-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- Edmonton Oilers 1 FINAL Ottawa Senators 4 21-38-6 Record 36-25-5 Location: Rexall Place Date: Mar 9, 2010 @ 7:30 PM MST TV: Sportsnet

PRE-GAME RANT

Well, the Oilers are coming off 2 wins in a row now. After watching them plod heartlessly through January, it’s nice to see some effort out of everyone right now. I’d like to believe that there has been a big morale and culture shift, however really there shouldn’t be much reason to believe that, as the only guy of the vets from 06 to go was Staios. However, there are a lot of new faces in the line-ups these days, so there is a possibility that this is the case. Even Horcoff, everyone’s favorite goat, has stepped his game up lately. I think, personally, I’d bet that with the trade deadline gone, the guys can relax a fair bit more and play loose. The Senators have won only 1 game in their last 5. So they’ll be hoping to bounce back against a team that is normally considered the free spot on the big card. Not tonight though!

Prediction: 3-1 Oilers
Continue reading 'GDT – Edmonton Oilers 1, Ottawa Senators 4 – Mar 9, 2010 @ 7:30 PM – SNET – Game 66'»

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- Edmonton Oilers 2 FINAL New Jersey Devils 0 20-38-6 Record 38-22-3 Location: Rexall Place Date: Mar 7, 2010 @ 6:00 PM MST TV: Sportsnet

PRE-GAME RANT

Here we go again, another Oilers game. Despite their trend to suck most of the season, I’m interested in watching this one. I missed the last game (the PPV.. no way am I ordering PPV these days), so I’m suffering some withdrawls I did catch the shootout though, which was spectacular. The Oilers won the game vs. the Wild by a score of 2-1 on a shootout goal by Mike Comrie and some pretty stellar goaltending by Jeff Deslauriers. If only he could do that on a regular basis! The Devils are 3-6-1 in their last 10, while the Oilers are 3-7-0. Both teams are in need of some wins (depending on your view on that!). I’m anxious to get a closer look at Ryan Whitney in Oil blue.

I’ll predict a 3-2 win for the boys in blue tonight.

Lines for Edmonton are a total guesstimation on my part. They were in the Edmonton Sun today, but I didn’t have enough time to memorize them. If anyone knows them, please mention them in the comments.
Continue reading 'GDT – Edmonton Oilers 2, New Jersey Devils 0 – Mar 7, 2010 @ 6:00 PM – SNET – Game 65'»

PRE-GAME RANT

Well these GDTs are getting a bit harder to do given the state of affairs here. This one is also a PPV, which makes it doubly hard to watch, but I think I will catch it, if I can, just to see Whitney in the lineup. Anyways, the Oilers are currently on a 3 game losing streak, while the Wild have won their last 2.

There’s some significant changes to our lineup as of late, partly due to trades/waiver pickup, and partly due to injury. The defense lines aren’t known at the moment (although I can say Smid is out for the year), but the forward lines are pretty much set.

Prediction: 4-2 Wild win tonight.

Continue reading 'GDT – Edmonton Oilers 2, Minnesota Wild 1 (SO) – Mar 5, 2010 @ 7:00 PM – PPV – Game 64'»

PRE-GAME RANT

Sorry folks for the late GDT and the crummy pic. For some reason I originally thought it was a 6:00 start… my bad. Anyways, the trade deadline came and went with a little less activity on the Oiler front than I’d like. Today the Oilers dumped Staios and moved Visser for a younger O-minded d-man. That one will remain to be seen as to how smart a deal it was. Tonight should be an ugly one, however, because the new guys aren’t in the lineup, and we’re already down a Visnovsky, Staios and Grebeshkov. So Mean, Dean Arsene and Johan Motin have been called up.

I predict a 9-1 win for the Hawks tonight. Sorry all the other fluff is out for tonight as I’m a bit behind… plus I have no idea what the lines will look like, at least from the blue line.

POST-GAME RANT

Well, back to the grind. This should be fun. I wonder how the team will play this close to the trade deadline. I bet we see a lot of slacking and disinterested play. I also bet that Grebber Grabber has an outstanding game, and lights us up for 4 points.

But we will win 5-4.

And now for Racki-stats:

Continue reading 'GDT – Edmonton Oilers 3, Nashville Predators 4 – Mar 2, 2010 @ 6:00 PM – SNET – Game 62'»

Canada 3	FINAL (OT)	United States 2
Gold Medal Final
Date: Feb 28 @ 1:15 PM MST
TV: CTV
Canada defeated Slovakia in Semifinal 3-2.
United States defeated Finland in Semifinal 6-1.

PRE-GAME RANT

Well I’m not too sure if anyone cares about this game. It should pretty much come and go without anyone even noticing really. Just another old game between Canada and the United States. Just a game for a piece of ductile metal. Meaningless.

Obviously I’m being facetious here. This is one of those moments in hockey history that could be remembered for a while. How it is remembered is yet to be known. These games really have been fantastic for Canada, and it’s my hope that one of the end points of the games will be fantastic as well.

