And it continues

Here are my picks for round two. I did okay in round one, went 5-3 (stupid west).

Boston vs Philadelphia: Philly lost Gagne, Lapierre, Carter and and that should do it. That is a lot of lost fire power and Boston will get Savard back for round two. Boston in five.

Pittsburgh vs Montreal: Halak played amazing in round one so can he do it again? I think the Pens are getting their game together again after a lackluster regular season. Crosby the golden child takes this team to the conference final again. Pens in six.

San Jose vs Detroit: I think San Jose chokes again. Thornton is Mr. Invisible again and they just don't have it. Detroit had a tough close first round and didn't play great until game seven. I think Detroit will take San Jose. Wings in seven.

Chicago vs Vancouver: rematch from last year, Hawks took out the Canucks last year so can they do it again? Once again, this depends on which Luongo shows up. Who shows up? I will go Hawks in seven but this is an iffy call.

Let's get ready to rumble!

Here are my quick predictions for this year's 2009-2010 NHL playoffs. The first round has started and these will be my picks.

Pittsburgh vs Ottawa - Pens in seven but Ottawa has a good chance to upset the defending champions. Pens has not looked sharp lately and their goalie has been a pile!

New Jersey vs Philadelphia - Devils in five. Philly has underachieved all year and they will continue to do so. Major issues in goal too.

Washington vs Montreal - Caps in six. Halak will have to channel Roy to even have a chance in this series. He has to steal a couple games outright and hope the defense helps him keep the Caps out of the game. I do not think this happens.

Boston vs Buffalo - Sabres in five. Boston couldn't score goals to save their lives this year and with Miller having a good year, they will continue to struggle to light it up. Boston has no chance in this series and this is the guarantee bet of first round.

San Jose vs Colorado - Sharks in five. While the Avs have game, they are too young and inexperienced to put up much of a fight against the juggernaut that is San Jose and there will be no early round exit for them.

Chicago vs Nashville - Hawks in five. Preds do not have enough of anything to really put up much of a fight in this series. Hawks will dominate even with their young and inexperienced team. They will not be going home early in these playoffs.

Detroit vs Phoenix - Wings in six. Detroit has been on fire since the Olympic break and will continue to dominate in the first round. Yotes have surprised everyone this year but there will be no upset. They may win a couple games because of their MVP Bryzgalov, but won't pull it out.

LA vs Vancouver - toughest series to call simply because we do not know which Luongo shows up. He was great in leading Canada to Olympic gold but since the break, he has been straight up horrible. Luongo has yet to lead his team to any playoff success so the pressure is on him. I'll go out on a limb and say he finds his game just enough to help his team. Canucks in seven.

Stanley Cup - Hawks. Why? I have no idea but if their goaltending holds up, this is the team to beat. SJ should choke again, Pens struggled down the stretch and Caps won't get to the next step yet because goal is an issue along with secondary scoring.

Oilers go for first!!

The NHL draft lottery takes place tonight at 6 pm (Mtn) and all Oiler fans will be tuned in! The Oilers have a 25% chance of winning the lottery and a 48.2% chance of retaining the first overall position. Lottery odds for all the teams are here. The 30th place team has retained the first overall pick 3 times in the past 4 years.

After a horrible year and finishing 12 points from the 29th team, the Oilers are hoping for a lottery win. If any team deserves a lottery win, it really is this team. They had 530 man games lost to injury (I can't find a list of all team's injury count but this is very very high) and after the loss of our goalie early on, the two backups could not keep the team afloat.

Anyways, there are two very good players in this draft and they're rankings by scouts have flipped between first and second all year. TSN put up their ranking chart and has Hall sitting in first, but Sequin is listed first by Central Scouting.

I'm off to Hudson's for the Oilers draft lottery party and let's hope the Oilers finally win something this year. In any case, the Oilers will draft higher than ever before.

Also, here are my thoughts on Souray and his temper tantrum the other day. I still do not like the public thrashing he does of the Oilers, but if management did pressure him to return from injury early, clean house. But the responsibility should remain with the player....if you're not ready to return, do not. A gun was not held to your head.

GOILERS!!

Vancouver bound!

