GDB MINUS FIVE: HOME ICE
Jason Gregor
September 23 2010 12:03PM
After last night's gutsy and surprising win over the Canucks, Wanye woke up this morning and sent me his proposed parade route. It was filled with his typical bright colours, arrows, unique drawings and I noticed it was the longest parade route I'd ever seen. It started in Clareview, ripped through Beverly, came down Gretzky Drive, through downtown, had a pit stop at the Liquor on 109 and then finished at the Legislature grounds. Clearly he had designed it after downing his 17th BL after watching Gregory Stewart pot the game winner in Vancouver last night.
Tonight it is the official unveiling of Taylor Hall. You've seen him on the podium in June. You've seen him at the presser for his entry level deal. You've seen him bartending at Oil City. You've seen Kevin Lowe hand him #4. You've seen him in the rookie tournament, and Tuesday in the Joey Moss Cup, but you've never seen him lineup against another NHL team until tonight.
Wanye isn't the only one with visions of parade routes, Shirts off for Horcoff signs, or Squee for Eberle banners. Admit it, this off-season and one pre-season win has you firmly in the driver seat of the bandwagon. And why not, the best part of being a fan is believing and having hope. There will be lots of time to ask for Tom Renney's job, or why Horcoff can't be shipped to Siberia, or that after Hall's five game goal-scoring drought you claim you wanted Tyler instead.
Enjoy the victory, hell, it was over the supposed Northwest champions and possible Western Conference winners. Maybe the Oilers will be the surprise story in the NHL. Maybe they will have three rookies with 50 points. Maybe the person who possesses Nikolai Khabibulin's voodoo doll passed away. Dare to dream...dare to dream.
Your expectations have been lower than Lindsay Lohan's at last call, so with every win it is only natural to feel like the Oilers are winning back your love. And your love should grow a bit more tonight, because the Oilers are dressing a solid NHL lineup compared to Tampa Bay.
Sam Gagner will centre Hall and Ales Hemsky.
Dustin Penner will be on the left wing with Andrew Cogliano in the middle and Magnus Paajarvi on the right side.
Liam Reddox/Colin Fraser/Gilbert Brule will skate together, while Steve MacIntrye will play for the second straight night and make sure no one runs Tyler Pitlick of Linus Omark.
The defence will consist of Smid/Foster, Belle/Plante and Petiot/Gilbert.
Devan Dubnyk will start in goal, and JDD will back him up.
Tampa Bay will ice a lineup similar to the one the Oilers used to defeat the Canucks last night.
Harju/Persson/Purcell
Ashton/Wright/Connolly
Tryell/B. Jones/Hall
Malone/Pouliot/Downie
Ohlund/Clark
Vernace/R. Jones
Mihalik/Gudas
Ellis
Tokarski
It looks like Marc Pouliot continues his nine-lives routine as he'll line up with Ryan Malone and Steve Downie. The rest of the forwards won't be pushing Vinny Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos or Marty St. Louis for a job anytime soon. Watch Gudas though. He likes to run guys in the neutral zone. It's too bad we don't get to see any of the big three, but that's NHL exhibition hockey.
PARTING SHOTS
The harsh reality about last night's win is that none of the three goal scorers have a hope of making the Oilers. It was a great thrill for hometown boy, Ben Ondrus, to score in his first game in an Oiler uniform, but he won't crack the lineup coming out of camp.
Renney was satisfied with the effort last night. He felt they played his system rather effectively. Obviously he'd like Dubnyk to be able to catch shots from the blueline, and Horcoff to bury those open-net opportunities, but he left the rink content with the effort.
Tonight most of us will be watching Hall, Paajarvi and Omark rather closely, but Renney wants to see how his young veterans; Cogliano, Gagner and Brule perform.
While Wanye and Co. continue to map out the parade route and subsequent party stops, Renney is excited to see how his young guys react. When asked if he would say anything to Hall prior to his first NHL preseason game Renney replied, "I asked him if he had any questions. He said he was fine. It lasted 30 seconds. I just want him to play."
