-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- vs. 31-37-9 Record 38-27-12 Location: Rexall Place Date: March 30, 2012 @ 7:30PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

First off, let’s congratulate the good hockey team in Edmonton… the Oil Kings… on winning their first ever playoff round! They swept the Kootenay Ice. Round 2 will get going on April 6.

Good quote from Tom Renney today on Ryan Nuuuuuuugent-Hopkins vs. Gabriel Landeskog: “Without your centreman it’s like playing Scrabble without any vowels.”.

Magnus Paajarvi has been recalled by the Oilers. Renney hinted that it’s possible that Paajarvi could play alongside Nuge and Eberle. Looks like Chris Vande Velde will slot into Eric Belanger’s place… Belanger is a healthy scratch tonight (apparently the first time that’s happened to him this year). Not sure the D-pairings, but I assume the usual suspects, plus Sutton in, Peckham and Barker out.

Khabibulin gets the start in net.

EDIT: Embarrassing situation for the Oilers… the NHL rejected the recall of Paajarvi because this is not an emergency recall. Teams are allowed 4 recalls after the trade deadline. They already bounced Paajarvi on waivers once to make him eligible for the OKC playoffs, they recalled Linus Omark, they recalled Chris Vande Velde, and they recalled Teemu Hartikainen (counting for 4 transactions).
Continue reading 'Oilers 1, Kings 4 – Game 78 – 2012-03-30 @ 7:30 PM MST – SNETW'»

Well, at least it was a Calgary Flames fan that did this.

These guys don’t even know bad. Try watching some of the hockey we’ve watched here for several years up until quite recently.

Credit to Vygur on the Forum for pointing this out there.

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- vs. 31-36-9 Record 41-30-5 Location: Rexall Place Date: March 28, 2012 @ 7:30PM MST TV: SNET OILERS

PRE-GAME RANT

Well, if you’ve been hiding out from the news, but for some reason only come here for game threads, you might not know that Taylor Hall has been shut down for the season and will undergo shoulder surgery. But you likely already know this.

The Oilers will face the Stars tonight for their 4th and final meeting. The Stars have cleaned up this series so far, winning 3-1 most recently, as well as 4-1 in the other two games. The Oilers have been on a tear as of late though, winning 13 out of a possible 20 points in their last 10 games (including 3 loser points). The stars have taken 12 points in that same span (all wins).

Linus Omark, Chris Vande Velde, Theo Peckham, and Cam Barker are your healthy scratches for tonight. Devan Dubnyk gets the start again.

Continue reading 'Oilers 1, Stars 3 – Game 77 – 2012-03-28 @ 7:30 PM MST – SNET OILERS'»

Rather than swipe the quick news that Bruce McCurdy provided on this, I’ll just direct you to the Cult of Hockey article.

So, there seems to be two types of Oilers fans right now… fans that are happy that the team is winning finally, and fans that are pissed off they’re winning and actually mad at the team for lowering it’s chance at the #1 or even #2 or #3 pick. Well, count me in the former group.

There was a time where I was one of the lunatic fans cheering for a nose dive in the standings and getting enamored with the prospect of a #1 overall pick such as Taylor Hall, Adam Larsson, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, etc. But I think that ship has sailed. We now have 3 solid young stars here and it’s time to turn things around here and begin winning. This season needs to end on a good note. It doesn’t need to end with fans being idiotic, getting angry at a team for winning.

I sadly can admit that I was a little ticked when the Oilers won the last game of the season in 2006/07 season, despite it being against Calgary and it being the Battle of Alberta. It was too little too late for me, for one. I was also ticked because that one win took us out of 5th spot (which, with a lotto win, would have given us a #1 pick) and gave us 6th overall. I was ticked too because the 5th overall team (Chicago) ended up winning the lotto that year and getting to draft Patrick Kane. But in hindsight, that is ridiculous to think that way.

Any GOOD teams goals are always Continue reading 'Not Sucking > Sucking'»