G79.0 Wrap Up: Oilers vs Flames

9 years ago

HIGHWAY 2: THE DANGER ZONE. Final Score 4-0 Flames.

I hate Calgary. I think you should know this about me.

I hate the way the city is laid out. I hate the way they number their streets. I hate the Roughnecks, Stampeders, and especially the Flames. I even hate the colour scheme of the Flames. I hate almost everything about them. Hate.

And so you can imagine how infuriating it has been that for almost my entire adult life the Flames have been finishing ahead of the Oilers in the standings or at the very least beating them down in the Battle of Alberta. It’s been like re-living the years you were bullied in grade school but for what feels like an eternity.

Now some people are perfectly happy with other Canadian teams doing well and making the playoffs. To that I say, “I used to be one of you.”

Once upon a time in the year Two Thousand and Four the Calgary Flames made a very lengthy playoff run and had eventually knocked off all the other Western Conference teams. As a young man not quite 21 years of age I decided that Canada had been without a Stanley Cup for some time. It belonged in this country once again. Western Canada, and to some extent the nation, got swept up in the feeling that this could happen again and everybody got behind the Flames. Differences were put aside.

Well the fates weren’t with Calgary that year but it was a good effort and surely the nation had been brought closer than ever after many Edmontonians had offered a show of support in the Flames quest to bring Stanley home. Or so we thought.

Because when it was Edmonton’s turn to make a lengthy run with a hard-working team of their own just 2 years later that support was not reciprocated. Not even a little.

The newscasts showed an ugly side of Calgarians that just wasn’t there in Edmonton. They mocked the Oilers and the city. Mocked the celebrations on Whyte ave. They fabricated lies about how we even tried to appropriate “The Red Mile”. Where was the desire to see Stanley in Canada again? Where was the good will that Edmonton had directed their way just months before???

It was nowhere. Their cold and loveless hearts had nothing to give even as bitter rivals had tried to bridge the gap between them not long before. The lesson there was that cheering for Calgary to do well as an Edmontonian was a waste of positive energy. They deserve nothing and shall receive even less from me now.

You had your chance, Calgary. You’re dead to me.

We Wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

Yakupov’s shot hobbled Ramo. Trying to make the save tore him in half.
Klinkhammer murdered Jooris. I hope Klinkhammer was hurt and that’s why he missed the last game. I never caught why but he shouldn’t be sitting in favor of guys like Fraser.
Yak was flying in the first period. A few point blank blasts.
Musil’s beard is thick and luxurious
Oilers dominated possession in the 1st period 29-13 in the Corsis.
After his 1st shift Musil looked much better. Still not great, but much better.
Miller made a beautiful play for a backhand chance alone in front of the net. *This* close.
Scrivens bailed out Hall after the newly minted Center gave the puck away for a breakaway in the 2nd. Big glove hand action which, when you’re having the season Scrivens is having, you have to do whenever the opportunity arises.
Let’s keep talking about Scrivens. He had a very solid 2nd period. Lots of key saves.
Hall and Klefbom came in on the backcheck like they were fired out of a cannon. Those guys can skate like the wind. Naturally Hall bailed into the net like a crazy person, but sooooo fast.
While on the topic of skating, he isn’t fast, but Musil hasn’t looked nearly as slow as he’s been billed.

THE FACE PALMERS

RNH is a scratch today. GIVE ME BACK MY SON!
The Oilers Defense has a little more than 500 games of experience. The Flames Defense has a little more than 2000 games of experience.
Kelly Hrudey thought Ireland’s article calling out the Oilers’ willingness to win was spot on. Quick reminder, Edmonton’s Defense is 5/6 players who spent time in the AHL this year. “Willingness to win” isn’t the problem. This roster is the problem.
The Rogers C team that does these late games always finds new and impressive ways to trash the Oilers, their players, and their prospects.
On the first goal David Musil just spun around and around like a top. He wasn’t trying to stop anybody. He was just spinning. I think that was his 1st shift.
As per Johnson, Johnny Gaudreau is the Holy Spirit
Hrudey thinks Eberle is lazy. Kypreos agrees. His on-ice Corsi at the time was 17-2 or 89%.
A few turnovers in a row and before you know it the flames are up 2-0. Sigh.
Colborne has 8 goals and half of them are against the Oilers. WTF?
3rd goal against was a bullet from Wideman on the PP after Aulie took a pretty weak Cross Checking penalty.
I don’t recall seeing a goalie bounce around in his net the way Scrivens does. He’s like that hyperactive kid your parents said you had to include in your group because everybody felt bad.
Hall and Roy were hauled down in the 3rd with no calls by the officials. Everybody wanted this one to end quickly, I guess. No conspiracy theory, just a bunch of people who want to go home.
Impossible to explain the 4th goal. Scrivens goes on walkabout. All the good in the 2nd gets undone in the 3rd.
That crazy Plus/Minus stat isn’t going to be David Musil’s friend.
Shut Out at home on HNIC to Arch Rival Flames. Brutal.

SCORING SUMMARY

From TSN.ca

BEST OF THE TWEETS

There were way more tweets but most of them became angry over the course of the game. You keep on making Twitter a great place to hang out, Oiler Fans.

PLAYING GAMES

Again Baggedmilk handed over the keys to the blog and said “Stop calling me. I’m busy!” and of course what he really meant was “I trust you to write whatever you want.” So with carte blanche I figured I would talk about another Edmonton company and one that was pretty near to my heart, BioWare.

If you didn’t know, BioWare is a AAA video game company that was founded here in Edmonton by a couple of Doctors (like the kind you might actually go to if you were sick). From pretty humble and unlikely beginnings the company has become a leader in digital storytelling and role playing. Oiler fans looking to escape the harsh realities of being a hockey fan in Edmonton, you could do worse than immersing yourself in the worlds created by the collaborative efforts of a couple hundred fellow Edmontonians. Be it the epic universes of the futuristic Mass Effect or the fantastic Dragon Age, you will be in for hours of game play where you can forget all about whichever Oiler goalie has abandoned his senses this time.

For a short time yours truly even worked there in the Quality Assurance Department. Everyone asks me all the time how awesome it was to play video games all day for money. My answer is always in two parts: 1) We didn’t play video games (plural) all day. We played video game (singular) all day. And 2) It was SO awesome.

Being a QA tester for a company like BioWare who does it right means having seemingly unlimited access to whatever or whoever you want in the company if it means making the game better. I’ve heard horror stories of other companies where testers were treated like a bunch of children in a daycare, penned up all day in a quarantined zone and told nothing more than what some suit claimed they “needed to know”. But the inclusivity and access at BioWare was completely different and really makes you feel like you’re playing an important role in making the game (you are).

I worked there for a full year before I left and that entire time I was working on Mass Effect 2. It’s the middle of a trilogy and with a 96 on Metacritic it remains one of the highest ever rated games of all time on the Xbox 360.

Fast forward to about the 1:50 mark and soon you’ll see my name fly by.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget all the cool things that get made right here in Edmonton but BioWare is doing the city proud.