No More Questions, Only Answers.

UFC 118 took place this Saturday, during which Frankie "The Answer" Edgar stepped back into the octagon to defend his light weight belt for the first time. Not only was it Frankie's first title defense, but it was also against the man that he took the title from in April.. BJ Penn.

In the previous fight, Frankie ended up winning by decision; however, that's not how BJ Penn saw it. Penn believed that he was robbed, and that Frankie won purely because his corner men lifted him onto their shoulders at the end of the fight in order to "sell" his win to the judges. In my opinion it was clear that Frankie had won, BJ was just being his whiny self and had to give some excuse as to why he lost. BJ is no stranger to excuses, you may recall that he claimed GSP was "greased up" in between rounds which caused him to be slippery and thus making BJ unable to finish him. In both occasions BJ seems to forget about the constant punches that he was taking to the face while giving very few in return, or the numerous times he was taken down during the fight and then being held there for approximately 4/5 minutes in every round.

Joe Rogan brought up a good point about the differences between each fighters corner-men. On Frankie's side, he was getting good technical advice from his corner as well as some encouragement. However, BJ and the "yes men" that he had in his corner were giving him pure pep talks even though he was clearly losing badly. Between every round they would merely say "destroy this kid, your amazing BJ, your better then him, just go kick his ass"! Obviously, this "helpful" advice that BJ was given did absolutely nothing and he lost the decision to Frankie once again, this time not even winning a single round on any of the judges score cards.

It will be interesting to see what happens to both BJ and Frankie now. Frankie will surely move on to defend his title against Gray Maynard, who is the only man to ever beat Frankie in the octagon. If Frankie comes out the way he did against BJ then he will most likely leave with the belt around his waist once again. However, if he cannot out-muscle and out-wrestle The Bully, then he could fall down the light weight rankings fast. BJ, on the other hand, will have a lot more things to think about. BJ has never been known for his work ethic, and I can't see that changing anytime soon. I doubt that BJ will make any severe changes to his camp, or the people that he trains with simply because many of them are his family and he clearly loves to be surrounded by "yes men".

At the end of the day, Frankie "The Answer" Edgar had his best fight ever in the octagon and remains the UFC light weight champ. But BJ "The Prodigy" Penn seems to be quickly becoming the light weight chump.

We're Baaaaaaack!

After taking a brief Summer from the world of sports blogging, Autumn's Hattrick is back in action! Let's begin with a little hockey...

This will come as no surprise, but Canada continues to be a force at the national level. The U-18 team once again captured gold, marking the third gold in a row and sixth in the last seven years for the Canadian boys. Canada was lead by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who posted 7 points in 5 games while playing in red and white, he also scored the eventual game winner in the gold medal game against the USA. Since the new year, the World Juniors, Olympics, and U-18 gold medal games have all been USA vs Canada. The States have really turned their hockey program around, even modeling it after Canada's program. The United States now holds camps months before they hold tryouts for their various national level teams, something that was only being done by Canada a couple of years ago. Congratulations team Canada!

Despite what most people thought would happen during the off season in regards to the Toronto Maple leafs, it seems as though the more things change the more they stay the same. Heading into the off season many people, including myself, believed that Kaberle would be traded by any means necessary. However, Kaberle will once again be suiting up with the blue and white this season as the team had no acceptable deals for the 32 year old D-man.

Now onto some football, the rumor mill is swirling once again concerning Brett Favre and his on-again off-again retirement battle. This time it appears that number 4 will be back in a Vikings uniform this season. This move doesn't overly surprise me, I mean, the guy couldn't possibly retire knowing that his last play in the NFL was throwing an interception.. could he?

Former Regina Rams standout Jordan Sisco has been sent back from the Indianapolis Colts, the team which he has been working out with for the majority of the Summer. Sisco is very lucky to have even had the chance to go down to the States and play pro ball. Andy Fantuz has been dying for the chance for scouts to give him a look, but no teams seem to be biting. Sisco will now join Fantuz on the Riders and will spend about 3 weeks learning and will then hopefully be thrown into the mix of an already stacked receiving core.

The world of MMA was up in arms for the first 23 minutes of the main event of UFC 117 which took place on August 7th. Anderson Silva was a mere two minutes away from losing his belt to the trash talking machine Chael Sonnen. Chael took Silva down within the first two minutes of every round and held him there, leaving Silva virtually powerless. The Spider was on his back but his long limbs allowed him to secure a triangle choke with 2 minutes left in the fifth round. Had Silva not secured the choke, he would surely have surrendered his belt to Sonnen, five rounds to none.

Since Silva once again found a way to win, a question remains.. who will take down the Spider? In my perfect world Georges St-Pierre would be the one to do it, however, that fight seems further away then ever these days. Georges recently stated that if he were to fight and beat Silva he would retire. On the one hand I could never blame GSP for retiring, it has always been my theory that you should retire on top, but because GSP brings in so much revenue for the UFC, I'm not sure that Dana White would fully support the fight knowing that he could lose his most popular fighter. Dana would also be against the GSP-Silva fight because no matter what one of his champions is considered beatable in a time where they seem to be virtually untouchable.

Now that my Summer is winding down, I will once again be doing frequent blogs mainly discussing hockey, football and MMA, with a special focus on Pats, Oilers, and UFC.

What The Fowler!

There were many shocking picks that came in the first round, but the most shocking pick of all had to be Cam Fowler's slide from TSN's ranking of 5th overall, to 12th where he was eventually taken by the Ducks.

Earlier in the season, most people thought that Cam would go as high as third, but no one ever imagined that he would go outside of the top six or seven; let alone twelfth! The Ducks were extremely lucky to grab this kid.

TSN's 4th overall pick, and fellow defensmen Brandon Gormley slipped to 13th and was picked up to the Yotes, who couldn't be happier with the pick.

First Overall

Although it was made out to be a more difficult decision than I'm sure it really was, the Edmonton Oilers have selected (as I predicted months ago) Taylor Hall as the first overall pick in the 2010 NHL entry draft. This came as not a huge surprise, as tempting as Seguin was, Hall was the obvious choice.

Edmonton was trying to get the top 2 picks in the draft which would have called for a blockbuster trade. A single team hasn't had the top two picks in the draft since Montreal did back in the day. Rumour has it that they were offering Boston Hemsky and Jordan Eberle for the pick, but the Bruins declined the offer.

Edmonton then offered Florida Andrew Cogliano in exchange for a late first round draft pick but no dice.

Edmonton did the right thing in drafting Hall, he's a dynamic offensive forward that is sure to make an immediate impact. Congratulations Hall.

Newest Coug.

Brett Leffler, formerly with the Regina Pats, has just committed to the University of Regina Cougars. Leffler will be joining former Pats teammate Matt Strueby as well as countless other ex-WHLer's. Leffler should fit in quite nicely with the Cougs lineup and will bring his size, shot and work ethic to the team, but both Leff's and Strueb's will continue to work on their speed while with Regina.

Leffler was originally drafted by the Capitals and attended their development and training camps but was never able to secure a deal with the Caps and as a result was thrown back into last years draft. It is rare that a player will be picked up twice in the draft and Leffler's case was no different and he was not chosen a second time around. However, last summer he was invited to attend the Blackhawks development camp and was expected to receive an invite to training camp, but the call never came.

Both Struebs and Leffs are great hockey players and deserve more looks by scouts and teams. Although they may not have blazing speed, their work around the net and willingness to battle in the corners is top notch. Good luck with the Cougs. boys!

