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