How the NHL is Destroying the Game of Hockey (part 2-the refs)

Yes it is a very fast sport and the officials have a very tough job. They get lots of abuse, most of the time it is uncalled for and I have enormous for the job they do. But in recent years their role has appeared to have changed in the NHL and has not changed for the good of the game, quite the opposite. Recently with poor calls and what looks like arrogance they have played a key role in many games which is wrong. In a properly officiated game it should appear that there was no refs even present but more and more in the NHL the refs are a big part of post game chats. 

How is this an NHL issue? Well let me tell you. In every other professional sports league there is constructive criticism allowed by the media, the teams without worry of fines and such but not in the NHL. If you are a player, coach or part of management expect huge fines for any disparaging remarks about the refs. If you are in the media expect sanctions by the NHL, be it getting barred from official NHL events and or pressure from the NHL to have you removed from covering the NHL. I do not have any actual cases of that but it has been long rumoured and players, coaches are always getting fined, that is common knowledge. The NHL in all it's arrogance may think this helps keep the NHL in a good light but it is far from it, it makes it looks worse. 

As for examples of how bad the officiating has got well that is easy. the list goes on and on. Just the other night when the Oilers lost to the Hawks. The bad officiating did not cause the Oilers to lose but it sure didn't help. To start the the game the Oilers got 6 penalties in a row and of those 6 perhaps two were legit calls, the other four were questionable at best. By the end of the 6th penalty the Oilers were down by 3 goals. Then in the third period when after missed calls against the Hawks and another upcoming to the Oilers their frustrations got the best of them. Well in the refs wisdom one ref handed out two 10 minute misconducts to 2 different players which is unheard of. When the ref was asked why by the Oiler captian S Horcoff he got told by the ref he didn't have time to explain. After that there was a couple of make up calls to the Hawks and no calls to the Oilers in a lame, failed attempt to even it up. Sad thing is games like that are not rarity, they are common place in the NHL and is the main reason bowling gets higher TV rating in the states than hockey does.

So after such a horrible display of officiating what the media say? Well pretty much nothing. Yes there was some very soft mentions on the double misconduct and oh the poor refs were young and worse of all well the Oilers are a team of rookies so they don't get any breaks. Total gutless bullshit dribble from a sissy media kissing NHL ass. It insults any hockey fan when they know what has happened and the media just repeats ordered NHL bullshit! Again this just hurts the image of the NHL. The officials need to be criticised o they can improve, as they improve the game improves and as the game improves the NHL grows. Without good, fair assessment of the officials performance all aspects of the game suffers. The NFL, MLB, NCAA etc constantly rate their officials. Too many bad calls they get suspended, banned from playoffs etc and that is a major reason why those sports are so popular as by doing that it makes the games that much better. But not in the NHL, the league and media coddle the officials like a sacred cow, no criticism or discipline of their mistakes allowed which is so very wrong on so many levels and in turn destroys the great game of hockey. 

If the NHL is serious about improving the game well start by improving the basics of the game and that is the officiating. No more of this crap of the sacred cow refs, no more "well the calls even out" no more "well he is a rookie, he doesn't get the same breaks as a veteran" no more "you have to play threw it" no more banning honest criticism of refs by media, teams, no more the refs deciding the game, let it be the players, NOT the refs.

NOW DROP THE PUCK ALREADY!

Coming soon - How the NHL is Destroying the Game of Hockey Part 3 - the rules?

Oilers January '11 Review

Well it's a New Year full of hope and promise for the young Oilers but sadly they started the New Year in much the same form as they ended it.
The first month of the year brought a huge snow fall for the city of edmonton and the Oilers have acting they got buried in it much the city has. It was 8 losses and 3 wins for the Oil in January but mind there is hope as most games were lost by 1 goal except for an embarrassing performance against the Canucks.
Injuries have played a role, Eberle and Hemsky have been out for most of the month but I say the loss of Eberle was much harder on the team than the loss of Hemsky. 
It is a different team with Hemsky in the line up and it is not a good different.  With Hemsky being a veteran and a leader on this team he brings a passiveness to their play, a pass first shoot maybe later attitude. This team needs more of the agressive , willingness to take the game over play by the likes displayed by T. Hall and the other kids of the future, not the pass first-try for the highlite goal instead of a good solid garbage goal that Hemsky brings. Yes he has talent but he is the poster boy of potential unrealized just as Dustin penner's inconsistent play has done for him. Both players need to be traded and the sooner the better. I truely believe most of the fans high opinion of Hemsky is a misplaced desire, dream that he is guy to take us to the promise land, well he isn't and it's time to move on and continue the rebuild, starting with a new, hard to play against, aggressive attitude. Hemsky and Penner do not bring that to the team, they bring passive play.


