Tag Archives: Andrew Ference

Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

Edmonton Oilers: Andrew Ference’s Controversial Comments from the 31 Thoughts Podcast

Andrew Ference was on the 31 Thoughts podcast that dropped this morning and he had quite a few things to say about his time with the Edmonton Oilers. I’d like to transcribe those for you and I’ll comment on it later since it’s such a long read. And a prefaced apology if the read is a bit hard, I tried to transcribe it word-for-word. Sometimes spoken word doesn’t come off that well when reading it.

EF = Elliotte Friedman
JM = Jeff Marek
AF = Andrew Ference


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On Milan Lucic

EF: I wanted to ask you about Lucic. Nobody is going to feel badly for a guy who’s earning as much as he is but I do feel badly because it’s not working and I think anybody who has any pride, and he has a lot of pride, it hurts.

Do you talk to him at all about how it’s going in Edmonton because I do think even though, obviously he keeps it private, he wanted to be traded last summer. I do think they tried. Do you talk to him at all and try to help him get through it?

AF: Yeah, well he’s got as much pride as anybody. He absolutely loves being in the NHL. He loves playing an important role on a team. You know I see frustrations, the same frustrations I had too going into Edmonton about certain aspects about going there especially coming from a really dialed in- when you see a really dialed in culture and team and how it’s operating and you go to something different, it can be extremely frustrating. I

mean being from Edmonton, I grew up in Sherwood Park, I saw it a million times. There’s always a sacrificial lamb on the team that gets roasted by the radio guys and newspaper guys and then the fans just continue that on.

I think he’s obviously taken that a little bit and you’ve always got a target on your back with a big contract and you know he’d be the first to admit he should be getting more points and scoring more goals.

But it’s tough, it’s really tough to play there and to be I guess the center of so much negativity. I don’t care who you are, negativity gets to you, it doesn’t usually help you at all.

So it’s tough for him and I think it’s tough for any player transitioning from a really super important role on a team to secondary role on the ice. I think he’s still incredibly important in the room and I think that’s probably, whenever I’ve talked to him, it’s goals and assists and sometimes your play can dip and change and sometimes it’s luck and sometimes you’re just not playing good but you can always do the stuff in the room and create that culture and lead off the ice. You always pretty much have full control of that. That shouldn’t fall off the map.

So I think for a guy like that, that’s where you have to transition where your role on the ice isn’t so important but your role off the ice in the room as a leader, you have to magnify that yourself and really make yourself important in those ways as well.

JM: Is it a feeling of almost like getting caught or trapped? Where everything around you- I mean this game changed, as you know Andrew, fast. This game changed quickly. Do you think he has the feeling that maybe he got caught, that, you know; he’s the same player, ‘Hey this worked not that long ago, why isn’t it working now?’ To me, that has to be one of the most frustrating feelings not just in sports but in life. Because you didn’t change, everything around you did

AF: Well, everything’s changing, yes. But I think that there aren’t too many defensemen that still like playing against him. Him on the forecheck when he’s all rambunctious and running around. He’s not a fun player to play against. It’s just that when you’ve had really successful seasons like he’s had, I don’t know what his top line numbers are in his best years but you’re not hitting those same numbers you used to hit. You’re not getting the same playing time, you’re not scoring as many goals, does that mean you’re horrible? No!

I guess people will automatically look at your contract and have expectations of where you should be, and so they should, but I think it’s just some people might adjust their own personal expectations a little quicker than others and accept the fact that I’m not going to be that 40-goal guy, 22-minute-a-night guy, so what can I do? If you don’t adjust that quick enough, the frustration will be neverending.

What’s Wrong in Edmonton?

EF: You mentioned frustrations about going back to Edmonton. I remember a game on Hockey Night where you were the After Hours guest with Scott Oake and Edmonton got pummeled that night. We remember watching the game on-air and saying ‘Scott’s not going to get the guest tonight. There’s no way Andrew Ference’s gonna be on the set after this. He’s going to have to scramble and fill 30 minutes’ and you showed up, which was great. But you were really hard on them. Like, you lit up the group and you’ve talked about that. I don’t think anybody watching that game would’ve had a problem with it but what you just said a couple seconds ago, I just think there’s a lot of Oilers fans out there wondering ‘why doesn’t it work?‘ You know they’ve had a lot of great talent there. Is there something there, in the water of Edmonton, that contributes to all of this? Why do you think they’ve had so much trouble?

