So much for this blog

I've decided to give up on the sports blog because of time constraints. I will be posting sports stuff on my original blog site "Darrell's Blog" http://darrellf72.blogspot.com/ as time warrants. I also post personal observations about news and personal exploits, so it's always a good entertaining read. Hope you check it out.

Oilers Blanked

Flames 3 Oilers 0

I'm starting to see a trend in this season and I don't like it. The Oilers of 05-06 look a lot like the Oilers from 03-04. Slow starters that pick up their game after the first 10 min are over. It's a tough way to win games and last night they meet a wall called Kiprsoff. Miikka Kiprsoff was the difference last night as the Oiler started slow and found them selves down 2-0 after the first period. The Oilers came out flying in the second period as they outshot Calgary 15-4 but couldn't find the net. Overall the Oilers outshot Calgary 33-28. More bad news for the Oilers is the power play was 0 for again last night going 0 for 8. The 0 for on the powerplay now stretches to 0 for 19 as they have not scored a powerplay goal in their last 3 games. If you looking for good news from this game it's that they didn't lose any more players to injury. The Oilers next game is against Phoenix in Edmonton, this will be Gretzky's first game coaching in Edmonton.

Hockey

NHL - Stars 3 Oilers 2

Again the Oilers lost to the Stars this time 3-2 in Edmonton. This loss extends the Oilers losing streak to 2 games and it looks as if McTavish may have run out of patients with Ty Conklin as he was pulled early in the second period after the Oilers fell behind 2-0. Edmonton outshot Dallas 36-25 and got goals from Jason Smith and Jani Rita. The Oilers also lost more than just the game, losing Shawn Horcoff with a shoulder injury. He will likely miss the next 4 games, the Oilers really can't lose many more players as Ryan Smyth, Igor Ulanov and Todd Harvey are already out with injuries.

OHL - Pete's 6 67's 3

Peterborough took advantage of several Ottawa penalties to beat the 67's 6-3 last night. The Pete's were 4 for 10 on the powerplay as they got goals from 6 different players. Ottawa was outshot 40-33 in the game.

Catch up Time!

It's been too long since I've last posted a blog here......been busy, I was in London Ontario last weekend and this week I took a first aid course..... that's right now I can "save lives"......boy are we all in trouble now!

CFL

Well the Renegades beat Hamilton to keep everyone "interested" in there playoff "drive" or lack there of. They beat Hamilton in a rain soaked game 43-21 last Friday. This of course has all the Renegade fans running back to their calculators trying to find out how slim there playoff hopes are. The Renegades have this week off, just to watch their playoff hopes dim a bit more as no doubt Calgary will beat Hamilton. If Hamilton does win the fans in Ottawa will really get wound up and start thinking playoffs again (sad isn't it).

NHL

Well - It's been an up and down week for the Oilers. The Oilers beat Vancouver last Saturday night 4-3 in a shootout to remain unbeaten, unfortunately they lost Ryan Smyth in the game for at least 2 weeks with a knee problem. No word yet on when he will be back.
On Monday night the Oilers continued there winning streak by beating the Might Ducks 4-2 despite trailing 2-0 after the first period.
The Oilers lost there first game of the season on Tuesday night as Los Angeles won 3-1. Tonight the Oilers take on Dallas for what seems like the 4,000,000,000 time in last 10 years. It's always a tough, highly entertaining game. The Oilers will be without Ryan Smyth (MCL strain) Igor Ulanov (rib injury) and Todd Harvey (bruised foot). Not surprisingly Jussi Markkanen will get the start in goal tonight as Conklin just hasn't been able to do much of anything so far, he looked shaky in the loss to Los Angeles.

OHL

Last Saturday night the 67's lost to London 7-4. I was in London and now I'm thankful I wasn't at the game. Ottawa tries to get things going again tonight against the Pete's at the Civic Centre.

NFL

The Bears may be starting to show their "true colours" as they lost big time to the Cleveland Browns 20-10. You don't really have to dig much deeper than that - you lose to the Browns, they kick you out of the League. The Bears will try to "bet back in to the League" by beating the Vikings this weekend.