Here's the Grades for the Oilers January '11;

SPECIAL TEAMS "F" - Well what can you say. 0 - 50 on the PP WTF!? The Oilers PP has been about as effective as the city of Edmonton snow clearing effort, both a complete failures. The Oilers have left as many chances to win a games as the city has left 4 foot snow windrows. Any increase in productivity on special teams would translate into a lot more wins, watch out when it happens


ROOKIES "C+" - Still showing promise and responsible for most of the good play. I really like how Omark follows up his shot to the net and doesn't peel off. Peckham and Petry show promise on defense along with solid play by MPS. A lot to look forward to.

OFFENSE "C-" - Get ugly, crash the net, get aggressive and shoot the puck!!! I have to say they have been doing this more but again it seems to disappear when Hemsky is in the line up. Basics boys! ugly goals count the same as pretty ones.

DEFENSE "C-" - Getting better, getting tougher to play against and this can be seen by a change in us out shooting the opposition.

GOALTENDING "C"   The defence is doing the job by allowing fewer shot but unfortunately Khabbi has been struggling and facing 12 straight losses. many are putting the blame on him alone but that is unrealistic. The defence and lack of offence is just as much to blame. many of the games he lost were close and the only reason they where close was due to his play. But, in saying that Dubnyk is showing he is our future #1. The Oilers need to play him more and give him the experience he needs.

COACHES "C+"  Definite improvement despite the record, we are getting more shots and allowing less. Most of the games were 1 goal losses, the coaching staff needs to get this team to develop that killer instinct and put teams away. Finally as mentioned above the coaching staff needs to split the games evenly between goalies, play Dubnyk more!

OILERS AS WHOLE  "C"  More frustrating nights of watching them play and learn ahead but there are signs of what's to come. Potential, potential we just need it realized.

NOW DROP THE PUCK ALREADY!

How the NHL is Destroying the Game of Hockey (part 1)

Well we are at the glorious part of the NHL season where we get to enjoy the wonderful All-Star weekend. Sure some fan like it but when you look at it, it just gets goofier every year and insults a serious hockey fan more and more every year.
This years All-Star Game has reached new lows, first a garbage draft by the players that even the NHL whipped media had a very hard time promoting. Next up the "Guardian" project, a collection absolutely stupid cartoon characters that represent each NHL team. This is just beyond sad for any professional league to sink this low in a pathetic attempt to promote itself. Again Bettman and the NHL fail to understand that improving the game on the ice is the best way to to increase the games profile, NOT cheap ass gimmicks.
As if this humiliation wasn't bad enough if you look back since Bettman took over the NHL one can see the slow destruction of the game's integrity and any respect of its roots.
The systematic destruction of the game of hockey and it's Canadian roots can easily be chronicled here and I hope to show you how and why.

First off the focus of the NHL has been US expansion in hopes of landing the big US TV contract that still eludes the NHL. The majority of the new teams play to empty buildings, have a zero fan base and even less in local TV coverage but Bettman and the NHL are still hellbend on keeping teams in these non-hockey markets like Nashville, Florida (2) Atlanta, and of course the well documented Phoenix disaster. The NHL and Bettman have a strong dislike of the canadian market and is easily seen by the refusal to move these failed franchises to a viable Canadian market. This weekend Bettman again showed his hatred for Canada by refusing to go on live with Hockey Night in Canada during the All Start Game broadcast. To read more on this read this great post; on the Bleacher Report Blog - http://bleacherreport.com/articles/590060-its-time-for-canada-to-say-goodbye-to-the-nhl

Media Control - The NHL keeps very tight dictatorship style controls on how the media, players, teams can comment on anything that is not positive for the NHL. While this is a bit understandable the NHL fails again by not allowing debate on the game in the media as other leagues have such as the NFL, MLB and NBA has. Open debate on officiating, rule changes etc has made all those leagues better. Rumors abound that if any media types "dis" the NHL their press passes will be revoked and players, coaches teams get heavy fines for saying anything that does not fit in with Bettman's and the NHL propaganda guidelines. This media control does more harm then good for the game of hockey.

