Oilers-Falmes pre-season BOA part deux

Both teams won in a shoot-out last night. Good for the Falmes, now they won't finish the pre-season without a win.
The Oilers line-up for tonight's game is available, but the Falmes line-up isn't. Not like any of their fans know who plays for their team besides Iginla and Kipper.

FORWARDS

27 Dustin Penner - 13 Andrew Cogliano – 83 Ales Hemsky
28 Patrick Thoresen – 10 Shawn Horcoff – 51 Kyle Brodziak
22 Jean-Francois Jacques – 48 Ben Simon – 46 Zack Stortini
42 Jonas Almtorp – 62 Tim Sestito – 43 Fredrik Johansson

DEFENCE

44 Sheldon Souray – 2 Matt Greene
25 Joni Pitkanen – 24 Steve Staios
26 Denis Grebeshkov – 23 Dick Tarnstrom

GOALTENDERS

1 Devan Dubnyk
35 Dwayne Roloson


Cogliano gets a turn in between Hemsky and Penner, or the Pensky line as they have been dubbed.
The defense is pretty much what we can expect for the regular season, with Smid in instead of Grebeshkov.
Based on not having a Falmes line-up available, I can't make an accurate score prediction, but since I am a bit baised towards my Oilers, I'm going to go with a 4-3 Oilers win.



Look at all the Oilers fans down in Phoenix. Awesome to see.

Egads!

Moreau is out with a severe bone bruise after taking a shot off the ankle in Calgary on Saturday.
At least it's not broken, but I don't know how long it takes to recover from that kind of injury. Sounds painful. Godspeed Ethan! With Pisani already down and out and possibly gone for the entire season, we don't need anymore injuries to the grind line.

Greene is apparently going to be paired with Souray. I wonder who gets to play the point on the powerplay then, because both those guys tend to take too many unnecessary penalties.
My money is on Pitkanen. And if Souray is going to be paired with Greene, are they the number 1 pairing or the number 2 pairing? And then what are the other 2 pairings? Statios and Pitkanen, Smid and Transtrom? Where do Gilbert and Gerbeshkov fit into this? This defense is actually making me nervous.

Most of the young forward prospects are making names for themselves. Cogliano is starting to emerge, showing some hands to go along with that speed of his; scoring three goals in the last two games, including the overtime winner against the Falmes on Saturday night. Thank God, I was hoping he had some finish. He's not listed as being in the Oilers line-up for tonight's game in Phoenix, so I'm going to assume that he is playing tomorrow night against the Falmes; a game which I will be attending. wooooooo!

Man, I hate the Leafs and their jackass fans.

Went down to Rexall last night for the Oilers-Leafs pre-season game. Almost as many Leaf fans there as Oilers fans. Damn I hate the Leafs and their awfully rude fans. Really, I think I may hate them more than the Flames and their fans.

Notes from the game:
- Raffi always seems to play like crap when I go to the Rex. Or else he'll score early at the start of the 2nd period when I'm still stuck in the line for over-priced food and pop. Don't know what it is, just usually seems to happen that way. Especially when I wear my Torres jersey. I did wear my Stoll jersey last night though.
- Matt Greene is still up to his old tricks, taking 3 penalties a game, the Leafs scored on one of the power plays provided by Greener. He really needs to learn to control his stick better.
- Denis Grebeshkov is like Greene in that he was out of position too many times and makes bad passes. He redeemed himself by scoring the OT goal though. Greene did nothing to redeem himself. He's lucky the boys killed off the penalty that carried over in the OT session.
- Horcoff is the man! Scored the tying goal, set up the 1st goal and the OT goal. He was forechecking and backchecking like nobody's business and was fairly decent on the PK. He was on the ice for the 2nd Leafs goal, but it wasn't his fault. Greene gave it away and Syvret blew a tire at the blue line.
- This Trukhno kid is pretty good, too bad the Oilers can't sign him, not even to a minor league contract as the Russian Hockey Federation says he will be re-entering the draft in 2008.
- As much as I liked Jussi Markkanen, Garon is so far looking like an upgrade in the back-up goaltender position. He made some spectacular saves. I'm sure Roli will get more nights off than he did last season with Garon being able to handle a higher work load than MacT gave to the Juice last season.
- Carter on his 'pro tryout' session so far is a bust. He left midway thru the 1st period after being hit twice on the same shift. I really didn't notice that he was gone until midway the 3rd. Found out later via the Oilers website that he suffered a concussion. Maybe Lowe should have brought in Lindros as a pro try-out instead of Carter. Lindros has more upside than Carter does. Sadly, I think the Big E may just retire.
- Coligano was looking good, very speedy, but no finish. Reminds me of Todd Marchant. Hopefully he remedies that in the AHL as we don't need anymore Marchant type players. At this point I can't really see him making the opening day playing roster. There are still 5 pre-season games to go, so I could be wrong. He could be a solid 2nd line player if he learns how to finish in tight. He was exciting to watch.