NHL Combine.

It's that time of year again, time to put 17 year old kids through hell and back and dangle their dreams of playing in the NHL right in front of them.. that's right it's draft time. Now, with the draft comes the dreaded combine where these young kids are put through all kinds of tests to test there physical and mental abilities. Most of the test results have been said flat out do not translate to whether or not the kid will be a good hockey player, but it's all part of the process.

Obviously, all of the attention has been on the Taylor vs Tyler saga. However, Taylor Hall took the easy was out and opted not to participate in the physical tests. He kept claiming that he had "nagging injuries" and felt that it would be better if he sat out, he also said that his season had just finished 5 days ago. Although this is true, his season did just finish, but so did Cam Fowlers, they play on the same f-ing team yet Cam didn't have a problem participating. Cam also played in the World Juniors, just like Hall, yet had to go through all of the hellish tests while Hall got to sit and watch.

Jack Campbell, the stud USA goalie from the World Juniors came out on top of a number of the tests which I found to be quite interesting. I was watching the live chat but the operators seemed to refuse to talk about the bench press results but released all other information quite willingly. I really wish that they would release all of the results to the public, in fact, I'm surprised that they don't, everyone would clearly love to know.

If the draft were based on interview skills and like-ability then the Oilers would definitely choose Seguin, he's much-muuch funnier then Hall and actually looks like he's interested and not about to fall asleep. I still think that because of what the Oilers need that they should choose Hall but Seguin is so marketable it's going to be hard to resist.

Stanley Cup: Game 2

After narrowly escaping the high scoring affair that happened on Saturday, neither team could get their offense going early in game number two. Both teams were held scoreless for the first period of action and well into the second until Chicago managed to score two quick ones to put them up, obviously, 2-0. The Flyers finally put one past Niemi in the third to cut the lead to one but even with almost 2 minutes with the extra attacker they could not poke a second through. Hawks win game 2 by a score of 2-1.

However, although the Hawks have been winning, their top line of Kane, Toews and Big Buff have not been doing anything to help, in fact they have done the opposite. In game number one the trio combined for zero points and a minus nine rating. Not exactly something to be proud of. Game number two was not much better, Kane had zeros across the board, Buff was given 1 assist, and Toews was a plus 1. So, you can look at this situation a number of ways. But one that stands out is that, if the Hawks three top guys aren't clicking.. at all.. and yet they can still win, what about when they are clicking? Will they dominate? Only time will tell.

Team Hawks 2-0.

Goodbye Suns.

Although I do not usually write about basketball, a few things need to be said. It seems as though I am one of the only people to be happy that Kobe and the Lakers knocked off Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns. It's my theory that the only reason anyone cheers for Nash is because he is Canadian, and the only reason they cheer against Kobe is because they are jealous.

The series went for 6 games and almost looked to be headed for a 7th in the final minutes of game six. After dominating the entire game, the Lakers managed to give up an overwhelming 18 point lead in the final minutes, but Nash and his 3 point shots couldn't keep Kobe off... again. The Lakers went on to take the series and now face the Boston Celtics in the NBA finals which are set to begin on Thursday.

For once, the sports world got together and discussed what days the NBA finals should be on and what days the NHL finals should be on. It wouldn't have surprised me if they had been scheduled for the same days. In the conference finals for the NHL, they had both finals running on the same day and then would have no games the next day and then 2 the day after, until some genius suggested that they alternate. That deserves a slow clap. Due in part to poor planning by networks, on Saturday I was forced to flip between game 1 of the Stanley cup, Kobe vs Nash, UFC prelims on Spike, and UFC. Sweet.

Rampage vs Rashad

The feud that has been continuously growing for over a year now came to a highly disappointing end Saturday night. I say highly disappointing because no one even got knocked out! The fight and feud ended with Rashad winning a unanimous decision.. booooring! If I would have known that Rashad's game plan was to lay on Rampage the entire time and barely look for the knockout except for in the first 2 minutes, then I would have been cheering for Rampage.

Rampage's ring rust was quite evident. The guy was completely gassed after the first round! He claimed that he had never really trained before but now he's taking his training much more seriously.. well, you couldn't tell from watching that fight!

With the win Rashad secured his chance of getting the next title shot against Shogun. I would have much rather seen Rampage vs Shogun, due to the fact that they have fought before, but none-the-less Rashad-Shogun should be a good one, I just pray that it doesn't go the distance. I don't think I can handle watching another 5 round decision, there have been far too many lately!

Stanley Cup: Game 1

The series that has been loong in the making has finally begun. The Philadelphia Flyers will be going into battle against the heavily favoured Chicago Blackhawks. My bet (literally) is on the Hawks, their just simply too deep in my opinion, much deeper then that of the flyers. To be honest, I also like more hawks than flyers and believe that they are all around a better team.

Game numero uno went just as I had in-visioned.. well almost. I didn't quite see the amount of goals being scored to equal 11, but it didn't surprise me that it was a back and forth game for the whole 60 minutes.

Boucher ended up making his first appearance in net in what seems like forever but even a goal tending change could not translate to a victory for the Flyers. The final score ended up being 6-5 in favor of the Hawks. Team Hawks 1-0.

Poster Boy

To everyone in the hockey world it would appear as though Sidney Crosby could do no wrong.. well, almost everyone.

When Sidney Crosby recently declined the offer to go and represent Canada at the World Hockey Championships in Germany, it raised a few eyebrows, but none were higher than those of the IIHF president. In a matter that got blown way out of proportion, prez Fasel said some pretty nasty things about the young star and couldn't for the life of him understand as to why Sid the Kid would not want to wear the maple leaf.. Fasel has since apologized.

On the one hand, I can see why Fasel would be frustrated that players do not want to play for their country, most players would dream for that chance and some of them seem to care less. However, it is quite obvious that the players who declined, especially Sid, would be extremely tired emotionally and physically and deserve the break and the option to say no if they so choose.

However, waaay on the other hand, it does bother me that Fasel made the point to single out Sid. If any of the players should have the right to sit out of the tournament then it should be Sid. It is funny how everyone is talking about how Sid said no when a guy like Martin St. Louis (who I love) also said no when he didn't play in the olympics and whose team did not even make the post season. You would think that if anyone wanted the chance to play more hockey and represent their country it would be him, yet he declined and no one seems to be making a fuss about it.

What it comes down to is the name. "Sidney Crosby" carries a lot of hype and attention with it and with that hype and attention also comes ratings. Everything the Kid does is under a microscope and this situation is no different, in fact it seems worse. It is a little bit ironic that Sid claimed that he was "too tired" to go yet his teammate Malkin, who also played in the Olympics didn't seem "too tired" at all. Either way, give the Kid a break, the guy is 22 and rich as hell, it's not like he's getting paid to play at the Worlds so why not have a little bit more of a break? You can't blame the Kid, because; well.. he's the poster boy.

World Champs

In what was considered to be a rather "unique" world championship tournament, the ending was possibly the most unique of all. Going into the tournament everyone thought that it would be the third straight year that Canada and Russia would square off in the final. Russia made it there, but Canada.. not so much.

Canada had by far it's worst tournament in a long-looong time. They finished the round robin with a rather hideous record of 2-3 and were the last team in Group F to advance. Although by some countries standards a 2-3 showing at the worlds may be acceptable, but not if the country is Canada. For the past two years Canada has gone undefeated in the round robin and then lost to Russia in the gold medal game in consecutive years. Russia finished second, while Canada found themselves losing in the quarters, putting them at around 5th. Ew.

