Busy Weekend!

I had a very busy but amazingly good weekend. Friday night was the best. Brent, Joyce, Tracy and I had tickets to see U2 at the Corel Centre and were surprised to find ourselves 3 rows from the stage. Ok we were kinda behind the stage, but the view was awesome. U2 rocked! I has to have been the best concert I’ve ever been to.
Saturday night was Tracy’s office party and I must say it was a lot of fun. We even got up and danced a few times. It’s was a lot better than the office parties that my office holds. Tracy’s office party was for the staff and I feel that’s the way it should be. My office’s Christmas party is all about the clients and we are pestered into “mingling” with them. It ends up feeling a lot more like work and a lot less like a party.
Sunday was the only downer for the weekend. We were supposed to go to my mom’s birthday party but the forecast of freezing rain kept us at home. On the up side the Grey Cup game between Montreal and Edmonton was perhaps the best game I’ve seen since the Hamilton/Saskatchewan Grey Cup. Edmonton won it in overtime 38-35.

Just thinking

So today's the big day - U2 tonight. I wish I could say I'm all excited but I'm not. I think it's the fact that we got the tickets soooooo long ago. I don't even honestly remember when it was we got them.
I've lost another 2 pounds this week, I'm down to 201 pounds now.
That's it for now, might write a bit more later.

Hockey - Oiler Tid-bit

I saw this on the TSN web site today in the power rankings and thought it was a pretty neat stat:

" Since activating Ryan Smyth from injured reserve a month ago, the Oilers are 9-5, with the Smyth scoring 10 goals and adding six assists in those 14 games. Key Injuries: None."

The Oilers are ranked 10th on the TSN Power Rankings this week. Smyth was held pointless last night and was +1 with 2 shots on goal.

Hockey - Oilers 4, Wild 3

The Oilers have now won 10 of their last 14 as last night they beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in a game that saw a lot of back and forth action. The Oilers powerplay continues to struggle as it was 0-3 in the game. Torres, Hemski, Stoll and Moreau all scored a goal each for the Oilers as Mike Morrison won his 3^rd strait game and is 3-0 so far. Morrison stopped 23 of the 25 shots he faced. Edmonton plays Calgary next on Friday night.

Tracy IS an Aunt

Just thought I’d give a bit of an update on Tracy becoming an Aunt yesterday. Tracy’s sister-in-law gave birth to a happy healthy baby boy and the new mother is also doing fine. Here’s a nice little pic of the new baby who’s been named Noah Ethan (I think it’s such a cool name).

Tracy's about to be an Aunt!

Tracy’s about to become an aunt! This is really exciting for Tracy (and myself), Laura (Tracy’s sister-in-law) is scheduled to have a “C” section (is that how you spell it, not sure) sometime this afternoon. We can’t wait to find out if it’s a boy or girl!

Jiri Fischer and the Oilers

I almost never write about anything other than the Oilers when I comes to hockey in my blog but I couldn’t ignore last nights news about Jiri Fischer. Jiri Fischer collapsed and had a seizure in the middle of the first period of last nights hockey game. He had to be revived thanks to the quick work of the trainers on hand with CPR and on site Defibrillators. As of right now the word is that he is in stable condition and is going to be OK. The game of course has been canceled and a make up date has yet to be announced. This drives home my belief that everyone should take a first aid course and know how to give CPR and work auto defibrillators.

The Oilers last night managed to slide by the Sharks 2-1. Marty Reasoner scored in regulation at the end of the second period to even the game at 1-1. Hemsky and Smyth scored in the shoot out as Mike Morrison stopped 21 shots in his second career game. The Oilers have now won 9 of their last 13 games.

Oilers Stuff

Well the Oilers continue to plod along, earlier this week they beat the Avalanche 5-2 as Mike Morrison made his first NHL start and looked really good. Perhaps now, after posting the best record in the preseason, the lowest goals against average in the preseason and the highest save percentage in the preseason, Mr. MacTavish will give him a serious look instead of over looking him. I'm not saying the Morrison should be the Oilers new starter, but it was clear to me in the preseason he was the best goalie the Oilers had.
Tonight the Oilers look to win their second strait and get their record on the season to 2 games above .500 as they take on the Red Wings. It won't be easy as the Wings lost last night to Calgary and will more than likely be a bit more focused for tonight's game.

Update!

Man it's been a long time since I've posted a blog here hasn't it? November 2^nd, hmm well since then the Renegades ended their season, Paopao was fired and some clown that is possibly the worst dresser of all time, John Jenkins, has been introduced as headcoach.

The Edmonton Oilers managed to stretch their winning steak to 5 games before dropping the next 2 games. They turned it around last night with a 3-1 win over Columbus. Smith, Pisani and Dvorak all scored for the Oilers as Jussi Marrkanen made his 12^th strait start stopping 29 of the 30 shots he faced. Marrkanen was the difference in the game as the Oilers pulled another one of their classic first period no shows as Columbus out shot Edmonton 13-2 in the first frame. After 2 periods Columbus held a 23-10 lead in shots.

And last but not least the Chicago Bears have managed to get them selves into first place in their division. No they're not that good, the division sucks.