I’m sure no American or Canadian hockey fan needs to be reminded what happened the last time these two teams met, on February 21st, but for those that don’t know, it was of course a 5-3 win for the United States. Canadians consider hockey to be “our game”. No one is allowed to be better at it than us, and at least on that day, the U.S. was. So everyone donning that red jersey Sunday should have a lot to prove. I expect a pretty damn good show from Canada, and what remains to be seen for me is who in the Red, White and Blue are going to be doing the same. I expect a pretty epic game.

No prediction for today… I don’t want to jinx anything. I have a lot of hope for Canada, but let’s just see how it pans out. Hopefully both teams deliver an entertaining package. That’s all either countries fans can ask!

TEAM CANADA ROSTER

Continue reading '2010 Olys GDT – Canada 3, U.S.A. 2 (OT) – Feb 28, 2010 @ 1:15 PM MST – CTV'»

Canada	vs.	Slovakia
Semifinals
Date: Feb 26 @ 7:30 PM MST
TV: CTV
Slovakia defeated Sweden in Quarterfinal 4-3.
Canada defeated Russia in Quarterfinal 7-3.

PRE-GAME RANT

Well Canada did the unthinkable in their last game… not just a win against a team they haven’t beaten at the Olympics in half a century, but a huge, 7-3 win. This team seams to finally have gotten it together, getting some secondary scoring. The goaltending is still a bit of a question mark, but I wouldn’t say Luongo let in anything particularly bad the last game. Slovakia, meanwhile, is getting some pretty spectacular goaltending from Jaroslav Halak. They also are coming off a big unexpected win of their own, vs. last Olympics’ winner Sweden. This could be another tough battle like the one vs. U.S.A., if Halak has his way.

I’m not even sure what to predict. I’m hoping that Canada’s offense is again firing on all cylinders and I’ll guess a 5-0 win for Canada.

TEAM CANADA ROSTER

Continue reading '2010 Olys GDT – Canada 3, Slovakia 2 – Feb 26, 2010 @ 7:30 PM MST – CTV'»

Canada 7	FINAL	Russia 3
Quarterfinals
Date: Feb 24 @ 5:30 PM MST
TV: CTV
Canada: 2-1-0-1
Russia: 2-0-1-0

PRE-GAME RANT

Well, fresh off a big win over Germany (8-2), Canada now heads into another huge game. The Americans definitely were a huge test (which unfortunately Canada failed), however you have to wonder if the Russians are going to be an even tougher team to play against. It’ll be interesting to see how the Canadians handle what is possibly the scariest top line at the Olympics (with possible exception to the newly formed Staal, Crosby, Iginla line). This should be a high flying, exciting game, and I’m hoping Roberto Luongo will be up to the task. This will also be another step in the always-exciting Crosby vs. Ovechkin series.

Prediction: 5-4 Canada

TEAM CANADA ROSTER

Continue reading '2010 Olys GDT – Canada 7, Russia 3 – Feb 24, 2010 @ 5:40 PM MST – CTV'»

Canada 8	FINAL	Germany 2
Qualification Playoff
Date: Feb 23 @ 5:30 PM MST
TV: CTV
Canada: 1-1-0-1
Germany: 0-0-0-3

PRE-GAME RANT

Well, this is a game Canada might need after a tough loss to the US. This SHOULD be an easy game in which they can get their systems in order, and should be light work for Luongo. Yes, Luongo. He’ll get the start in this one, according to Daren Millard’s Twitter. Many people seem to be calling for Brodeur’s head, but I think there was more wrong in that game than just him. It was marred by badly timed penalties (are there good-timed penalties?), as well as a poor, poor play by Corey Perry in the final minute that really hampered a possibility of a comeback.

And well, I hate to take any team lightly, but if Canada loses this one, they really deserve to be out of the tourney. They should win this one, and they should win it by a solid margin as well. I’ll predict a 6-0 victory for this one. Hopefully it’ll give the team a bit of confidence that they will need going into a tough game on Wednesday vs. the Russians. I may be counting my chickens before they hatch, but if the Germans win this one, it’ll be a miracle on ice bigger than the U.S. defeating Russia in 1980. Stranger things have happened though.

TEAM CANADA ROSTER

Continue reading '2010 Olys GDT – Canada 8, Germany 2 – Feb 23, 2010 @ 5:30 PM MST – CTV'»

Canada 3	FINAL	USA 5
Preliminary Round Game 3
Date: Feb 21 @ 5:40 PM MST
TV: CTV
Canada: 1-1-0-0
USA: 2-0-0-0

PRE-GAME RANT

Well here it is, the game we’ve been waiting for. No, not the gold, but who doesn’t love a good old battle between the US and Canada? This should be Canada’s toughest battle of this Olympics so far, having easily walked over Norway in the first game. The second game probably didn’t go as anyone had planned. It was a win, but Canada struggled to put the puck in the net behind Hiller. Despite outshooting the Swiss by a 2-to-1 ratio, Canada needed extra time and the shootout to lock the win (3-2). Sidney Crosby was the lone goal scorer in the shootout (on his second attempt – after the first 3 shooters for each team, there is no limitation on the number of times a single player can shoot), and Brodeur sealed the win by whipping the glove out on a great save on a shot by Martin Plüss.

TEAM CANADA ROSTER

Continue reading '2010 Olys GDT – Canada 3, USA 5 – Feb 21, 2010 @ 5:40 PM MST – CTV'»