Perhaps it was that Canada was just too young. But I mean.. there only wins were against Latvia and Norway which are by no means hard teams.. you would think that Canada could put together a lineup that could have at least been able to grab at least a medal if not the gold.

Russia's stacked lineup earned them a 5-0 record in the round robin, but ultimately they fell short of their golden dreams and lost to the Czech Republic; if you can believe it. I guess even if your roster sports 14 of your teams members on it, sometimes it just isn't enough, especially when you come across a hot goalie.

Congrats to the Czech's, relish the moment.. I don't think it will come around again for a while.

As Predicted.

It came as no surprise that the steller Windsor Spitfires won the Memorial Cup on Sunday, making it two years in a row that the OHL kids leave as the top dogs in Canadian junior hockey.  Not only did the Spit's beat the host team in the Brandon Wheat Kings, they flat out dominated them!  The game closed by a final score of 9-1. A little embarrassing for Brandon fans, but it was to be expected unless you're an idiot.  

Taylor Hall was also named the tournament MVP for the second year in a row, yet scouts still think that Sequin is the top prospect.. give me a break!  It's pretty obvious that Hall is the clear choice, but that rant is for another day.

Congratulations to the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL, they are truly deserving of this Trophy.  It would have been nice to give the Brandon home town fans a little more to cheer about, but at the end of the day the best team won.. no question.  

Mem. Cup Final Set

The match-up is set, the defending champs from the OHL the Windsor Spitfires will face off against the home town kids from the WHL, the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The Windsor Spitfires looked to be on the brink of elimination in the semi's of the OHL finals as they started the series down 3 games to none. However, this stacked team had another level that could not be matched and took the next 4 games straight. Since then, the Spit's have had a relatively easy ride to the Mem. cup final minus there overtime winner against Moncton, but other than that they have been nothing short of dominant.

The Brandon Wheat Kings have taken a slightly different path to end up in the final. Brandon lost out in the Semi's of the WHL final, but since they are the host team they automatically received a spot in the Mem. Cup. Brandon was dominated by Windsor in the first game by a score of 9-3. They then lost to Calgary in a pointless game only to beat them a few days later in an overtime stunner that had they crowd on it's feet.

Although the Wheat Kings have the home-town-crowd advantage, I still believe that Windsor will take this one and make it two years in a row for them. They say that the Mem. Cup is one of the hardest trophy's to win, for them to do it twice would be incredible and nearly impossible, but Windsor is basically a team on steroids so if anyone can do it, it's got to be them. World Junior teammates Ryan Ellis, Taylor Hall, Adam Henrique, and Greg Nemisz all of the Windsor Spitfires will take on former Team Canada teammates Brayden Schenn and Travis Hamonic of the Wheaties.

The Wheat Kings definitely have a stacked team, there's no question. But I don't believe that they have the star power and the experience that Windsor has. No matter how much the crowd is on your side, it can only help a team so much.. I give this one to Windsor. No question.

NHL Hart Nominees

The nominees have also been released for the Hart Trophy aka Most Valuable Player aka The Best Award aside from the Stanley Cup. Up for the award this year are: Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Henrik Sedin. In my opinion, this one goes to Sid.

Sidney Crosby has done unreal on all levels of the game. He shared the Rocket Richard trophy with Steven Stamkos for the most goals in the league with 51. He reached the 50 goal mark for the first time since his 2004-2005 season when he was still playing in the QMJHL. He finished in a tie with Ovie for second in the overall points list with 109 and who could forget the golden goal he scored for team Canada in the Olympics. Most people will whine and say "what do the Olympics have to do with anything?". Well, since the NHL partners with the Olympics, and it's basically an all-star tournament only this time the players actually want to be there it has everything to do with anything.

Alex Ovechkin on the other hand, sealed his own fate in my opinion with his "reckless" style of hockey. Alex missed a total of 11 NHL games due to suspensions so if he had been a little bit more disciplined he could have easily won the title for the most points, and possibly the most goals as well... buuut no. Alex finished with an even 50 goals and 109 points, the leaders of those categories had 51 goals and 112 points, so 11 more games and Ovie would have easily taken both. Ovechkin also did not fair well at the Olympics and missed out on the medals completely.

On to Henrik.. well in the first place, I admit that I am a little bit biased because I really don't care for the Canucks... at all. Henrik was basically an assist whore all season and although he finished on top in the points race he also fell into Crosby's shadow at the Olympics. If everyone else had a twin brother on their team to pass to I'm sure they would be doing pretty well in the assist department as well. Further, I hope that his team loses to the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round of the playoffs, preferably in an embarrassing 4 games straight.

NHL Calder Nominees

The NHL has been slowly announcing nominees for their most coveted awards. Up for the Calder Trophy aka Rookie of the Year are: Matt Duchene, Tyler Myers and Jimmy Howard. It is interesting that neither the number one or two picks from last years draft in John Tavares and Victor Hedman got a mention. I am in no way saying that they deserved one.. they didn't, but it's just funny how the scouts said that Duchene was the "least ready" out of the three and he's the one up for the award.

Of course, I believe that Duchene should take home the hardware. He has been a stud forward all season and finished off with 55 points in 81 games, good for third highest on his team, the Colorado Avalanche. He is also one of the main reasons that Colorado made the playoffs this year, and to top it all off, the kid is 18!

Tyler Myers, all 6'7 of him, also had an unreal season finishing with 48 points in 82 games which is nearly unheard of for any rookie, let alone a defensemen. He also helped propel his team, the Buffalo Sabers, into the playoffs so I wouldn't pitch a fit if he won. However he is a year older than Duchene and was taken 12th overall in 2008 so I think the younger of the two should get it.

Lastly, there's Howard. Obviously he did incredibly well, it isn't easy to be a goalie in this league in the first place, let alone the number one guy when your a baby at 26 compared to guys like Brodeur who is roughly 85. However, Howard has been playing in the NHL on and off for 3 seasons already which I believe is an unfair advantage and in my opinion, Duchene should take this one home.

Tito Defeats...

Jenna Jameson?! Uhmm.. what?

Apparently Tito and Jenna's relationship hit a bit of a rough patch to say the least and it ended up with Tito being charged in a domestic abuse case. By the looks of the pictures, Tito won a first round bout via submission, in particular an arm bar. Jenna was photographed with a wimpy piece of cloth draped around her elbow after the bout. However, merely a few days later all charges were dropped against The Huntington Beach Bad Boy. Apparently now Jenna basically claims that "he didn't really hurt me", I could have told everyone that.. but still why did she have that flimsy bandage on her arm at all then? Just to milk it I suppose.

Dana White, the UFC president, said that if Tito were to be charged with domestic abuse they would drop him from the UFC. Which, to be honest, would be no real big loss. He's far past his prime if you ask me.. and now that is bout with Chuck isn't even going to happen, I have no real interest in him. Even if that fight were to happen it's not like they were even toe-to-toe in all three previous fights or that Tito even won one. Chuck won all three.. not exactly a fight that "hypes itself".

Habs vs Caps

Due to the lack of my teams extending their seasons (ehem.. Oilers. Last. Pats. Almost Last). I will be shifting the focus for a little while to talk about the teams that are continuing on to the playoffs beginning with the Caps and Habs series that came to a thrilling close on Wednesday night. After winning the first game of the series the Habs then fell three straight to Ovechkin and the Caps. To most, it would seem as though the dominant Caps would finish off the struggling Canadians in an embarrassing fashion, but the Canadians came back swinging. The Habs then turned the tables and won 2 straight games forcing game 7.

