Thursday, September 22, 2011

True Grit



True Grit. Something that has been lacking from the Oilers for quite some time now. While the Oiler fans and management have had a love affair with pure skill, and as well as they should, they have overlooked players that just flat out want the puck, are willing to do anything to get it, and have a will to win that is undeniable.

So while the Oilers' fans enjoy watching the dipsy doodles of the Hemsky's and the Omark's and the Gagner's and the Eberle's and the Nugent-Hopkins', the question becomes.....WHO"S GOING TO GET THEM THE DAMN PUCK?!?!?!?

Hockey Skill is an important facet of any hockey team, if you get the puck, you gotta know what to do with it. But since there is only one puck and ten to twelve players on the ice at any given time, the puck only comes around so often. Questions become....What are you going to do to get it? How you going to get it? What are you willing to give up to get it? These are questions Oiler players, management and fans alike all have to ask themselves.

The question is are fans willing to give up the "wtfpwnroflmaobbqsuxorz" type passes for a little more tenacity and grit. Just a player that plays up and down his wing, but when the puck goes into his corner he'll get it? Because this is the type of player the Oilers need. After tonight's game from the Oilers vs. the Canucks, the Oilers need a lot of it. I believe players like Lander and Hartikainen help their stock by not playing tonight.

Until the next time...

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Oilers VS Wild post game

The Oiler site couldn't seem to get the feed working right off the bat but once it got going the picture was a fair bit clearer than the Chicago feed.

Period One: (ends 3-0 for Minny)
The swede line looked to be quite interesting and Hall took a beauty pass in the first period that sprung him into the Wild zone, it looked like a gimme but Harding stoned him at the last minute. Jones also seems to want to prove to Oiler fans he's more useful than most are giving him credit for.
Other than that the PK was very sluggish and Khabibulin was lackluster.

I hope that they come back from out in the second period and show a little resilience.

Period Two: (ends 3-3)
Lander scores to make it 3-1 Minny. Nice easy tap in for the Swede. The PK is finally taking a bit more shape in the second period. Although to be fair taking 4 penalties in less than half a game awards a bit of practice... Lander goes off for tripping, the Oil kill it nicely and then they are switching goalies in the second half.  MPS scores an a messy pass from Omark. Lots of scrambling but again quick hands and a heads up play nets another goal. There seems to be some Gel setting in the lineup. The Oil end up tieing the game 3-3 to finish the period.


Period Three: (ends 4-3 for Minny)
Back and forth period with very little happening. Again the lack of discipline rears its ugly head as Lander took another penalty. This time for boarding. The Oilers had a 3 min PP after Fedun was boarded earlier in the period (Abney came to his aid and took a 2 min roughing penalty) but they were unable to take advantage. plenty of chances but no success. It was announced that Fedun wasnt going to come back after being boarded. Hall took a high sticking penalty and on the ensuing face off Minny scored right away. The Oilers pulled Bunz for the man advantage and I would have loved to see them try to come back but the feed on the website died with some time still left on the clock.


Game Notes:

Hall seemed to be getting a little frustrated out there as he seemed to be all over the place but was unable to make anything happen. Pitlick looked good early but faded away toward the end of the game. The swede line looked pretty good. I honestly dont know if Omark has an honest spot on this team but Lander looked great out there and MPS had a tonne of jump in his game. (I will go into Omark at a later date) Bunz was very sharp, Khabibulin wasn't so sharp. Gilbert actually took control of a couple situations and wasn't inept while doing it.

All in all there was alot of positives to take from this. I expect that there will be several cuts by tomorrow morning so Renney can put together some more solidified lines to face the Canucks on Thursday.

Anyway, its time to sign off and go to bed.

Until next time.

Oilers vs Hawks

 VS

Where: Rexal Place
When: 7PM
How to watch: Oilers website
Who to watch: -Oilers: Anton Lander Cam Barker Tyler Pitlick
                       - Wild:  * The Wild website has not put up the official roster as of yet.


This is one of two preseason games on today, Dangerman will be watching the game in Sask, click on the link to see his pre/post game blogs.

I think this is an interesting lineup. They are not playing the Nuge OR Smyth in the first home game of the year, but they are going to ice a pretty strong lineup against the Wild tonight and it should be an entertaining game to watch anyway.

Here is the lineup according to the Oiler website.

Taylor Hall - Eric Belanger - Ryan Jones
MPS - Anton Lander - Linus Omark
Ben Eager - Tyler Pitlick - Ryan Keller
Ryan Martindale - Tanner House - Phillippe Cornet

Cam Barker - Tom Gilbert
Martin Marincin - Kirill Tulupov
David Musil - Taylor Fedun

Nikoli Khabibulin
Olivier Roy
 
 I think that there are a couple guys to watch that are out of the norm. 
First is Anton Lander. The reason I say to watch him is because he is going to make a real push for a spot on this team and I expect he will have a great game while trying to make a name for himself. If he is going to make this team it is probably going to be at the expense of RNH and that will mean that he is going to have to show he has more rounded tools than his counterpart.

The second is Cam Barker. I think Barker is in a "make or break" situation this year and this will be his first opportunity to show what he has to offer. There is very little room on this team for power play specialists so Barker is going to have to show that he can be a contributor from day one. I think this guy could turn out to be either the steal of the off season OR the bust of the year. Its all in his hands now. 

The third guy to watch is Tyler Pitlick. Pitlick probably wont make the team this year but he is really going to be gunning to make an impression at center and hopefully earn a job in the future as a shooting center that can check his hat and win faceoffs. I expect Pitlick will be one of the last cuts from the team and then have quite the season this year in the AHL. He will also be one of the early call ups if there are injuries and a good preseason will go a long way to ensure he is on the radar.


I am looking forward to this game, just to see who has taken a step in the offseason and who is going to need a little more seasoning before they are ready to make the big show.

So in the meantime I will tip a brew or two and just enjoy myself.

Until next time.