OILERS AT CANUCKS G1 (12-13) 20.1.13
There was a picture in the newspaper, a guy who looked like my Aunt Stella standing in front of a strange looking logo on a billboard beside a highway and selling a new hockey league. I was a kid. The newspaper was king in my home–my father followed all world events that way: when he spoke of the DiMaggio streak you’d think he had been there but the truth is he got the news by reading the papers in a Radisson SK cafe every Saturday when he went to town.
The man who looked like Aunt Stella was Bill Hunter, the highway was the Yellowhead and the new league was the WHA. When you’re a kid “new” means “good” and when you’re old it means something you’ll need to adjust to, so I warmed to the new league right away. About 9 months after I’d heard of the Alberta Oilers, Ron Anderson was scoring the first goal in WHA history for them:
The goalies were Ken Brown (Oilers) and Les Binkley (Nationals) and the Meloff penalty came when the defender attempted to play the puck with Binkley’s stick. That got some play in the newspapers the next day. Jim Harrison and Al Hamilton were the big stars, I liked Bill Hicke because he was part of the original Oakland Seals expansion club. Followed that team on the radio mostly (Rod Phillips began broadcasting in year two if my memory serves) but they did have some television games.
The Oilers NHL debut is a pretty famous boxscore because so many incredible players made their NHL debut on the Oiler side. Jim Matheson has the game story here and Terry Jones has an outstanding companion piece next to it that I can’t link to but would highly recommend. Among the Edmonton Oilers who would debut in the NHL during the 1979-80 season:
- Wayne Gretzky
- Mark Messier
- Kevin Lowe
- Dave Hunter
- Brett Callighen
- Blair MacDonald
- Dave Semenko
- Risto Siltanen
- Ron Chipperfield
- Eddie Mio
- Jim Corsi
- Peter Driscoll
- Ron Areshenkoff
- Bryon Baltimore
- Ron Carter
- Don Cutts
- Bob Dupuis
- Kari Makkonen
- Mike Toal
The veterans on that first NHL team (Stan Weir, Colin Campbell, Al Hamilton, Bobby Schmautz, Dave Dryden, Bill Flett) were for the most part unable to provide leadership for one reason or another (Hamilton was injured, Schmautz wanted to be traded, Dryden was pretty much done and Flett was all done) but this year’s veteran group is stronger and deeper. Ryan Smyth and Shawn Horcoff are along for the heavy lifting and Ales Hemsky is going to have an enormous season if he can stay healthy.
I think Ralph Krueger, Nail Yakupov, Justin Schultz, Craig MacTavish and Mark Fistric are excellent additions to this hockey club. Why?
- Krueger: Smart guy, he’s already impressed me by not hiding Gagner on the 4line or talking about Hemsky needing to be tougher. The only “news” that got through during camp was Ryan Whitney telling Jason Gregor he needed to be a better man because Krueger was disappointed in him. Do you think the players felt the same way about Pat Quinn? He’s a motivator and a communicator and with young men like the Oilers cluster that’s going to sell all day.
- Nail Yakupov: We should be prepared for him to be the most outspoken of the #1′s and possibly the best (seriously). Yakupov has immense skill and the one thing that has stayed with me is a comment from Stu MacGregor about the kid always hitting his spot when shooting. This guy is a sniper and he’s going to have an impact.
- Justin Schultz: I think he’ll help the PP and am curious about him defensively. There was so much attention paid to his defensive game that I think we maybe forgot this was a first year pro. If you’re expecting perfection, you’re going to be disappointed but that’s on you. Manna from heaven.
- Craig MacTavish: A wonderful addition because he’s the bookend to Lowe’s emotional leadership. MacT is the voice of reason and I do believe he’ll be an enormous help for coach Krueger.
- Mark Fistric: I think this is an important addition in that he’s tough but not stupid. Fistric doesn’t have insane PIM totals but can blow up sorties with a big hit and stay out of the box. Oilers need some of that Jason Smith-Steve Staios toughness and Fistric–while not the same quality of defenseman–can certainly do that without hurting the team with silly trips to the penalty box.
There are many questions and the answers flow beginning tonight. Bless you Oilers, we’re behind you.
PROJECTED LINEUP
- RNH-Hall-Eberle
- Gagner-Yakupov-Hemsky
- Horcoff-Smyth-Hartikainen
- Belanger-Eager-Petrell
- Smid-Petry
- Schultz-Schultz
- Whitney-Potter
- Dubnyk
- Injured: Sutton, Khabibulin, Jones, Peckham.
