Type 'n Watch

Figured I'd watch tonight's game and type as I go.
Sean Burke? One of only a few players older than I. Good luck to the Oilers. Couldn't they get the Japanese guy instead? Horrible helmet. I would have thought it cool when I was in junior high, though.
Great first shift by Hemsky, Smyth, Horcoff. Moving the puck well.
Goal by Ryan Smyth. Nice to see. The Oilers are so good at keeping a lead at home.
Nedved sitting. Staios back.
Oh. Mark Lee (don't like his play by play too much). Drew Remenda is a pretty good colour guy. I don't like the timbre of his voice, but he is learning when to speak and what to say. He does know his hockey.

How come I probably won't like GHOST RIDER as much as I want to? Cartoon movies tend to disappoint (Daredevil, X-Men especially - both should have been much better). I remember going to see the first Spiderman movie in the theatre with a friend of mine. All the young kids who were new to getting Spiderman marketed to them weren't half as excited as the two of us were to see a good Spiderman movie finally. Waited about 25 years for that movie. Go Spidey.

1st period....13:20 on the clock.
Nice steal by Stoll. Just like last night, he's got no deke as he rumbles in with a hard-earned breakaway.

Staios in on the net....not much of a deker either. He does like to sneak in once in a while.

Couldn't go to the game last night. Kinda glad. I was busy hooking up a brand-new big screen projector up at RATT - shameless plug. The new one looks way better than our old dinosaur and won't shut off during a game. Apologies to the Battle of Alberta gang for that - but that night paid off with the perfect reason to upgrade. Hockey games will be that much better up there now. If only the Oilers would look as good as the big screen now does.

Fukufuji!!!!!!!! Let's hope he will need to play.

Next break, I'm going to skip the Home Depot ad (probably)and get a beer. A nice bottle of Guinness will do.
There. Beer open. The new Guinness bottles serve a great stout. You can't beat a real pint poured out of the keg into a pint glass, but for home drinking purposes the bottles are better than the cans.
And, in case any young U of A students are reading this.......you do NOT order Guinness in a jug. I've never seen so many inexperienced drinkers ask for that in my time bartending as I have in the past couple years. IT'S NOT DONE. DON'T DO IT. DON'T EVEN ASK.

Rumours of Blake to Edmonton....nice, but I'm not convinced we'll see that. He would fit well. He's like the Chris Pronger with some personality. A savvy and huge Canadian blueliner.

1st period. 8:08 left.
Where is our Anze Kopitar?

So I checked. Sean Burke, Rob Blake and Roli are the only players out there tonight older than I. This calendar year marks the year that anyone turning 18 years old after January 1st was born in 1989. That was the year I turned 18. You may have gathered that I work at a bar. This means that I will ask young snotnoses (I mean valued customers) for ID, they'll complain, and then I can tell them that I was 18 when they were born. Hand it over, kiddo.

Nice setting up on the powerplay. Bergeron doesn't look bad.
Hey guys. Help Markkanen out please. Someone head back? LA nearly scores a shortie.

1st period. 3:47 left. PP over. No goal.

Where's our Frolov? Maybe Hemsky? When Ales shoots?
Keep it up, Jussi. He really doesn't get much respect. He's a solid backup goalie. I figured at the beginning of this season that Edmonton had the best pair of goalies in the Northwest Div with Roli and Jussi. Still think so, although our backup never plays.

Crap. Goal by Cammalleri. Couldn't get out of the zone. Gave one up. Remember when I said the Oilers were good at holding a lead at home. That was, of course, sarcasm.

More to come. Period over. 23 shots in the first period between the two teams. Hm.

SECOND PERIOD:
Hemsky scores! Within the first minute too. He seems to always score at the tail end or beginning of a period. Gotta check that.
Markkanen ain't looking that bad. Keep it up, Jussi.

FYI......Edmonton is 4-6-0 on Saturdays so far this year.
LA is 5-7-2.
Edmonton has 3 wins, 2 losses, 1 OT loss and 4 ties on January 27 in only ten games since entering the NHL on January 27th.

2nd period. 13:06 left.
Oilers kill a 2-man advantage despite two of the team's more aggressive penalty-killing d-men in the box (Smith and Staios) with slashing penalties. Dodgy one with Staios. Pretty obvious one with Smith.

