Warped Tour is now NOT coming to Edmonton

July 5th Show Back In Calgary

Posted 4/26/2007 11:00:00 AM
The July 5th show has been moved back to Calgary at the Race City Speedway. Pre-sale tickets are on sale now and will be through May 5th when regular on-sale tickets go on sale.

Well, FUCK.

Make up your damn mind Warped Tour people!

I don't know if I want to go now, since it's going to be in the middle of Stampede week. Unless we go to a campsite near Calgary and camp out like rednecks, skipping the whole insane jacked-up-hotel-prices-for-Stampede-week mess.

Why can't they just hit both cities? I'm sure they would be able to sell it out for Edmonton as well.

I was getting more excited to have Warped Tour come to Edmonton this year, (after originally being a little bummed out that it was), and now to have it moved back to Calgary, I'm even less excited than when it was going to be originally in Calgary. Nothing against Calgary, but geesh, it was liking the idea of just being able to get up in the morning and take a ETS bus down to Northlands instead of having to take 2-3 days off, pack, and drive to Calgary and back.

In NHL news, all the series are 1-1 after 2 games, except Buffalo is up 2-0 on the Rangers.
In IIHF news, Canada beat Germany.
Still in non-hockey news, I'm slightly pissed off at the Warped Tour management. !@#$%^&*!#^&#^@

Round two. Buckle up, it's going to be a helluva ride.

Or a snooze fest. Most of the Nucks-Stars series (with the expectation of game 7) was as boring as watching paint dry. Which, I have never had the pleasure of doing, but I can imagine it would be quite boring.

My 1st round prediction record stands at 6-2, having also called 3 of the winning series in the correct number of games. I said the Nucks-Stars series would go 7 games, but I picked the Stars to win.

WILD WESTERN CONFERENCE

Round two brings together the Wings and Sharks, and as previously discussed, I am torn as who to cheer for.
The Sharks won the season series 3-1, winning 9-4 (holy @$%#*&^#^@* smokes!) on January 4th in San Jose. Being that the 4 games played between the two teams all happened in the 1st half of the season, its hard to say who has the edge.
Both teams probably still feel pissed that the Oilers beat them last season (still gotta find a way to work the Oilers angle in!) because both teams felt going into the 2006 playoffs that they had the tools necessary to win the West. They both still feel that way, and much to my dismay, one of my West teams has to lose.
I'm going to go with the Sharks on this one, but if the Wings do win, I'll be ok with it.
Clearly I am cheering for the winner of this series against the winner of the other semi-final series in the Canucks and Ducks.
SHARKS IN 6.





Canucks and Ducks. How convenient that the two teams names rhyme. How convenient that their names also rhyme with my favorite playoff word. (Fuck). The Ducks are a more solid team than the Stars were, and the Canucks were lucky to get past the Stars what with they lackadaisical efforts in games 5 and 6. The Canucks can play a solid team game as shown in their game 7 win, but like the Wings and Sharks, the Ducks probably still feel hard-done-by from the 2006 playoffs when the Oilers beat them down in 5 games in the Western Final after the Ducks disposed of the Avalanche in 4 games in the semis. The Ducks are also bigger and meaner than last season, so look out Bobbsy (Sedin) twins. The Ducks also have Pronger on their side this time around. And no Oilers to get thru later.
As keeping with the tradition of posting regular season series, the Ducks won it with a 3-0-1 record, with Vancouver's only win coming in overtime on February 20th.
DUCKS IN 5.


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EASTERN CONFERENCE

Sabres and Rangers. A playoff battle of epic proportions upcoming? The Rangers and Sabres don't have much a playoff history. The Sabres won the season series 4-0 (3 of the 4 wins coming in OT or a SO), but the last game played between these two teams was December 1st. Hardly an accurate gauge of where the two teams are at right now, when they played each other in the 1st half of the season. Both teams won their 1st round match-ups quite easily, but the Sabres were not happy with the way game 5 against the Islanders ended, almost blowing a 3-0 lead. I'm sure the Islanders weren't happy either (being losers of that game and then losing out of the playoffs after all), but no one cares about the Islanders anymore, its all about the Rangers for the Sabres now.
“We expect a lot more out of ourselves, and people expect more out of ourselves. We realize that. We have to be better. We know we have to be better if we want to move on and go far in the playoffs." -- Buffalo co-captain Daniel Briere.
SABRES IN 6.





Devils and Senators. My Marty vs. the only Canadian team left (in the playoffs) that I can cheer for without wanting to kill myself afterwards. Like the Wings-Sharks series, this is a tough decision. The Devils won the season series at 3-1 (one win in a SO), but Brodeur had looked human at times during the 1st round against the Lightning. Until games 5 and 6 that is. The Senators are trying to shake their 'choke' label in the playoffs and having lost in 7 games to the Devils in the 2003 Eastern Final, they have a crack at shedding that label against a team that helped earn them that label.
As much as I love Marty, I gotta go with the Senators this time. I doubted their ability to beat the Penguins, but my Marty said it best; the Senators walked thru the Penguins like it was nothing.
"We know this is one step to move further into the playoffs. The next step will be Ottawa for us and it will be another tough team that walked through Pittsburgh like it was nothing, so it will be quite a challenge." -- New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur.
SENATORS IN 7.