That's pretty much all I got. I'll try to do post-game reports for all the games I happen to go to at the Rex. Next up for me is the Oilers-Flames pre-season game Wed. Sept 26. Not like anyone reads my blog anyways, but I like to pretend that someone does.

Did I mention how much I hate the Leafs and their fans? Just making sure.











EDIT: I think I was thinking of a different Russian player that was at the Oilers rookie camp, because upon further investigation, Trukhno is a 4th round Oilers draft pick from 2005 and is signed to an entry level contract. My bad.

My life has meaning again!

A former co-worker made a comment to me at the start of the 2001 NHL season, "ah yes, hockey is back and your life has meaning again." So very true. I don't know what I would do without the Oilers.
Probably swear and yell a lot less, not be stressed out come March and April, not be so wound up and restless on days that I am going to games, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Last season I managed to go to 14 Oilers games, but most of them were forgettable, so we will do just that, forget about them.

This past weekend was the start of Oilers training camp and the Joey Moss Cup. I went down to Rexall on Saturday afternoon for the 2nd half of the Oilers open practice and was not impressed with Schremp at all. If he has any hope of making the team this season, he better start picking it up. Like yesterday. Sure he's coming off knee surgery, but he just looked off, he wasn't really making any plays or doing anything of interest. I wouldn't have even noticed him if I wasn't watching for him on the ice. Same goes for his performance in the Joey Moss Cup on Sunday.

Dustin Penner and Sam Gagner were most impressive on Sunday. Playing on an line with Hemsky certainly helped though. Gagner and Hemsky worked well off of each other and Penner was right in the mix, starting to nicelt fit in. I would love to see Gagner make the team straight out of junior after he annihilated the Russians in the Junior Super Series, but he does need to psychically mature more to be able to handle an entire NHL season. Compared to Penner (who is a big, big guy) Gagner looks like a child. A future NHL star no doubt, but this season might not be the start for him. If he does make the team, awesome, if not, then for sure he will have a helluva chance next season.


I'm starting to like Penner, and liking him on Hemsky's line. I wasn't sold on the idea of Lowe bringing in Penner the way he did (and for the money he did), but if training camp is any indication (which sometimes it isn't) he just do just fine with the Oilers this season.
Didn't get a chance to listen to tonight's pre-season game as I was at work and the radio seems to have gone missing over the summer. I shall remedy that right quick, before the regular season starts. From the report on the Oilers website, the Hemsky-Penner-Gagner line played decent with Gagner scoring a goal.

Not so keen on Penner wearing number 27 (Laraque) or Gagner wearing number 89 (Comrie) but that's the numbers they were given or chose. It's kinda creepy how Penner is Laraque's size and Gagner is Comrie's size. Here's hoping neither number is cursed. Wouldn't want Penner to have Laraque's goal scoring inability or Gagner to develop Comrie's attitude. Ewww.

The line that set the tempo for the game and stole the show was Moreau-Reasoner-Brodziak. This Brodziak kid just might make the team. He has been pretty impressive in training camp so far, and doesn't look out of position at any point in the game at all. Two goals, one assist and 1st star tonight for him is a damn good start. That is what I was hoping to see out of Schremp, but he's going to be a star or a bust, and so far he's heading down the road to bust. Brodziak on the other hand would be a nice fit on the 2nd or 3rd line. The addition of Anson Carter to training camp on a try-out just might give Brodziak that extra push to really show his stuff. Maybe Schremp should be taking cues from Kyle.