I’ll update if anything changes.
Schultz was greenlit faster than ET.
The play isn’t flowing through to Yakupov as it should just yet. He’s getting to the right spots but his teammates aren’t anticipating it yet.
Schultz and Yak on the breakaway. Music!
400 hundred posts! Game on.
400+ comments already. Yeah, we’re all suckers for this game, regardless of lockouts.
Jeebus DSF yes he also the oldest.
To be fair to Hemsky, that kind of play is actually encouraged in the Czech league.
Kinda wanna flip yak n hall
Hemsky looks great.
Dubnyk had 1 bad goal.
Forgot how much I hate sportsnet. Wish tsn would broadcats more western games. Damn easterners.
Damn. Sedin holding the stick. I guess it shouldn’t have been there.
RNH line needs to realize that they are not playing against AHL players anymore.
Chincy call, but normal NHL chincy call.
Not a bad backhand by 37
Great PK
What lockout?
PK looks great.
So does Potter, of all people.
Our PP and PK somehow swap in the off-season?
Brutal call.
That call is straight up bullshit.
Two minutes for impersonating a chorus line.
Hall slew foot. dumb dumb dumb
Why are there 2 deep on the PK? Jeez
The ref hesitated, knew he hesitated so had to make the call. BS.
Hall is having a bad game. That’s a really dumb play
Bonehead penalty by Hall.
The Hall call? You can’t be serious?
Hall deserved that call, imo. Yes its a weak slough-foot, but it is a slough-foot and they should always be called. If Hall hadn’t also had his hand on the guy’s shoulder and shove while sweeping the leg out.. doubt there’d of been a call.
Hall has to know better.
Love the game Hemsky is bringing tonight
Long shifts where he gets completely gassed. Check
Extra moves at the blue line instead of a dump in that causes an off side. Check
Lazy penalty. Check
lets’s go Krueger
Well, lets see. There’s plenty of time and if one of these speed demons pushes things up ice any kind of hook is going to get a PP.
What say there, gents?
Okay. Almost 8 minutes to tie it up. Let’s go Oil! There are a lot of things to like about the game. A win would be nice.
The second half of your name appears to be accurate.
You sure? We are in Vancouver playing the chosen ones…
Ahh…there we are.
I think Hall was trying to kick at the puck and missed. Shitty result in getting a piece of Weise but looks bad to the ref and it looked like a slewfoot.
Good call.
EDIT: But terrible whistle. What the hell?
And it was Yakupov. Good job, son.
Yakupov has drawn 2 penalties so far this game.
bookje,
Made the call before I saw the replay. Looked like a simple grinding play on the boards at first.
HEMMER!!
Gagner to Hemsky. Nice.
atta go hemmer
HEMSKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wonder if Nostradumbass saw that one coming?
Bloody Hemsky. Why, why, why?
Alesssss Hemsky!
That was destiny.
Hemsky Bomb!
They both deserved a point tonight.
Whatever this Oilers team will be this year, at least we know they’re going to be exciting! Nice shot Hemsky!
Ales! Fantastic!
Hemsky is a bad bad man.
woooooooooo!!!!!!
Well, that was pretty nice for a guy who was in the Czech league last week.
Of course I miss both goals…
What was that, Hemsky’s 4th shot of the game? Should’ve sent him down to the Czech league long ago.
Eager for Kassian? I’d make that trade off every day of the week.
Hemsky been taking shooting lessons from Eberle, apparently.
Hemsky stayed on the ice to the end of the warmup.
Just wondering but what is your record for posts LT?
Not that there’s a good time to fight, but that’s definitley NOT one. You’ve got the momentum and you rile them up with a fight..stupid
This is why Eager is a 4th line dumbo
spoiler,
I didn’t see who picked that fight, but can’t complain abut the result.
Eager did not get the best of that. ow.
I blame Yakupov. If he was Canadian, he wouldn’t have tripped. Sure, the Oilers got a powerplay and then a goal, but really long term this kind of thing will not work out. And you know, that’s Yakupov’s fault too. He coulda been born in Canada, but he had to be special.
It’s all right there, people..
Eh, Eager taking Kassian off is a good enough trade, imo.
fuzzy muppet,
or a 4th liner takes a 2nd liner off the ice. good trade
Oops. Refs missed the high stick on Petry there…
If anyone wonders why we complain on marginal calls…see that high stick on Petry….come on…
I feel about Jeff Petry the way I felt about Tom Gilbert during his sophomore season.