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In other NHL news, Scott Mellanby has retired after a 21 year NHL career. Interesting stat about him: In 2002, Mellanby became the first NHL player to score 300 career goals without ever scoring a hat-trick. In 2003, he got his first hat-trick in his 1,209th career game. Best of luck in your future endeavors Scott.

Warped Tour is coming to Edmonton! Woot woot!

As per the Warped tour official site, The Thursday July 5th show has been moved from Calgary to Edmonton.


Warped Site Venue Updates
Posted 4/12/2007 2:41:00 PM by warpedtour. A couple of site updates have been announced for the tour.

The Miami show is at Bicentennial Park, not Bayfront Park as listed earlier.
The tour is now playing Edmonton instead of Calgary and the venue is the Northlands Park Fairgrounds.
The Denver stop will be Invesco Field at Mile High.
The Jacksonville show will be at Reynolds Park Yatch Center.
Toronto show will be at Burl's Creek Park in Toronto, Ontario.

There isn't a reason posted, but the rumor going around is that the venue that holds Warped Tour in Calgary, Race City Speedway, backed out this year. Plus, it was scheduled during Stampede week, and it's near impossible to get a decent hotel for a decent price for even just one night during Stampede week (like in 2005 when we drove down the night before, stayed at an over-priced hotel, then drove home right after the show.) Last year was better because it wasn't during Stampede week, so we made it a mini vacation, staying 4 nights; did some shopping, went to the Calgary zoo (love it), and what not besides just going to Warped tour.

I'm actually a little bit bummed that the show got moved, and I live in Edmonton! It is a fun road trip/mini vacation to go to Calgary to go to Warped Tour, but now that it is in Edmonton, it will cost me less since I live here (hello, no over priced hotel fees!). More money for t-shirts and CD's, woot woot! No driving around in circles lost in Calgary trying to find the speedway either. Positives and negatives to the situation, so far the positives are outweighing the negatives. I can save money to go to Calgary later in the year, mostly likely to see the Oilers play the Flames in 'enemy territory.' (I have wanted to go to Calgary for a B.O.A. for quite some time now.)

Some Calgarians are whining about it, naturally, but for crying out loud quit dissing my city! I don't diss your city, just your sports teams! I have made the trip to Calgary for the past 2 years and was happily going to do it again this year. Maybe you should concentrate your efforts on finding out why the show was moved and start saving your money to afford the trip up to Edmonton instead of saying Edmonton is a garbage filled slime hole. It's about the music people, not where the event is held. If you dislike Edmonton that much, pay even more and go to the Vancouver show. Or the Denver show. Your choice. Or just suck it up and deal with what many non-Calgarians have dealt with every year for Warped Tour.


Bands playing at the Edmonton show:

moreAlesana, All Time Low, The Almost, Amber Pacific, Anberlin, As Cities Burn, Authority Zero, The Automatic Automatic, Bad Religion*, Bayside, Big D and the Kids Table Bleed The Dream, Bless the Fall, Boys Like Girls, The Briggs, Chiodos, Circa Survive, Coheed and Cambria, Cute is What We Aim For, The Dear and Departed, Drop Dead, Gorgeous, Escape the Fate, Evaline, The Fabulous Rudies, Family Force 5, Funeral For A Friend, Gallows, Haste the Day, Human Abstract, I am Ghost, Karate High School, Killswitch Engage, K-OS, The Matches, Meg and Dia, My American Heart, New Found Glory, New Years Day, Nothington, Paramore, Pennywise, Pepper, Pistolita, Play Radio Play, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Revolution Mother, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Set Your Goals, Spill Canvas, The Starting Line, Street Drum Corps, Throwdown, Tiger Army, The Unseen, The Used, The Vincent Black Shadow, Yellowcard.
* Bad Religion may not be at the Edmonton show.

Updated IIHF News

In exhibition play today Team Canada lost 4-2 to Finland.

The team is coming along nicely with the addition of young and promising defensemen Shea Weber and Dan Hamhuis from the Nashville Predators.
Usually this team in laden with Oilers, but with Smyth traded to the Island (he declined going this year due to his impending UFA status, what a hoser), and past participants Horcoff and Staios nursing injuries, this year's edition is laden with Carolina Hurricanes. That's right, last season at this time both teams were advancing to the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs and would eventually meet in the SCF with those Carolina bitches stealing our Cup. What a difference a year makes.
Poor Roli got the short end of the stick with having to watch the madness go down from the sidelines after being injured in game 1 of the SCF; now he has to play 'nice' with the biggest bitch of them all, that Conn Smythe (stealing) winning Cam Ward. For Ward's sake I hope Roli doesn't take it personally and injure him in his sleep. Cuz I would do that if I was Roli.

Usually teams carry 3 goaltenders for these tourneys, but here's hoping that Roli gets to play a few games, maybe even the important games.