I'm going to the Oilers-Leafs pre-season game, pretty certain that the players that didn't play tonight against the Panthers will be playing against the Leafs. I'm hoping to finally see Souray in Oilers silks, after he tweaked his back during the fitness testing on Thursday he hasn't skated yet in training camp. Not a good start to the season to hurt your back before training camp even begins, but it doesn't seem like a serious problem, more of a case of being cautious so it doesn't become a serious problem. Lord knows we don't need any of those this season. Especially not after losing Pisani indefinitely already.

I love autumn and the start of a new hockey season. Not too keen on the new jerseys, but they aren't completely hideous, so I'll probably end up buying one later in the season.
GOILERS!

Joey Moss Cup.

The Oilers 2007/08 TV Schedule is out.

The new jerseys will be revealed at the Joey Moss Cup on Sunday Sept. 16 at Rexall Place. For only $5 you can watch the Oilers play against the Oilers and support a worthy cause as well. You may even win a chance to get your photo taken with some of the Oilers! Now that is worth $5 right there.

Oilers are screwed. Figuratively and literally.

After the initial shock of the news of Pisani being out indefinitely, now hits the realization that the Oilers are screwed, both figuratively and literally. With our group of 12 forwards already looking not so hot on paper, and the right side being seriously thinned out with the loss of Ferny, What's Lowe to do? Pray that Hemsky has finally learned to shoot? That Schremp will come into training camp and prove to be a GOD ready for calibre minutes in the NHL after scoring 17g-36a-53pts in 69 GP in the AHL last season? That any one of the forwards can score more than 29 goals? That the defense is really an improvement over the defense we had last season? Can he pull a trade that might actually help this team?

WHY DO THE HOCKEY GODS HATE US SO??!?!?!

Is Pisani really even replaceable? Sure, he's "only" a two-way forward that has scored an average of 14g-32pts in the last 3rd seasons, but he has become very much a heart-and-soul player on this team that plays the PK and many important shut-down minutes. Plus, he's killer in the shoot-outs. Without him we won't even be getting close to going to any shoot-outs though.
After being so darn excited yesterday for the season to be starting soon, today it just looks grim. I love my boys so, but it's going to be another painful season.
Godspeed Ferny.

Brian Burke is probably feeling pretty smug today. Dammit.

"Super Series"? More like Russians getting pwned series

The Edmonton Oilers very own 1st round draft pick Sam Gagner is leading the way in the slaughtering of the Russians with 4 goals and 10 points in 5 games played. He looks like a keeper to me.
This series is pretty one-sided, with the Canadians up 5 games to none so far in the 8 game series. After yesterday's display of rubbing-it-in-your-opponent's-face score of 8-1, I can't really see the Russians winning any of the remaining 3 games. That being said, does this little junior "Super Series" even matter than much? Sure, we get to see some of the finest young junior players in the country, but isn't that what the annual IIHF World Juniors tourney during the Christmas to New Years week is for? It's supposed to be the commemorating the 25th anniversary of the original Summit Series, but back then the Russians actually showed up and made it a series worth watching. Very few people are actually even giving a crap about this series. Hell, I haven't watched a game yet, just the hi-lites; and I'm only paying it that much attention due to Gagner; nothing more, nothing less.

Oh no.

Pisani is sick. He is fixable, but his disease sounds horribly nasty. Not something you would want to wish on your worst enemy. He has ulcerative colitis, which is described as : a nonspecific inflammatory disease of the colon that is of unknown cause and is characterized by diarrhea with discharge of mucus and blood, cramping abdominal pain, and inflammation and edema of the mucous membrane with patches of ulceration.
Poor Fernando. I wish him and his family well. He is out of the Oilers line-up indefinitely.

It's almost here!

Despite the fact that the Oilers sucked something fierce down the stretch last season and the 'experts' are predicting the mighty Oil to suck something fierce again this season; I for one can't freakin WAIT until the 2007/08 NHL season starts.
Rookie camp starts on Thursday in Yellowknife, main camp starts in a week, pre-season gets rolling in two weeks on Monday Sept. 17 with a home game against the Florida Panthers.
What Oiler/hockey fan isn't getting excited at this time of year?! WHL pre-season is already under way, the young Canadians are kicking some Russian ass in the junior summit series; hockey is coming back in full swing and I love it. The beginning of the season is only second to the playoffs in terms of the best part of the hockey season; everyone gets a fresh start when the season begins.
No word yet on who will be the next Oilers captain. My vote is for Moreau.