The Canadians struck first and second in game 7 and eventually came out on top by a score of 2-1. However, the series wouldn't be complete without a little controversy. Ovechkin scored what looked like a goal to tie the game at one a piece, but referee Brad Watson immediately waived off the goal. Watson believed that Halak was interfered with on the play, which if you watch the replay in slow motion he was... but just barely. But, it doesn't matter how small or big it was, the slight skate on skate contact that was made with a Cap's defensemen still affected Halak's ability to make the save.

The number one seed in the NHL has been knocked off in an upset that was comparable to Matt Serra vs GSP I. Now the Hab's look to derail Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in the second round of the playoffs.

UFC 112 Main Event

If there was a prize for the most embarrassing performance to ever take place inside the octagon, Anderson Silva would get it... oh wait.. he did, it's a little thing called the Middle Weight belt! Anderson won his bout against Demian Maia on Saturday, but at what cost?

Anderson pissed around for 25 minutes and made no attempts to ever finish the fight. His showboating antics were funny at first but quickly became extremely annoying. If he thinks he's that much better than the guy (which he is) then go in there and prove it, knock him out in under two minutes and prove to everyone that your the P4P best in the world!

It was pretty obvious that the UFC was trying to hype the GSP-Anderson fight that was suppose to happen if Anderson were to win. They even sat Georges ring side and stuck a head set on him. He was suppose to come in after the fight and repeat his "I'm not impressed by your performance" classic, but because the fight was such a disgrace it never happened. In fact, it seems as though the GSP-Anderson fight might not happen at all, Dana claims that he "doesn't want to see that fight anymore".

The post fight press conference was completely focused on Anderson, and stole Frankie's chance in the spotlight. Dana White was so aggravated at the post fight presser that he even stated that Anderson "might be the first title holder to fight on the undercard", wouldn't that be something! He repeated over and over how embarrassed he was and how he would make it up for the fans. I hope that comes in the form of a free event live on Spike, with actually good fighters and an unreal fight card to match!

UFC 112 Co-Main Event

UFC 112 was the host to some great fights, including the devastating upset of Frankie Edgar beating BJ Penn to become the new light weight champ. The upset wasn't quite up to Matt Serra GSP 1 status... but it's definitely up there. I can't see Frankie being the champ for very long, my prediction is that the belt will float around similarly to what it's doing in the light heavyweight division. Apparently Frankie's next opponent is Gray Maynard... anyone that doesn't expect a decision out of that fight might be retarded.

The fight was soo close, but not that close according to the judges. One judge scored the bout 50-45, meaning he thought Frankie won every round... that's a little bit ridiculous and even Frankie and Dana admitted in the post fight press conference that he didn't win every round. BJ actually looked like he had been in a fight after this one, normally that leather skin of his never has a bruise too speak of on it.. but both eyes had noticeable contusions under them following this one.

BJ should really learn to shut his mouth and not jinx himself before fights. Before he fought GSP he said that G was "a quitter". Oh really? Who quit before the fifth round? Oh yeah.. that's right. Now, before this fight BJ said something to the effect of "a good fighter wins be decision, a great fighter finishes the guy". Obviously, he was giving a little jab at old Georgey, but BJ lost by decision so whatever. You know what I say BJ.. "An excellent fighter makes a great fighter quit!"-Autumn

Jen Sharpe... Is An IDIOT!

For those of you who don't know, and I am guessing that most of you don't, Jen Sharpe is the current owner of my dream job.. but she is absolutely bruuuutal at it! She blogs and does game-recaps and interviews for the Edmonton Oilers. I have always hated her writing style because -quite simply- she has no style! The way she writes is so F-ing boring! It's pretty obvious she knows next to nothing about hockey and just regurgitates facts she hears off of TSN and tries to claim them as her own! I have held my hatred for Jen in for far too long, so it's time to rant and get this hatred off of my chest!

Jen recently did an interview with the newly acquired Aaron Johnson in the "ask an oiler" section. Jen, in her retarded nature, obviously did absolutely NO research on the kid and seemed to go into the interview blindly, hoping that what the fans were writing was the truth. Case in point: Jen claims that someone has written in a question saying "How do you feel about being my brother?" from William. This could have been a funny question despite the fact that Aaron doesn't have a brother named William! YOU IDIOT! I mean, you would think that that idiotic brain of hers would think "hmm.. maybe I should ask someone if he even has a brother named William, or one at all for that matter". But no! She trusted some idiot that sent in an email.. and I thought that I was gullible...yeesh!

How Jen Sharpe got this job is beyond my imagination! I know that she worked for the AHL's Manitoba Moose before signing on with the Oilers.. that's right, I did my research on you Jen Sharpe! Even still, I find it hard to believe that she was the best candidate for the job. It is my hope that I will one day take over Jen Sharpe's job and bring some personality, sarcasm, research and passion back into Oilers blogs and interviews!

Oilers Ink Two

The Edmonton Oilers inked a couple of prospects today with the signings of Linus Omark and Chris Vande Velde to entry level contracts. Fans should remember Omark from being a member of team Sweden at this years World Juniors and for scoring that highlight reel goal against the Swiss at the tournament. Omark is listed as being roughly 5'9 and 162 lbs on some sites and 5'11 188 lbs on others, normally these weight estimates are also quite generous so he's a little guy to say the least.

However, Chris Vande Velde is on the other side of the size spectrum, listed at 6'2 and 204 lbs. He will add some much-needed size to the Oilers lineup, especially upfront. Both players look to be on the first flights out to Springfield to join the wrest of the crew in their last 3 games. The Falcons play three games in three nights to close out the season on April 9th, 10th and 11th. The Oilers final two games will be a back-to-back away set with stops in LA and Anaheim on April 10th and 11th.

The Oilers are currently in the 3rd period of their game against the Minnesota Wild, which they are leading by a score of 2-1 courtesy of goals by Penner and Moreau. It's a battle of the two basement-dwellers, but a win is a win even if it doesn't matter and hasn't for quite some time now.

Weal to U-18's

It was no surprise that Jordan Weal was one of the members named to team Canada for the World under 18 championships today. Hopefully Weal can make an impact on the big stage and further improve his draft status. As of right now, he is not projected to go in the first round of the 2010 NHL entry draft, but a strong performance at the U-18's could change that.

The Pats fans never got the see the Eastern and Western rookie's of the 2009 face off this year as Brett Connolly had a nagging hip injury all season. Now, fans will have to settle for them being teammates as Brett was also named to the team Canada squad.

Quinton Howden, the Moose Jaw standout was also named to the team along with four other WHL players. The team leaves for Europe this coming Tuesday and play their first exhibition game on April 9th. Canada finished fourth last year at the tournament and first the year before, they look to big a strong competitor going in this year.. but is anyone surprised?

April Fool's or Real Deal?

In a rather surprising and unlikely decision, backup goalie Devan Dubnyk will play centre for the Oilers against Dallas tomorrow night. That's right, centre! Apparently Dubnyk has been "getting sick of playing goalie" and has been practicing his stick handling a lot at practice. The Oilers assistant coach Tom Renney feels that he can add some much needed size to the Oilers line up. Dubnyk will make his presence known on a line with Patrick O'Sullivan and one other player that has yet to be determined by the coaching staff.