As the roster stands now, there are 9 forwards, 5 d-men, and 2 goaltenders.
I'm sure Steve Yzerman has put out the call to a number of Canadian born players from the Tampa Bay Lightning, Calgary Flames, and Dallas Stars after their exit from the NHL playoffs.
I'm betting that Iginla will snub Team Canada AGAIN.

Games start on Friday April 27 and the tourney runs to Sunday May 13. Team Canada's 1st game is on Saturday April 28 vs Germany. All of Team Canada's game will be broadcast on TSN.

Go Roli!

Game 7's are intense.

Canucks move on to Anaheim. Stars go home to lick their wounds. There goes my marriage proposal. Oh well, I wasn't too keen on cheering for the damn Stars to begin with. Lindros did lay out some nice hits in games 6 and 7, even if he didn't score. Shit happens.

Speaking of shit happening, round two in the Wild West pits my old/re-born love for the Wings against my new love for the Sharks. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I don't know who to cheer for anymore!

Maybe I'll just skip this round and watch the World Championships instead, then cheer on the winner in the Western Final. But that won't happen; I can't not watch playoff hockey. Maybe I can cheer for both teams? That won't happen either. *sigh*. Anyways, GO SENS!

The kids are alright part 2

Game 3 of the AHL East Division semi-final series of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins vs. the Norfolk Admirals went Monday night. The baby Pens (including our baby Oilers) won 3-2 in overtime, with baby Oilers scoring or assisting on all 3 goals.
Pouliot scored the 1st goal for Wilkes-Barre, Gilbert had two assists, and Nilsson had two assists. Great work boys.

The kids are alright

After dropping game 1, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins rebounded with a 5-2 victory over the Norfolk Admirals in the second game of their best-of-seven East Division Semi-Final to tie the series at 1-1. Robert Nilsson had a goal and an assist, Kyle Brodziak had two helpers and Marc Pouliot had an assist.

Other Oilers prospects playing for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton include Brian Young, JF Jacques, Tyler Spurgeon, Tom Gilbert and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers. Rob Schremp is out with an injury.

Game 3 is on Monday in Norfolk.

Oilers press release: Proud to be Oil Country

Updated: Apr. 21, 2007 at 10:32 PM MDT

Proud to be Oil Country

Today, on behalf of the Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club, we want to share a few key messages.

First, we want to acknowledge your disappointment and that of the entire Oilers organization. Yes, our ultimate responsibility is to always compete at the upper echelons of the NHL and, regrettably, from January to March ,we just didn't live up to our expectations, or yours.

From unplanned roster changes to start the season, to a bulging sick-bay, to a spring schedule with extended road trips, somehow the cards we were dealt were not aces this year even after holding first place in the North West Division in late December. The Oilers roster for many games was manned by talented but inexperienced prospects from the farm system - fresh out of college or Junior hockey. This will certainly turn into a great development opportunity for future Oiler teams but as for this season, we were unable to win with these challenges.

Knowledgeable hockey fans and observers know the rest. Core players never got on track until late in the season and some just didn't get it going at all. We know they gave it their best effort but there are still many long faces in the dressing room. Our coaches and hockey management have publicy accepted responsibility for a season that didn't produce the desired results as planned under their leadership. Every Oilers employee and player wants you to know that they share your frustration about the results of the last year.

Still we have a business to run - so we move on - as professionals. At this moment we are scouting the amateur and professional hockey world for those player assets that will strengthen our team. At the same time our walking wounded are getting healthy again; ready and willing to restore your expectations of us as a competitive, world class hockey organization.

We also want to share our feelings about the criticism of our hometown has taken lately. Edmonton Oilers fans and citizens of Oil Country should make no apologies that Edmonton can be a tough place to play hockey. It is. When you play here the passion runs full strength.

The fact is - there are over one million people living in Edmonton now, and hundreds of thousands more in Oil Country. Lets face it, we like it here and by-and-large the robust economic energy where we live is treating us very well. People are thriving here. They are proud to call it home. Corporations are also proud of sustaining and being sustained by the energy here and Canadians are moving here from places like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and other regions.

Sure you need a warm coat and snow tires - but to listen to some - you'd think we were the only city where winter happens every year. You and I both know that's not the case and all of us should be offended by that kind of 'drive by' criticism. This is a great city. A terrific hockey market where the game is sacred. This is exactly what makes Edmonton a great place to play and a fine place to live.

This time last year we were all gearing up for one of the most thrilling Stanley Cup runs in the history of our franchise. This time crystallized the passion of our fans and defined Oil Country for all to see.

Oil Country is about hard work, grit and passion. We signed on to play in the NHL - A league where you will get nowhere without those same qualities. The competition is fierce on and off the ice. Edmonton's NHL team is prepared to meet the competition on both fronts.

Sincerely,

Patrick LaForge
President and CEO, Edmonton Oilers.


