Howdy everyone!

The Edmonton Oilers (19-20-8-1) are currently out of playoff contention due to the ups-and-downs teams with mostly young players experience. With the addition of Ulanov our defence has gotten that much better, and the PK, which was at one low point the worst in the league, is gradually looking better every day. Salo has 3 shutouts in his last 6 games, and is finally looking great after over a year and a 1/2 of mediocrity. I hope with these improvements the Oilers will make a push for the playoffs; because it would be amazing if all 6 Canadian teams made it.

As for the success of our rivals, the Calgary Flames, I am surprised, but happy for their success. Their fans are loyal and they deserve the playoffs.

[ January 20, 2004, 11:53 PM: Message edited by: torres ]

Well, I think that since you are an Oilers fan that Marc from Calgary should give you an official welcome.
If you haven't noticed, practically none of us like each other's teams. We have more variety of different fans than the number of people trying to get the Democratic nomination. Marc has his Flames thread, Adam has the Kings, Joe has the Flyers, Trevor has the Caps, I am only ever so slightly obsessive about the Rangers wink and that thread , Puckman is a Spokane Chiefs (WHL) man--with some partiality towards the Ducks and Rangers, SportsOutdoorsGA reminds us that the Thrashers are still in the NHL , and we are still waiting for BPT336 to start up a Canucks thread when he is not watching his Cornell Big Red.
Have I missed anyone?

[ January 21, 2004, 07:53 AM: Message edited by: Cattledog ]

Welcome to the forums. I'm always glad when we get some fans from up in Canada of other teams to join us here. Hope you enjoy your time here.

I like the new Oiler's jerseys, and I like having Mike Greer on the Caps. I'm sure you were sorry to lose him up in Edmonton.

Trevor

Indeed welcome my friend. I don't care if you are a Canadian fan or an American hockey fan. WE can use more members and new blood here! Glad to have you aboard!!!

Perhaps we can designate Marc the official Outsports Hockey Threads Welcome Wagon? wink

Another welcome...we can always use another fan giving us a unbiased report on what his team is up to.

~Adam

Yes, yes I'm a born-and-raised Edmontonian and I finally found a forum for gay sports fans....woo!

Torres, since a couple of guys here have asked me to do the honours, consider this your official welcome to the Outsports Hockey Forum, from your nearest neighbour. I'm sure you'll enjoy the various threads and the friendly bantering that goes on. The American Outsporters here are nice fellows, and very knowledgable about 'our' game.

Regarding your wish that all six Canadian teams make the playoffs, I think there is still a good chance that could happen. Montreal has improved, and Edmonton is certainly not out of the running yet. The Oilers had an impressive win over Dallas the other night, the team they always seem to face in the playoffs. Those same Stars beat my Flames last Saturday. The Flames-Oilers rivalry isn't quite what it used to be back in the '80s, when they always met in the playoffs. Even if both Alberta teams make the post-season, I doubt if their positions will be seeded in such a way to end up playing each other in the first round, but you never know! First-place Calgary vs 8th-place Edmonton, maybe? I'm sure the Canucks and Avalanche would have something to say about that.

By the way, is that big sign 'Welcome to Edmonton, City of Champions' still there on northbound Highway #2? I haven't been up there for quite awhile, but I remember that sign used to P.O. a lot of Calgarians. Jealousy, of course...between the Oilers and Eskimos, I think Edmonton has won more Stanley Cups and Grey Cups than any other Canadian city, at least in my lifetime.

[ January 21, 2004, 10:37 PM: Message edited by: Marc ]

God I wish I could remember the old days of the Battle of Alberta...but I have seen alot of old games on Classic NHL, most notably "The Goal" from 1986 *yuck* and Gretzky shooting it past Vernon's shoulder in 1988.

In fact, here's my little gift to you for the great welcome...it's a site that displays the 50 best playoff goals, before 1993 of course. I think it was taken from an old Don Cherry video. Thanks Marc.

http://nhlstars.kulichki.net/video/50bestgoals.html

It's in Russian, but for some videos it's easy to determine which team it is by looking at the shape of the letters. Click the blue links. wink

I don't know if Edmonton and Calgary would ever meet in the playoffs again until the schedule is changed to encourage divisional rivalries like in the 80's/early 90's. That would be cool.

Oh btw, I was watching a Rhett Warrener interview tonight, and he had this really sexy moustache....rowr! Hot stuff.

Things are finally looking good for the Oilers and everyone is quick to say Tommy is back to form, but we all know it takes a while to determine if his confidence is truly back. Of course our powerplay still sucks, but our pk is slowly but surely climbing out of the top 20, if it hasn't already. I think the Oil have allowed 1 pp goal in the 10 games? Don't quote me on that.

Good luck in Calgary; great city, I grew up there.

Oh and yes the City of Champions sign is still there...the city council wasted alot of money diddling around city hall trying to change it, but Edmontonians bickered and complained until the city decided to keep it...but not until after they wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars. Man, our city council is completely useless and good-for-nothing.

[ January 22, 2004, 04:30 AM: Message edited by: torres ]

Ah, "The Goal"...the infamous goal! For those who may not know or recall, Torres is referring to the Oilers' Steve Smith shooting the puck into his own net in Game 7 against the Flames in the division finals in 1986, giving the series win to the Flames. Calgary went on to play Montreal in the Stanley Cup finals that year (although didn't win it until they faced the same team three years later). Poor Steve Smith was never heard from again (actually he did later play for Chicago and ironically for Calgary, as recently as three years ago, but he will always be best remembered for The Goal).

Thanks for the link, Torres. Unfortunately, those blue links aren't working, but will try again tomorrow. I have a friend who speaks fluent Russian (although not a hockey fan) so I e-mailed the page to her for translation.

You like Rhett's 'stache, eh? It seems to be getting rave reviews in their contest, but personally I like Craig Conroy's best.

It seems appropriate to share this trivia tidbit on the Oilers thread, and on the occasion of Wayne Gretzky's 43rd birthday. Earlier today, I saw two Tampa Bay Lightning players being interviewed and they were asked to take a stab at a sports trivia quiz. One of the questions was "How many sticks did Wayne Gretzky use in his first NHL game?"

Anyone want to take a guess? Neither of the players nor myself got it right, and in fact the answer astonished me.

Well, the response has been underwhelming to say the least, but if anyone is interested in the answer, it is 40 ! No explanation was given by the guy asking the questions, and the Lightning players looked just as dumbfounded as I was. I don't know how much ice time Gretzky had in his first game back in '79, but let's say he had 20 minutes...that means he changed sticks every 30 seconds. Maybe hockey sticks were made of glass back then? :confused:

That is a bizarre figure. I'd expect something like that today, in this memorabilia-crazed age. Is that why he used 40 sticks, perhaps?