Biased Officiating - This is perhaps the 2nd biggest issue facing the NHL and is tied in closely with the #1 issue facing the NHL. To be honest and to be blunt the officiating in the NHL is a joke on many levels and has the appearance of being corrupted to such a point it is manipulated as to effect the outcome games and playoff series. Again with the media controls put out there by the NHL it cannot be criticized publicly without fear of losing your press pass or big fines. But yet the NHL fails again to learn from other leagues where honest criticism is welcomed and acted upon.
The media is just as much to blame with it's most insulting excuses for bad officiating, "well it evens up", "he is a veteran so he will get that break". All of which is just BULLSHIT! A call is a call, it should not matter id it was by a veteran or a rookie, in the first minute or last minute and make up calls are total garbage, it doesn't even and if anyone thinks it does they are total idiots. When team gets a few penalties early in the game in a row and finds itself down a couple of goals because of those bad calls the make up calls in the final couple minutes mean shit but look good on the stat sheet at the end of the night. There also never appears repercussions for bad officiating. the the NFL, NCAA, MLB bad refs gets fined, suspended, banned from playoff games but not in the NHL.

Fixing of Games - Yes the NHL fixes games so they get the results they want, it is hard to say but when you look at the history of certain playoff series and games it leaves no doubt. The obvious distain the NHL and Bettman have for Canada and Canadian teams and with the 100's of millions of dollars the NHL has has invested in non-hockey markets the NHL will do anything to help those markets, even if it means fixing games with biased officiating, scheduling irregularities and anything else they can do. The worst thing that could happen to the NHL and what they fear most is to have two Canadian teams in the cup final. The ratings in the almighty US market would plummet and the NHL will do anything to prevent it.
This is evident with the last three times a Canadian team made it to the Stanley Cup final. In 1994 it was Vancouver against the NY Rangers. The NHL was desperate for the Rangers to win that cup, what great  news it would be for a huge US market and raise the NHL profile in the US. Well the CanucksCanucks found themselves penalized early many times in a row early in the game on very questionable calls and soon a 2 goal deficit they couldn't overcome even with a few make up calls late in the game that made the game stat sheet look good but sealed the win for the NHL and the Rangers. This was again repeated in 2004 when the Calgary Flames forced a game 7 with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Again that series was plagued by bad calls, questionable allowed-disallowed goals that mostly went in favour of Tampa. this thought was echoed by coach Sutter of the Flames who did get a huge fine by the NHL for saying so. Again the NHL was desperate the "Bolts" win the cup in order to increase the NHL profile in a loser hockey market where they had to give tickets away to cup final games. Again the final game was decided by one sided, strategic timed penalties in favour of Tampa. The last time a Canadian team made it to the Cup final was in 2006 when Edmonton Oilers went against Carolina. The Oilers climbed a huge mountain to get there throughout the playoffs with many games in previous series tainted with corrupted officiating. For example in one game against Anaheim the Oilers set a record for most 2 man down penalties in a period, the media didn't report it that way, they reported on the record 5 goals in one period by the Ducks not the garbage calls that lead to so many 5 on 3 for the Ducks. Then in the finals, game one a direct run at the the Oilers goalie that put him out for the series, no call. Through out the series there were many questionable calls and when Oiler's coach MacT questioned this he too was fined like Sutter was two years before. Through careful manipulation of how the refs call the game the NHL was able to have these series go to 7 games and assure the end result was a win for a US based team all with the goal of increasing the NHL profile in the US and in non-hockey markets.
No one to admit it but it does, there is too much at stake for the NHL, too much money and they are willing to do what ever it takes. Bettman himself has said in the past his ideal NHL would only have 2 canadian teams and he seems hellbent on achieving that goal.

As a season ticket holder for the Oilers I know myself as do many other Canadian team season ticket holders it is getting harder every year to renew. It is NOT because of how our team is doing but because of how the NHL is destroying the game.