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Take it whichever way you like; I want to see at least one coach (Craig Simpson? He's working for CBC after all) fired to send a message. This kind of season (especially after last season) should not be tolerated and someone should be made accountable /the scapegoat. You damn well know there will be players traded in the off-season too.

Karma is a bitch hey? Have a nice summer, (F)lames!

Stats up to game 5: (Wings vs Flames)
Home team: 5-0
Team scoring first: 5-0
Game 6 tonight: The home team (Flames) scored 1st, but did not win! Imagine that; a buck in the trend!

Could be due to a thing called karma biting them in the ass? (If scoring 1st AT HOME and then losing in overtime on a goal scored by one Johan Franzen, the guy who was the victim in McLennan's slasher happy 18 seconds in game 5 which resulted in his suspension and fines for the team, can be called "karma".)
Be it karma or not, the Flames lost in 6 games to the mighty Red Wings and all is right with the hockey world (for now).

With one series yet to be determined, I have a 6-1 (W-L) predicting rate so far. Go me!

If the Stars win tomorrow night, the 2nd round in the wild West will be Wings-Stars and Sharks-Ducks. If the Canucks win, it will be Wings-Sharks and Ducks-Canucks.
Either way, it should make for some great hockey.

Maybe some the Flames will join the gang heading to Russia? If not, see all you suckers next season for another round in the ongoing Battle of Alberta.

Non hockey post: Earth Day; did you do your part?

Today, April 22, was Earth Day.
I did my part by cleaning up the garbage accumulated on the lawn, in the parking lot, and in the bushes (on the lawn) of my workplace. The winter covered up a lot of junk, and the wind blew in some more.
I had been meaning to clean it up for awhile, and today seemed like an appropriate day because it was Earth Day. Didn't find much of any interest, just a lot of McDonald's and KFC garbage; (the two neighbouring restaurants); an Oilers lighter that was rusted and empty, cigarette and gum packages, and an condom wrapper. Pretty boring garbage actually, 3 bags of it.
Now it puts the KFC to shame cuz their lawn and parking lot is still covered in garbage.
Happy Earth Day!

Hoh boy, it's getting nasty out there.

I actually got to sit and watch an entire playoff game yesterday; two entire games to be exact.
And boy do the Flames/Wings Nucks/Stars have a hate-on for each other.

I like the chippy, somewhat 'dirty' stuff sometimes, but when a player crosses the line and it's not just 'in the moment of the game', its downright dangerous; attempt to injure stuff.
Like Alex Burrows of the Canucks; who the fuck is this pansy-ass wannabe punk anyways? He's a nobody, that's who he is. Now, I am not a Dallas Stars fan, but to slash Brenden Morrow from behind on the back on the ankle is pretty low. Morrow ain't one to back down, so he came over to the bench and let Burrows have it verbally. Boy, do I wish I knew what they said to each other. Probably just a lot of profanity and 'you better watch your back' stuff I'm sure.





The Stars, in their history; going back to their days as the Minnesota North Stars, have yet come back to win a series when down 3-1, but now is a good a time as any to start.

As for another nobody acting like an idiot, take a look at Jamie MacLennan. He comes in in relief for Kipper in a 5-1 game and turns into a fucktard. Whacking and hacking at Franzen, it got him suspended and his stupidity was contagious as the whole team got into the dirty stick work and essentially got suspended and fined for it.

Calgary Flames goaltender Jamie McLennan has been suspended five games, Calgary coach Jim Playfair has been fined $25,000 and the Flames’ organization has been fined $100,000 for a variety of actions late in Game Five of the team’s Western Conference Quarter-final series against the Detroit Red Wings.





Way to be (F)lames, way to be.

As for game 6 tonight, maybe it won't be as nasty. Could be more nasty; let's hope the refs put an end to it before it starts though. That's not hockey, that's being idiotic.
So far this series has been a complete homer's series, with the Flames sucking something fierce in Detroit, but playing solid at home. What gives? It's carried over from the Flames regular season play. I don't see how a team can be so Jekyll and Hyde. Even if the Flames do manage to win at home tonight, the Wings will win game 7; that's just how this series is going. You aren't going to go far in the playoffs if you can't win on the road when you also don't have home ice advantage.

The 2nd round for the East is set with the Devils beating the Lightning today. Mostly due to my Marty playing stellar in net for the Devils.
The Devils will face the Senators, with the Rangers taking on the Sabres.
Predictions for the 2nd round after the Wild (nasty) West is set.

Matt and Toby are going to Russia.

Oh yes, the USA are going to be a team to contend with at the upcoming IIHF World Championships now that Petersen has been named to the team. Must be for his (short-handed) scoring prowess.
(insert uncontrollable giggling here.)
Damn, I knew I shoulda tripped him that night I walked past him on Jasper Ave.
Apparently he is also bad driver. A+ Toby.

As for Greener, he previously played for Team USA as part of the 2003 World Juniors.
He scored one assist and lead the Americans in penalty minutes with 34 in 7 games. Sounds like his Oilers 2006 playoff stats.

Not much else to report on the Oilers front.

Go Sharks!

So far so good.