Some may ask, "Who will be Deslauries' backup?" and the answer to that is just as shocking. Forward Ryan Potulny will be serving as Edmonton's back-up against Dallas. Potulny claims to have played goalie a lot throughout his childhood playing days and when the coaches asked him about it he replied "I feel comfortable there".

It will be very interesting to see how each of the players adjust to the old switcheroo the coaching staff is attempting to pull off. The fans will be virtually guaranteed to see Dubnyk play forward but it's not as certain that Potulny will get to show off his rumored skills in net. Apparently Tom Renney has been wanting to try Dubnyk as a forward all season, hopefully it isn't embarrassing. Who knows? Maybe Devan is a star forward in the making, rumor has it the kid is pretty fast.

Providing this is not an elaborate April Fool's prank, the switcheroo will take place Friday night when the Oilers take on the Dallas Stars in Dallas. The only way fans will get to see it is if they pay roughly 20 bucks for the pay-per-view, could this all be a tactic to gain more buyers? Well, I'm definitely considering it, so their plan may just work.

P.S. Did I ever mention that I am extremely gullible?

Comback Falls Short

Last night the Oilers found themselves in a 3 goal hole to the Detroit Red Wings after a relatively brutal showing in the first period. That deficit quickly grew to 4 goals and most thought that the Oilers were done for. However, the Edmonton kids still had something up their sleeves, they came back and managed to even the score at 4-4 with Detroit.

It would seem as though the Oilers had all the momentum to pull off their greatest comeback of the season, but like their season, they came up short. Detroit managed to sneak one past an upright-jumping Deslauries that eventually became the game winner with 1:07 left to play in regulation. The goal was reviewed for quite a few minutes, as many believed that it was tipped in by a high stick, but the Oilers ended up on the wrong side of the decision.

Scoring for the Oilers were: Gilbert (2), Stortini, Comrie
Scoring for the Red Wings were: Miller, Kronwall, Stuart, Franzen, Lilja

With the loss the Oilers secure the last place in the entire NHL.. embarrassing? Yes. On the positive side, they now have a 48% chance of landing the top draft pick, I like those odds.

NHL Mock Draft

NHL.com's "experts" have made their predictions for the 2010 NHL entry draft. I found some of them to be a little off with a few of their selections. In my opinion, only Morreale got the first three picks in the right order:
1. Edmonton-Taylor Hall
2. Boston-Tyler Seguin
3. New York Islanders-Cam Folwer

Edmonton should obviously pick Taylor Hall over Seguin. They are both unbelievable players, they finished in a dead lock for the OHL regular season scoring title with 106 points a piece but Hall had more assists and Seguin had more goals. If the Oilers are planning on bringing in Jordan Eberle for next years season he can also make the pass, but ofcourse he would rather shoot. Therefore, a new young-gun line with Hall and Eberle on it could be dynamite. We already saw them play together at the World Juniors, an experience in which Tyler missed out on. Scouts claim that being cut from the World Junior team does not affect your draft status, but seriously, how could it not?

I wouldn't say I completely agree with Jen Raimondi's mock draft, but I do like her pick of Jack Campbell going to the Chicago Blackhawks. Jack Campbell was the stud goalie for USA at the World Juniors this past year and opened up a lot of people's eyes with his skill in the net. Although he might not have an impact with Chicago for a few years, they are in desperate need of a strong goalie, and backup goalie for that matter. Most people believe that if the Blackhawks have one weakness heading into the playoffs it's in goal.

Thank God all of the mock drafts have a forward slotted into the Kings 21st pick. They have waaaay too many first round defensemen that they have accumulated in the past few years then they know what to do with. Since 2007 they have 4th overall pick Thomas Hickey who is still playing in the AHL, stud Drew Doughty the 2nd overall pick in 2008, Colten Teubert the Kings 13th overall pick in 2008 and Viatcheslav Voynov who they took 32nd overall also in 2008. Now why in their right mind would the Kings take three defensemen almost all in the first round? Did they really think that they were going to have spots for all of them? They don't even have room in their AHL farm team for them, and as a result Teuby has had to go to the ECHL to play more hockey. My guess is that they will move some of their defensive prospects on or before draft day.

Jordan Weal of the Regina Pats is not slotted into any of the mock drafts as a 1st rounder. But you never know. Some scouts didn't think Jordan Eberle would go until later in the second round and he ended up going 22nd overall. It all depends on what the team needs, if they need a hard working, fast goal scorer and have enough big guys already then Weal could easily slip into their radar.

June should be a very interesting and exciting time for these future NHL'ers, but please Edmonton.. go for Hall!

UFC 111 Post-Fights

Well, the UFC finally put on a good fight card.. and it even delivered! Ben "Killa B" Saunders never had a chance against Fitch. Fitch, it his usual fashion, laid on Ben for three solid rounds and got a decision. It is by no-means an exciting style of fighting to watch, but hey, he got the "W"and he would have been an idiot to stand with Saunders so I can't fault him for that.

Shane Carwin proved that he is the one who deserves to take on Brock Lesnar and not Frank Mir. The fight was relatively even until Carwin unloaded uppercuts onto Mir's chin and then finished him off on the ground, eerily similar to the way Brock beat Mir in their rematch. Brock seemed to think he was being tough when he told Shane that what he had was a "make-believe belt" and that he held the real one. It kind of back-fired when Shane agreed to this statement. Well, it's obvious, Brock does have the "real" belt, no one is denying that. The fight between Shane and Brock should be a good one, they both have a similar stand-up-and-bang style. It's hard to picture someone as big as Brock getting knocked out, but I'm sure Carwin will try his hardest to do it.

The main event featured welter-weight Stud Georges "Rush" St-Pierre taking on Dan "How the hell did I get a title shot" Hardy. Georges, as predicted, won the fight; but it wasn't quite in the fashion that Georges, nor I wanted. Georges easily got the decision and was close to finishing Hardy with two submissions but Hardy refused to tap. The most annoying part was that after the fight you couldn't even tell that Hardy had been in a fight, there wasn't a scratch or a bruise on his hideous face. Georges is obviously unreal, and like Fitch he also laid on Dan for the whole fight, but unlike Fitch, GSP made it exciting. However, I can't believe that GSP couldn't even finish off Hardy, and seemed to enflict no damage on him the entire fight. GSP needs to throw some more elbows and punches to the face in the guard instead of constant body punches. Those would obviously hurt, but don't expect a tap from those, they would be more annoying than anything. GSP will most likely take on either Kos or Paul Daley in his next fight, in the words of 80's classic Three Ninjas, "FINISH HIM!".

Overall, it was a good fight card and was finally worth the $44.95 pay-per-view price.

UFC 111 Preview

Finally, Georges St-Pierre will step back into the octagon tonight! Even though it isn't exactly against a "dream" opponent I don't mind that GSP will make his return to the octagon against Dan Hardy! Georges hasn't fought since UFC 100 so if GSP should suffer from any ring rust I would rather he get it out against Hardy then someone else. Wow, I just used GSP and ring rust in the same sentence, who am I kidding? It's GSP!

Hardy wants to pull a Matt Serra and "shock the world". Good luck. It won't be a shock to anyone when GSP damn near destroys Hardy. GSP should be looking harder than ever for a finish in this fight as his last decisive stoppage was against Matt Serra basically due to knees. But I mean, that was Matt Serra.

This has been the best fight card the UFC has put on in months! Unfortunately, the card took a major blow when Thiago "Pitbull" Alves was forced to withdraw after a failed cat-scan which showed "brain irregularity". He now has to undergo surgury, so it's legit, it's not a Karo Parisian case.