AF: I don’t think it’s one thing. I think there’s a combination of elements that go into it, right? Like I said, that aspect of feeling more scared to make a mistake and be the whipping boy rather than being good and taking your chances and having the confidence to try and make a play. I think some guys might get into that role of being scared to be the whipping boy. You take less risks, your urge to win and be bold is less than your urge to not be the whipping boy or stand out, right? I think that is one aspect.

The Media

I think the quickness radio or newspaper or fans jump and attack their own guys is horrible. I think that the quickness to defend the players in the organization, I remember Jeff Petry or Schultz getting raked over the coals and nobody coming to defend them and trading them when their value after they’d beaten them down for months and then trading them. It’s not just for those guys but it’s for other guys on the team. You’re looking at that and saying ‘Woof. They don’t have his back. Are they going to have mine when it’s my turn to be the whipping boy?’

The Most Frustrating Part

But I think the most frustrating part for me as a player like I said, when I went in there straight from Boston, was that talk is cheap. I went in, Dallas Eakins is a fantastic coach, there’s another whipping boy who got dragged over the coals, he’s a fantastic coach who was dealt a pure crap hand and a team that would actually listen. You had a group of players that talked about how they wanted to make the playoffs and talked about how sick they were of losing and then by game three after losing 6-1, they’re straight out to the bar until three in the morning lighting up the nightlife in Edmonton. It was to the point to where it was ridiculous where the lifestyle was way more important than actually playing the game and making the playoffs but like I said, talk is cheap.

Even in practice, I came from a group where you’re practicing with guys like Bergeron or Chara and you’re going at each other, in-game intensity, and that’s how you get better, that’s how you be a playoff contender, that’s how you be a champion and you try to instill some of those values and there were guys that were on playoff teams that had the same frustrations. They come and practice hard and there’s a group of guys there that like it was too cool to try hard. Having derogatory terms for trying hard in practice.

The Culture

That’s the culture and so how do you break that? You come in and try to disrupt, right? So I think over the years there have been attempts to disrupt whether it was Eakins or I come in there or Pronger, whoever it was, different people come in and disrupt but I know personally, it was really hard for me. You come in as an older guy but far from being one of the better players on the team so you can be a leader from experience but I’m not a game changer, I’m a 4/5 defenseman. So your voice only goes so far with people who only respect how good your toe-drag is or whether or not you’re out partying. Your voice doesn’t carry much weight with people that don’t put value on those aspects that I was bringing from Boston or that Dallas was trying to instill on the team.

It wasn’t only frustrating but it pissed me off because it was a waste of years of your NHL career where you never get those back and you see a coach like Dallas get really unfairly treated. Was he perfect, no? He’d be the first to admit that he’d rather do some of those things different but taking the blame for, what are you supposed to do with a culture like that?

The Media Again

JM: I agree with you on that about Dallas. I think he’s a really good coach and I would watch games and then read the reviews of them, and you played, you can tell me if I’m off-base on on-base with this one. I think it was after game seven or maybe game eight that one year that you guys had that western road swing to start down in California and it was a tough one for you. This is when you started that swarm defense and it didn’t work. I think Dallas abandoned it about after game seven or eight but then it would get to about game 12 or game 20 and I’d read about how the swarm defense has to stop in Edmonton. Is anybody actually watching the game, they abandoned this games and games ago. From your point of view as a player on that team, how frustrating is it to play, read the commentary afterward, and say ‘that isn’t even close to what we’re doing.’

AF: Because it becomes an easy narrative. I hate to rag on the media, we were a bad team. We lost a lot of games and got scored on a ton but there is a narrative where it’s just easy to write about something and stick to it whether it’s a player or a concept or whatever it is. You stick to it and it’s fun to write negative things on it and I’m sure that people that call into the show have lots to talk about. It makes it easy. It’s an easy way to talk about a crappy situation. You could’ve had any kind of defense or any kind of system but if you go out on a western swing and your guys are out every single night until five in the morning, you’re not going to win too many games. 