The mighty Red Wings are up 2-0 in their series against the (F)lames; game 3 goes tonight.
So much for the (F)lames stellar defense corps. If not for Kipper (did he dye his red hair brunette?) the (F)lames would have lost by bigger margins than 4-1 and 3-1.

The Sharks are up 2-1 in their series against the Predators.
By far the most rough and entertaining series of all. Our old friends Billy G and Grier are playing pretty solid.
Plus, who knows what color Mark Smith is going to dye his hair to next; that's half the fun of watching him.
Maybe Kipper wanted to get in on the fun, (being a former teammate of Smith's in San Jose) but he missed the memo on dyeing it a funky hair color, not plain brown.

The Ducks are on the verge of sweeping the Wild. I tried to watch this series and just couldn't do it.
I hate the Wild, and even though I predicted the Ducks would win, I am in no way cheering for them. Watching a game/series and not caring about which team wins is pointless and boring.

Red Wings 4, Flames 1.

So much for the Flames stellar defense and the Red Wings 'soft' forwards.
Sure, it's only game one, but if the Flames continue to play like they did tonight, they are going to be out golfing faster than you can say "SWEEP!"

Oh Jarret.

My favorite lefty has been out of the Oilers line-up since Feb 1st and still managed to finish 4th in Oilers scoring despite missing 31 games.

That's pretty depressing news for the guys that played in all 82 games, or close to it, to have an injured teammate still out score you.

The good news is Stoll was kicking ass at the time of his injury and should be back in fine form for next season.

If he had played in all 82 games I'm certain he would have been the Oilers leading scorer and MVP.

NHL playoffs edition 2007.

The Oilers didn't make it; who to cheer for?

The Detroit Red Wings, that's who.

Western Conference

Series 1: Detroit (1) vs. Calgary (8)

Having being a former Red Wings fan (more like a Shanahan and Yzerman fan; hence the "former" Red Wings fan part due to neither player playing the Red Wings anymore), I have become a re-born Red Wings fan. It was admitly hard to cheer against them last spring, but when your 2nd fav team plays your 1st fav team, you gotta go with number one. Always.
No Oilers to cheer for this playoff season, no choke artist Legace in net for the Wings, Hasek back and playing like its 1999; Flames are going down. Make all the excuses you want Flames fans, but the (F)lames lost their last two regulation games having sewed up 8th place before hand or not.
RED WINGS IN 6.

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Series 2: Anaheim (2) vs Minnesota (7).

Minnesota is back in the playoffs after missing last season.
They will be out of the playoffs after round one.
Anaheim is just too good to lose in the 1st round, what with the two best defensemen in the league, a proven sniper in Selanne, the talented group of young forwards up front (Getzlaf, Perry, Penner), and a pretty good one-two punch in net.
Even with the improved offense in the Wild's line-up, the Ducks are on a mission to get back to the Western Conference final after losing to the Oilers last season.
These two teams were pretty evenly matched this season (both teams won 2 out of the 4 games) but they haven't played against each other since December 31.
This series is really not high on my list of 'have to watch'; really, I could care less which team wins, but for the sake of this blog, I have to put some thought into why I am picking each team.
DUCKS IN 5.

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Series 3: Vancouver(3) vs Dallas (6).

The Stars actually finished the regular season with two more points than the Canucks, but are seeded 6th due to division leaders automatically being seeded 1-2-3. Nashville also had more points than the Canucks, but again, due to the seeding of the division leaders junk, they finish 4th.
Vancouver does have home ice advantage and have been kicking ass since Christmas, but Luongo is yet unproven in the playoffs. He has played in pressure-type games before; coming in for an injured Brodeur in the 2004 World Cup and winning, but this is a best-of-7 game series, not a one game showdown.
Since I am not a Canucks fan at all, and being that I have a marriage proposal (joke or not) riding on the Stars winning, gotta go with Dallas for this one.
STARS IN 7.

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Series 4: Nashville (4) vs San Jose (5).

A re-match of last season's quater-final playoffs, which the Sharks won in 5 games.
Mind you, the Pred's star goaltender Vokoun was out injured last season, so San Jose may not win this one so easily. Nashville did win the regular season match-up 3 games to 1, but as the Oilers proved last year, you can throw all that regular season garbage out the window come playoff time.
The Sharks beat the Preds last year, so they will be building off of that confidence.
The Sharks, much like the Ducks, are eager to get back to the Western Conference final and maybe win one. The feel they are a better team than when they lost in the WCF in 2004 to the Flames, and after losing to the Oilers in the 2nd round in 2006, they feel they have something to prove. I have always like San Jose but never considered them a 'favorite' team.
The Preds are pretty decent too, having almost finished 1st overall ahead of the Red Wings, but they had a minor hiccup along the way. I'm sure the Preds having something to prove as well (like all playoff bound teams do) but some pretty good regular season teams are going to be done come the 1st round. Nashville will be one of them.
SHARKS IN 6.