Los Angeles have only won four games on January 27th in 19 attempts with games on today's date. They have only won on the road on January 27th twice - in their first NHL season (January 27,1968) against Pittsburgh and in 2000 against Nashville. A little history lesson. This Day In History. Let's see CBC come up with that little statistic.

Shite. 2-2. Goal by Patrick O'Sullivan. Googling on The Google shows that Patrick O'Sullivan shares a name (first and last) with an up-and-coming comedic actor and an Aussie Neo-Nazi.
Shite. 3-2 LA. Willsie? I hope he gives Matt Greene his wallet back. Stole the puck and buried it.
Time for another Guinness. Even though that guy with the Irish-sounding name scored LA's tying goal. I'll pretend I stole it from him.
2nd period. Another penalty. Laddie Smid in the box. I think he registered an actual facial expression. He's like the opposite of this guy - who has many facial expressions, most of which are crazy.
Second Period Over. One and a half Guinness gone. 3-2 Kings.
Maybe Kevin Lowe should trade for a puck-moving defenceman. I wonder if anyone has brought that up yet. Just a thought that struck me.
THIRD PERIOD STARTING. GOOILERS.
Oilers were outshot 16-5? I guess that happens when you are killing penalties all the time. Because of all the PK lines, we haven't seen much of Stortini either. I liked the way he bounced around against Calgary, stirring things up. Did what Jacques was supposed to do.
Yay. 3-3.
Goal by Horcoff after a quick slapper by Ryan Smyth. Nice pass by Hemsky as well. Hemsky's monkey on his back/piano on his ass must be a little lighter. He's been waking up lately.
Some fun end-to-end hockey just finished with a great save by Jussi, falling on his ass to slow things down.
3rd period. 15:38 left.

Ryan Smyth with another goal!!!! 4-3 Oilers.
That means this is his eighth multiple goal game. He has 19 of his 25 goals in just eight games with seven two-goal games and one hat trick.
.....If it isn't called back. Come on refs. It didn't get kicked in.

.......IT'S GOOD. Another ugly and completely necessary Ryan Smyth goal in Ryan Smyth style. Hemsky has four points tonight already and is looking great.

I love that tight-lipped, constipated look on Marc Crawford's face when he's down. He's coached Colorado, Vancouver and now LA. Always a pest to the Oilers. You'd think from the way Oiler fans have always seemed to have had reasons to vilify him, that he'd be a bad guy, but he's quite engaging and friendly in person.
I suggest to the curious that you visit the downtown Sherlock Holmes on Oiler hockey nights (I hope to God there isn't a parade of deadbeats, then again, I don't work there) as a lot of visiting coaches and staff, as well as media guys and officials visit the old pub. That's because most NHL visitors either stay at the Westin or the Hotel Mac. Most of those hockey people are great to chat with - just don't be annoying while they're enjoying their pints and time with their pals.

Time for another beer. This time a Lowenbrau - up 1% in alcohol content from Guinness. From 4.2%alc by vol to 5.2%. Giddy up.

I just Wiki-realized that Lowenbrau is pronounced as "lervenbroy" if you pronounce it properly. As snotty as that is (remember the PAPIER-MACHE episode of Seinfeld?) I think I'll use that from now on.

3rd period. 3:18 left.
Yes, the game is still on. Oilers are playing smart with the lead so far. That Sykora, Petersen, Lupul line is doing well but I don't like that combo. But the goodl old reliable Horcoff, Hemsky, Smyth line looks great tonight.

1:45 left.

Dear Ales Hemsky. More of this please. Way more. You'll make that jump from talented youngster to player to watch with more games like this.

EEEEW. Mark Lee just said "undresses Sopel." Yuck.

1 minute left.
I love Mark Lewis' voice. He's the Oilers longtime PA announcer. That voice is as attached to Oilers lore as Joey Moss.

Jason Smith just looks scary when he drops his head and glares during faceoffs.

OILERS WIN.
THE DOOMSDAY CALLS CAN WAIT.
Now time for some EA Sports PS2 online hockey. Yes, I'll be the Oilers. Yes, I'll lose, probably to fat 15-year old shitheads.
NIGHT ALL.