Trade Acquisition

The trade deadline this season was a little bit boring to be honest.
I was expecting some big block buster/upsetter/game changer trades around the league, but nothing too crazy happened. Rick Nash stayed put. I heard a rumour that the will still be looking to be traded in the off-season. The simple mention of his name during the deadline turned the star player's contract into a public auction, not professional at all. Let's keep something big like that private till the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed ok Columbus?

Oilers traded there defence man Tom Gilbert to the Minnesota Wild for another blue-liner, Nick Schultz.
I'm pretty stoked about this trade, we needed another guy who's not afraid to throw his body around, and who's a stay-at-home, defensive d-man. Gilbert was trying to become too offensive and the emergence of Jeff Petry recently as offensive D has put him out of a job.

I'll be straight up honest with you..

I didn't like Tom Gilbert on the team, I'm sure he's a great guy to befriend and is great in the locker room. But on the blue line, he was just lacking. If you watch how many times he couldn't hold the line from a pass back to the point, or a puck leaking backwards... It's staggering!
Sorry Minnesota but I think you got ripped off in this trade.
Now we've got your Cam Barker AND your Nick Shultz, no more D for you!

I also heard a rumour about Ryan Jones getting a lot of attention and there was a few teams interested in him... YEAH RIGHT!!
Ryan Jones bleeds blue and copper! He loves this team and city, and the fans love him back 10 times over.
Don't make a mistake in the off-season Tambellini, Keep the flow!

Pondwarrior

Victory!!

OH MY GOD!
We did it!
And we didn't just do it, We KILLED it!
Oilers beat the Flames 6-1 last night in an incredibly 1-sided battle of Alberta.
I'm sorry Flames fans, but you guys got your show ran last night. Iggy didn't even have a half decent game. Oilers just skated around your red sweaters like a bunch of pylons.
If you check the overall record between the two teams, the W/L ratio is surprisingly close..
Over the 195 games against their provincial rival, the Oilers have won 85, lost 92 and tied 19, with 3 in ending in overtime/shootouts. The overall Win percentage is .475... So other than your "current" playoff spot, the Flames don't have that much to brag about. Besides, we've got the history!
Now I'll say something that you'll never catch a Flames fan saying, dead or alive.
"Good Game"
Thanks for coming out (that's more like it)
Pondwarrior

Getty Images. Feb. 21, 2012 Photo of the day. 2012. Photograph. http://oilers.nhl.com/, Calgary. Web. 22 Feb 2012. <http://oilers.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=33530>.

P.S. Did I mention that it was Ryan Smyth's birthday? Here is #94 himself celebrating a B-Day goal with Gagner. Bingo!!!

Living the Dream!

I saw this commercial on the boob tube the other day and I thought it was so cool!!

First watch it!

Then I'll discuss it with you below :)

Flash Fans: 2012 Budweiser Official Big Game Commercial. Budweiser Canada, 2012. Film. <http://www.youtube.com/user/BudweiserCanada>.

How cool is that?! Playing in a beer league/Rec. league game and having a professional league experience! It's unreal the Budweiser was able to pull this off and give these beautys an unforgettable game regardless if the Amigos or Generals won. It's incredible how all of these people showed up and dressed as fans and mascots!

I'm so stoked!

If this commercial did not give you goosebumps for being a hockey lover, then you have no soul.

Share this with your friends and all other hockey lovers alike.

PondWarrior

Chinooks Kill Dreams..

I think of myself to be very fortunate to live in Canada. Even more specifically, Alberta!

The beautiful landscape, the great Canadian climate. We've got the rockies, and rolling hills, as well as city centres and farm towns!

And chinooks...

I can't believe I'm about to do this, but I am actually complaining about the weather!

It has been around 9 degrees Celsius for the past 2 weeks, THE MIDDLE OF JANUARY!

(for any readers from south of the border, that's about 48 Fahrenheit, get a relative system already...)

If you don't know, Chinook is a Native term for the warm wind that is unique to this part of the world, the word means "snow eater" and it does precisely that. If this was any other winter I would be loving this! T-shirt weather in January, no snow to shovel, it's just peachy! 

But it's not just any other winter...

This is the winter that a couple of friends and I decided to finally learn and play some ICE hockey.

It's been going so well so far, the odd trip out was more slushy than the other but at least it was skate-able. 

And now my rink looks like this...

(this isn't my rink specifically but the conditions are the same)

Michael J. Melted Rink. 2007. Photograph. Flickr - photo SharingWeb. 7 Feb 2012. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/chealion/439414466/in/photostream/>.

I actually saw some people playing Street hockey on my street this weekend... 

You should not be playing STREET hockey in JANUARY! 

I don't want to hear people calling "CAR!!".

Mother nature is a terrible zamboni, and the weather man can't predict sh#%!

Cold winter for the record books my ass.

Pondwarrior

Awe-Struck!!!

SAM GANGER!?
Wow what a game last night! He Recorded 8 points consisting of 4 goals and 4 assists against Chicago and tied a franchise record set by The Great One himself!

If you didn't get a chance to watch the game, go check out the highlights of the Oilers' website. Sam Gagner was trending worldwide on Twitter last night and says that he "had 60 [congratulatory]texts last night, and 50 this morning [one of which] was from Gretzky and another from Coffey [(another 8-point game record holder from the Oilers)]" (@Nhl_Oilers, social media).

Although Sam was all 3 stars of the game, let's not forget that half of his points were to assists. Hall and Eberle each buried a shot and registered 3 assists each. D-man Ryan Whitney got a goal and Cam Barker also made a surprise return to the lineup after his injury and the blue-liner stepped into a "one-timer" and recorded his first goal in over 3 months!

I'm so stoked about this win, we're now tied with the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference for points, although the playoffs are still a dream at this point, I'm pretty proud that we're recording some wins again.
 PondWarrior

A. Delvin. Photo 72/73 - Oilers vs. Blackhawks. 2012. Photograph. Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club, Edmonton . Web. 3 Feb 2012. <http://oilers.nhl.com/club/gallery.htm?id=27430&location=/photos&pg=1&navid=DL|EDM|home>.

Gettin' the gang back together!

After that embarrassing loss to the Calgary Flames on January 21st, I'm sure you can understand why I didn't feel like blogging. It sometimes isn't fun to have a favourite team to watch and cheer for. Once you get attached to a team, it's just frustrating when they lose or make a mistake on the ice.. But who am I to talk, I couldn't do any better!

So I decided to take a break from the Pond Warrior's blog, kind of like my own "All-star break".
And lo' and behold!! Coach Tom Renney has got them going again!
After a gruelling practice of skating end to end the Oilers have woken back up and have earned 5 points in the last 3 games! Beating San Jose in a shootout, Taking the Vancouver CANUCKS to a shootout! And defeating a division rival, the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Tuesday!

The Oilers celebrating a home win over the Colorado Avalanche

A. Delvin. Oilers vs Avalanche. 2012. Photograph. Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club, Edmonton . Web. 2 Feb 2012. <http://oilers.nhl.com/club/gallery.htm?id=27378&location=/photos&pg=1>.

Finally some good news from Edmonton again! Recording some points and players are returning to the lineup! Cam Barker is returning to the desperate blue line in the next couple of days, and Tom Gilbert is on the road to recovery after taking a big hit from Dan Carcillo the last time the Oilers and 'Hawks squared off. They play again tonight so it'll definitely be an interesting game to watch!
7:30 MT on TSN
Pondwarrior