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Eastern Conference

Being a Western Conference girl, I don't really get to watch too many East teams with the (stupid) way the schedule was set up post lockout, and I hate the Leafs, so I also don't watch the early game on CBC, unless for the sheer fun of watching them lose to the Penguins 8-2 like I did once in mid January. Leafs missed the playoffs after taking out the Canadiens (sob) so fuck em anyways.

Series 1: Buffalo (1) vs New York Islanders (8).

Buffalo very well could have won the Eastern Conference final last season if it wasn't for all their injures and that bitch Cam Ward stealing the show. Buffalo sure as hell isn't going to lose in the 1st round this season; they, (like all the other playoff teams) have something to prove. The difference with the Sabres though, is they REALLY have something to prove. The Canes (and my beloved Oilers) ended up as one-hit wonders, but Buffalo is the real deal kids. I'm going to go ahead and predict that the Sabres will be the Eastern Conference champs this season and possibly even win the Cup.
See ya Islanders. Have fun Smyttie going to Russia for the IIHF World Championships with some of your former Oilers teammates.
SABRES IN 4.

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Series 2: New Jersey (2) vs Tampa Bay (7).

The Devils, once again, are riding high on the magnificent goaltending of one Martin Brodeur.
The Lightning, 2004 Cup winners, barely squeaked into the playoffs.
Boasting 52 goal scorer Vincent Lecavalier and his buddy St. Louis riding shot gun, the Lightning might be able to put a scare into the Devils.
Brodeur will have something to say about that.
DEVILS IN 6.

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Series 3: Atlanta (3) vs New York Rangers (6).

Again, like the West, the 3rd seed is only the 3rd seed due to the division leader junk. (Hey, Mr. Bettman, how about you scrap this bullshit and seed teams according to POINTS totals, instead of being the best team in a weak division.)
I couldn't care less about this series.
Sure, Shanahan plays for the Rangers, but I will never again cheer for a whole team just because of one or two players.
On that note,
RANGERS IN 7.

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Series 4: Ottawa (4) and Pittsburgh (5).

Now, this is the series to watch in the East. Ottawa is always a contender, yet always falls short.
Pittsburgh hasn't been in the playoffs for a long time. They boast many a great young talent, that if they can keep this core of young players together for a number of years, could very well go a great run. Maybe like the Oilers of 1984 to 1990, maybe not. The beginning starts now though.
Sorry Ottawa, I will be cheering for you (as a team that I like) but I don't see you getting past the 1st round this year.
The Penguins are a young and eager team, and nothing stands in the way of a team with enthusiasm like Sidney Crosby has.
PENGUINS IN 6.

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Playoff series start on Wednesday and Thursday; all series will be broadcast in Canada on either CBC or TSN.

To do list: 1. Get Hemsky a sniper

Hemsky didn't have the kind of break-out season we were waiting for.
He was injured at times, but he is still reluctant to shoot at times when he is an scoring position.
He is now the future of this franchise after signing a 6 year contract last summer, and it's time he owned up to it and becomes more of a leader. He has the skill to be the kind of elite player this teams needs.

By his own accord he knows he has to better, he knows he has to take that next step, he knows he has to grab this team by the balls and lead the way back to the playoffs.
But he can't do it alone. He needs some help.

At age 23 (24 in August) he is still growing into his own in the NHL, but if we don't start to see great(er) things from him next season, he may never become that elite player that he should be. No more excuses Ales. Over to you, Lowe.

Oilers report card. It's just like school, hey?

The Edmonton Sun did their annual Oilers end of season report card yesterday.
The do a mid-season one too; I didn't agree with some of the grades in the mid-season report, but I pretty much agree with all the end of season grades.

A little harsh to give Lupul an F; mind you I didn't think to highly of him at times through out the season, but after meeting him a few times, he is genuinely a nice guy and he does try hard. He puts more pressure on himself than anyone else does. Hopefully he comes back next season and kicks some ass.

Moreau, Tjarnqvist, and Staios have been left off the list due to being injured for the majority of the season.

Matt Greene: Playing out of position as a top four defenceman for much of the year. Terrible plus-minus. But accepted enormous responsibility for a 23-year-old sophomore on a bad team. (C)

Ladislav Smid: Great poise for a 21-year-old rookie. Shows flashes of being an outstanding defenceman some day. In a situation where some kids might have folded, he didn't. (B)

Shawn Horcoff: Not very good offensively, on a team where nobody was. At minus-22, wasn't very good defensively. Helped the PK into the top 10 and sets good example for young players in professionalism and commitment, but that's not enough. (D)

Raffi Torres: With 15 goals and only minus-7, his numbers weren't as ghastly as some. But had long, long droughts, was prone to the dumb mistake and wasn't nearly as physical as he could have been. (D+)

Joffrey Lupul: People have been trying to make excuses for him all year, but, to his credit, he hasn't. He's been awful and he knows he's been awful. He owned up to it, took the criticism like a man and you have to believe he'll work harder this summer than he ever has in his life. (F)

Jarret Stoll: It's no coincidence that the team collapsed when he got hurt. Missed 31 games and still finished fourth in scoring. (A)

Marty Reasoner: Expectations aren't terribly high for the fourth-line centre, but he might have fallen a little short of them. (C-)

Toby Petersen: Versatile and inexpensive, he doesn't hurt you. But at times it was difficult to see what he did to help. (C-)

Jason Smith: Looked like he was running a day care out there. He's not supposed to be a team's No.1 defenceman. Battled hard, but needs help. (B)

Jan Hejda: Another promising defenceman. (C).

