Cinderella Story - Looks More Like "Sleeping Beauty" Today

The Hangover started about a month ago.

Remember those heady days of winning playoff series against the Mighty Wings, the Mighty Sharks and the Mighty Ducks. Hockey fans like myself got to see some great playoff action that didn't involve an early exit against the Mighty Stars or the Mighty Avs.
I am old enough to have been around to cheer on the Oilers in the 80's, but do you think I saw any games in person? Back then it was expected for our team to not only make the playoffs but to push their way through them and win another Cup.
This past Spring was special.

But by the time the Finals ended and Whyte Avenue was swept up and bar staff and cops had cashed their overtime cheques we forgot one thing:
WE BARELY EVEN MADE IT INTO THE PLAYOFFS.

It took a last-minute goal (and what a goal) from Ales Hemsky with 34 seconds left in GAME FRICKIN' 81 to allow the Oilers to squeak into the playoffs. Last team in. Had the Canucks not dropped one too many games themselves we would have been the only Canadian team (oh yeah, only Canadian team other than the LEAFS) on the outside looking in, like Canucks fans were.

In fact, at this point last season (January 16) the Oilers were sitting in fourth place in a tight race in the Northwest Division (four points behind Calgary in first)and were stuck in a 3-4-1 sinkhole after sitting atop the Northwest at Christmas.
Goaltending was still a major concern and fans were questioning Kevin Lowe for not addressing the team's serious need for a legitimate starting goalie.

Oiler fans and players are still trying to get over a great playoff run, creating a boatload of new memories and highlights and now we're all awaiting the next sugar rush. Unfortunately, just like last year, the team has to get there first.

To beat this little analogy to death. The playoff run was a Lost Weekend times ten. The thrill of that little experience left everyone a bit numb.
You ever woken up from a night or weekend of drinking/entertaining and everything felt kinda good the next morning? That's because you were still drunk.
That's how the team, fans and GM started the season. Still drunk. Ears ringing. A bit giddy. You know.
Then the Hangover stage kicked in.

Keep in mind that the core of this team just experienced not only their collective career highs but they also have to swallow what could be considered their biggest career disappointments. They surprised everyone, including themselves, by rolling through Detroit and the West Coast and then nearly winning the Damn Stanley Cup. But they didn't.

Yes. The team needs a "puck-moving defenceman." In fact, when did Oiler fans ever give a flying fuck about a "puck-moving defenceman" before? When a pretty good one (Jaro Spacek) was acquired last season, most fans went "who?" or "how many goals has he scored?"

Yes. The team needs it's scorers to step up. We used to be quite happy seeing our plugger forwards rack up 10-20 goals. Now we want Pisani to score more and Lupul to score more and Horcoff to score more. Hopefully they do. But we also have Smytty scoring enough to price himself off the team.

Yes. Kevin Lowe already knows all of this. He knows a little about hockey and I'm sure we all know a deal is on the way. When will it/they happen? Will it/they work? Who knows? Lowe ran the risk of loading up on the front (Sykora, Lupul) more than we've ever seen an Oiler GM do in a long time and let his experiment with rookie (Smid, Hejda) and rookie-ish (Greene, Bergeron) blueliners run wild. He knows they aren't cutting it. He also knows that fixing it may not be as easy as we all think. Hell, Lowe is pretty competitive. Check that. He's not pretty. He's extremely competitive. He will do what it takes to give his team a crack at the playoffs once again. He's probably stood in front of the mirror himself after some games and wondered if he should suit himself and Huddy up and show the kids a few lessons in clearing a path in front of the net.

Hangovers hurt. You puke and have a nasty headache and you swear that you'll never have the strength to drink again. Then you feel better and go out to the pub.
The Oilers are at the headache stage. I think we did a lot of puking (as fans) over the last month.
The pub is still open and the team is still welcome to tip a pint.
So far, anyway.
Analogy stretched.