Oiler Fever

Hello hockey fans!

I'm finally going to do a blog just about hockey. No mention of other topics!

1) Two months in to the Oilers season, the greatest hopes we had for our young guns saving us from our lonely position at the bottom of the heap, have been dashed. Sitting with just 14 points, only New Jersey and the New York Islanders can claim to be in more dire straights. It begs the question, what can the Oilers do to change things around?

I doubt there will be a coaching change. That's a personal observation. I haven't heard any rumors threatening Tom Renney's position with the club, but it's usually the coach that gets hit the hardest. Seeing as we've seen three coaches in three years of poor point production, I'm starting to think it may not be a coaching issue.

Could a trade be a plausible alternative? I think ideally, Edmonton would love to see some new blood come in and fire something up. The question is, what do we have to give that we don't need ourselves? Anyone who would garner trade interest is desperately needed within the club. Can't give up a young guy, the fans would lynch Steve Tambellini. At least I know I would. And it's time to invest in our future.

Can't give up Sheldon Souray because no one wants him and he's prone to injuries (at least he seems prone to injuries within our system).

We may just have to get through the hard times again. Fans need to face reality: We're in our rebuilding years. I whole-heartedly believe that if we hadn't done so well in the 2006 playoffs, we may have been able to build faster. 2006 was a fluke with average guys playing way, I mean WAY, above their previously showcased skill level. If we hadn't gone to Game 7 of the finals, we wouldn't have had inflated salaries based on two months of play. We would have had more money to invest in younger players and actual "stars" to hone the skills of our rookies.

Pittsburgh and Chicago had some tough times. I'm not saying we have someone like Sidney Crosby in our youth line-up, but with a couple years of top five draft picks, we could definitely change the face and skill of our franchise.

2) Is it time to consider sending guys like Taylor Hall, Magnus Paajarvi, and Jordan Eberle back down to the minors?

I understand why we want them playing in the big league. It brings in fans, it gives them some ice time, and allows them to get used to playing against top quality players. However, I wonder if there's merit to this argument: At some point, does all the losing affect how they view their abilities and really decrease their confidence? Especially when they're being touted as the saviours of the franchise? If we aren't winning, I can imagine the pressure from the franchise and the City of Edmonton must be somewhat overwhelming for guys who should be deciding what to major in in university and not what to buy first with their million dollar salaries.

I like the idea of letting them play on the farm team to boost their egos. However, if we send them down, who do we bring up? I'm pretty sure the average experience exhibited by players on our team is already pretty low.

3) On December 2nd, I have tickets to watch the Oilers take on the Maple Leafs in Toronto. Expensive arena? Check. Expensive tickets? Check. But being able to wear my Oilers jersey in another arena to cheer my home team on is completely worth it, even if we're humiliated by the by the Leafs.

Until next time, sports fans,

Cait

A Weekend of Hockey and Sleeplessness

Hello my friends,

Quick little update for you all today.  I realized I hadn't blogged anything since last week.  If my goal is to consistently blog and keep people up to date, a week of no blogs is not the way to do that!

Saturday night was probably one of the best evenings I've had since making the big move out here.  My cousin called me Saturday morning as I was walking around Kensington Market and offered me some sweet (and I mean SWEET) tickets to the Toronto v. Detroit pre-season game.  While I'm not really a Leafs fan and I am by NO means a Wings fan, I am a hockey fan and would never pass up the opportunity to see some guys on skates try to score ;)

My friend Beth and I arrived a little early to take in the atmosphere.  Air Canada Centre is definitely not Rexall Place.  For one, it's relatively new.  For two, there are definitely way more concession options.  For three, while the beers come in three different sizes (wussy, regular, and gigantic) nothing compares to my beer guy and friend, Wyatt at Rexall Place.  Service isn't as good, and there were no friendly faces to greet me with a cold one.

In terms of talent, Detroit is an extremely talented team.  Even if they only played their second and third liners (guys like Mike Modano and Nick Lidstrom weren't dressed) you can tell that Mike Babcock can really coach a team.  Toronto had a little flare, and they did win, but it was their top line guys dressed (Dion Phaneuf, Phil Kessel, etc).

After our little hockey outing, Beth and I wandered around downtown to peruse the "Nuit Blanche" exhibition.  An all night "arts" party, basically, there were exhibits, shows, etc all around Toronto and it was all free of charge.  We met up with another girl from our program, Jamie, and her friend, and walked around taking it in.  It was a little too busy for my liking, but City Hall was pretty trippy (lights, electronica music) and at Hart House on campus I experience one of the most awkward experiences I've ever had an an "art" show when the exhibition we saw was literally for us "viewers" to walk sideways between two naked women.  Weird.

Anyways, I have again rambled on, making this blog post a little too lengthy.  I am trying to work on my conciseness, I promise.  I've got another blog waiting in the wings about Sunday breakfast and another on my weekend plans for Thanksgiving merriment.  I will hopefully be able to blog my success at watching an Oilers game on television this week since CBC is broadcasting the home opener.

Until then dear readers,

Cait