To sum up Russia's 6-2 loss to Canada:

Poor Varlamov. Canada remembered his easy five-hole and kept right on slipping it in. He was replaced by Zhelobnyuk who gave up three himself. For about 15 minutes there it looked like Russia was going to compete despite the loss of Cherepanov for the rest of the series (concussion from the Sutter Steamroller).

What else can I say?

Game 4: 4am(MST) Saturday morning. TSN.

Through the haze, Canada victorious 3-0

Notes from game 2:

Brandon Sutter is a monster. He's a force of nature on the ice. He completely destroyed Cherepanov early in the first and completely knocked the Russian off his game for the rest of the match-up.

Alexei Cherepanov shows up. Kind of. I'm sure he'd intended on making this outing his time to shine, but that Sutter hit left him sprawling on the ice with his helmet skittering away in the slush. He made a few decent moves, but I honestly think he was scared to be on the ice. A few very selfish moments with the puck, but that's been kind of a theme with Team Russia so far. They lack cohesiveness.

Kyle Turris. Whatever. He'll be a star. He's already the most dominant player on the ice in terms of foresight and skill, but he has a way to go yet before being able to translate his skills for the NHL level.

Sergei Bobrovsky in goal for the Russians actually did a really decent job. He was absolutely bombarded by scoring attempts and the fact that he held his team to just 3 in the hole is surprising.

Speaking of goalies, how confident was Jonathan Bernier? Coming way out to challenge forwards, shutting down holes, making casual glove saves without worrying about face-offs due to Canadian domination in that area. Not only did he tend well, he played a good psychological game as well.

Sam Gagner continued to be excellent, making great plays, setting up the puck, keeping cycles alive, causing turnovers, disrupting rushes. Samwise was everywhere, a thorn in the side of the Russians and dogging every play they tried to make. I'm actually pretty happy we drafted him. He may not end up being a star in the NHL, but he'll be a must have solid player. I never would have thought so six months ago, and apparently neither did Lowetide, but his game has expanded on so many levels in such a short time, I'll be following him a little more closely from now on.

David Perron obviously wanted to be a difference maker. He set up Turris for the first goal and potted one himself in a move that should make any highlight reel this week, and for the rest of the year. Keep your YouTube eyes open for that one.

Tucic, Marchand, Legein, etc...all had very good games. Basically I'm too lazy to continue.

Like I mentioned in the comments of the last post, there's something unsatisfying about the series so far. It's like watching hockey last spring with the Russian Team playing the part of the Edmonton Oilers. It's hard to see how they're going to win more than one or two games in the Series, but I hope they end up surprising me. A lot of it comes down to coaching. Sutter is a great coach by any standards, and if Team Canada is giving us a preview of the new face of the New Jersey Devils, then I pity the competition.

Next game: Tomorrow 6am MST on Sportsnet.

Maybe Omsk will be the city where it turns around for Team Russia. And maybe, just maybe, the air conditioning will work, so the kids won't have to play Degobah Swamp Hockey again.

Omsk is the red dot on this map that looks kind of like a prancing bull or something

Round 2, Ufa's Revenge

Ufa's Coat of Arms ("Kill!" optional)

Well, on the day of Ufa's anniversary for... something important?, Canada handed the old industrial town a big old helping of humble pie. I'm willing to bet they want some revenge. Served Cold. Unfortunately for them, the temperature was sweltering inside the Ufa Arena. In fact, on Monday a thin mist could clearly be seen hovering above the surface of the slushy ice.

Could be that they've already begun to exact some hot vengeance (re: Gagner+groin+cheerleaders). If the Russian team wants to save face from the drubbing they took in Game 1 they're going to have to come back with guns blazing and shooting wrists at the ready. Who knows, maybe Cherepanov will even make an appearance this time around.

So, get to bed early - the game starts at 7am (MST) yet again. This time it's being broadcast on Rrrrrogers Sportsnet! Home of the "Sportsnet Talent" (are they still going with that?).

It may not be featuring Chris Tucker or Jackie Chan, but if you say it fast enough you'll groan with delight and disgust -but mostly disgust- at:

Russia R 2

More Quality Content

Ladies and gentlemen, by a vote of 7 to 4,
Jarett Stoll!

Moreau or Stoll

(poll closed)
---

By the way, if anyone has any good Oilers Miis kicking around, send 'em in. As you can see, we have Hemsky and Roloson done (and the mystery player above), but we'd love to get the entire roster.

Будет Днем Игры!

Set your alarm clocks, call in sick, or just set the timer on your recorder.

