In March of 2024, I found Karen. I was still broken, trying to make sense of my life. My daughter suggested I start dating and it didn’t go well. I was meeting wonderful people, but they were meeting a man who was anxious and unsure. It seemed hopeless.
Karen, who is a counsellor at the University of Alberta, arrived in my life at a perfect time. She was there for me, had great empathy and could listen as well as she could hear (I do not have that skill). She helped me heal.
Somewhere along the way, maybe it was our Thursday night coffee or Saturday night dates at The Keg, or maybe it was the Spoons concert or one of the times her gigantic dog Clifford tackled me in the hallway like he was Dan Kepley, but I fell in love with Karen. My children adore her, and I am getting to know her children as well.
I asked Karen to marry me recently, and she said yes. We were married in her parents’ home (Bob and Sophie) on Saturday, with my friend Lynn Mercereau guiding us through our vows. Brad Gibbons took about 1,000 photos. We are forever grateful to both, and to Bob, Sophie, our kids and families for their support. I found happiness, and I’m never going to let her go. I am home.
OILERS VERSUS JETS
I haven’t seen a lineup for tonight, the team usually flies to Winnipeg an hour before the game, has no legs, and gets crushed. It is routinely a game for the young players, as veterans circle this one as a must to avoid. I’d like to see all of the bubble people, who I count as ‘uncertain Oilers’:
Since this is going to be a good test for the team, I’d like to see Samuel Jonsson in net, maybe Matt Tomkins can play half of the game. On defense, Atro Leppanen (who played Game 1 with partner Josh Brown) and Alec Regula (who was paired with Cam Dineen) are the two I’d most like to see.
Up front, the Podkolzin-Frederic-Savoie line was impressive in the first game, and a repeat of Howard-Lazar-Kapanen and Jones-Philp-Jarventie wouldn’t go amiss.
On the Lowdown today, it’s the return of Daniel Nugent-Bowman from The Athletic as our Tuesday feature guest throughout the NHL season. We’ll talk about the McDavid deal, the new goalie coach and the general feel of the roster for 2025-26. It’s also round table day, the radio equivalent of a Zebra (me) being chase by a pack of hyenas (Declan Krueger, Donovan Paulson, Josh Fenwick and Sam Wilness). It’ll be fun! Noon to 2pm on Sports 1440 radio and You Tube.
I am truly happy for you all, Allan.
Thanks!
So very happy for you.
Congratulations LT! You deserve all the happiness in the world!❤️
Nice to see Howard score from distance on a NHL goalie. For him to be effective he needs to score from distance as he’ll find open space. This snipe was really encouraging as I don’t give 2 shits what he does all night just end up in the BX scores with a G.
He did finish 0-1 goal share at 5 on 5 (plus his PPG).
I thought he had a nice game.
Philp and Hutson were the main stand-out forwards for me – in particular Philp.
Lazar must be on notice!
Congrats LT!
Just watched highlights. Oof, Brown – what a night
And what a contract
is Philp Brodziak?
Toews looked better than I thought he would fresh out of the mothballs
Noah Philp was elite in this game – a great night at both ends.
Leppanen, other than his pizza early was great with the puck.
Savoie was all over the puck all night long.
Hutson looked good.
Howard ripped a lazer home.
Lots of good performances tonight in Winnipeg – it is first week of exhibition, of course.
Philp will not be denied.
Philp has been VERY strong tonight – plus plays in all zones all night long.
Stecher carrying Josh Brown all night long – Brown has been awful. I don’t understand how this guy got so may NHL games….
Congratulations LT! Very happy for you & Karen.
I’ve stayed away from all things Oil after the playoffs. The break was needed. Watching tonight’s game and seeing some encouraging play from Savoie, Prokop, and Philp just had a beauty of a pass to Ember for the third goal. What sauce!
Just bought my annual ticket for the Oilers visit to Ottawa a month from now. Last road game on a five-game stretch out east, might be a stinker but I think I’m going to treat myself to a nice seat this time around.
Philp with a beauty sauce pass from the side boards, cross-ice to Emberson at the point who walks in to the top of the circles and rips it home.
Two primary apples for Philp – he put that one perfectly.
Luke Prokop is better than I anticipated, he should be a solid player for the Condors but: Regula, Brown, Akey, Prokop – yes, Brown sucks but he’s going to play….
The Brown contract never made any sense.
So you think there’s a chance he can crack the Komets opening night roster?
Prokop? He may end up in Fort Wayne but I’m seeing an AHL player early in exhibition.
Marjala may need to add a few pounds of bulk is he’s going to make it at this level in due course – he’ll probably learn that in the AHL….
