Edmonton Blog

 

I Still Believe

By Benjamin Massey - January 21, 2010

I still believe.

I believe in the Oilers, most of the players, most of the coaches, even most of the front office. I believe that the Oilers, 16-33 record and nine-game losing streak aside, aren't the worst team in the NHL and certainly aren't worthy of their recent '93 Senators-style swoon. I believe that Sam Gagner has the soul of Doug Weight hidden in the body of Reijo Ruotsalainen and that while Andrew Cogliano might never be more than a rich man's Jason Chimera, there ain't nothing wrong with Jason Chimera.

Time To Tank

By Benjamin Massey - January 11, 2010

I can't do it. I'm sorry, but I can't.

The cries have been heard for the Oilers all season, but they only intensified during the recent debacles: a seven-game losing streak, a one-sided loss to 14th-place Columbus, all of it. The logic is mercilessly Darwinian. The Oilers clearly aren't going to make the playoffs, so winning hockey games is counterproductive. Better to go in the tank, to grab a Taylor Hall or a Tyler Seguin in the draft, and go for it another year. Discretion is the better part of valour, he who fights and runs away, and so forth.

Today: Three Games. Tomorrow: The World

By Benjamin Massey - December 8, 2009

Three in a row!

The smallest things can turn into the greatest triumphs with the least amount of difficulty. We, the Edmonton Oilers, have won three road games in a row. That's 3.7% of the season's schedule, assuming we don't make the playoffs (a safe assumption if ever there was one). But from the chatter around Oiler fandom, you'd think that Ethan Moreau already had one hand on the Stanley Cup.

Sure, we only beat Dallas and Florida - who weren't exactly the '70s Canadiens themselves - only with the shootout and the nigh-magical touch of Shawn Horcoff, loping down from centre ice like Glenn Anderson in his prime, hinting at the deke, doing something completely different, and tucking the puck past the helpless goaltender with the effortless élan that was once the very definition of the Edmonton Oilers, so damned long ago.

The Oilers, Despondency & Me

By Benjamin Massey - November 26, 2009

I think that every sports blogger who anyone has ever read has had this

experience. You write an article and maybe you're a little more sarcastic or vituperative than usual, and somebody leaps on your back.

"Why don't you get out of your mother's basement," these messages usually end, "and try being a real reporter?"

Well, why the hell would I want to be a real reporter? Real reporting means "objectivity" and "balance". It means standing in the Oilers dressing room as all nine feet and six hundred pounds of Sheldon Souray loom over me and trying to think of a question more intelligent than "if Robert Nilsson and Sam Gagner got in a knife fight, who would win?" And on days like this, instead of having to be professional or write a decent, insightful article about the Oilers' recent struggles and listen to guys talking about giving it 110% and converting on the power play, I can just down a bottle of schnapps and pour out my heart.