GDB 80: Fit for the Kings
Jason Gregor
April 07 2009 12:05PM
The atmosphere was much different at the morning skate today. Players were smiling, joking around with each other, even Craig MacTavish was in good spirits as he danced around Stortini and Jacques before going in all alone on Deslauriers and giving him the forehand, backhand, forehand deke.
There will be no line up changes for tonight:
21 – 10 – 83 12 – 89 – 19 18 – 13 – 34 27 – 51 – 46
The Colossal Fossil will start in goal, and the D pairings remain status quo.
Today I doubt any of you even care what the lines are, because a win is the only focus for those who still believe in miracles. Make no mistake miracles do happen in sports.
Miracle on ice: USA defeats the USSR and goes on to win Olympic gold in 1980.
Miracle on Manchester: In game three of round one, the LA Kings trailed the high-powered Oilers 5-0 after 40 minutes, but they scored five times in the third before Daryl Evans scored the OT winner and the Kings went on to win the best-of-five series in 1982.
The Miracle Mets of 1969: They won 38 of their final 49 games, before beating Henry Aaron and the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, and then the Mets faced the powerhouse Baltimore Orioles with Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer and Davey Johnson. The Mets lost game won when their ace Tom Seaver got pounded, but the won four straight to cap off a four month Cinderella-type run.
The difference with the Oilers is that they need help for their miracle to happen.
The Predators host the Blackhawks tonight and the Blues are in the Desert to battle the Coyotes.
The Preds are 2-0 v. the Hawks at home this year, winning 4-1 and 5-3. They went 1-2 in Chicago. The Preds are still without Legwand, Arnott and Erat, and the Hawks have won three in a row.
The Blues are 3-0 v. the Dogs this year winning, 4-3, 3-1 and 2-1. The only good news for Oiler fans is that the ‘Yotes are 6-3-1 in their last ten and they are 22-14-3 at home, while the Blues are 16-18-3 on the road.
The other game of interest tonight is the Flames v. the Canucks. If the Flames win they clinch the NW and I’m hearing that if they win, then Curtis McElhinney could start both games this weekend v. the Oilers. McElhinney is 0-6-1 this year with a 3.73 GAA and a .883 SV%.
Some days you need something to make you believe the impossible is possible.
Kings won’t roll over
After last night's 4-1 loss to the Flames, Terry Murray ripped his team for 15 minutes in the locker room. Then when he left the players had a player's only meeting for 20 minutes. The message was to show some pride and play for each other.
The Oilers need to win, but it sounds like the Kings won't just hand it to them.
Parting shot
Some days the best part of my job is sitting down and listening to Rod Phillips or Jim Matheson recant some classic stories. RP is one of the most animated storytellers ever. He gets right into it and makes the story all the more enjoyable.
Today RP was telling Stortini and me a story about Barry Melrose. Melrose was playing for the Cincinnati Stingers in the WHA during the 1978/79 season and they were playing the Oilers. Dave Hunter, who was a pretty good pest in his day, had given Melrose a few cheap shots earlier in the game.
Melrose skated by the Oilers and screamed, “Dave you cheap @#$%&*, I’m gonna kick your ass.” Well, Dave stood up, but it was Dave Semenko and he hopped the boards.
Melrose back-pedals and with a high-pitched shrill spouts, “Not YOU Dave, not you,” and Semenko proceeds to lay a beating on Melrose.
Semenko just said that Melrose didn’t specify which Dave he was gonna beat up.
big surprise.
Season on the line and they piss it away in the first 5 minutes....embarrassing - not a ton of urgency out there tonight.
Man. That's awesome. Great Season Boys. See ya next October.
so whats Stauffer going to do until next October?
Boys, it's been a pleasure.
Sing A Song For SingSing signing off.
Another solid offensive output
At least the Oil had the decency to put us out of our misery before the last game of the season
How can we lose to L.A. on home ice knowing we have to win to stay alive?? I just don't get it. Where was 83,44,18,10,89?
Someone help me understand please?
Archaeologuy wrote:
bless their stinking rich soon to be vacationing for 5 months hearts!
Ottawa is only 1 point behind Oil. What does that tell us?
Come on KLOWE stand up and address us fans and tell us you are leaving to better the team
Anybody want to have that Hemsky vs. Lecav argument?
wow.... i better see a picture of a goat with #37 on it. and i think gilbert needs to go to hockey school in the summer......
Hello 8th overall pick.
Stauffer says it's not a disaster, gee, I wonder what is to an Oiler fan according to Fred?
Don't make me laugh, Hemmer vs. Lecav. not even in the same conversation. Lecav can fight, he can score and he is a captain. If you were Tampa Bay would you make that deal? hahah never
Fans booing, oh my, none of them will be let back in by the Katz security system
Think Burke is having a scotch on the rocks tonight
Stauffer is defending everything that is brought up. Gee, maybe he is getting texts from Katz on what to say?
@ Jack Bauer:
Hemsky might not be a superstar proper in the sense that he "doesnt make his linemates better", but Lecav had St. Louis and Richards and Boyle. Who does Hemsky get to play with? Horcoff?! The guy has 16 goals playing with a pure play maker who attracts defenders like moths to light. I need to give the guy one year with another high end player before I get too down on Hemsky. I mean who would Adam Oates have been without Brett Hull?
Tonight, the playing of Private Eyes will take on a whole new meaning.
*clap, clap*
*sob*
*FMNF*
One day we will be great! I need a tissue! Piss poor turn out guys you should think about what you did while you are golfing...GO PENS GO!( don't judge me)
I'm looking forward to the excuse making and ass covering these clowns will do over the next few weeks. This team is screwed for the next 3-5 years; bad contracts, poor player development, inept management, and now a new Wizard of Oz to replace the EIG. Good times. I wonder how the 12 remaining Florida Panther fans deal with their playoff drought. Tips?