Ike with a one-timer PP goal from Drai’s office. 2-1 Oil.
Howard rips one from Drai’s spot on the PP to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead – lazer. great cross ice from Nuge.
Nuge/Howard line just had about 90 seconds of offensive zone pressure.
Even made a d-pairing change from Brown/Stecher to the Dineen pairing.
Lots of puck movement, few pucks to the net – Howard lots of stick taps to “pass me the puck” – he did make some nice passes and had one high slot shot that was blocked.
That was fun to watch!
Ike Howard with a nice back-check to break up a 2 on 1.
He doesn’t “stand out” as dynamic at this point but makes good plays all over the ice. Lots of good passes – haven’t seen him get his shot away very much though.
Skilled tip by Hutson in traffic on a centering play by Philp – over the shoulder for a 1-0 lead.
Hutson has exceeded my expectations every skate this season.
Pisani in waiting…?
First Period:
Still waiting for Howard to have opportunities to showcase his shot but he is a good playmaker.
Savoie plays like Yamamoto before he disappeared. Tenacious as a puck hound.
I like when Hutson has the puck on his stick. He makes skill plays.
Hutson looks mature – he’s showed well for me at every skate – I had him as a distant bell but he’s starting to put himself on to my map.
Griffith tries to go back to the point but splits his D, Perfetti on his horse and makes Josh Brown look like Griffin Reinhart and blows past him for a breakaway – Brown hooks him but no call.
Howard with a nice look to set up Kap for a massive open one timer high slot – blocked though.
CONGRATS LT!!
I wish you guys all the happiness!!
Leppanen tries to break it out up the middle and its picked off for an uber-high danger slot chance – Picks with the glove save.
Well guess it is better to learn lessons when games don’t count! Interesting player.
@Bob_Stauffer
The EdmontonOilers
at WPG tonight:
Howard-RNH-Kapanen
Jones-Philp-Hutson
Henrique-Marjala-Savoie
Rem Pitlick-Copponi-Griffith
Leppanen-Emberson
Stecher-Brown
Dineen-Prokop
Pickard
Tomkins
Be Nice if Drai got to play C
Best passer in the league….have him play wing to a God.
No chance the best passer in the league could elevate others?
( Pods as just one example)
Not even willing to entertain the idea of the Gods – each- driving their *own* line.
Absolutely Fascinating.
Knoblach seldom keeps the same lines for a period, let alone astring of games. He’ll be shuffling the lines as soon as they give up a goal or two
Very happy for you, LT. At first I thought you meant you married your therapist though ha ha ha.
All the best to you and Karen in the future.
Congratulations LT!
Love is pretty great isn’t it.
Congratulations Lowetide! I’m so happy to see you’ve found new happiness and joy in your life. I wish you all the best.
Congratulations to you and Karen on your wedding! Love the second time around is very special. My parents were married 26 years until Mom’s sudden passing at the age of 61. At the time, Dad was only 54, and we were all broken, but Dad was alone and broken. A couple years later he found love the second time around when he wasn’t really expecting to find it and wasn’t really looking for it. She knew Mom and always respected her memory. He felt guilty at first, but we assured him Mom would want him to be happy. They were married and enjoyed 27 years together as husband and wife before he passed away in 2018.
When Dad was in the hospital nearing the end of his life, he and I spent a lot of time together, as I visited morning & evening on my way to & from work. One evening he said to me, “I am the luckiest man in the world. I’ve known the love of two amazing, wonderful women for over 50 years of my life. Not many men can say that. I know the despair of feeling lost and the joy of being found again.”
All the best to the two of you!
I am so overjoyed that you found love agian, you are a prince of men. My mom went through something similar, she and my father were a great and inspirational couple to me and remain so to this day. After Dad passed away suddenly at 39, she soldiered on, often missing him terribly even though she thought we didn’t see it. Eventually, she met and married Walter who was a godsend for her and our family as a whole. Now that they have all passed, all three are buried side by side by side in adjoining plots and a common tombstone. I often imagine all three of them together in the clouds, playing and laughing and jokingand teasing each other – probably getting great amusement from my foibles and faux pas in life.
May Karen be to you and your family what Walter was to mine.
All of the off-season lines we discussed can be scraped – nuclear it is:
Per Gregor:
I just don’t get this. “Start as you mean to go”. That’s a thing and has value.
Drai and Podz form the start of a wonderful line. Why not let Drai drive his own line and figure out who works best with McDavid for two strong lines?
Maybe this works out, but my instinct is that we’ll be left with 3 weaker lines as a result of running Drai and McDavid together. I hate this.
