Rumours abounded on twitter that the Oilers were giving away a free beer for everyone at the home opener against the Sharks. When we read this amazing news our eyes bugged out of our head like in that scene in the Mask where something happens to Jim Carrey and then Cameron Diaz does a sexy dance.

Yes, it was exactly like that.

As people lined up before the game to see the frozen jerseys and the deep discounts on merchandise, we got sent a few pics on the tweet tweet of the delicious certificates. Our main man Dustin Terpstra was getting it in and proving it with pics as seen in the tasty shot above.

We find it shocking – SHOCKING – that the Oilers correctly deduced what a wonderful gesture free beer would be to the fans.It must have been quite the undertaking with think tanks, market research and costly focus groups.

Oilers senior marketing executive: "DERP Now what do people in Edmonton like?"

Oilers VP marketing and market research: "UH BEER? (DERP)"

Oilers senior district marketing senior manager: "It’s settled then free beers for all."

(meeting concludes at a cost to Katz of $12,300)

They are damned lucky that it was cold out or the ensuing riots that could have resulted would have been tremendous. Still we like this post lockout Oilers. Hockey at Hawrelak, Free Beer on opening night. A fella could get used to this sort of treatment.

We can totally understand the people that were freaking out last night after the loss. We aren’t a qualified NHL analyst but even we know that you generally won’t bounce back from letting in a tidy 6 goals in the opening frame. Still, Yakupov potted his first NHL goal and we all got in a good roar for that one.

And then J. Schultz aka The New Scott Niedermayer sniped too for the first time in front of Rexall Faithful. And Jordan Eberle was there with a pair of assists and his newly flowing hair. And the Nuge was present whirling about. And Hall et al. It really wasn’t all that bad.

All told we would trade a 0-82 season for a lockout in a heart beat. Finally we can put to rest all of the legal talkery and teeth grinding and get back to yelling at the stupid Oilers for their STUPID BLOCKHEADED PLAY I MEAN COME ON HORCOFF WTF ARE YOU DOING?*

*sighs happily*

The first annual NationDraft came out of the gates with a bang and has since fallen off a cliff. We know that by making it open to Alberta residents only we have limited things. For the next go round we will buy National prizes and this will increase the entries. But as of this morning we are sitting at just over 400 teams – well back of our goal of 1000 teams for our inaugural push.

Now this is good news wrapped in a coat of bad news.

The good news: with 100 prizes sitting here at NationHQ you currently have a 1 in 4 chance of winning your share of over $10,000 in prizes. That is pretty bloody good if you ask us. The bad news: We are trying to make this a fundraiser for the MS Bike Tour and the wonderful folks at the Inner City Children’s Program. Less entries mean less donations.

Do your ol’ pal Wanye a favour and sign up for a team. Yes, this may mean putting your hectic workday schedule aside and fooling around on your computer for a few minutes. But it will be worth it. Only $20 a team.

Many thanks *MWAH*