FYI, Calgary makes me LMAO

The first week of what looks like a crazy season-to-be is over and the Oilers managed to split a home at home series with the (blah) Calgary Flames. Game one here in Edmonchuk saw a decisive 3-1 win and game two in Cowtown ended with a razor-thin 2-1 Oiler loss. Coming up next week: San Jose, Colorado, Vancouver and Vancouver. Hey Oiler fans. This season looks like it will be steeped. (ugh)


WTF: Wayne’s Tuck Followers
Keep your eyes on Petr Sykora’s hips. No, really. It looks like he may be bringing back a little Edmonton tradition. In parts of game one and what seemed like every other shift in game two, Sykora was sporting the “Gretzky Tuck”—you know, with the right side of the hockey sweater tucked into the hockey pant. I’m not sure if it was on purpose or just a result of the huge windup he takes on big slappers, but we’ll have to check. I noticed some photos with Sykora sporting the style in both Rangers and Devils uniforms. Gretzky started the tradition at age six when his hockey jersey was far too large (to his knees) and Walter tucked it into the right side of his little pants allowing little Wayne to stickhandle and shoot. Doug Weight still does it and an obscure one-time Oiler named Mike Comrie also sported the tuck. Rod Brindamour also sucks (er, tucks). DY


BYOB: Big Year Or Bust
Of course, everybody is hoping for a good showing this season following last year’s cup run. One of those predicting such a showing is none other than CBC commentator Kelly Hrudey, the blue-headbanded one himself, who has said that the Oil will score over 300 goals this year, a feat that they haven’t accomplished since the 1989-90 season. Can the Oil average almost four goals a game? Maybe. Will they allow that many? Uh, maybe. It’s gonna be some kinda ride. TB


SOS: Stymie Opposing Swedes
Czech defenceman (and all-around mystery man to Oiler fans) Jan Hejda has yet to start a game for the Oilers but he is the seventh d-man on the depth chart. Suggestion: play him against Vancouver and Detroit as both teams sport a handful of prominent Swedes. Hejda (I’m not quite a citizen of the world so I can only guess if the Czech name and Swedish word are pronounced the same) translates in Swedish as “to check” or “to stop”. He was born to face Swedes and HEJDA them. DY


BYOB: Bring Your Own Banner
When the Oilers hung their CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP BANNER last week, it was a short, tasteful ceremony. There. Done. We came close, and this is what we got. Over to Calgary, and the raising of the DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP BANNER. Apparently, despite getting bounced in the first round, this is grounds for a ceremony rivaling the retirement of Gretzky, Messier and Ralph Klein combined. A few of the Flames even looked a tad embarassed by the whole production. TB


AWOL: A Week in Oiler Land
One win. One loss. Four goals/44 shots for. Three goals/60 shots against. Puck in the mush to Stevie Staios. Roli denies Iggy in a penalty shot. Sykora/Hemsky heating up. Joff Lupul’s/Daniel Tjarnqvist’s/Petr Sykora’s first Oiler goal. One new banner. Bring on week two. DY


TGIF: Trends Get I Fired-up (Ouch)
Of course, it's far too early in the season to really put much weight in these trends, but I find them entertaining, so suck it up, princess, here we go: the Rangers are scoring and winning; the Islanders are getting scored on and losing (there's some money well spent). Buffalo scares me. So does San Jose. Ottawa can score in buckets but has no goalie. Nashville can score in buckets but has no D. Calgary can still only win 2-1 (and is still one knee injury away from last place). More next week! Woo! TB