carolina. The Oilers took their third win in Anaheim tonight, by a one goal margin winning 2-1. The first period wasn’t great, but the second and third were fairly solid.

  • Roloson’s 12 wins are the most by an Oilers goalie since Bill Ranford won 16 in the 1990 playoffs.
  • The Ducks finished a combined 1-6-1 against Edmonton in the regular season and playoffs this season.
  • The Oilers killed off all but one of their 11 penalties in this game.
  • The Oilers are the lowest-seeded team to ever reach the finals.
  • Edmonton outscored Anaheim 16-13 in the series, but they outshot the Oilers 183-121.

For more on the game, check out EdmontonOilers.com and NHL.com.

Did I think the Oilers would make it this far? Certainly not at the beginning of the year, though as a fan there’s always that glimmer of hope and belief. Roloson was a major addition to our team. Most of the season I complained along with everyone else about our goaltending, so to be in the finals with a great goalie is a nice surprise. The team is playing really well at the moment, and will certainly make great use of the time off before the next series starts.

And let me just say, Carolina or Buffalo, it doesn’t matter. I really hope we don’t hear crap about them not being hockey towns or any of that. Any team who can make it to the finals fully deserves to be there.

Let’s bring home the cup boys!

Five wins to go!

Post ImageFor anyone not currently in Edmonton, the Oilers won again tonight, defeating the Ducks by a score of 5-4. If you’re in Edmonton, you can no doubt hear the cheering and honking from wherever you are reading this! The game ended up being much too close, as the Oilers fell asleep and blew a four goal lead. That said, we’re only five wins away from bringing the cup home baby, back home to the City of Champions!

  • Tonight’s game was Chris Pronger’s 100th playoff game.
  • Toby Peterson scored the first goal tonight, his first ever playoff goal.
  • Steve Staios also scored his first ever playoff goal tonight.
  • The Ducks have lost 13 consecutive games in Edmonton, dating back to Feb. 24, 1999.
  • Tonight was the seventh consecutive playoff sellout for the Oilers.
  • Before the game, anthem singer Paul Lorieau pointed his microphone to the crowd as they sang O Canada.
  • Anaheim has outshot Edmonton in all three games of the series.
  • Peca has scored a goal in four straight games and has points in his last six.
  • NHL commissioner Gary Bettman took in the game and got a mix of cheers and boos when his visit was announced on the JumboTron.

For more on tonight’s game, check out NHL.com and EdmontonOilers.com.

Let’s go Oilers, let’s go! Hopefully Thursday’s game is much less stressful than tonight’s.

Hockey Hall of Fame

Post ImageAs I mentioned previously, Dickson and I went to the Hockey Hall of Fame yesterday while we were in Toronto. It was pretty cool to be Edmonton Oiler fans from Edmonton the day after we secured our spot in the Western Conference finals at the hall of fame for the great sport of hockey! I ended up posting 56 pictures of my trip, which you can check out at Flickr.

So like I said, I somehow thought the place would be bigger, area-wise. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still pretty big, just not the size I envisioned. There is a section for the IIHF and international hockey, the main trophy room, a section for NHL dynastys, a Legends section (with people like Gretzky), a local hockey section, a broadcast section, a historic merchandise section, a Montreal Canadians section, and a “shooting game” section. There’s also a couple of theatres, and a fairly large gift shop. I think I most enjoyed the dynasty section and the legends section, lots of really interesting stuff.

We got to the hall of fame around 11 AM, and there wasn’t that many people there. By the time we left, a large group of students had arrived and were creating quite a ruckus. The website says the average visit length is three hours, but were only there a little longer than an hour. I guess if you read everything and took in one of the shows in the theatres, you could be there quite a while.

I quite enjoyed my visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame, and I’d suggest that any hockey fan who gets the chance should check out it.

Oilers make the Western finals!

Post ImageTonight the Edmonton Oilers defeated the San Jose Sharks by a score of 2-0 and will now face Anaheim in the Western Conference final. Unfortunately I missed the game, but I had up-to-the-second text message updates. I can’t imagine what things are like back home in Edmonton! Here are some things to note about tonight’s game:

  • The Edmonton Oilers are in the Western Conference finals for the first time in 14 years (not since 1992).
  • This game was Roloson’s first career playoff shutout.
  • Harvey’s assist was his first playoff point.
  • It was the first time an eighth seed has advanced to the third round since the NHL adopted the conference format in 1994.
  • This is the second consecutive season the Sharks have been knocked out by an Alberta-based team.
  • Edmonton fans cheered the U.S. national anthem so loudly that the noise drowned out singer Paul Lorieau. Oilers fans were asked to be on their best behavior after some in the crowd in San Jose before Game 5 booed the Canadian anthem.
  • The Oilers are the only remaining team that has won a Stanley Cup title.
  • Edmonton played its 12th game this postseason, the most of any team.