TSN at 9am eastern

Catch it on TV or log onto their broadband broadcast of the game.

***UPDATE****

mikew over at Covered in Oil has an excellent game review up.

My Take:

It was a shaky start for Canada with two Russian goals in the first ten minutes, but they settled in and started laying the beat down, physically dominating the Russian team and netting a ridiculous 14 penalties.

I thought Ganger did a good job (1 assist, 1 goal) at holding his own and then some, making a slick play around defender Tulapov and going five-hole at a sharp angle against Varlamov. Before that, Kyle Turris lived up to expectations drawing a nice penalty shot through sheer effort and pulling a sweet Yzerman deke, you guessed it, five-hole. Later in the game he would try to knock down the boards with his face, but after some attention and a band-aid, he was back on the ice, lower lip swelling out to pugnacious proportions. Young Sutter was awesome on defense, silencing anyone who thought they'd caught a whiff of nepotism in the air, and looked like someone who killed penalties for fun. Meanwhile, Mason, though seemingly porous at the outset, got his head into the game and out of fantasies of Jessica Simpson (whom in a pre-taped interview mentioned he'd like to date because, as he so succinctly put it, "She's hot").


Cherepanov was effectively shut down and our guys adapted passably to the big ice. It'll be interesting to see on Wednesday if Canada can avoid playing an entire period's worth of minutes a man down.

Also: cheerleaders. Is nice!

"To _____,Your Friend, Wayne Gretzky 99"

When you grew up in a non-hockey family, what did four Stanley Cups and running mean to you? Not much. It was great to talk about it with friends, "Oilers are awesome." "Yeah!" , but that's about where it ended.

I don't know exactly what her connection with him was, but my Grandma was on close enough terms with Wayne Gretzky that they spent time together and he came over for dinner, and all that old boring stuff. When you're a kid, anyone who hangs out with Grandma can't be that cool, after all. So when she got me a photo of him that he'd personalized, it went into my pile of junk in the closet.

I'd pull it out and look at it from time to time, and think I even hung it on the wall for a few months, but mostly it was hidden away in dark obscurity among old school papers and drawings of ufo's and robots fighting armoured dragons for dominion of earth. (And strangely, toothpaste. I used to draw an awful lot of toothpaste. Big, long trails of it squeezed out by some character who looked way too happy with himself... Let's not explore that.)

One afternoon, in a moment I regret to this day, I threw it all out.

Why? I have no idea. Maybe I was thinking I had to clear shit up in my room, maybe I thought I was getting too old for all that baby stuff, I don't know.

Grandma has since passed on, Wayne is in Phoenix and I'll never be as close to him again as I never knew I was in the 80's , and that small treasure that I didn't appreciate is forever gone, disintegrating next to a Garbage Pail Kid card and a little He-Man comic book detailing the history of Greyskull and the rise of Skeletor.

Lament.

New Trend: Proven Skill and Youth Valued over Marginal Competence and Age!

Last night Lowetide put up a great post regarding the glut of older Free Agents still available. With young guys in the system able to do similar work at lower salaries, mid level players are finding it hard to either get work, or swallow enough pride to take massive pay cuts.

Matheson this morning:

Consequently Peca, who made $3.99 million with the Edmonton Oilers in 2005-06 and $2.5 million last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, will make half that in Columbus.

Mirtle has been nerding out on the numbers for the past few weeks, but has upped his passion the past couple days, spreadsheeting and graphing and analyzing and opinionating.

So, are we getting Mike Johnson after all?

A Wii Confession

To show you how stupid I was about hockey just under two years ago: I distinctly recall trying to make a case that we should trade Ales Hemsky and wash our hands of the matter.

"Oh sure, he can skate, but he never shoots!"

"He's too fancy, he's a nancy!"

"Ales? I mean...Ales!?"

I've eaten a lot of crow in the succeeding 20 months, and gladly. Hemsky will never be a huge leading scorer, in my developing opinion, but he's the type of guy who can set up other guys to succeed. I watched this year as more and more teams started focusing on the young Czech, making it a priority to shut him down. Can this be the year that he puts all the pieces together? The dingle meets the dangle? Do we have enough in shooters like Stoll, Souray, and Pitkanen to take full advantage of Hemsky's confounding loop arounds?

As always, I have questions but no answers.

I don't know what this year will bring, but every morning I'm a little more excited and eager to find out.

Old Laser Eyes

Dwayne Roloson played 68 games last year, which was probably way too much. With Mathieu Garon as back-up I hope we see a lot less of Roloson in the coming months. He probably wants to play as many games as possible to keep in form, but he'll be 38 in October, and really, how much intensity can he keep up without some decent breaks here and there?

