Xuthl’s Wilderness Comics and Collectibles Comic Reviews

Well, after roaring out of the gate to a 4-0 start, the Oil have dropped their last four games.  Fans throughout the city of Edmonton are crying out, wondering what the hell happened to change the Oilers winning ways.  What happened?  Reality happened!

The Oilers have not played well through the first 8 games of the season.  They have not played with urgency, desire, or emotion.  They have not played physical.  They have not used their much vaunted speed.  Let’s not sugar coat it.  The way the team has played, the could just as easily be sitting on an 0-8 record at this point!  Let’s look at the season game by game. 

Game 1: Colorado.  The Avalanche outplayed the Oilers badly, but the Oilers got some good bounces and managed to come up with the win 3-2.  Win ugly!  That’s fine, a win is a win.  But you have to follow up an ugly win with a solid effort.

Game 2: Anaheim.  The Ducks outplayed the Oilers badly up until midway through the second period.  I believe the shots to that point were in something like Ducks 17, Oilers 6.  Then a Ducks defenseman comes around his net and makes a pass to the wing.  He admires the pass for a little too long and Ethan Moreau nails him with a HUGE open ice hit.  Since the Oilers are on the road, there is no response from the crowd, and the announcers did not even acknowledge the hit, but I felt it was the turning point of the game.  Suddenly the Oil came to life, got on the body, peppered the goaltender with another 22 shots, and won the game.  A good result, but the Oilers have to play a full 60 minutes. 

Game 3: Calgary.  I did not see this game.  It looks like the Oil relied on their power play to get it done and won the game 4-3. 

Game 4: Calgary.  The Flames are all over the Oilers.  It looks like Calgary has the upper hand in this years battle of Alberta after beating Edmonton twice in preseason.  Suddenly Smackentyre throws a huge hit in the corner on Dustin Boyd and gets into a dust up with the Flame that came to defend his teammate.  Suddenly the tables turn.  Edmonton dominates the rest of the game and comes away with the win 3-2.

Game 5: Chicago.  The first game of the slide.  I did not see this game as I was away from home on business, but I have to assume that the 3-0 score tells the tale. 

Game 6: Colorado.  The Oilers played a decent game up until midway through the second.  Then the wheels seemed to all fall off at once.  The final score was 4-1, but with the number of giveaways and odd man rushes the score could have been much worse.  The bulk of the Oilers shots come from the outside where they can do little harm.

Game 7: Canucks.  The Oilers look like they are in this game.  They come from behind at one point before completely checking out.  Giveaway after giveaway.  Bad decision after bad decision.  Final score, 6-3.  Grebishkov is how you say giveaway in Russian.

Game 8: Boston.  Here is where I have to take a shot at the Oilers front office.   Every year the ticket prices are raised.  Every year the charge for parking is increased.  Every year that shit you call food gets more expensive.  Am I right that a glass of beer is $8 this year?!?!?  And every year you do more pay per view.  I can tell you this much.  I never go to a game unless I am given tickets for free.  I used to park down at the Silver Slipper and walk up to the coliseum until you jerks started charging us to park there even.  I NEVER buy a beer at the game because I don’t like walking around with a sore ass all the next day. I stop at McDonald’s on the way to the game because I can pay less and feel like I have eaten something edible!  And I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER watch an Oilers game on pay per view.  It’s enough already!  You are rich and I am not.  I am not going out of my way to make you richer!  That said, I did not see the game.  But the Oilers lost 1-0.  There are two universal truths that I wish to point out at this time.  1) If you only score 1 goal you do not deserve to win the hockey game.  2) If you can’t even score 1 goal, you make the team that can look pretty good!  I am so happy I did not waste my money renting this movie.

So for the year the Oilers have been outscored 23-17.  In the last four they have been outscored 14-4.  I would say the Oil should be happy to be at .500 on the season. 

Random thoughts:

I am not a MacT fan.  I never have been.  I think he stifles his talented players and favors guys with defensive skills and no offensive upside.  He seems to destroy young players confidence.  His run to the Cup final was nasty to watch.  I have said I will not call for MacT to be fired until he is out of the playoff race yet again, but I do wish we could have signed Ron Wilson in the off season and woke up from our MacT nightmare.

My applogies to Pouliott, who has been playing better.   I am still not sold on him as a third liner, but I will lay off.

People are criticizing Ethan Moreau and I really can’t figure out why.  He is such a great leader.  When the team needs to get going he always comes up with a good shift.  A big hit.  A good shot on goal.  The only flaw I see in his game is the one that has always been there.  He takes bad penalties.  Too many hooking calls against the captain who just never quite seems to get it.

So obviously the only way the Oilers are going to get out of their stupid three goalie system is if they can trade Roloson.  Obviously they are trying to get him some good games to showcase him for other teams.  Best of luck Rollie.

The official voice of the Oilers is 630 CHED.  This season the station has hired Bob Stauffer to provide color commentary alongside the legendary Rod Phillips.  In case you are not aware of this, Bob has been the longtime play by play man for the UofA Golden Bears.  This is pure speculation, but does the hiring of Stauffer mean that Phillips is considering retirement?  Are the Oilers looking at a possible replacment for the Hall of Famer?  I think speak for many fans when I say it will be a very sad day when Rod Phillips stops covering the Oil.

I saw another scrap with Riley Cote from the Flyers the other night.  This guy can REALLY chuck em, and he does not seem to like to grapple.  He stands back and really trades shots.  Check this guy out on hockey fights.com if you have a minute.