It sounds like the coach is like all the fans; he just wants to see the kid play.
Holy crap strange internet people know i exist!!! WOO HOO!!
Now where are all the Ogden's?
lol good stuff mr. trout.
Poor Bobby just had a tear release from his eye and he can't figure out why.
Edit: just read the rest of the comments, I love you hilarious bastards.
More importantly, behold - top right - FREE tickets to Niel Sedaka to citizens of the Nation...
SQUEEEEE
Yesssss! I found it! Ok as soon as i saw this picture it reminded me of this: http://www.urlesque.com/2010/07/13/20-weird-and-goofy-facebomb-photoshops/
Totally hilarious and i highly suggest someone show this to Wanye/bingofuel for later blog post pictures
Present
Those are friggin' awesome.
I love photoshop.
@The Towel Boy
Seriously, i want a team photo where everyone is just Hall. hahah, or maybe Eberle's "i'm completely stoned" eyes on the whole team after we lose one.
The Eberle Shatting his pants during the military jump would be a great pic for that. Someone with photoshop git'rdunnnn!
~Thanks a lot.~
With all the laughing suddenly coming from my office, I don't think I'm successfully pretending to my employees that I'm actually working anymore.
@Ender
I haven't read this post yet (or the last 20 or so comments from the last post), but I noticed you were raving about Colin McDonald last night. Did you say that before last night you didn't even know who he was? Literally? (Oil's 2nd rounder about 6 or 8 years ago, in case you were serious). And while I only caught bits & pieces of the game, I didn't notice him much (not disputing your report on how well he played however... you watched the whole game). You said you think he might even stick around for a while. If I'm not mistaken, he's on an AHL deal (his NHL 2-way deal expired after last season and the Oil signed him to an AHL only deal). As well as he may have played, I'd think he's among the next round of cuts for that reason alone, no?
BTW, apparently, Jim Vandermeer is now tweeting (@Jim_Vandermeer).
@Ender
Haha i know, that came up on my google reader recommended items (which oddly enough is how i discovered OilersNation) a month ago and i still couldnt stop laughing at it when i looked at it a 2nd time today.
I searched all over knowyourmeme.com and cant find this one. I was hoping to find more examples of it but sadly no luck. It seems to be another 4chan thing which means no looking there while at work :)
@RossCreekNation
Literally. After reading your post, I know twice as much about Colin McDonald as I did this time yesterday.
If he's on an AHL-only deal (and you're right - he is), then he's hooped. Too bad; I'd have liked to see if he could replicate last night's performance. Nonetheless, I'm starting to seriously consider placing some real bets on OKC in Vegas this year. They've got to be considered by bookies to be a long-shot in their inaugural year, but they look pretty stacked to me.
@Jason Gregor
Just listened to your interview with dude from Detroit. Good stuff... however, I was surprised that he "mis-remembered" Jim Nill's status. Nill signed a 5 year extension at the same time as Kenny Holland.
http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=531838
Man, I'm enjoying the heck out of Renney's press conferences.
There's nothing like having a coach with a plan who's able to articulate it.
I think I'd like to change my star, Horcoff looks ready, dude is gonna have a monster year!!!!
something something Dubnyk
@BArmstrong
Come on be nice......from Calgary?? I would rather sacrifice my first born!
Seeing as I picked Horcoff as my goat I beleive that I am entitled to blame him for everything! Those are the rules of star and goat are they not? If I choose to wear my Ryan Whitney colored glass and leave my Horcoff ones at home that is my right!
Oh and leave my 3 month puppy out of this!
Go Oilers!
Paajarvi!!!!
MP!!! Whiffed the shot but wicked awesome moves kid! WOW!!!
.357 Magnum Paajarvi
I LIKE that!
How the hell do I post without having to retype my name and email address in??
