Why I love my Edmonton Oilers?

Well, with roughly 10 games left in the regular season, and it is pretty obvious now that we will finish with a top 5 pick in the draft this summer. But, this season for me was NOT a complete failure like many are stating, and there is a completely different team inside that locker room, a team I am very proud of for the most part. At times were the loses frustrating, aggravating, never-ending, and redundant? Absolutely, but the players on this Edmonton Oilers club, fought with everything they had, the played with blood, sweat and tears, essentially they played with heart and passion for the logo on their chest. I feel like this group of players, this family, they understand what that logo means in the hearts of every Oilers fan young and old. They understand what this city and its fans went through last season and how they saw the players in that locker room just give up and admit defeat.

The players that dress for this team hate to lose as much as they love to win. A huge amount of the credit for instilling this culture is the coaching staff, they expected nothing less than 110% every night out of this group, and when that didn’t happen they were the first ones to hold them accountable for what happened and how they played. So, Tom never called a bag skate when the team under preformed, but he called out their character, called them out not only as hockey players but as people, that sometimes is more motivating, then a bag skate. He called them out as men, and challenged them to prove that they are better, and that they don’t deserve the label as lazy, half-ass players, and that is the exact response Renney often got.

Yes, this year’s team is young and inexperienced but hell they sure know how to play exciting hockey. Seeing the magic that has developed between Hall and Eberle, makes any hockey fans heart race with excitement, seeing the heart and passion from third line winger Ryan Jones, erupt on the ice, and seeing Ryan Whitney show why he wore the A and anchored our back-end, thinking about it makes me grin. This year was a development year, and it was a year to get everything figured out, which did happen, but they did not go down without a fight.

One thing is absolute next season will be a BIG year! It’s time the rookies see what Edmonton is like during the playoffs cause there’s nothing like it.

Now this part of the blog, is really just me sounding off about a part of a young oilers team that I absolutely LOATHE………….bandwagon puck bunnies.

My issue, okay so first I must say, yes the young players on the team are good looking hell most of the team is decent looking, however should that matter when you are watching, NO, should that matter when you are decided why you like or don’t like a player, NO.

I don’t believe that you can go to a hockey game and talk about only how the players are looking during warm-ups or during the game, you cannot consider yourself a hockey fan. I don’t have a problem with girls saying that the players are good looking, cause I am guilty of doing it too, however hockey comes first, and if not don’t claim to know hockey when you don’t. 

That's all folks

Peace

The Oilers: Exciting Last Place Hockey…… or not so LAST place

In the last 10 games the Edmonton Oilers are 7-3-0, but in the last 6 days a lot has erupted in Oiler Nation.

On what seemed like a sleeper of a trade deadline day, Oiler fans saw winger Dustin Penner, shipped unexpectedly to the LA Kings for 2 draft picks and rookie defenseman Colten Teubert. Many Oiler fans were upset by this deal saying that the oilers not nothing in return as far as an active roster player and that they should have never done this. I was one of what seemed a minority that believed that this was a FANTASTIC deal for the oilers who are REBUILDING through youth and development. The Edmonton Oilers don’t need a quick fix, or a filler player, they are not pushing for the playoffs therefore, that is not ideal. For the Oilers they needed picks and prospects to build through and they wanted to dump salary cap to leave opportunity for them to sign rookies or whatever they feel is necessary, it gives them options. Ohhh and to all those who believe otherwise, I am pretty sure that the Oilers are 3-0 without Penner so he can’t be missed TOO much.  

With Penner being traded, this gave the players on the roster and in OKC opportunity to grow and develop. 

In the first game post-Penner, the Oilers come out ready to prove like they have wanted to all season, to show that they have compete, passion and determination. To prove to Oiler Nation that the logo on their jersey is more than an emblem, it’s a culture, and an understanding of the responsibility that is bestowed on every player that dresses.

Yet, it seems that the injury bug hits the Oiler roster again, for a second time this season, alternate captain and leading scorer Ales Hemsky goes down with a shoulder injury. Oiler fans, or half ass fans, whomever, immediately get on the “we should have traded hemmer when we could have”, or “Penner doesn’t get injured Hemmer always does”. Whatever your poison it was flooding the air waves of oil country. Now, with hemmer out and Penner traded, it was time for Edmonton to test their depth, the call wasn’t placed to OKC, just yet. It was time to see the guys in the locker room, rise above this and competes, leaving everything out there and showing all that you have.

Now we come to last night’s game, 2-0 Oilers face a pushing CBJ team who is edging for the race for 8^th in a very tough western conference. Now, the Oilers have had success against this blue jackets team this season, but every game is different. However NO ONE in the 17,000 seats at Rexall Place expected the game that came to be…

The Oilers came out guns a blazing, they came to play, at home, with the crowd behind them, they seemed……….unstoppable! Taylor Hall notches a goal in the first period, the kid was on fire. During intermission while talking to Dan Tencer, he says one statement, the statement only a star would say… “I’m not stopping at one tonight”.

Now had it been anyone else, well they would have just been happy with the goal but Taylor was NOT satisfied, he thrives on having the game on his stick and the weight of 17000 hearts on his shoulders. Start of the second period oilers continue to push back with CBJ and 0.14 secs into the period, staying good on his word, on a feed from Hall himself, Jordan Eberle scores a beauty. Oilers are up 3-0. T. Hall playing like a machine, making hits, taking hits, making playing and scoring goals. This game had me on the edge of my seat, rubbing thinking is this really my team, and then something happened that in retrospect grew the respect I had for a 19yr old kid from Kingston, ONT.  

After an open ice hit, Taylor Hall picks a fight with CBJ tough guy Dorsett. You could see the passion in Hall’s eyes as he engaged Dorsett, however, in living rooms across oiler nation I'm sure we all had choice words for Hall, especially when we all saw him fall awkwardly. We all knew that he was injured, and like many, I was pissed at the initial thought, well the thought of Hall being injured made me want to vomit. 

“Why didn’t the Oilers on the ice step in? Why didn’t someone help him out? Why was he fighting?” The answer to those questions comes right from the kid himself, “I hate being rescued, and I don’t like the feeling that someone else has to fight my battles.” “There is nothing in my contract that forbids me to fight.” “It’s embarrassing being rescued all the time. I hate being the target and not defending myself”

That folks is why he was selected first overall, why he was at the All-star rookie game, THAT is the player that got up after getting pummelled into the boards in the memorial cup, got up, got stitches and never left the game or missed a shift. Those words, that action, is something only a star does, only a star takes on more than the role he is expected to play.

Taylor Hall is not just a player that is good, Taylor Hall is star, who feels passion, heart and determination in every fibre of his being. Taylor Hall my friend is nothing short of his biggest praises, and if you weren’t a Hall fan up until this point after that fight, and after his comments, I don’t know how you couldn’t be.

Taylor Hall is a special player, the kind that doesn’t come around every draft class, and doesn’t come from every first overall pick. 

Yes he is out for the remainder of the season, but he is going nowhere, and I cannot wait to see him lift that Stanley in 2013-2014.