More on the game here and here. Game 1 of the series against the Ducks is Friday night at 7 PM MDT, so don’t miss it! I know I won’t.

UPDATE: Check out the world’s smallest Oilers logo from the UofA’s NanoFab lab!

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 WHL comes to Edmonton

Post ImageLooks like things are going to get a little more crowded here in the heartland of hockey. Patrick LaForge’s efforts to bring a WHL team to our city are starting to bear fruit:

Today at a Western Hockey League Board of Governor’s Meeting in Calgary, a decision was made to conditionally award the Edmonton Oilers a WHL expansion team for the 2007/08 season. The Oilers have been granted 30 days to study the conditions of the expansion, and to assess their suitability as it pertains to their business plan.

Further details on Edmonton’s WHL expansion team will be announced in the coming weeks.

The decision has been criticized by some existing WHL teams, but I think it will be great not only for Edmonton, but for the WHL too. Increased visibility, more room for players, and new competition are all great benefits of bringing a team to Edmonton. Hopefully this deal really does go through!

Read: Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton Rush take first win in Calgary!

Last night can only be described as sweet! The Edmonton Rush organized a bus to take fans from Edmonton down to Calgary to watch the Rush take on the Roughnecks, so Tom and I bought tickets to go. In all there was about thirty people on the bus, give or take, but there were far more fans in the Rush section (which was section 210 if you know the Saddledome). And man am I ever glad we decided to go – seeing the Rush record their first ever franchise win, and in Calgary no less, was awesome! Sure it would have been nice to win at home, but if you have to win elsewhere, might as well keep the Battle of Alberta alive while you’re at it.

The first half of the game was actually very tight, with no more than a goal separating the teams. Eventually we took a four goal lead (our first such lead ever) only to see it wash away almost as quickly. We were up by one goal with about 30 seconds left, and Calgary overturned the ball. Our goalie Campbell, who played an amazing game stopping 67 shots, got the ball and instead of killing time, decided to throw it up the middle! If you know how bad that is in hockey, trust me, it’s worse in lacrosse, and sure enough they tied the game with about 10 seconds left. We thought we were going to OT, but Bergman somehow saved the day:

Bergman scooped up a loose ball at centre and, with time running out, ran down the floor and fired a shot at Calgary goaltender Curtis Palidwor. The ball bounced straight out off Palidwor’s pad, hit Calgary’s Andrew Biers on the leg and bounced into the net as the final buzzer sounded.

It was crazy! I really didn’t think there was enough time left, but the goal was reviewed and it stood, and we’ll take it. Everyone in the Rush section went crazy, and Calgary fans started to leave and throw things on the field.

Some other things of note:

  • There was about 12,000 people at the game last night.
  • When the Roughnecks come on the field, they run through a small, crappy version of the Oiler’s famous oil derrick.
  • Even though we had some penalties, the game looked like one of our most disciplined this season. We need to stay out of the penalty box!
  • The dance team in Calgary is called the Drill Crew, and they are pretty good. Our Crush girls even did one dance at the game.
  • The screen at the Saddledome is not nearly as nice as ours, but they have little TV’s above all the urinals in the washrooms! And they have Tim Horton’s and Subway inside the concourse too!
  • Tom and I were sitting one row behind, and about 6 or 7 seats to the right of some of the Crush girls. With about three minutes left in the game they started looking back at us provocatively! As Tom said, “have the gods shone down upon me?” Turned out they just wanted someone to go buy them more beer – sorry girls, not when we’re about to win the game!
  • I was surprised that we were on an ordinary old bus. I kind of expected the Rush to have some fancy barbed wire bus plastered with Rush logos! I guess they have set expectations high with all of their other marketing stuff.
  • The Edmonton guys do a much better job of keeping things interesting, keeping the tempo up in the stadium as the game goes on. Rush home games seem like much more of an event!

The bus ride home was much more high energy than the ride to the game. As we drove away from the stadium, everyone started chanting “one and six, one and six!”

The Rush take on Colorado on March 3rd, where hopefully we’ll get our second win and move one step closer to the playoffs!

Read: Edmonton Rush

Superbowl Commercials

Do you care who wins the Superbowl? Or are you more interested in the commercials? That’s what I thought! Here are some sites to check for the infamous ads for 2006 (most will appear after the game):

Enjoy the game!