Stay tuned for part 2 on this where I will break down the issues with the NHL rule changes and inconsistent officiating that is leading to the destruction of hockey in the NHL

NOW DROP THE PUCK ALREADY!

December Oiler Review or Too Much Skill is a Bad Thing or Trade Hemsky?

Well December is has come and gone along with Christmas and New Years Eve. Apparently, that is not all that has left town, as the Oilers have appeared to let go of how to shoot a puck at the net.
A very basic principle of the game of hockey but no the young Oilers would rather flatter Mr. Hemsky by imitating him and the "why take a shot at the net when I can try a near impossible pass and just maybe get on the TSN highlite of the night!"
Too many Oiler fans Hemsky is our best player and perhaps he has been but I think it is time to trade him. A lot of the strong supporters of Hemsky are misplacing their desire to return to the days of Anderson, da Moose, Kuri and even Simpson but lets face the fact Hemsky is no where at that level. In fact, at this time I feel he is deterrent to this team of young stars getting better. They are young, they don't want to come across as selfish so being impressionable as they are they try to fit in with the team and thus follow Hemsky's lead of pass first and who gives a shit about shooting.
What this team needs is for hall to grow his damn the torpedoes and get a bit more selfish, take the shot as does Ebs and MPS. There is rarely a time when the saying "nice guys finish last" has not been more true. We need some greedy assholes to take this team by the balls, get aggressive and yes selfish, and take some shots! The biggest issue with this team is the flirting of breaking an NHL record for fewest shots by a team that is just unacceptable!
GRADES:

ROOKIES "C" - they have gotten into the learning rut and have plateaued but should just be temporary. Omark gave us a sign of WOW with a brief appearance and SO goal that pissed of the NHL, that was good, his play not so much-back to the minors for learning.

OFFENSE "C-" - shoot the puck!!! Need I say more?

DEFENSE "C-" - as with the offense - shot the puck! and get it out of our zone! The defense is struggling on many levels and injuries haven't helped. Peckham and Smid are bright spots.

GOALTENDING "B" Khabbi has proved himself facing way too many shots and saving the Oilers ass on more than one occasion even with the odd win. Dubnyk has shown he is solid and deserves more playing time, great future,

COACHES "C-" again, get the team to shot the puck, get ugly and teach the defense how to get the puck out in 1 or 2 passes, not the 4-5 we now see. And play Dubnyk more!

OILERS AS WHOLE  "C" A lot more pain and growth ahead.

NOW DROP THE PUCK ALREADY!

A Copper Moon in a dark Navy sky and a Oilers Christmas wish..

Last night in Edmonton we had a once in a multi generation experience, a Lunar Eclipse on the winter solstice! It has been some 373 years since the last and will be 400 years to the next.
When I looked up into that dark midnight sky with a tint of dark navy canvas the full moon slowly became a surreal sight while it disappeared behind the planet. It was covered in a orange-copper glow against the navy canvas of a cold December 20 night on the first day on winter 2010.

Could this be a sign? A first for ever event in the history of NHL were a #1 draft pick leads his team into the playoffs and makes it to the cup final?
Or is it just a dream of a loyal Oiler fan?
I don't know maybe it's a bit of both or the musing from someone who was up to late and had a wee bit too much too much to drink but either way it makes for an exciting bunch of hockey after the Christmas break.

Perhaps the root cause of this pondering is all the recent talk from coach Renney and fellow Oilers fans on the prospect of the recent decent Oilers play leading to a play off birth. What would be best? Finish low and get another top draft pick or  squeak  into the playoffs only to be tossed in the first round?
In order for the Oilers to make it into the playoffs they will need a bit of luck and continued hard work with the help of a trade or. The goals for would need to be at an average of 3.72 per game and power play at 20% plus.
My Christmas wish for the team is to continue to grow, learn and win. If they win enough make into the playoffs, then go far or don't make it all and if the later then just miss the playoffs, get in the draft lottery and continue the rebuild.
I just hope the Oilers continue to entertain and show the promise of the future this team has.

NOW DROP THE PUCK ALREADY!!