Anyway, if you want some deeper discussion on goaltending, check out Covered In Oil's continuing look at past tandems (and threesomes?) here.

Can You Smell It?

Sweet Eye of Odin! Pre-Season games are only three weeks away! Training camp even sooner than that! And the Canada-Russia series starts in 3, count 'em three days.

Sniiifffff! Ahhh, Hockey Season begins anew. I've been practising all my cuss words and shouting "shoooot!" in the shower, and my sweet lady is excited about all the ranting she'll get to hear. Aren't you, baby?

Breathe in that autumn-ish air, go for a walk with the family, shell out $115 for a new jersey, and stock up the fridge. As tough a row the Oilers have to hoe this year, I doubt it's going to be dull.

What's that? You demand a tired metaphor? As you wish:

Man vs Machine

For a guy like me who hasn't given hockey it's due for the past two decades, there's a huge learning curve involved. Only a year ago I was asking questions like: What's +/-? EV or ES? Why does PPG matter, aren't we just watching a game?

I started watching Hockey again at a great time, the beginning of the 05/06 season, right after the lock-out ended. At first, it was pretty confusing and I even bought Hockey for Dummies to help me wend my way through all the seemingly contradictory rules (believe me, if you don't know hockey, it appears pretty labyrinthine). But by Christmas I had a handle on all the rules and could even identify the players by the numbers on their backs.

I was hooked!

After the crazy SCF run in the spring I started logging onto Oilers blogs to keep that excitement alive over the summer. That's where I encountered something I love to hate, and pretty much hate that I'm starting to love it:

Stats. Statistics. The mathematical breakdown of blood, sweat and dreams.

I'm as guilty as everyone else this summer, looking at the math and seeing how it doesn't add up.

Guilty you say? Damn straight.

My crime is that I'm killing my joy. I'm snuffing out the flame of excitement that makes watching this great game so damned fun! I'm burying it in hard numbers and sober prognostications, seeing what has been, and like a jaded old bugger, assuming that it is what will be.

Well, screw that!

I'm here to have fun, not be right!

To me hockey is the chiclets on the ice, the pure adrenaline and pride of watching Matt Greene make one of the most beautiful first goals in NHL history. Shades of Bobby Orr in that one. The Hemsky goal we have on the sidebar is another one of those moments that are going to live with me for a long time. (Can You. Believe. What We. Just Saw!)

The Hot Oil competitions, the insight on these blogs, and the sense of cameraderie in a group of people who are even more obsessed than me...that's what I'm in it for.

So, I'll use the stats to keep myself abreast of what someone has done before, help me understand what kind of player they've been and make comparisons to other players - see what kind of road they might take in their career. And I'll leave it at that.

The real satisfaction for me is going to be watching a bunch of guys gel together, form a team, and battle all season long for each other and for us, the fans. Because under the stats and the contracts, these guys are just like anyone else: capable of surprising you.

After all, that's what it means to be human, doesn't it?

New Oiler Sheldon Souray with his family

Getting a Handle on Peca

image: lowetide...and then altered with some cheesy photoshop

I'll be the first to admit it, knowing a lot about Mike Peca was never a priority for me.

He came to Edmonton in a trade for Mike York and a fourth rounder in 2005, but didn't 'show up' until the year was almost over, plus he can grow a beard and likes beans. In a different life he would have been a hobo. That's about all I know about Mike Peca. (and an unsubstantiated rumour that he's nuts for porn, or so claimed a certain unnamed informer who works at Shaw. I mean nuts)

So I was curious when reading Duhatschek this morning:

Naturally, Linden and Peca are not going to produce those sorts of numbers, but all the intangibles that they possess - primarily leadership and experience - can add a dimension to their respective clubs.

Leadership?

Turns out he was the alternate captain for the Gold Medal Team Canada win in Salt Lake City 2002, captained the NY Islanders And according to wikipedia, "twice won the Frank J. Selke Trophy for being the best defensive forward, in 1996-97 and 2001-02."

Who knew? (besides anyone who even casually watched hockey over the past ten years)

He was selected by the Vancouver Canucks round 2 #40 overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft (info: hockeydb) after a season in which he tore it up in the OHL:



Looking at his career numbers:



I can now understand why even after seeing him sit out an entire season (2000-01) due to a contract dispute with Buffalo, suffer a broken leg last winter and experiencing first hand his capability for lethargic play, Howson still decided Peca was worth over a million bones for a year of mercenary work (1.2 million bones, to be exact. Plus heavy incentives, which was, I think, a necessary move by the new Columbus GM).