Brad Winchester: Wasn't given much of a chance, but he could have been a lot more involved physically. (C-)

Patrick Thoresen: He made the team on the premise of being an offensive threat, then scored only three goals. (F)

Fernando Pisani: Makes more than a third-line, two-way player should. But he earned that contract by getting Edmonton to Game 7 of the final last year. Four goals off last season's total and minus-2, given his ice time over 77 games with this team, is very good. (C+)

J.F. Jacques: It took Zack Stortini five minutes to carve a niche for himself as a fiery, physical, combative fourth-liner. J.F. wouldn't do it in 40 games. (F)

Zack Stortini: The Oilers have been searching for a pot-stirrer like this for years. Needs to back it up a little more, although going with Derek Boogaard separates him from the likes of Matt Cooke. (B)

Petr Sykora: Great start, abysmal finish (seven goals since Christmas). Played hurt,in games that didn't matter. But has to be able to produce when he's not playing with Ales Hemsky. (C-)

Tom Gilbert: If he's this good now, thrust into a terrible situation with no experience, imagine when he has a couple of years under his belt. Best plus-minus on the team over the last 12 games. (B+)

Marc Pouliot: Amateur scouts have him pegged as an offensive guy, which he hasn't been. But minus-1 in 46 games with this team is a good sign. (C)

Ales Hemsky: Flat out fun to watch. Can also be frustrating as heck, with the turnovers and refusal to shoot. He's a rare talent and he makes others around him better (ask Sykora), but there's no such thing as an elite star with 13 goals. (B)

Jussi Markkanen: Got pretty stale watching Roloson pile up the starts. Not terribly reliable at times. (C-)

Dwayne Roloson: Edmonton's most consistent and most valuable player. Had off-nights here and there, as all goalies do, but on a team with many question marks, netminding was never one of them. (B+)

Kevin Lowe, GM: Did he get the highest possible return for Chris Pronger, the best defenceman in hockey at the time? Could he have managed the Ryan Smyth situation better, and did he get the highest possible returns when negotiations fell through? Did he do enough during the season to improve a struggling team? No, no and no. Maybe, in a few years, Lupul, Smid and the kids they get for Smyth will be impact players and we'll come back and amend his grade. Until then: (D)

Craig MacTavish, head coach: You could put Toe Blake behind the bench and give him Scotty Bowman and Jacques Lemaire as assistants and they still couldn't lug this lineup into the Stanley Cup playoffs. But did he get the most out of Torres? Or Lupul? Or Winchester? Or Horcoff? Or Pisani? Or Thoresen? Or Petersen? Too soft on veterans, too hard on young players, when maybe it should have been the other way around. (C-)

Clean up your locker and GET OUT.

The boys cleaned out their lockers yesterday.

Some of the kids are going back to their AHL teams for the playoffs, some of the guys are going to Russia to play for their country at the IIHF World Championships.
And some are just going home.
Some may not be back in Edmonton next season.

Hopefully Toby is on the list of not coming back. Same with Shaggy. Unfortunate that he was injured for almost half the season, but he ain't the answer to our defensive woes.

The Juice could be a goner.

Torres might be on that list too. Poor Raf. He sucked something fierce this season. I know it, you know it, he knows it, MacT knows it, Lowe knows it....... If he does get re-signed and not traded, he better as fuck pick it up next season, with or without his bestest buddy Stoll on the same line.
Raffi himself said it best; "Whether I like it or not I'm a big part of this team and I have to be ready to go next year, or it's going to be big trouble again."

Best of luck to all the (Oilers) kids in the AHL playoffs; Wikkes-Barre should have a legitimate shot at the Calder Cup.

Syvert and Pouliot return to their AHL teams. Nice sweater Marc .......

So winning on Saturday night dropped us out of the draft lottery. Bah.

The Chicago Blackhawks will pick first in the 2007 NHL entry draft.

The Hawks moved from fifth to first in Tuesday's draft lottery to determine the order of selection for the first 14 selection. The lottery was held behind closed doors at the league offices. The Philadelphia Flyers will go second, the Phoenix Coyotes third, Los Angeles Kings fourth, Washington Capitals fifth and Edmonton Oilers sixth.

Given the Oilers draft record of late, even if they were to pick 1st overall, the scouts would find a way to screw it up.

The Oilers will also have two later 1st round picks, courtesy of the Smyth trade and Pronger trade; depending on where their two teams finish in the playoffs.

OILERS WIN!!! Wooo-eeeee

Oilers win! Oilers win! Oilers win!