However, now that Thiago is out, Ben "Killa B" Saunders is in.. greeeat. The former Ultimate Fighter 6 competitor will take on Jon Fitch. A fight that could have been unreal, has dropped it's viewer value significantly. Against Thiago, I hoped that Fitch would lose, but against Ben I hope Fitch wins, funny how that happens. Basically, I never liked "Killa B" in the first place, has anyone else noticed how utterly annoying his laugh is? Too make matters worse, Dana White claims that if Ben wins he gets the next title shot! Are you kidding me?! I though Dan Hardy was bad, but Ben Saunders? The guys biggest win is against Marcus Davis, that isn't exactly something to be proud of.

Another belt is on the line as Frank Mir and Shane Carwin will duke it out for the interim Heavy-weight belt. Carwin is undefeated and sports an impressive 11-0 record. Frank Mir.. well he's a self proclaimed "athlete" but does have a sick BJJ game. These two beasts both came in at 265 pounds, I'm sure Joe Rogan will make note that Shane Carwin will be wearing specially made 4XL size gloves, he says it everytime he fights... every frickin' time.

The night that I have been waiting for for so long has finally arrived. GSP will be back in the octagon to hopefully continue his reign of domination in the welter weight devision. I can only hope that he puts on a clinic against Hardy!

UFC Fight Night

On a random Sunday night the UFC was providing everyone who was dreading work and school the next day with some entertainment. The event had many surprises, possibly the most shocking was that Clay Guida actually finished a fight! That must have felt very odd for him as he seems to have a love affair with decisions. However, I hate Clay Guida and a loss would have put him close to the line of being booted from the UFC, now I'll have to watch this cardio freak fight another day.

In the main event Jon "Bones" Jones took on Brandon "The Truth" Vera. Vera should seriously consider changing his nickname from "the truth" to "Mr. Inconsistent". Jones beat Vera via TKO after he hit Vera with a devastating elbow near the temple that resulted in 3 facial fractures for Brandon. But I pretty much hated him anyway, so the fact that he will be out for a while is no real big loss.

Check Kongo eventually got Buentello to tap out late in the third round, thank god. Buentello tried to be the hero as the doctor popped back in his dislocated pinky finger so that he could continue to fight in the first round. However, now his cornerman is whining and claiming that his pinky is what made him tap. Ok, so the fact that he is a fat mess and could barely walk and obviously was gassed had nothing to do with it, right? This makes me hate Buentello even more. If your pinky made you quit, then why did you wait another two and a half rounds to do so? If it was popped back in then what are you complaining about? If it still hurts, punch with the other hand you idiot! Maybe if you had any submissions or wresting or cardio you could have won the fight. But no. You lost, accept it.

Overall, it was a very entertaining night of fights, that being said thank god it was free because no one in their right mind would pay for a fight card that looked like that. T-minus 5 days until a real fighter steps into the octagon. No, I'm not talking about Dan Hardy.

Pats Season Complete

The Regina Pats season came to a close courtesy of a 2-1 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Pats had been mathematically eliminated for the last 5 games, but managed to win 3 of their last five anyway. The Wheat Kings have had the Pats number all season and beat them in both games of their home and home to close out the Pats season. The Wheat Kings will move on to face the Swift Current Broncos in the first round of playoffs while the Pats Summer will start even before Spring begins.

Jordan Eberle plotted his 50th goal of the season, a small bright spot in the pats rather disappointing season. Both Jordan's were in the top three scoring leaders in the league yet their team still did not make the playoffs. You can point the finger at a number of people for why the Pats season was cut short. Obviously the business should be sold from the incapable hands of the Parkers and into the firm grip of the Sutter's. Let's face it, GM Brent Parker would never have even come close to getting an interview for a management job in any league, let alone the dub, had it not been for the sheer luck that his father is the owner. Although the Pats were not "sellers" this year, the time has come to be one, sell the team, for the love of God, sell them!

A number of the Pats will get to continue their season's in higher ranks. Jordan Eberle, Carter Ashton and Garrett Mitchell will all jump up to the AHL while Colten Teubert will go to the ECHL. It would not surprise me if Teuby were to be traded from the Kings as they have waaay too many first round defensemen then they have spots. My guess is that he will be part of a package deal and be sent off some time in the Summer. Although Teuby could easily fit the lifestyle of LA, they just simply don't have enough room for the kid.

Struebs and Leffs plan to hopefully play for the U of R cougars next year, and Mitch McColm has had an offer for an amateur tryout deal with the Florida Panthers farm team in the ECHL. The line up for the Pats may look a little bit odd next year, and have many more baby faced kids then ever. Look for Weal too carry the team and be the new star, and the new player's ass for Rod Pedersen to kiss. Mitchell will be a leader and without a doubt get the "C".

It is rather embarrassing to not make the playoffs two years in a row, especially with 2 of the top 3 scorers, 3 first round draft picks, and 2 picks for this years NHL draft in the lineup. But, what's done is done. However, unless the Parker's sell the team, history is due (once again) too repeat itself. Let's just pray that it wont be three years in a row, that would look hideous on anyone's resume.

Finally Got the Trick!

Oiler Trades

The Oilers didn't make as many "blockbuster" trades as I would have liked, but they did get rid of some hefty paychecks. As predicted, the Oilers went younger and cheaper.

In a rather interesting turn of events, the Oilers traded Oldie D-man Steve Staios to the Calgary Flames in exchange for 26 year old D-man Aaron Johnson. Don't expect much point production out of Johnson.. he has a total of 3 points in 22 games, however Staios is in the same boat with 7 points in 40 games. Let's face it, although you could make the argument that Staios was the most reliable D-man that the Oilers had, he is also old, expensive, and has been battling that nagging concussion for what seems like forever.

The Oilers traded their leading defensive scorer and power play specialist, not to mention part time comedian (Hey, the guy is hilarious!), Lubomir Visnovsky to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Ryan Whitney. Once again, the Oilers got rid of a large money sack when they sent Lubo away, he had $14 million and 3 years left on his contract, so much for "no trade clause".

Edmonton also sent yet another D-man away. This time, Denis Grebeshkov was the victim, and in return all the Oilers recieved was a second round pick. Oddly enough, the Oilers and Grebbers new home of the Nashville Predators played eachother mere days after the trade. During the game Grebbers got a goal and an assist against his former team, propelling the Preds to a 4-3 victory over the Oil. Who got the short end of that trade stick?

Overall, the Oilers seemed to favor getting rid of their defensive core, and going younger. I don't know if dealing out all of those reliable defenseman was the smartest of all ideas, especially when they also lost Sheldon Souray due to an infection he has sustained from surgery he had to fix his broken hand. But, what's done is done. Bring on the young guns!
Staios-36 Johnson-26
Visnovsky-33 Whitney-27
Grebeshkov-26 Second Round pick- 17

Pats vs Bruins

After a game that I would prefer to forget about, the Pats were able to bounce back and take home a key 2 points. The game marked the return of former Pat Matt Delahey, meaning that it was also McColm's first crack at his former team. The pats ended up on the right end of a 5-3 decision. The Pats were able to gain and hold a lead for the first time in what seems like forever! With the "W" and praying that the Warriors lose their game against the Tigers tonight, the Pats will have pulled within 5 points of the final playoff spot with 10 games remaining.