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Kris Hansen

BLH Edmonton Oilers Weekly Roundup Oct 25th-Nov 1st

Sigh. Oilers did not do well this week. I predicted them to go 1-3 this week, but losing all three games by one goal is a kick in the pants. Especially that heartbreaker against Calgary last night. That was unbelievable.

Oil Country is probably in a foul mood today and rightfully so.

Edmonton Oilers Three Stars

3. Connor McDavid

McDavid is still in the three stars because he’s been that great. Against Montreal, he was the straw that stirred the drink by pitching in two assists, including a great play to a wide open Benoit Pouliot. That said, there’s two others that out performed McDavid this week.His so far career high seven game point streak was snapped last night against Calgary, although he came awfully close twice to continue that streak.

2. Leon Draisaitl 

Draisaitl was recalled earlier this week and had to catch a flight for the game on Thursday against Montreal. Draisaitl, with a lack of sleep, only scored two goals including the game winner in that game where the Oilers were down 3-0 after one. Draisaitl kept up his “clutch” factor by scoring the game tying goal and two helpers against Calgary last night. Two games in and it will be a very difficult task to send him back to Bakersfield.

1. Taylor Hall

Has been on fire. He only had three points last night. Sure, he had some turnovers and the Hall Character Problem club will be all over that, but he was our strongest player this week. He has nine points in his last five games. He’s playing like one of the best Left Wingers in the NHL that we know he is. This season would be a lot worse without Taylor Hall on the left side.

Edmonton Oilers Rumors 

So, the Edmonton Oilers are completely decimated with injuries at the moment. Stop if you heard that one before. Out are: Jordan Eberle, Justin Schultz, Griffin Reinhart, Matt Hendricks, Rob Klinkhammer. I’m biased but I think losing Reinhart hurts the most because we are forced to watch a god awful Ference and Gryba pairing without a capable puck mover in sight. Reinhart isn’t known for his puck movement abilities but sure is a helluva better bet than Ference and Gryba who handle the puck like a grenade.

There’ll be some tough questions: Who will get sent down? Who will get put where? Most importantly though, and one would hope Chiarelli is watching carefully: That defence is horrendous, even when healthy. Right now, the Oilers cannot move the puck out one bit out of their end. Who knows what is out there but one would have to think that it’ll get remedied quickly.

Also, the third and fourth lines scoring is non existent. Lander has vanished. If someone could find his game, please let the Oilers know.

Around the League

 

Highlights and Videos

Some saves of the week

 

Dylan Larkin scored a nifty goal

 

Mats Zuccarello scored his first career hat trick

 

Camera Man had his lens broken by a shot

 

The Week Ahead

The Oilers have three games this week and it’s a doozy:

Tuesday at home versus Philadelphia and Friday at home versus Pittsburgh.

Sunday they visit Chicago.

That’s your weekly recap for this week! Follow me on Twitter.

Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Oilers Post Game Report, NHL, Rob Cooke

BLH Post Gamer: G2 – Edmonton Oilers vs Nashville Predators

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The second game of the 2015/16 season is in the books and the boys are still in search of their first win. The game was another Western conference match-up The Edmonton Oilers vs Nashville Predators was the second of a three game road-trip to start the season. The game started roughly the same as Thursdays contest with our guys needing the first few minutes to get their legs moving. That is definitely a habit that Todd McLellan and his coaching staff will need to rectify in one heck of a hurry.

In the first period the Oilers were out shot eight to four and couldn’t get a lot going in the offensive zone. This is a trend that I don’t see continuing. Edmonton will eventually find their game and the offense will come. It just depends on how long it is going to take to happen. After the first the Oilers took control of the game for the final forty minutes. They out-shot the Predators 23 to 12 in the final two frames and had the lions share of scoring chances to my eye.

Unfortunately the scoring chances that are important are the two that Nashville managed to convert on. The game winning goal scored late in the second period was one that never should have happened. There is no way that Andrej Sekera should have chosen to use a half-assed hip check instead of playing the puck or taking the body. That goal against is on him entirely, if the team is going to continue to give the opposition free rein in our zone then they are going to make us pay for it.