The Trouble With Winning

Well there is some sense of panic by some when it comes to the Oilers 2 game skid but then what did you any reasonable Oiler fan expect?
Yes we had a very nice and surprising winning streak going but one has to be honest and understand that was not the way it will be this year. Yes the players and coaching staff want to win, play to win and expect to win every game as they should. If they didn't play that way there would be huge issues but too the fans we expect to see an effort, growth this year sprinkled with some disappointments and surprises along the way. The recent winning streak is just one of the pleasant surprises this but will not be the normal this year.
The problems of this recent winning streak were reflected  in the last win against tampa were the Oilers generated a whopping 1 shot in the third and even more apparent with the next two losses against vancouver and then Toronto.
The team got to too confident, too cocky and fell in that crazy habit of many past Oiler teams of "why shoot when I can pass". It is like they forget what got them the wins, hard work, solid basic play, going to the net and taking the shot! The last couple of games it is like they were more concerned about making the pretty TSN HON play that actually sticking to the basics and just shooting the puck and crashing the net.
The next games will be a real test of the coaching staff and the players themselves. Can they get out of this slump and be competitive again? Will we see solid efforts again? will they get back to the basics of pressure in all zones, shooting the puck and crashing the net? We can only hope that they learn from this past winning streak and shot drought of the past few games.

NOW DROP THE PUCK ALREADY!

Oilers November Review

Yes it is a few days late but here is my Oilers review of November.
It started of good with two home games we should have won against Vancouver and then Detroit but as usual we came out slow, fell behind and just couldn't catch up. Also we were haunted by an ex-oiler situation what with Torres getting a hat trick with 2/3 three goals of the fluky kind. Our defensive play was and still is lacking-to be kind.

Then came our annual November rodeo road trip. It started with a another surprising road win in Chicago but went to crap in a big hurry after that. We got our asses handed to us by Carolina, Detroit. Put in an effort in Jersey only to get completely humiliated by the Rangers and a bonus experience from NHL's lead moron Avery.


 We then came home where the Hawks got some revenge on us from the previous losses. We showed some signs of being a team with decent games against the 'yotes, a win in Duck country only to get schooled in Phoenix and a horrible display by the Oilers as a whole.

This appears to have been a turning point. Coach Renney told it like it was and called out the team which they deserved. What I liked best was how he said there was no respect for the jersey, the history the team they were playing for. Spot on Tom!

We appeared to be a different team after that, a good win against Colorado, solid effort in a loss against the Sharks. The month ended on the road with a win in Ottawa which carried over to two more wins in Montreal and Toronto, the start of our first four game win streak in a very long time.

My grades of the team;

Overall - C+  A tough month but as this year is all about growth, rebuild we seemed to have learned from our losses, mistakes and are playing like we belong. I truly believe we will look back at this month as a key month in the growth of the new Oilers.

Defence - D  Still looking bad and lost at times, hard times getting the puck out of our end. But some good hope there, Peckham is developing nicely, Gilbert is getting his game back and Whitney has become our leading point getter, no goals but lots of assists.

Offense - B   Better and better. My most pleasant surprise is Jones. Love this kid. Playing hard, getting big goals and causing trouble for other teams. Hall has got his confidence and wholly crap this kid is amazing. Eberle and MPS have cooled off but playing a key role in the exciting hockey the Oil are playing now, the future is looking great!

Goal - B-  Solid work by Khabbi who unfortunately got hurt. Management finally made a decision on the goalies, Dubnyk is our back up and I feel is the right choice. Gerber came up in relief of the injured Khabbi and did himself proud.

Coaching & Management - B  Had concerns about Renney but seems to have the team going in the right direction, playing well and learning from mistakes and growing as a team. Management finally made a decision on our goalie treble, finally down to 2 and the right two.

Oiler Fans - D  Have been very disappointed with this new group of bandwagon jumping, know it all so called Oiler fans. Some of the comments I have read in various media have been just disgusting, ripping apart everything Oiler. What the hell did these clowns expect? The Oilers to be a contender this year? If that is the case your as dumb as a puck! fuck off and go be a Canuck fan as we don't need your type! This and next year is all about re-building, it is going to be frustrating, hard to watch at times but will also have signs of hope for the future. If building a a contender was as easy as some of your clowns suggest why aren't you running a team in the NHL? Tape up your broken bandwagon  broken ankles
and put on the fish jersey from the west coast!

NOW DROP THE PUCK ALREADY!