I am heading to Vancouver tomorrow morning for the last six days of the 2010 Olympics. So far, the Canadian team has been under-performing and gold medal contenders aren't even hitting the podium. And there is the loss by the Canadian men's hockey team last night to the evil empire of America which drops them into a game with Germany and then a quarter-final matchup with the Russians. Wow they have a very hard road just to get to the gold medal game. The team hasn't played horrible, and in fact carried the play last night in every position except goal. Brodeur is out and now Luongo is in. Aside from the annoying Luooooo chant, I think this is the right choice. Brodeur was not getting the job done and now it's up to the Canuck to show he can finally lead a team to a championship.

The women's hockey team has made the final against the US (no surprise) so they have a very good chance for gold. Curlers are looking good at this point as well. So there are some chances for medals (tonight our ice dancers are going for gold) but this Olympics has seen more disappointments than expected. Maybe more than the last couple Olympics combined.

In any case, I'm off to Vancouver and am hoping to see Canadian gold medals live!! Let's party Vancouver!!!

GO CANADA!!!

Hockey and the Olympics

With the NHL on an Olympic break, this Oilers blog will now switch over to Olympic coverage with a focus on hockey of course. I will be attending the Olympics during the last six days. I have tickets to the gold medal games for the men and women in hockey. Yes I am lucky and hoping for double gold.

Hockey starts today at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. The Americans beat the Swiss this afternoon 3-1 but the game most people are interested in is the Canada vs Norway game. Can the Canadian live up to the hype and pressure to bring home gold?

With a short tournament like this, it's hard to make predictions. Every single person in Canada is hoping and praying (even us atheists) for Olympic gold. The pressure on Team Canada will be the greatest they will ever experience in their life so it will not be easy. I do believe the team has enough experience and are prepared to take this the distance.

In my mind, it is Russia vs Canada but there are other teams that could play a factor. They are the Swedes, Czechs and Finns. I do not believe the Americans are a medal contender nor a dark horse. Ryan Miller will have to channel Roy, Hasek and Plante to stand a chance at a medal. After Canada and Russia, the team with the next best chance is Sweden. I'm not going into deep analysis for each team but based on the play of the top players in the NHL, this is a competition between Canada, Russia and Sweden. I think Canada is the deeper team on defense and in goal. Russia is all offense with no checking forwards or solid stay at home defense. I believe Canada can win because of that. But like we all say, a short tournament can see a goalie ride a hot streak to victory.

I predict Canada gold, Russia wins silver and Sweden beats the Finns for bronze. I have a ticket to semi-final 1 and the gold medal game. I want Canada and Russia in that game; best two teams fighting for gold will be amazing.

Go Canada.

A Christmas Miracle (late)

With Carolina defeating Boston yesterday, the Oilers are now the worst team in the NHL. We're number one, we're number one! Yes, the best of the worst. So the dive for five is still on and looking very good. The Oilers are winless in 2010, having won only ONE game in their last 18 games, so the only thing left is to look to the future.

Several weeks ago, Big Sexy offered to waive his no-trade clause if necessary and just gave the Oilers a list of the teams he would consider. Rumblings also have the Oilers finally realizing how much they cocked things up and plan to blow it up! So a shopping list of players has been made and GM's across the league have been notified. Six big names are Souray, Visnovsky, Horcoff, Nilsson, Moreau and Staios.

So, are you on board with a rebuild? I certainly am but only if done properly. Some media people are saying a rebuild takes seven years but that's crap. If the new era of cap hockey, it can be done a bit quicker than that. The Oilers have some nice building blocks already in Hemsky and Gagner up front, Gilbert, Grebeshkov and Smid on the back end. Sure they all could play better but it's a good basis to start from. There are some very nice prospects in the system with Eberle, Magnus, Lander, Peckham and Nash. And let's face it, they're going to get a very high draft pick this year. So that all bodes well for the team. So, dump all your horrible contracts, get lots of young players, prospects, draft picks and rebuild properly. The fans will be there for you if you do it properly. No more going gangbusters during free agency, lose out on the top guy and then settle, ie: overpay, for a second rate player. Players will want to sign with the team once you prove you have the pieces in place to be contenders. Don't worry about free agents at this point.

Let's go Oilers. I'm still with you!

Dive for Five?

Who else misses Hemsky?

Oilers are sitting in 29th place, Hemsky and Khabibulin are out with injuries, pp and pk suck, backup goalie can't stop a beach ball, Souray is open to waiving his no-trade clause if asked and I have half a season worth of Oilers games to attend. I'm so excited.

Nashville is in town tonight. Yawn.