THAT'S MY STAR!!!!
Nice slap pass, nice deflection by Cogliano, the moral of the story you wonder....?
Simply.....
NICE!!!
The kids are alright...Up 2-1 with two beaties, now we need at SMACdown....
That was some fun watchin.
Sign up!
Could have swore I did ages ago but I'll try again. Thanks bud!
I thoroughly enjoyed that period of hockey.
Our fourth line sure got left in the dust on that first goal...wow.....slow motion in comparision to Tampas line that scored.
So far, the Predictonometer is looking reasonably accurate. Dubnyk not quite as bad as billed, perhaps, but not exactly stand-up-and-whistle stuff either.
Penner looking far more effective on the PP where he's playing his natural LW than during 5-on-5 play.
Gagner showing some good defensive instincts.
Bad penalty for Rudy, but a couple of solid penalty kills and him almost springing a shorthanded rush have me forgiving him to this point.
Would that be the Robert Nilsson who has 3 goals and 2 assists in 5 games so far this year?*
*Yeah OK. In the KHL.
I agree, Gagner IS looking like a star out there.
Great first period, I love the movement on the PP, much better than last year's stationary strategy.
wow
Why doesn't Omark get a chance? Big Mac sucks even in preseason. Hall looks fast, mps looks even faster.
I think Bell looks great.
MPS is going to be great.
Two goals for MAGNUM, two confirmed WOWS!
Nice to see a one timer hit the mesh....sweet.
A little better shot than his first goal lol
See Shawn? That's what it supposed to look like!
sweet hit from Petiot
Petiot is looking pretty good, a nice hit there, some nice passing. Be a good call-up when someone goes down with injury
@Scuba Steve
If I were picking my 6th/7th defenseman it would be between Petiot and Petry. I know contract situations say that it will be Peckham, but their play says different.
@Archaeologuy
Maybe, Petiot still needs some positional work, and might be a step slow against some real NHL'ers. I'd rather see Peckham if for no other reason than for his (supposed) upside is higher, and he needs to sink or swim this year.
@Archaeologuy
I think Petry could turn out pretty decent... easily their best D prospect in a while. But he should probably go down to OKC to get big minutes.
Last D spot (imo) - Belle, Peckham or Petiot
Via McKenzie's twitter...
Will provide Sheldon Souray trade situation update during second intermission of EDM-TB game on TSN.
@RossCreekNation
Probably right about giving him a lot of ice-time. I'm not really a Peckham fan and Belle hasnt done anything so far to make me believe.
I like Petiot as well. He left an impression on me day 2 of TC with some nice passing and mobility.
As for Pääjärvi, well I've been sold on him for a while as going to be better then Hall or Eberle and have said as much here. Already picked up my shiny new Pääjärvi jersey at TC.
Is it just me or is Hall finding himself in some rough spots? I mean he's bit getting solid passes or when he does get them it's a lead pass into a group of d-men.
This really isn't an 'update' on the Souray situation. It's just re-hashing what's been said.
Reddox is going to play his way right onto this squad if he keeps it up. It's just so hard to -not- like this kid. Solid PK work.
It's actually very hard -to- like him, you know, ginger and all.
He may work hard and what not, but I don't think he brings enough talent, you can teach work ethic, you can't teach talent.
@Oil Kings 'n' Pretty Things
Ya... Reddox as 13F
Paajarvi needs to give Horcoff some shooting lessons. And I've noticed guys like Belle and Petiot really like to get in those corners, and work hard. We need more guys like that
Hemsky just about took that guys head off. Its nice to see him more physically involved. I liked seeing him and Gagner on the PK too. Renney sure likes to spice things up.
God I hope Paajarvi gets 3 more goals and a fight. If we chanted Comrie we should in theory at least make a hilarious attempt at chanting that. Hes still so new that a lot do not know how to pronounce, I think I do, but I could be horribly wrong.