Oilers Update

The Edmonton Oilers have recalled centre Kyle Brodziak from Iowa and have placed Igor Ulanov on the injury reserved list. Ulanov fractured his toe in the Dallas game and in my mind won't be missed much as he always seems to be coughing up the puck. Brodziak will replace injured Mike Peca who suffered a mild concussion in the Columbus game. Secretly I'm hoping that Nash knocked some scoring touch into Mr. Peca who hasn't scored to much yet this season.

Just some Sports Stuff

Oilers Win 5-1 over Columbus

The Oilers have now managed to win 3 in arrow again, lets hope they don't repeat the 7 game losing streak thing again. Jussi Markkanen looked good making 23 saves as Edmonton out shot Columbus 35-24. Ales Hemski had another big night for the Oilers scoring 2 goals, he now has 13 points on the season giving him the Oiler scoring lead. Harvey also scored for Edmonton, the goal was his first as an Oiler. Harvey and Laraque seem to be finally starting to click together. Also scoring for Edmonton were Torres, with his 8th of the season, and Smyth, who scored his 4th of the season. Edmonton's next game is Thursday night in Detroit. This will be a big test for Edmonton as the Red Wings are flying high with a 12-1-0 record.




Renegades News

It seams that the Renegades will not be brining back Joe Paopao for next season. Not much is being said by either side but reports are that John Jenkins has been given a conditional contract to coach next season should Joe Paopao not be signed and right now that doesn't look likely. I have always said the Joe Paopao should be fired but not for John Jenkins – this guy isn't exactly a good coach, he was the offensive coordinator for the Calgary Stampeders in 2004. How was Calgary's offence in 2004? I don't remember exactly but I do know it was bad enough to finish last. He also apparently isn't all that popular with players or the media. He's been described as erratic – not exactly what some one would look for in a coach that is being looked at for building up a team.
The Renegades close out the season this Saturday against the Argos and apparently Joe Paopao is going to give back up QB Bank some game time. Hmmm ......... maybe you should have done that earlier in the season Joe.

How's Ty Conklin doing?

If your wondering how Ty Conklin is doing on his “conditioning” stint with the Hamilton Bulldogs, he hasn't played since Saturday night when Hamilton was hammered 4-0 by Rochester and he now has no wins in the 2 games he has played. So far he has managed to cough up 7 goals on only 61 shots. I'm guessing he needs a bit more conditioning.

Big Sports Weekend!

Had a big sports weekend. First off, Friday the Oilers finally broke there 7 game losing streak by beating the Dallas stars 5-3. Radek Dvorak was actually useful scoring the tie breaking goal as Jussi Markkanen made 19 saves. The Oilers then went on to beat the Nashville Predators 5-1 on Saturday night. Jussi Markkanen made 23 saves as the Oilers scored on 3 of their 6 powerplays (no that's not a miss print – I checked the stat twice). Todd Harvey was back in the line up and it looks as it Ryan Smyth is getting going having now scored in back to back games. Tonight the Oilers play Columbus as they try to stretch their 2 game winning streak into a 3 gamer. I hope this doesn't mean that they will then tank the next 7 games tho. With Harvey back in the line up the Oilers are healthy for the first time this season and are 4-0 with Harvey in the lineup, it's a nice stat but it means nothing. It's funny how just 2 wins in a row and suddenly no one is talking Oiler trades any more.
On Saturday afternoon I was at the Renegades game to watch their playoff hopes be crushed by the Montreal Alouetts. The first half was entertaining enough and I was hopeful and Ottawa didn't give up a big play in the last 3 minutes of the first half. Then came the second half as Montreal started to pull away and from there I started paying less and less attention to the game. At least there are no more “If they could just do this........ and then this happen....... they could make the playoffs” talk anymore. I really hope that the Renegades shake things up in the off season and get rid of Paopao. I have nothing against him, it's just become obvious in the last 3 year that they always give up a big play in the last 3 minutes of the half and then come out flat in the second half and in my mind that's due to bad coaching habits.
After the game Tracy and I met up with my parents and we headed back to our house for dinner and then watched the Sens dismantle the Leafs 8-0. Nothing beats watching the Leafs get blown out on the CBC with Bob Cole doing everything not to start crying on live TV.
Sunday afternoon I sat down and watched the Bears beat the Lions in OT 19-13. It's kinda sad that the Bears are 4-3 and sit in first place, says a lot about their division doesn't it? In the NFC South there are 3 teams tied with a 5-2 record and if the playoffs were to start now Dallas who is 5-3 would miss the playoffs and the Bears would have home field advantage against either Atlanta or Carolina, both of whom have better records than the Bears – Ahh the NFL! The rest of the season the Bears play a much tougher schedule and the real test will come when they play Carolina, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta, all of whom have winning records. The 2 time the bears have played teams with winning records so far this season they've lost both games and were out scored 33-14.
Sunday evening Tracy and I went to the Sens/Philly game. The Sens lost 5-3, but our seats were great, we were about 10 row back from the Flyers bench right on the blue line. The game was never really in much doubt as the Flyers came out hitting hard and the Sens seemed a bit tired from giving the Leafs a beating the night before.