Lucinius,
when you think about it that way, yes, Eager won.
good point.
Canucks get away with a high stick on Petry. God damn ref was in the wrong position to see it.
Higgins and Magnus PS are destined to find themselves on the same team, eventually.
Nice stickwork by Yakupov. He’s getting confident.
We have a new dirty Russian… and they’re both 10s!
I think the Politburo is doing some transition planning.
Skipping a shift for Teemu? Not smart there Ralph. He’s been solid.
Nuge gotta bury
Nuge’s gotta get that brick up and down the rope.
Bah, RNH has to hit the net, at least, there.
Now Petrell when we need the winner???
Crap…don’t start like this.
So what Oilers haven’t had good games tonight? Whitney, obviously. Besides him – Hall? Nugent-Hopkins? Haven’t seen a lot of obvious weak spots.
LMHF#1,
playing for the loser point?
They’re terrified!
See! 1:16 left… if it was less than a minute, Eberle would have scored.
Belanger’s having a fine game.
I’m not that sour about Whitney. I still like his poise and ability to pass the puck.
We’re not last!
playing for the point. horc line not gagner line last 30 seconds. annoying
Agree 100%. Looks like the player I thought we were getting when we signed him.
I think he’s still got the brains and the hands, but the legs are gone.
Appears that way. Especially when the plugger line played the last shift.
Not a fan of Ralph’s instincts in this game. #64 had better see ice in OT. He’s built for 4-on-4.
Good effort after they shook off the early rust.
This team isn’t too far off…another top4 dman would be a Godsend
I thought Eberle is supposed to be clutch? Bloody hell, he had seconds where he could have scored there. Now Vancouver has a point, dammit.
Horcoff with Smyth and Belanger no less. I’m okay with that. With 30 seconds left, you take every point you can.
FPB94,
He hasnt really played in 2 years. I’ll give him a couple months to make up my mind.
For me, the highlight of the night was 93-14-04 playing the Sedin line to a draw in the offensive zone in the last minute of the game. If they make a step and can go power vs power in this league, we are in good shape, defense be damned.
For now, Jackass.
DBO,
i’m fine with it. i’m tired of missing the playoffs and this is how bubble teams get to the playoffs these days.
Yak for the winner on a one-timer?
SS: I’d say Whitney, Potter a little, Dubnyk had one softie but then played really well and then Hall and Nuge up front. But really, that’s a pretty fine effort and I’d bet my house Hall and Nuge make up for it.
If not tonight, then some time this week.
Whitney is just fine, but you need to drop the ice time.
As for the third line being on the ice at the end, it makes sense, annoying as it is, considering the Sedin line had been on the ice.
This has been a great game. Came back from a two goal deficit against these punks.
I think Whitney might be done.
Did nobody else read the interview with Whitney on Cult of Hockey a few days back?
Whitney said that there’s a “new 100%”, meaning that he’s simply not going to be able to do the things he once could. His own personal frustration (even resignation) comes across pretty clearly in the interview. It’s almost as if he realizes that he’s not a very good NHL player anymore.
The only possible positive I took from it is that he might be aware of the big hit that his market value will take come UFA status, and thus might be willing to settle for a much lower contract.
But when I read the interview, it pretty much closed off what was left of my hope that he could ever be a #1 defenseman again, rather than a #5 defenseman. For my money, that’s the difference between us finishing #7 and #10 in the Western conference this year.
Even if he’s a douche, Burrows’ a nice player to have.
hall yak. fun
Hall and Yak out in OT.
ME LIKE
Hall and yakupov might someday be called the crazy twins
Hall and Yakupov for a 4 on 4 shift… I’m intrigued by that.
Better choice there by Ralph. Hope to see 4+64 again if we don’t score in a shift or two.
That offside was offside.
And as much as Smid kind of bobbled it by not keeping teh puck in, you almost have to have Petry/Smid out there if you have Hall/Yakupov out there as a pair.
Hemsky with the one on five sortie.
Beautiful, vintage Hemsky
I’m deep into my 5th beer. On a school night! Shootout, Please!
Hall and Yakupov didn’t play well together that OT, but I’m still intrigued by that prospect.
Well, not a bad effort. We can be much better though. Didn’t set up Yakupov once. Hall had a rough game. I’m sure it will get better but it took us a good while to get moving.