Knoblauch does not deploy his roster well. This has been a problem the whole time he’s been here.
Seems to have them more prepared, mostly better systems, but he stinks at deployment – both who is with who, and how much they play.
The lack of willingness to employ something beyond the same-old, same-old, is a huge concern with Knoblauch. I believe it was not the players but the mgt and coaches which cost the team Stanley this past spring, and unless they look at better options for deployment early this year, it will be the same handicap this year.
Actually, this IS different that the same-old, no?
I don’t think they’ve ever started game 1 of the regular season together and I don’t think the coach has announced how he plans to deploy early season less than a week in to camp………
They absolutely could have been coached into the last 2 Cups.
Could be a pump and dump or a farewell tour by his buddy by feeding him 60 goals so his next contact for his new team is a doozy. McDavid has spoken sometimes the obvious is the obvious. McDavid has laid it out in his cryptic responses.
You understand how ridiculous this sounds ya? A coach that’s gone to the SCF two straight years in a row…..
I certainly wouldn’t criticize the deployment until I had actual proof.
This team has accomplished the least it should have in the past 2 seasons.
They are the best roster and have zero championships.
It’s preseason, I’m not too sure what it is you’re getting all excited about. It looks like Knoblauch wants to play Frederic with Connor & Leon, not sure what the other three lines will look like, but I can venture a guess.
Leon-McDavid-Frederic
Podz-Nuge-Mangiapane
Henrique-Tomasek-Savoie
Howard-Philp-Kapanen
I’m guessing they want to send a strong line up to Winnipeg, though I could be wrong.
Coach said straight up he’s starting the season with McDavid and Drai together – he told us that.
Just until Hyman gets up & running.
I think Tomasek has impressed so far and they want to use him at center possibly 3c, while Nuge can slot in at 2c. They have so much center depth they can pull it off, at least till Hyman shows up. And it makes complete sense. That’s how I see it anyway.
That is legitimately disappointing. What is Draisatl talking about a Selke for? RNH is in no universe a 2C anymore. I can’t even imagine why you would take one of the top 3 centres in the league and put him at wing. So disappointing.
Nuge had a strong playoffs playing 2C……
Well, that’s 12 forwards….so I guess that’s the roster? And the extra is probably Lazar.
I am glad Knoblauch has a history of going to the blender quickly.
McDavid seems to have learned all the wrong lessons if this is what he wants to sign a new contract.
There is a perverse logic to doing this. i.e. A Hunger Games roster deployment.
But this is the antithesis of “start as you mean to go on”.
I support this new approach to rest Connor and Leon, while concurrently giving development time to younger players and line combinations.
Given that, I would prefer:
Draisaitl – McDavid – Kapanen
Mangiapane – Nuge – Tomasek
Podkolzin – Frederick – Savoie
Janmark – Lazar – Henrique
Let Philp, Howard and others get playing time in Bakersfield and build.
Kapanen on L1 would be devastatingly bad.
As a person who has been reading (and kinda participating) since day one of this blog, I’m so happy to see you overcome your loss. I am truly proud of you and your stoic and thoughtful nature. Because of you and the early posters in this forum, I own an analytics company and everything is due to daily morning readings. Thank you and best of luck with your new family.
I found this blog in the Spring of ’06, months before the magical ’06 run. When did the blog first come online?
Congratulations on finding each other Allan. I wish you both many years of happiness.
I also agree that it will be nice to watch the uncertain Oilers battle tonight (if I can actually watch it) and I hope the next few games brings some clarity on who the wingers and 4C will be.
Oilers not on the ice this morning:
RNH
Henrique
Savoie
Howard
Kapanen
Emberson
Stecher
Pickard
Looks like I should get my wish of at least one of Howard/Savoie playing with Nuge tonight.
“I found happiness, and I’m never going to let her go. I am home.”
Such a beautiful place to be. I am, as I’ve said, very happy for you.
🙏
ps. Looking forward to having you back, fending off the hyenas – a favourite part of my week!
Congratulations LT! Sometimes the world works out, and good things happen to good people. You deserve this sir!
Appreciate you sharing that picture… but on a funny note, you weren’t kidding about having soft hands! I’m only 40 and I’m jealous!
Per Nugent-Bowman:
Top line at Oilers practice today with those going to Winnipeg for tonight’s game not on the ice:
Draisaitl-McDavid-Frederic
Could see them together for tomorrow’s home game.
And given all the bad takes, now I’m super interested in that line, and what lines 2-4 look like tomorrow (& every game after). Never a dull moment.
Congrats, LT! Happy to hear you’re doing well.