They say you can't measure intangibles, and if some of the kids on the Blue Jacket's second or third line felt a sudden weight dropped from their shoulders on hearing of the signing, then I can't argue the point. Peca's still young enough at 33 to come out with a few more big years and it could be that this season -barring injuries- he get's back on track. Playing under Hitchcock's expectations it could be that Peca, and the Blue Jackets, will have a banner year.

"F*****ck!"

Da Oil!

Hello my friends....welcome to the Oilblobosphere pre-season no-bullshit overview/rant. I'll try to keep the profanity to a bare f**king minimum but I might get carried away. First off, I AM an Oilers fan so my perspective might be a little slanted. Second, if you don't agree with me, then man up and post your own shit or shut up. Intelligent hockey talk is what's going on here. Lastly, let's not live in the past - I'm tired of hearing about Chris Pronger screwing some skid and he f**ked the team. Get over it.

Now, let me say that I'm pretty pumped about the Oil this year. We've got some pretty good talent and some of the old crew back too. Let's not start dishing out the expectations just yet - remember Lupul aka The next big thing and the poor kid never had his balls drop at all? The Penner move was brilliant. You can say what you want about Lowe, but at least he had the balls to go after a good, young player from the Stanley Cup champs. Up until this deal I actually liked Brian Burke a lot. It's too bad he started spewing all this shit about his supposed buddy Kevin Lowe. What an asshole he turned out to be.

Here's the two best moves Lowe made other than the aforementioned signing of Penner:

1) Garon- Here's an under-rated goalie that was getting shelled in LA and he can win 11 out of 15 games for the Oil and provide some much needed backup for an aging (but still excellent) Rollie. I like the guy and I think he'll be a better fit in Edmonton than many expect - and he's a good Canadian boy.

2) Pitkanen - We only got him inked for a year, but he could be the difference. With the spotlight and pressure on Souray, here's a guy that could really come in and make a difference on the blue line. A 1st round pick who can play 25+ mins a game and not bitch about it. I don't like his -25 rating from last season but hopefully Huddy can teach him a thing or two. Nuf sed.

I like Stortini. Since we lost Winchester to Dallas, who do we have (especially on the right wing) that can grind? Statistically he had a shit year, but -7 over 29 games for a rookie could have been a lot worse.

I'm still not 100% convinced we have a guy who can play with Hemsky. The guy had 40 assists last year and he would have had 60+ playing with Crosby.

Lastly, we've got Kelly "Go Wide" Buchberger coaching Springfield. Whatever. We've got a solid AHL francise that we can groom guys in. Don't under-estimate how important this will be for the Oil this year and Bucky is a better coach than you might think.

Dude out.

Hemsky, Stoll, the Show

Spurred by a discussion over at Lowetide:

Hemsky is going to be one to watch this year. He's got nothing to lose and he's had a chance to stretch his legs and settle into a more mature role as a player. This just might be his break out year (knock on wood).

LT mentioned a healthy Stoll and I have to agree. He was setting the ice on fire while he was concussion-less last season. If he can get a little more control to balance his enthusiasm he's going to be an unpleasant player to square off against.

Our boys have been working hard, conditioning themselves well, and I can't help but think that there's going to be a lot of really phenomenal individual performances to look forward to this year.

A cold blooded death knell

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that numbers count.

And mc79 counted 'em.

If you need me, I'll be drinking scotch. The good stuff.


***UPDATE***

Lowetide just put the nail in the coffin.


***DRUNK UPDATE***

Well, now that we know the worst, my question would be: What can we look forward to in the upcoming season? What will make it fun to watch, even though we lose our chance to compete in the post season?

Thoughts?

They've been drafted, now send them to Russia!

Feeling hockey starved? Find yourself staring listlessly at "NHL Classics" as the glory years play in front of you in faded, blurry colour, and you marvel at the distinct lack of advertising spots along the boards?

Well, despair no longer, the Canada-Russia Super Series is set to begin this Monday.

Thank God.

I'll be watching the kids with great interest. Will Cherepanov make our drafting team look like complete schmucks? Will Gagner redeem them?

Will Turris remind us of that skinny kid from Brantford?

All in all, it's going to be a pretty decent look at the young blood coming up, and definitely add fuel for debate as the regular hockey season fast approaches.

(come on...faster...)

The Notorious E.I.G.