Now we know Ralph has thoughts on the shootout. I go:
Eberle
Hall
Yakupov
delooper,
Shouldn’t the Canucks have gotten a too many men penalty, then?
But yeah. Old time Hemsky where he’s just one move away from making several players look stupid.
Shoot out we go!
I say.. Eberle, Hall, RNH as the first three for Edmonton.
He had the pace. There were very few sorties up the ice at that speed. Nice.
This team is going to cause a lot of heart attacks this year.
Eberle, Yak, Gagner, Hall, Hemmer- my batting order.
great work by Yak there to stunt a final rush from Vancouver, plus generate a chance.
smart kid.
Someone above asked about a record for posts. 2006 spring was heavily into the 500′s iirc, but I don’t think we’ve done a 600 post thread.
Hemsky’s done some good things against Luongo in past shootouts.
I want to see Horcoff here. And Belanger and Pettrell.
Hemsky
Eberle
Gagner
Go Smid, N. Shultz and Potter!
9 shifts for Hartikainen.
Funny. But also not.
I’d be intrigued. Sometimes grinders make decent dekes.
Even though he played well. At times he was the best guy on that line.
Gagner!
CALLED IT!
Crap. Forget Hemsky. Of course you’re right LMHF#1.
Lets hit 600 baby!
Dubie!
Samwise. DSF’s favorite player.
We should totally trade Gagner…
GAGS!
DD!
Backhand – roof?
PUT IN SCHNEIDER!
LMHF#1,
Five hole.
I love winning man!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeVca9MwDX8
HEMSKY BOMB!!!!!
2 points!
Lets hope they shake the rust a little faster next game
Comeback road victory in Canuckville for the season opener. Nice.
Louuuuuuuuuuu!
Vancoucer fans will be smashing his furniture now!
Nice game overall – lots of rust, but still!
Holy shit.
THEY ACTUALLY WON!
Yes! Undefeated!
Poor first period, a few poor performances, but that’s not a bad first game on the road against Vancouver.
Nice game Hemsky.
Does anyone know what “Hemsky” means in Czech? “Smid” mean Smith. Hemsky I don’t know.
Well, Come from behind in the 3rd period, in an away game against a playoff caliber team. Well done.
Oilers have the #1 penalty killing unit in the league.
Liked the emotion seen from 83 tonight, pissed at his penalty and nice reaction on the winner.
Nice win. Wish we hadn’t given the Canucks the one point, but! We won!
Hemsky is such a bad, bad man! Love how he made Loungo look bad on that shootout winner.
We win! It’s fate!
Man I love this!
delooper,
“Jesus”.
The canucks choices on the shootout seemed really stupid to me. Like, stoopit stupid. Edler? What the hell?
Great game by the Gagner-Hemsky-Yakupov line and a great game by Smid-Petry. A solid game from Horcoff-Smyth-Hartikainen (when he played).
“First off the ice.”
jake70,
BODY LANGUAGE!
Yes! I’ve had to suffer with the Vancouver feed! Taylor was grinning his ass off after the 2nd period. Now I get to watch them cry! Yes!
Can’t wait for the Vancouver centric SN post game with Gary Valk.
II watched the game in 2 minute increments separated by 15 minute gaps while I reinstalled Game Center, but decent game for the Oilers after a bad first period.
Whitney looks the same as last year, which means they need a top 4 Dman if they want a good shot at the playoffs, not just an outside chance, IMO.
We’ll see, maybe.
At least I got the score half right.
One of the best games Hemsky’s ever played. His trade value just went up. Seriously, I hope he wins a cup and is good enough to play on the top six for sure.
Can you come back and do this every game? Thanks for helping out!
So the stories of the night. Hemsky still gives the puck away at the blueline; trade him. Gagner is too small; trade him. Eberle’s shooting percentage is unsustainable and Horcoff can’t score; buy him out.
First game for Nuge line on raod against top pairings. They were OK. AS long as they are even at even strength and kill it on PP, then that will work. Gagner line may be a huge player this year, and to be honest I liked the 4th line. Still need more grit. Still think I want Hall with Gags and Hemmer, Harsky with Nuge and Ebs and Yak with Horc and Smyth. More balance. ANd Nuge gets softer minutes with Hall on Gagner line.
LMHF#1,
Hey if I can mentally wake up Hemmer from long shifts and terribly timed penalties ill keep ragging on him evry game he does that
Great choice, lets interview Zack Kassian…
What a long fucking list of excuses. Luongo was surprised by the speed the Oilers came in at!!!!!!! Well by all means, we’ll bring back Schremp!!!!