Crosby comes to town on Thursday. Awesome, at least the crowd can cheer for something. And no I won't be cheering for him. I'm still an Oilers fan and will never cheer against them. But they're making it hard to be one these days. Let's hope their mini-camp from the past weekend helps their play. I'm tired of watching mediocre hockey. Play with some emotion, some passion and for god's sake, STOP THE PUCK JDD!!!

Go Oilers!

The Devil Returns, 2.0

Tonight, the Devil 2.0 makes a visit to Edmonton finally. It only took almost five months to get him here. After letting the Oilers get all hot and bothered for a month, Heater refused to put out. He's a dirty tease, letting the Oilers think he was actually considering coming here. We all know the truth. He used the Oilers to gain leverage with Ottawa. He tried to drive up his own market value because he didn't like his options. Yes, options options options. I believe he repeated that ad nauseum this summer. Heatley believed he was entitled to more options, like he was a king sitting on a throne.

Let's not dwell on the past. Tonight the douche comes to Edmonton and yes, he's playing well. He does have Thornton on his wing so he'd better play well. This is why Edmonton went after him so hard; he can score. But the other players involved in the non-trade are having decent years themselves. Penner has transformed his game and is finally the power forward I knew he could be; Smid has developed into a very nice physical defenseman; and Cogliano, if he ever gets better linemates (Moreau? No one can score with the penalty machine on your line), he will be fine too.

However, the Sharks are coming into Edmonton when the Oil are not at their best. They are 2-6-1 in their last eight games. They've gone through a never ending stream of injuries and battled the flu for a month. They just keep mounting. Two important players will not play tonight: Khabibulin and Hemsky. Hemsky is awaiting results from an MRI. Let's all hope it is not serious. If he's out the season, lottery pick. No doubts. This team needs him more than any other player.

I have a good feeling tonight. I think the Oilers will play a hard game and could sneak out a win if Deslauriers continues his decent play. It's possible.

Update: unofficial from Oilersnation but Hemmer may need surgery and is out season. Let's all say it together, FUCK!!

The Rise of Dustin Penner

Dustin Penner has finally arrived. After a 2 goal, 3 assist game last night vs Columbus, fans are all a flutter in Edmonton over the play of Penner so far this season. Putting together Hemsky, Penner and Gagner last night, they put together one of the greatest performances in over 20 years. Penner and Hemsky had 5 point nights with Gagner putting up 3 pts. The last time Edmonton had two players with 5 points in one game each was back in 1988 (Carson and Anderson).

Okay, we should step back and be cautiously optimistic. It was one game. Let's say that again: it was one game.

It's no fun being cautious.

The play of Penner has been a lovely surprise. I did feel and was quite vocal over the past two years that Penner had great potential and was being majorly mismanaged last year. Some of it was his fault, no doubt about that. The mismanagement from last year has contributed to his play this year. He was shamed into getting into better shape, a new coaching staff wiped the slate clean and he has silenced all his critics. We saw glimpses of this Penner in the past where he'd drive the net, skate hard to the puck and use his size. He never did it consistently but I felt if he ever did, this was the potential.

Cautious, be cautious.

A big weekend for the flu-ridden team with back-to-back games on the road against Calgary and Vancouver.

Oilers hockey appears to be back. Damn I've missed it.

Hot Oil

Thank you ESPN and the parents of Sheldon Souray, Andrew Cogliano and Ethan Moreau for creating lovely specimens.

You can check out some other bodies here (note Chara of the Bruins is pic 4) but please, I'm quite content with the Oilers picture.

Moreau = hot OFF the ice

I still love Souray.

Little Cogliano....wow.

Oh yes, there was an Oilers game last night. Another shitty ending with the Lames tying up the game with 1.5 seconds to go. Moreau is wearing the goat horns (horrible pass) but The Wall could have had the tying goal. It was deflected but he was square to the shooter, but didn't flop nor squeezed the five hole. Come on Russian, you had a decent game up to that point.

There are good signs even with the loss. This is not the same team that was pushed around last year. They fight, they hit, they forecheck and play hard. I'm so happy to see the forecheck back. It feels like 2006. It's only been 3 games but I'm happy with the play of most of the team so far.

Defense....you need some work. I mean the entire team defense. They are giving up way too many chances in their zone. Close that up, and chances to tie up a game won't be there.

Now, let's look at that photo again.