But it was all for nothing, expect to see the boys (act) happy one last time.
It was a joyous few minutes anyways. The realization of not making the playoffs hit about 20 games ago, but it was still a bit sad to know that this season has finally come to an end.
What with the drama that started back in June 2006 days after losing in game 7 of the SCF; Pronger asking for a trade for 'personal family reasons' (re: his wife is an American high-maintaince princess bitch); most of the UFA's leaving; the major injuries to Moreau, Staios, Stoll, and to as lesser extent Hemsky; the inconstancy of Torres, Lupul, and Horcoff; the Smyth trade, the long losing streaks........... I'm glad this season is finally over.
Yes, it stings; for sure some of these boys won't be back come training camp in September; but life will go on.

The Avalanche lost, so they too miss the playoffs.
And of course the damn dirty Leafs knocked out the Habs, one of the few Canadian teams I actually give a crap about. (The Leafs are a team that I don't give a crap about. Have fun being swept by Buffalo if you do make the playoffs.)

The Carolina Hurricanes were officially knocked out of playoff contention earlier in the week; I don't know if this is supposed to make me feel better or worse about the Oilers sucking so bad this season.
It is the 1st season, well, since the NHL took sole possession of the Stanley Cup that both finalists from the previous season missed the playoffs. What a kick in the junk. Just goes to show the parity in the league, or the sheer luck of it all.
Thanks a lot Cam Ward for stealing our Cup and then blowing it out your ass this season.

Good luck to all the (Oilers and Canadian) boys going to Russia for the 2007 IIHF World Championships, and here's to all the injured players have a successful recovery.

Happy Easter everyone!

Playoff predictions later when I feel like it.



Also, a belated congrats to my Marty for breaking Parent's record for most wins in a season with his 48th win on Thursday night against the Flyers. Brodeur’s 48-win mark surpasses Parent’s previous record of 47, which had stood since 1973-74. Brodeur leads the league in wins (of active goaltenders) and now has 494 victories in his career, just 57 shy of Patrick Roy’s all-time record of 551. Brodeur also has 12 shut outs on the season, to give him 92 in his career. He is the only goaltender in NHL history with 6 40+ win seasons; no other goaltender has more than 3.

Vezina trophy anyone?

Shut-out again ................ and MacT is some pissed.

MAILING IT IN

It wasn't just that they lost - nobody expected anything different when the worst team in the NHL dragged its carcass into the Xcel Energy Centre last night - but it's how they stumbled to their 17th defeat in the last 18 games that really burns.

(Actually, the Flyers are the worst team in the NHL, but for the purpose of this story, the Oilers are the worst losers right now; that is my assumption anyways.)

They got shut out. Again. For a franchise record ninth time this season.

The Oilers said before the trip that they didn't want to mail it in the rest of the way, but there were a lot of players with stamps all over their sweaters.

In his most stinging criticism yet, MacTavish said a lot of the big-name forwards who were supposed to be leading the team this year have long ago pulled the chute.

"(Joffrey)Lupul and (Raffi)Torres, those are huge, huge absences for us," he said.

MacTavish added that injuries and inexperience on the blueline are no excuse for a hockey team being held to one or zero goals in 13 of the last 18 games.

"I said this to the players," said MacTavish.

"Don't be looking at the young guys as the scapegoat for tonight's game.

"They did fine.

"When your veterans don't provide anything, literally, in the hockey game, and your young guys are holding their own, that's an indictment on them, not an indictment of the situation.

"We need something out of our veterans, we didn't get it out of them in Chicago, we didn't get it out of them again tonight.

"There's some guys who haven't played any good in ..... all year."

Torres has three goals in his last 24 games, Lupul has three in his last 33.

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I have a love-hate relationship with MacT, and a love-hate relationship with his comments and quotes. Sometimes I feel he is wrong to criticize the boys, other times I wish he would criticize them more. The comments above about last night's game are bang on.

As much as I love one Raffi Torres, he hasn't done much to help himself this season with his contract up in July. Granted, he is a RFA and not a UFA, butttttttttttt I just have this feeling that he will traded (probably in a package deal) in the off season. Best of luck to you Raffi, I will miss you (as will the other half of Storres.)

Stoll will get over losing Raf though; he could always find a new buddy in one Mr. Joffery Lupul.

If my beloved Raf isn't traded, GREAT!, but I'm preparing myself for a trade nonetheless.

I don't need to go thru another denial stage like when Doug Weight was traded.

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Roloson has been named to the roster of Team Canada for the upcoming IIHF World Hockey Championships, managed by the greatest Red Wing of all time, Steve Yzerman; along with defenceman Eric Brewer of the St. Louis Blues and forwards Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Shane Doan of the Phoenix Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings’ Mike Cammalleri.

Good for Roli. I hope some of the other Oilers are invited to go play for their respective countries as well.

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THIS JUST IN FROM THE OILERS WEBSITE:

ROB SCHREMP HAS BEEN RECALLED.

I don't see how this can possibly help the Oilers at this point in the season, but good for Rob; the plunger faced, drunken thumbs-up, speedo wearing, man-whore that he is. :D