Oilers 4, Avalanche 3

Oilers beat Avs 4-3
The Edmonton Oilers won their season opener against the Colorado Avalanche and it didn't take overtime or a shootout, and get this, they never trailed in the game! Yea, yea I know, the Avalanche aren't exactly as good as they were at the end of the last season and they don't have Oiler killer Forestburg and this is only the first game of the season.
The Oilers carried most of the play, outshooting Colorado 31-17 and Ty Conkin played well enough (stopping 14 of 17) to get the win. Sean Horrcof played really well, and was the first star of the game, and hopefully it's a sign of thing to come from him, as he netted the first goal of the night and got the game winning goal. Horcoff's opening goal set a team record for fastest first goal of a season at 24 seconds. Ryan Smyth, who earned a second star, also played well notching a goal and adding 2 assists as he finished the night with a +2 rating. Stoll also played well and earned a 3rd star for his performance.
Ty Conklin's performance, wile good enough to win, wasn't exactly a game breaking performance, and hopefully with Jussi Markkannen being activated some time either today or tomorrow, it will give both of them the push they need to start performing better. If the Oilers have a weakness, and they have enough really, it the big, BIG, question is around goaltending. I really don't think the goal scoring one that everyone keeps bringing up is a really valid question mark. The Oilers have always been able to finish in the top 12 in goal scoring in the league, and the last season the finished 10th, so if the Oilers have a goal scoring problem, most of the teams in the NHL have a goal scoring problem.
You can't really ask for a better way to open the season then beating one of the best teams in your division. The Oiler's next game is this Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks, which should provide another clue as to how the Oilers stack up against the rest of their division.

Hockey Night in Canada is Back!

Only in Canada would this be even considered news but the CBC and it's union have an agreement in place to ensure that there will be a Hockey Night in Canada for this Saturday night. I'm excited now but wait a few weeks and I'll be back to complaining that it's just Leaf games that they show.

Hockey is Back!

The NHL is back and I couldn't be happier. I can't wait to see how the new rules work out and how long the NHL sticks to it's zero tolerance policy. The zero tolerance thing will likely only stick until January, don't get me wrong I really hope it sticks but it likely won't, it never does. I'll be glued to TSN tonight all happy the game is back, I figure this will last until December when I get sick of watching the Sens for the 4,000th time and wonder why I don't see more Oiler games. GO OILERS GO!!!!
That's it from me today, kind of a slow one.

Weekend at Home

Tracy and I actually got to spend a relaxing weekend at home. On Friday night we celebrated getting out of debt by putting ourselves back in debt and going shopping, LOL. Saturday afternoon we headed up to the Gatineau Hills and toured the Mackenzie King Estates. Later that evening we went to the Keg Manor Restaurant and had a really good meal, they all seem to be really good meals at the Keg Manor. Sunday was another quiet day in which I decided to upgrade my current 1 gallon fish tank into a 5 gallon fish tank. I still have to return the water filter, it's too noisy. Sunday night Tracy and I headed over to Brent and Joyce's for a few drinks. Just a nice relaxing weekend.

Sens Game

Last night Pete and I went to the Sens game, well ok we saw 2 of the 3 periods. The congestion in the Corel Centre parking area is insane and the most poorly organized thing I've ever seen. We got off the Queensway at 7:05 and slowly inched our way to a parking spot, it kinda felt like we were trying to get away from Hurricane Rita. Pete managed to cram his Ford F150 king cab between a couple of cars and we managed to "wander" our way through the parking lots and finally made it into the building at 8:20. We missed all of the first period and most of the intermission before we made it to our seats.
One would think that leaving an hour before a game would allow enough time that you MAY miss the opening face off but still see most of the first period, but not in Ottawa and especially not the Corel Centre. If they ever give out awards for the "Worst Designed Parking Lot" the Corel Centre would win hands down! There was a wile where we didn't know if we were going to make the start of the second period. Here's a little tip for the idiots that the Corel Centre - Forcing 5 lanes of traffic into 1 is not a very bright thing to do. From now on I'll just have to leave 2 hours before game time to see the opening face off. Tracy thought I was nuts when I told her we were leaving at 6:00 to see the game. Even leaving at 6:00 we still would have missed the opening face off. You shouldn't have to spend an hour and a half in a parking lot trying to park your car.
The game it's self was really entertaining and fast paced. I like all the new rule changes except the shoot out part. I wasn't all that excited by it but then again the game wasn't on the line. Sidney Crosby played well, but I think he's in for a long season and doesn't seem quite ready on the defense side of things but show a lot of promise. I'm not ready yet to jump onto the "Sens Cup" bandwagon yet, after all it is preseason.
After the game Pete and I decided to hang out at Finigans bar and have a few beers and wait for the madness in the parking lot to end. We left after an hour and had no problem getting out, I guess that's what they want you to do, show up early have a few beers and then stick around after the game and have a few more beers.
Overall it was just nice to be back out at a NHL hockey game. GO OILERS GO! Hockey starts next week!