How much control does Kevin Lowe really have over the Edmonton Oilers? Until Katz came in with his crazy circus ("Hello, I'd like to offer you a business transaction in which all parties come out ahead."), it seemed as though Lowe wasn't calling the financial shots at all, that his hands were tied. Is this a fair enough assessment?

Since that time, though, he's been as freewheeling and freespending as a sailor on leave. So, I'm not really sure what's better. At the risk of beating a dead and buried horse one final time, for a difference of one seat section of one game at Rexall, we let Ryan Smyth walk and now we can't even replace him despite the millions at our disposal.

I've often wondered how much shadow play is actually involved in any large corporation that primarily earns income from what amounts to public perception. I almost never trust a word that comes out of Patrick Laforge's speaking grill and if he and Cal Nichols are the most honest appearing people they can come up with out of the group, then I'm afraid we're all going to have to just sit back and enjoy the new arena we'll all build with the welfare dollars we pour into the pockets of this poor little group of heroes.

L'il Thor

You gotta give him credit, the kid works hard. According to Hockeydb he's listed as:

Height 5.11 -- Weight 185

Which I would not have guessed. He appears much smaller on the ice, even around guys who are -apparently- not much bigger than him. I'm still scratching my head at his production numbers from last year since the only other Oiler who seemed to be in as many places at once was the fabled "Edmontoby Petersoilers" (Toby Petersen).

Patrick Thoreson came out of nowhere last year at Training Camp, earning himself a spot on the roster and no less than 68 at bats. Scoring 4 goals and assisting on 12 for the year isn't exactly the kind of statistic to inspire confidence but what can I say? I like him.

He had so many scoring chances generated by his own hard work that his final tally doesn't tell the whole story. I watched about 80 percent of the games in 06-07 and time and again, there was Thoreson crashing the net, creating opportunities and making his presence felt.

But nothing ever. went. in.

To be fair, his confidence tanked for a good stretch and there was a period of about 15-20 games where he was basically a no-show, and maybe another 15 or so where he was only passable. but when he played he played awesome. Can we call it Torres Syndrome?

Despite the drawbacks (after all, just about everyone except Smyth had a bad year) I'll be happy if he's on the ice again this fall. No one's luck can stay that bad two seasons in a row.

Can it?

Can't see the Forsberg for the Cheese

Don't worry, I don't get it either..

Ripping through a few articles online. "Sean Allen" the "reporter" has this to "say" in an article about fantasy leagues and time travel, or something to that effect:

"Best-Case Fantasy Scenario: I still say Forsberg should come to Western Canada. The two places I would most like to see him end up are Edmonton or Vancouver. Regardless of where he goes, Forsberg is someone to draft in fantasy hockey; expect a ceiling of 50 games played. I like him the most with Edmonton because it would give quite a few players value. The Oilers are lacking veteran leadership on a team that is damn near overflowing with young superstar talent. I want Rob Schremp, Andrew Cogliano and Robert Nilsson learning from a Forsberg, not a Geoff Sanderson or an Ethan Moreau. The way Forsberg creates room on the ice would significantly upgrade the value I am expecting from the young phenoms in Edmonton that I am currently a bit bearish on. "

I'm not suggesting even for a second that the Oilers could nab Forsberg (or more to the point: that he would want to be nabbed),and we certainly don't need another center, but I thought this was a pretty excellent idea. Forsberg in a teaching role. Sounds good to me. Maybe offer him a coaching position next year? (He has to retire sometime soon) Would he even be interested in something like that? More limpid minds than mine, please educate. Elucidate, even.



post script: I should mention that the Dr.Z-Forsberg comparison was influenced heavily by a google image search

A beginning is a very delicate time...

You can say that again, Princess Irulan!

Welcome to my dung heap of a blog where you will get very little informed opinion! All I can promise here is that I'll update. Plus, I'll use words like Pemmican. Why, then, a blog? Are the Oilers not already fairly represented online by fans and foe alike? to an almost impossibly bloated degree?

You got that right, imaginary query-er.

Hence the name of the joint. I did play around with other ideas:

Moreau Less

More Contagious than a Hor-

Well, you get the idea. I'm afraid puns are about the best I can do. Me and Gene Principe.

Anyway...

I work from home, I obsessively loop through hockey blogs looking for more information to get me up to speed after having ignored hockey for twenty some odd years. (As you have probably already noticed, I did not, in fact, ignore my science fiction). And I have to agree with everyone else:

Oilers are going down hard this year. You heard it here last.

or...are they?

For the definitve answer to that and many more pressing questions, stop back often and grudgingly, I'll always have some kind of post or other, probably just referring you back the way you came.



A proud and noble city rejoices. "Woooo" say we all.