First breath in 2 and 1/2 hours.
Hemsky played one hell of a game.
I streamed the nuck commentary at the end and they were ripping on his overtime goal: “he’s so slow” and other crap.
i like that the Oilers found a way to beat Luongo, who actually had a very good game in retrospect.
they needed that many shots, from that many different angles, to beat the guy – but they did it.
superb.
Lol. How many commentaters are blatant homers like that?
(Well there’s the Boston guy, who compared the Bruins winning to the American Revolution but)…
Eberle just keeps on delivering. He feels a lot like Glenn Anderson, in the way he affects games.
Eberle was the best Oiler tonight by a country mile
My only really complaint was the face offs. We could really use an improvement there if we are going to play a puck possession game.
Nice to start out with a win. We’d lose that kind of game late in the third last year.
Our shootout will be a force to be reckoned with this season…
J. Schultz impressed me in both ends (after a somewhat shaky first period), and I hope RNH can do better on Tuesday – though he had a sure goal on Eberle’s break in OT, had Ebs not backhanded.
Dubnyk had a pretty solid game too.
i’m really glad the Flames got smoked by San Jose.
now Edmonton has a chance to send a strong message on Tuesday.
Agreed. Added a lot.
Shultz the elder was the most composed of our D. Rarely out of position, calm with the puck. Like him way more then Whitney with Shultz the younger.
The younger did a really good job of picking his spots as to when to jump into the play. I don;t remember him jumping up and getting caught. If he keeps that up he’ll get his points for sure.
The Oilers went 37-29 = 56%. What do you want? Even Nuge went 50%
JP- Didn’t realize they did that well. Too many pops tonight I suppose. Thanks for the correction.
That’s amazing… by eye it looked like we lost a lot more… I guess that’s what a mind addled by anxiety does to you… over-emphasizes disaster.
We just beat Vancouver in their own barn. Two losses. Great job boys!
Hemsky seems to either mean “swarm” “teeming” “alive” “lousy” or “crowd”. Is hemžící the right spelling?
And Sr. had 9 blocked shots. That’s why they got him – to settle things down.
Jr. looked pretty good too. Held his own in the D zone. The points will come.
I seem to recall a couple threads in the blogspot days going well over 700 posts..maybe even 800. Todays is certainly right up there.
An epic weekend actually when you add in yesterdays comments.
He did take that interference penalty.
It’s a long (half) season.
He’ll show his try colours bye and bye.
JohnnyRocket,
Romulus Apotheosis,
I didn’t realize they did that good either till I checked the box. Nice to see for a change – it will take some time for us to adjust though
I thought Dubnyk and Louongo played pretty well-they both let one in they probably should have stopped but they played well enough to keep their teams in it.
Schultz is a beauty.
After I posted that my wife said she remembered some over 800 so suspect you’re correct. I can’t remember Saturday.
Man, Eager went off for 5 minutes for fighting and still edged out Harski in ice time.
Hartikainen with 8 seconds less ice time than Ben Eager. Did he get hurt and nobody noticed or something?
Was very impressed with J Schultz tonight…seemed like hall was off, and Nuge.
Once these guys start to click a bit more, it will only improve.
Lucinius,
not sure what that was about. Teemu looked great in the early minutes he did have.
maybe he got hurt?
did anyone else let out a palpable anxious laugh when Weise did a header trying to smoke J. Schultz behind the Oiler net… Schultz’ beauty little spin was a real treat to watch… scared the hell out of me though.
In other news. Nice move (Cheechoo) and speculated move (Clark) by the Barons. If Clark or equivalent materializes they might just be OK, and it’s nice for the Oilers depth too.
Also, Rieder with 1G/1A tonight. Scored the tying goal and assisted on the OT winner.
And Gernat and Musil with assists tonight in a 6-1 win. Moroz and Ewanyk not involved in the scoring though.
Ralph wimped out and played Belanger instead of Hartikainen at the end.
That was up there with the goals for the highlight of the night for me.
Rocknrolla,
you know, it is funny because i agree they both seemed “off” .. but at the same time i think they played very good games.
i guess that’s what these mysterious “good players” are like. even when they are off, they’re still solid.
jp,
my wife and i chortled simultaneously when that hit missed.
LMHF#1,
Belanger had a good game though. I don’t mind the decision even though Teemu looked better to my eyes. In Krueger we trust.