Scoring for the Pats: Jordan Eberle, Weal (2), Leffler, Gustafsson
Scoring for the Bruins: Crooks, Howse, Neigum

This game had it all; scoring, a fight and to top it off, the Pats were on the winning end of it! The Pats look to continue their push for a playoff spot on Tuesday when they take on the Moose Jaw Warriors at the Crushed Can. Good Luck Boys!

Oilers

Well, since there is utterly no hope of coming anywhere close to making the playoffs we can always look at the bright side.. we are that much closer to landing Taylor Hall!

As for trades, old Sheldon "I made a list of teams" Souray's stock has dropped. The guy fought Iginla and broke his F-ing hand. Oh sweet. That is faaan-tastic. Watch, now his busted hand will affect his slap shot and then it won't even be hard or fast anymore. It's pretty obvious that the Oilers should go for the young guns, but the thing is.. you say that in one breath and then say we should trade Cogs in another. I'm not ruling out the idea, I mean the kid has 13 points in 61 games, not exactly something to be proud of. He claims he's not worried, and that since he's doing "other things" right that it doesn't matter how many points he has. Umm Andrew, your not a defenceman here, your suppose to be an "offensive-minded" forward, lets get on it already!

Ethan Moreau, aka "The Captain" will also most likely be traded, but I kind of doubt that we could get much for him, he too has a mere 13 points in 60 games.

Players status:

UFA in 2010: Pisani, Comrie, Strudwick
RFA in 2010: Gagner, Cogliano Pouliot, Brule, Stone, Potulny, Jacques, Grebeshkov, Deslauriers, Dubnyk
No-Trade Clauses: Horcoff, Souray (except for the 6 teams that made his "list"), Visnovsky

The Oilers don't exactly have a lot of options, basically become sellers in a hurry get the best that you can for the guys you have, land Taylor Hall, and hope that young guns are the answer to this predicament.

Another UFC, Another Terrible Card

Keeping with their current theme of producing terrible fight cards with declining pay per view buys, this weekends card is another doozy. Some of the fights could be decent at best, but I wont be paying nearly $50 bucks to watch it, I don't like to throw away money.

The main event is Big Nog vs Cain Velasquez. BORING. It could possibly, have the slightest potential to be a good fight, but not bloody likely. The Co-main event is much more intriguing as Bisping will be taking on Wanderlei Silva! Now, during "The Counts" time on the Ultimate Fighter I didn't really mind the kid, now I utterly despise him, and hope that he gets KTFO'd! Is that so wrong?

Let's face it, I have hated Michael ever since he was the winner of that BS decision over Matt Hamill. Everyone always talks about how great he his.. how hes won this that and the other, well you know what?! Maybe if he wasn't given absolute TOMATO CANS to fight I would shut up, but I mean Charles McCarthy.. Come on!! And then, once he actually gets some real opponents in Rashad Evans and Dan Hendersen then what happens? Oh wait, I remember, umm loss, and devastating KO loss. Yeah he's good alright, why don't you just give him a title shot! (Sarcasm!).

The rest of the card is lack-luster at best with 5 out of 7 fights featuring past TUF contestants, and in 2 bouts their actually fighting eachother. I swear, when the UFC is scrapped for fights they just bring on the old TUF casts and hope that people will watch because they will be like
"Hey, that's the guy from that show. He's alright. I'll watch." Well for me, not so much.

Let the countdown begin for March 27th as a real fighter, GSP, will step back into the octagon. Oh wait, his opponent is Dan Hardy.. DAMN IT!

Refs Hire Hitmen To Kill Pats

The Regina Pats lost their second straight game last night, coincidentally both were by a score of 6-2. Ewwww. The Pats looked good in the first period, keeping the score at 0-0 but seemed frazzled for the wrest of the game. Keep in mind the Hitmen have the top 2 power play and penalty kill in the league so the Pats knew they were in tough. Team Canada member Brandon Kozun had himself a night, and left with a hattrick, hey, the kid is good. Small. But good. Another Team Canada member was in the opposing net as Martin Jones is the Hitmen's unreal goalie, and was recently named the CHL's goaltender of the week (and for good reason). Jones picked up the win and stopped 33 of 35 shots while giving up little to no rebounds.

Scoring for the Hitmen: Kozun(3), Fiddler, Burgart
Scoring for the Pats: Gustafsson, Ashton


The refing was once again "unique" as per usual with Pats games. In the game against Brandon Garret Mitchell became a victim of a head shot and was forced to sit out of this contest with a concussion, but was there a penalty? No. Ofcourse not. Now in this game Cody Carlson was slammed into the boards behind the net and laid there for quite some time and is now also out with a concussion. Penalty? No, why would you even ask. Then there is the matter of Jordan Eberle basically getting raped every night and the ref's seem to refuse to call any penalties. However, god forbid Jordan breathe near someone he gets an insta-penalty. Interesting.

Thankfully, the Moose Jaw Warriors also lost last night, and the Swift Current Broncos only picked up 1 point. Thus, the Warriors and Bronocs are now tied for the final playoff spot with 60 points, and the Pats are trailing by 5.

The Pats have one day of rest and then hit the road where they face the Rebels on Friday and the Oil Kings on Saturday. Good Luck Boys!

Pats Update

Since getting all of their key players back from various commitments and injuries, and the trade deadline having past, the Pats went on quite a tear last week. After losing to the Moose Jaw Warriors, the Pats came back to take victories over Medicine Hat, Brandon and Edmonton before losing a nail-biter to Swift Current on Saturday, but still picked up 1 point in the shootout loss.

The Pats are now 6 points back of the Broncos (who they play in back to back games this weekend) and 7 points back of the 8th place Prince Albert Raiders. The Pats are in control of their own destiny, if they can beat Swift Current in back to back games and then beat Kootney as well, providing PA looses, the Pats are right back in the mix. The Raiders play Brandon on Wednesday and Friday, if they could lose both of those it would be faaantastic!

The boys have looked quite unreal for the most part in the last few games, in particular the one against Brandon. The newly acquired top line of Ashton-Weal-Eberle seems to already have amazing chemistry together, and could be unstoppable down the stretch. Mitch McColm (who we got in exchange for Delahey) has been laying out guys with good-hard-clean hits! Infact, he earned the first ever, "KFC Crunch of the Night".

The Regina Pats take on the Swift Current Broncos Friday at the Brandt Centre, the start of a home and home. Good Luck Boys!

It's Official...

Back in September I also titled a blog post "It's Official", only then I was announcing that Jordan Eberle was coming home. Now, I am extremely excited to say he's staying home! The WHL trade deadline was at 4 pm today and the Pats did not receive any unreal offers for either Jordan or Colten, and as a result they will finish their junior careers with the Pats!! Thank God!

The only trade that the Pats were involved with was sending Matt Delahey to the Bruins in exchange for another overage defencemen. It is hard to see Delly go as the Pats are the only team that he has ever known in the dub. It is a shame that he couldn't finish out his career here aswell, but hopefully he will do well with the Bruins. He is a great defencemen and extremely reliable, 9 times out of 10 you can sit easy when the puck is in his hands.

This is just my little speculation, but, as some of you may or may not have noticed (depending on how observent you are) Jordan Eberle did not have his usual "A" on his jersey last night. However, teammate Garret Mitchell, who has also worn an "A" before, but hasn't very much lately, had it on. Most people's responce to this would be "Well, Jordan has been gone a long time." But to those people I say, why did Colten still have an "A" on then? hmm. I believe that it could be a possibility that Jordan will get promoted to a "C" and Mitchy will have a permanent "A" now that Delahey, who also wore an "A", is no longer on the team. It may not happen, they all may remain just "A's" with no "C" but it's an interesting thought.