The #Oilers have signed forward Vasily Podkolzin to a three-year contract extension with an AAV of $2.95 million.
https://x.com/EdmontonOilers/status/1970518566601662474
I was hoping to keep the AAV around $2.5MM (and was willing to go for as many years as he’s willing to give) but Stauff told us this wasn’t’ coming in under $3MM.
He had arb rights this year and 30 points get more than $3MM in arb.
Would have liked more terms but we’ve got him here for 4 years and he’ll be a good player!
With the rising cap every salary signed this year seemed high but could this honestly be a tell McDavid is taking his talents elsewhere?
Podkolzin signs = Mcdavid out the door.
I Picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue.
As you know teams have a salary cap if your going to resign McDavid every nickel will count. This like Bouchard sounds a bit like a small overpay if you do the same for Walman possibly Ekholm or Kulak you run out of money to pay McDavids contact.
Explain……?
This doesn’t seem like nickel and diming as you know if Bowman resigns McDavid every 500,000 is going to count. If Bowman knows McDavid is moving on that 16 plus million is going elsewhere.
I don’t think any of the other contracts signed indicate on McDavid’s. The org will make room for McDavid no matter what.
If we were to try and discern the winds from unrelated contracts, I would say that contracts that look like bridges (this one does) probably mean a focus on short term cap savings… possibly for someone big.
But again, I wouldn’t try and read the legalese tea leaves.
The lower hanging fruit for signing 97 is guys like Janmark, Henrique, Nurse and potentially Ekholm (depending on how the D develops this year). Worrying about a guy who could’ve signed for $3M getting $2.95 (with no NTC or NMC) is an attempt to be penny-wise but pound foolish.
The difference between 2.5 and 2.95 is almost half million. I’m saying is this a small overpay like I believe Bouchard and Frederic were. I was 95% sure McDavid was going to stay a few more years after Leon and Nurse were locked and loaded. Now I believe Bowman isn’t nitpicking a dollar here a dollar there because McDavid’s not signing.
This is a good and solid contract and I don’t imagine the Podz 3 year deal at 2.5% of the cap next season should be connected to McDavid staying or going in any way.
I’m not just talking the Pod contract but all the contracts combined. Did we get a home town discount with Pod who was on a one way ticket on the Trans-Siberian Railway? Vancouver made this player look bad for no apparent reason besides getting drafted to high. Bowman saved Pod’s career and put him in a position to succeed. I think we as Oilers fans believe he pops into a 15-20 goal scorer who’s true value starts come Playoff time.
Podz signed what looks like a very fair deal for both sides – a solid piece of business done that was speculated for 2 months now.
I don’t understand how a 2.5% of the cap deal, in the normal course, is being tied to McDavid leaving…..
Ekholm was at the captain skates and has been a full participant in camp. I don’t think there is any indication that his torn hip abductor will keep him from game 1 of regular season is there? I’d have him as a certain Oiler.
Hopefully at least Nuge makes the trip to play with Savoie or Howard.
This is on TSN3 but I think it will be blacked out outside the Jets viewing area.
Not to distract anyone from the goings on in Winnipeg tonight, but the Blue Jays need all of our collective support and positive energy this week. A first round bye is imperative!
Sorry, I’m a Boston fan and getting into the playoffs is more imperative!
In Vlad Guererro Jr Voice: Disagree to agree
What did you say to me?
More fans of other teams on here than of the Rogers Baseball Franchise TM.
Been a Dodgers fan since Brooklyn.
Thanks for the Dan Kepley reference. Takes me back to another time and place.
Congratulations Mr. Mitchell. May you have many happy and healthy years together. Apologies for reading too fast when you first let us know, thought you had become engaged.
Congrats Al…so happy for you. Love that your names were a blast from the past. I’ve known Lynn for years, lovely, intelligent lady. And Brad is one of my oldest friends in the city…he was at my (first) wedding too, but as the MC. 🙂
Both are fabulous people and made the day so special!
So good you had Brad, LT! I met Brad at a wedding too, where I was the best man and he was the photographer. Ended up hiring him for family photos shortly thereafter. Amazing photographer and even better guy. dbphotographics.ca if anyone needs a top notch photographer.
Congratulations again LT and thanks, always, for sharing this with us.
Anyone know if we will be “allowed” to watch tonight’s game?
It shows up on my TV’s (SHAW) schedule for TSN3, but these games are typically blocked here. We may have to resort to the OnHockey site to view it for free.
I do know it is on Oilers+
Alan, a hearty congratulation on finding love again. May you grow old together with love, joy, happiness, and health!