Renegades "Must Win Game #1,394,394,334"

Well - they are at it again and how many more times am I going to be forced to say it, the Renegades must win tonight if they are to have any hope at the playoffs. Part of me hopes they lose just to get the sick, sad, pathetic, thing they call a season over with. I mean really, all that will happen if they, by some act of God, manage to make the playoffs, is they will be pounded out by some better team and we will all still say "Oh well next year".
Tonight the Renegades "MUST WIN" against the Hamilton Tiger-cats. For Hamilton this game is almost meaningless. The only difference between Ottawa and Hamilton is, Hamilton didn't win 5 of it's first 8 games. Now if you want to get silly and stupid for a bit, Ottawa has 4 games left, including tonight, and if they win all 4 (I can almost hear you laughing) they would be 9-9. Now if the Renegades finish 9-9 (stop snickering) that would mean that Calgary would have to win no more than 2 of its last 4 games. When you look at it on paper you almost get hopeful don't you? Don't get too excited, Ottawa's remaining games are: Hamilton, at Hamilton, at Montreal, and Toronto. Kind of makes it clear that Ottawa isn't going to go 4-0 in it's last 4 games doesn't it. Ok, maybe they can win both the Hamilton game and steal one of the Montreal or Toronto games. That would have the Renegades finishing the season 3-1 in it's last 4 and 8-10 on the season. Calgary would have to win no more than 1 of it's last 4 games. Calgary remaining 4 games are: Hamilton, at Saskatchewan, at Winnipeg and Edmonton. My guess is Calgary is probably going to win 2 of it's last 4 games.
Go Gades Go! I guess - oh what am saying - Go Ticats Go!

67's 6, Windsor 3

Last night the Ottawa 67's were in Windsor playing the Spitfires and won 6 - 3 snapping Ottawa's 2 game losing streak and extending Windsor's to 5 games. Chris Hulit had a hat trick and Bickell, Talbot and Coutour also scored for Ottawa. Windsor outshot Ottawa 41-36 as Battochio stopped 38 of the 41 shots he faced. Ottawa was 1 for 7 on the powerplay and Windsor was 2 for 10. The three stars were Hulit (first star) and Talbot (2nd star) for Ottawa wile Windsor player Renaud earned a 3rd star selection for his effort. Ottawa's next game is tonight against the Sting in Sarnia.

Oilers beat Avs 4-3

The Edmonton Oilers won their season opener against the Colorado Avalanche and it didn't take overtime or a shootout, and get this, they never trailed in the game! Yea, yea I know, the Avalanche aren't exactly as good as they were at the end of the last season and they don't have Oiler killer Forestburg and this is only the first game of the season.
The Oilers carried most of the play, outshooting Colorado 31-17 and Ty Conkin played well enough (stopping 14 of 17) to get the win. Sean Horrcof played really well, and was the first star of the game, and hopefully it's a sign of thing to come from him, as he netted the first goal of the night and got the game winning goal. Horcoff's opening goal set a team record for fastest first goal of a season at 24 seconds. Ryan Smyth, who earned a second star, also played well notching a goal and adding 2 assists as he finished the night with a +2 rating. Stoll also played well and earned a 3rd star for his performance.
Ty Conklin's performance, wile good enough to win, wasn't exactly a game breaking performance hopefully with Jussi Markkannen being activated some time either today or tomorrow it will give both of them the push to start performing better. If the Oilers have a weakness, and they have enough really, it the big, BIG, question around goaltending. I really don't think the goal scoring one is a really valid question. The Oilers have always been able to finish in the top 12 in goal scoring in the league, so if the Oilers have a goal scoring problem, most of the teams in the NHL have a goal scoring problem.
You can't really ask for a better way to open the season then beating one of the best teams in your division. The Oiler's next game is this Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks, which should provide another clue as to how the Oilers stack up against the rest of their division.

Oiler & 67's Bits

The Oilers have trimmed their roster down and have set who they think will lead them to the playoffs. No real big surprises at all Schremp was not ready for the NHL even though he played well on the powerplay in the preseason, but that's the preseason - lots of things "look good" in preseason, Montreal looked good in the preseason. I don't think Montreal will be an above .500 team and Schremp would look good all season on the powerplay. Schremp will be back next year and don't be surprised if he's doing more than looking good on the powerplay. Edmonton opens their season against Colorado tomorrow night, I can't wait for hockey to be back.
In more hockey news the Ottawa 67's lost their second strait this time 2-1 to Kingston on Sunday afternoon. It's Ottawa's second home loss in a row as they are now 0-2 at home, can't say the Killer's gonna be in a good mood for the next wile. Ottawa outshot Kingston 41-26 so there was no lack of effort on Ottawa's part. Ottawa next plays Thursday in Windsor.