I sincerely hope that the Pats can pull out a play off spot, because if they don't GM Brent Parker will be taking even more criticism then he already is. As soon as it was announced that Jordan and Colten would remain with the team someone commented saying "Way to go Parker. Moron." another said that Parker is an "Executive fool". Both comments I found quite hilarious, but not exactly necessary. Guarenteed if the Pats make the playoffs the writers of these comments will be the first ones to jump right back on the Pats bandwagon, they may even be driving it.

I said in a previous post that I believed when Parker made the Ashton deal he threw away any thought of rebuiliding the team. The Pats beat one of the best teams in the conference last night so if they come together and Ashton-Eberle-Weal develope chemistry, which judging by the lines 9 point performance last night it looks like they have, then maybe (hopefully) the Pats can truly be a contender.

The Pats will truly be tested when they take on the unreal, juiced up, team on steroids in the Brandon Wheatkings on Wednesday at the Brandt Centre. Brandon also got Travis Hamonic on a trade today, which only adds more unrealness to the already unreal team. On the bright side, it does take a main part away from the Warriors, a team in which the Pats are in a playoff race with, and hopefully the Pats can capitalize on his absense from the team. I realize he wasn't there when we played them on Friday, but I am going to chalk that game up to an "off night". Good Luck on Wednesday Boys!

Olympic Champ or UFC Champ

Which one sounds better? That's basically the thought process of UFC Welter-weight champion Georges St-Pierre. Anyone who knows remotely anything about GSP knows that the kid is obviously a stand out wrestler even though he only started the discipline when he was 18. Lately, GSP has been debating whether he wants to vacate the UFC belt in order to pursue his dream of winning a medal at the Olympics.

If GSP were to decide in favor of the Olympic route he would be forced to walk away from the UFC for at least a year and a half. In that time there would have to be a championship bout between the top 2 contenders in order to decide a champion for the weight class. I would imagine Matt Hughes would love to get his hands on that fight so that he could retire on top, but to be frank there is no way he is a top contender. But really, who is? As of right now apparently it's Dan Hardy which is the biggest joke I have ever heard of. Behind him, it's probably Koscheck and then possibly Anthony Johnson even though Kos just beat him. Either way, I wouldn't want to call any of those guys the "Welter Weight Champ of the UFC", infact it bothers me that they could possibly have that on their resume without beating St-Pierre first.

Georges wrestling just simply isn't good enough for the Olympic level. Like I said, he started when he was 18 while most of the other competitiors have probably been wrestling since they were roughly 5. That's the reason he would be out for a year and a half. During that time he would focus purly on wrestling, meaning that his MMA training wouldn't recieve basically any attention. That can't be good. Even though GSP is a stud athlete, if anyone doesn't practice something for over a year and then tries it again, chances are they will be a little rusty.

Georges bank account would see a significant drop during that time off aswell, should he choose to take it. Right now he can make roughly 500K per bout, not to mention his numerous sponsorships, but would he lose those aswell? He obviously has some money in the bank, but he did just buy a massive new condo that he is also renovating, plus he paid off his parents debt and has a new "interesting looking" girlfriend.

In all, I truly hope that Georges just sticks with the UFC. A fighter in Japan was just like Georges once, dominant, took time off to go to the Olympics and is now brutal. Not that the same thing would forsure happen to Georges, but why chance it?

Georges, stick to what you know. Enough of this acting and Olympic wrestling stuff. Your home is in the UFC, go home.

Pats vs Tigers

The Regina Pats took on the Medicine Hat Tigers tonight, a game in which the Pats ended up winning, thank god! This game was arguably more important than any other thus far. As I am sure everyone knows, the trade deadline is tomorrow! The Pats management, aka Brent Parker was using this game to see if the Pats can truly contend in the standings. I hope the answer he got was "YES!".

The Pats fell behind by one early, but a goal by Jordan Eberle set the score even at 1-1 in the final seconds of the first. Multiple goals were traded in the second with the Pats going into the intermission up 4-3. The final frame saw yet again, goals being traded until the final score at the end of regulation read 5-5. Overtime, yet again, solved nothing so onto the shootout we went. Now, keep in mind the Pats are without Ketlo and Guhle so in goal for the Pats was Martyniuk (tri-cities former back up goalie). The shootout went for 5 rounds when finally Weal put one away for the Pats and Martyniuk made a final save to secure the 2 points, and hopefully 2 certain players!!

Scoring for the Pats were: Jordan Eberle, Strueby, Weal, Ashton, Teubert
Scoring for the Tigers were: Mackay, Gal, Isherwood, King, Kessy

The Tigers are one of the top teams in the division, and we knocked them off, with a rookie goal tender none-the-less. I sincerely hope that this proves to BP that we are a good group and can crawl out of this hole we are currently stuck in. I believe that when BP made the trade to acquire Ashton and Orfino we solidified ourselves as buyers not sellers. The thought of rebuilding the team went out the window with that trade as we gave up many of our young porspects and draft picks. As of now, I just hope were keepers. It is clear that Jordan and Colten want to stay, they have been here since they were 15 for gods sake! All I have to say is that I hope that by 3 O'clock tomorrow Jordan and Colten will still be Regina Pats!!!

The Pats next action is Wednesday night against the buffed-up Brandon Wheat Kings. Good Luck Boys!

Oilers Back to Losing Ways

Just when you thought the Oilers ship was turning a corner, it sank. The Oilers beat the Maple Leafs on Wednesday, thus putting an end to their 7 game losing streak. But it appears the Oilers and yet again on a losing streak. Since the win against Toronto the Oilers lost 2-1 to the Flames, and look to be on their way to an embarassing loss to the Sharks by no less then 4-1. There is still 14 minutes left in the third at the moment, but I think the Sharks have this one in the bag.

The Oilers next game is January 5th when they face the Coyotes. I can't imagine there will be too many Canadian fans watching that game, as it is also the day that Team Canada will hopefully be going for gold at the World Juniors. Sorry Oilers, but my eyes will be glued to the World Juniors game.

Pat's Begin 2010...

.. with a win!! The Pat's were coming into their bout with the Lethbridge Hurricanes riding a steady 9 game losing streak. But, the Regina boys refused to make it 10, and as a result took the game tonight by a score of 4-2.

The boys found themselves down 2 goals early in the first and the immediate future was looking quite bleak, however the Pats found a way to battle back and scored 4 unanswered goals to capture the win, and more importantly the 2 points!

Scoring for the Pats were: Mappin, Ashton (2), Mitchell
Scoring for the Hurricanes were: Reners, Henke

Notice that Carter Ashton scored 2 goals for the Pats, hopefully this will serve as his break out game and he can begin a hot streak. It will be interesting to see how Jordan Eberle and Ashton work together when Jordan gets back, if they click it could be devastating. Brandon Davidson is also finally back from his knee injury and is already making an impact. He assisted on two of Regina's goals and was a big help in our own zone, especially with all of the call-ups and rookie D-men we have had to work with lately. I know, I know, Davidson is infact a rookie himself, but he has at least 2 or 3 years of age on some of the other guys.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the Pats, it sure is a good way to kick off the new year. Plus, it is also the last game that they will have to play without Jordan Eberle and Teubert as they should be back next weekend to help out the Pats, hopefully with some new hardware around their necks!

The Pats get a little break before their next game. They take on the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday at the Brandt Centre, which also kicks off a 6 game home-stint. Good Luck Boys!