Harlie wrote:bless their stinking rich soon to be vacationing for 5 months hearts! that thought makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit....
but that could also be the awful rx1 draft...
JB right on. These clowns on the radio are a joke. Tencer and Fred are so positive it makes me sick. Come on Fred, go back to 1260 and call it the way it is. Maybe he wants to keep his job for next year?
The biggest move Katz made was to fire Morley Scott and bring in Fred. Gee, was that a mistake?
Season tickets: $5,200 Parking: $ 540 (includes pre-season) Concession: $ 675 Merchandise: $ 500 ------ $6,915 ======
I really can't say I received this much value out of this season. The only thing that may salvage the shame of paying this kind of money for the garbage I was given in return would be if MacT AND Lowe are gone by the start of next season. If they are still both here, I'm buying myself one hell of a nice holiday instead. I'll tolerate just one being given the boot, but both should be held accountable for this trash heap.
I have oilers play off tickets to give away anyone want them?
Did they really fire Morley Scott?
oilersseasonticketholdersince99 wrote:
Good luck. I'm guessing you'll have to pay someone to take them off your hands. I know how you feel. I'm in the same boat.
volfman wrote:
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
17 wrote:
You Should.
Jack Bauer wrote:
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! i've had that same argument with disillusioned oiler fans.
Well, just got home from RX1. What a junk game. Period 1 was bad. I'm talking epic bad. Tom Gilbert - Oh man - taking bad to a whole new level. Periods 2-3 were Ok-ish, but don't let the shot clock fool ya. The boys weren't exactly playin' for all the nuts. Muffin shots from everywhere. I swear my dog could shot harder. I think the pressure really got to the guys tonight because I've never seen so many crap passes and just plain garbage hockey. My friend said it best "doesn't look like a team with their year on the line". Yup.
Strangely enough, the Kings weren't much better, game-wise or effort-wise. I swear I saw their forwards gliiiiide into our zone more than once. Dammit this game was winnable and it almost looked like neither team wanted it. The Kings had about 5 minutes more effort in their tanks than us. It could easily have been tied at 0 after 60.
On the upside, little Sammy Gagner had a crapload of chances and it was damn funny to hear 16,000 people saying "shooooot!!!" under their breath every time Hemsky was WIDE open and ended up ragging the puck to sweet, sweet safety.
One more thing. Forget FMNF. We need ice girls way more than a new coach.
go Oilers go golfing oilers will go
CHED is pretty comical, I must admit. Anyone know the email??
Dan Tencer strikes me as a dilhole. Confirmation, anyone?
Ahhhhhh... the OilersNation is comfortably resting. Thank you Oilers, for a wonderful birthday present... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
(Oil landing LW Simon Gagne this offseason? Watch for it.)
well all thats left is to pay for picks, too bad they had to win that vancouver game....
"Fred" was way better when he didn't know Katz personally. Since he has a good mouth, he has been really defending Lowe and Katz, Future is bright, this makes me sick.
according to "Fred", if you read between the lines, it looks like Souray, and Staois will not be here next year.
RossCreek wrote:
I've known him my whole life, he's a pretty good guy with a sweet deal of a job.
Staios & Moreau should be moved. Souray should not. That is not to say Staios & Moreau are not good. They are the types of guys you want on your team if your a top ten team. Look around every team in the league and see how much ice time their captains receive compared to Moreau. He's a gritty, character veteran but not the man to lead this team. And even though Shawn Horcoff takes a lot of critisism, he's probably the man to lead this team. He plays the minutes, has the rapport with the current coach (if he is indeed to stay) and if used more efficeintly, could be a lot more productive.
OvenChicken8 wrote:
Thanks. Didn't really mean it as negative as it sounds... maybe dweeb could've been a "nicer" word to use... nothing personal. Sweet gig, indeed.
Oil massively missed Stoll, Greene & Torres this season!
Is nerd "nicer" than dweeb?
If MacT stays, then some of the veteran key core guys definately gotta go (namely Moreau & Staios, perhaps even Pisani). I'd also remove Moores & Buchberger from the coaching staff and add 1 or 2 of Marc Habschied, Perry Pearn or Rob Daum.
Head Coach/Director of Player Personel: Craig MacTavish Associate Head Coach: Marc Habschied (being groomed as the next HC) Assistant Coaches: Perry Pearn & Charlie Huddy Goaltender Coach: Bill Ranford
FIRE kp!
OR
Asst. GM: Craig MacTavish Head Coach: Marc Habschied Assistant Coaches: Charlie Huddy, Perry Pearn & Rob Daum Goaltender Coach: Bill Ranford
FIRE kp
Another frustrating and forgettable season! There doesn't seem to be any accountability for missing the playoffs for the 3rd straight time. Not from the President of hockey operations, the GM, the coach or players. Just excuses. Compared to last season, which was a failure, this was a failure plus, or one step back from a bad season. With no room in next season's salary cap due to bad player decisions, under-performing players and deplorable locked-in long-term contracts, is there anything to look forward to more than the same old? Can't win home games. No first line. Special teams at the bottom of the league in performance. Major decision on goaltending. Small forwards lacking in puck possession and inability to score. Free agents that don't want to play for this loser franchise. Priceless.
Scott Arniel as the next HC? AHL coach of the year or something? Doesn't he have a bit of a connection with Tambellini from Van?
How about head coach Brent Sutter? He is prepared to move back to Alberta. Smart, tough and a winner.
DonDon wrote:
AHAHAHAHAHAHA! FAT CHANCE! If anything, he'll be in Calgary next season or the season after. Great coach!