The second goal was actually even worse than the first. I have two issues with said goal. First why the hell would Ference attempt the rebound off the boards like that instead of just hammering it around the boards to keep it out of the danger area? That is a pretty bad rookie mistake. Secondly what was Todd McLellan thinking when he dressed Ference in the first place? I get that they need to see what he really has left in the tank but what on God’s green earth would possess Todd to take out arguably the best defender we had in-game one in favour of the elder statesman? Can anyone answer me that one?

Cam Talbot has arrived as advertised and has kept both games a lot closer than most would have predicted they would be. On every goal he has allowed this season there has been some sort of additional factor that places the blame squarely on someone else’s shoulder. He looks legit and I am very stoked to have him here!

Last game Madison unveiled the Three Beer League Heroes of the game and as such I will continue the trend.

  1. Pekka Rinne – The guy had a 31 save shut-out. What else needs to be said. He is one of the five best goalies in the league and he showed it tonight folks.
  2. Taylor Hall –  I know a lot of people have deemed Hallsy as the goat this season but for me he was flying tonight. He had nine shots on the night and nearly set up the equalizer on the waived off RNH goal in the third. He led the team with 24:18 played and had a couple of seconds over six minutes on the power-play.
  3. Filip Forsberg – Scored the second Predators goal on an errant pass from Andrew Ference. At least I think it was supposed to be a pass, not exactly sure what Andy was doing there.

Along with the Three Heroes of the night we are also giving out the much-anticipated golden plunger. This revered porcelain powerhouse is given out to the one player that best exemplified someone going number two.

Tonight I fully want to give this award to Andrew Ference for his complete lapse in judgement that resulted in the second goal against but I am having a very hard time looking past the play of our supposed top defender, Andrej Sekera. We all know that Ference didn’t play well but who really expected him to? Sekera on the other hand was brought in because he was supposed to lead the defense until players like Nurse and Klefbom prove ready to take the reins. The first goal was entirely on him and had he done something other than try a lame attempt at a hip check then the outcome could have been vastly different.

Again the team is improving and it is going to take time but they are heading in the right direction. Cam Talbot is keeping them in the games and that is all that we can ask for from him. We have hung in well against teams that have traditionally beaten up on our team and even pushed back some. That is music to this Oilers fan. Obviously I would like to see a different end result but it will come soon enough people.

I wrote a post on my site yesterday urging fans to keep calm. It is only the second game people and there are some very nice indicators to be sure! If you need the reassurance then head over to www.justoil.net and check it out!

Thanks for reading folks, throw me a follow on twitter, @justoil78 and let me know what you think the future will hold for the Oilers!

 

McDavid be with you!

Rob

Edmonton Oilers, Kris Hansen, NHL

The BLH Oilers Weekly Round Up: September 28th-October 3rd

Congrats everyone! We are OFFICIALLY only four days away from the regular season starting in the NHL. We’re back baby!

This week has some important news, especially on the Edmonton Oilers front.

Edmonton Oilers Three Stars of the Week

Third Star: Connor McDavid

McDavid makes another appearance in my three stars of the week and I think it will be a reoccurring theme for this season. So far, he has 5 points (all assists) this pre season. Yet, the score sheet does not do McDavid any justice. Every time he touches the puck, you are on the edge of your seat. It’s hard to put into words how special of a talent this kid is and I personally can’t wait to see him play against NHL teams.

Second Star: Anders Nilsson

Personally, I think he is the back up over Scrivens. Nilsson has been practically perfect this pre season. I do not see how anyone could really cut him over Scrivens, although contract and waiver exemption will be a factor. Still, the big swede has been our best goalie this preseason, even above our assumed starter, Cam Talbot (who I am a huge booster of).

First Star: Anton Lander

What a year can make. At this time last year, Lander was facing a waiver claim losing a spot over the woeful Will Acton. Has there been an Oiler that has benefited from the axing of Dallas Eakins? Lander had a natural hat trick in a win over Arizona earlier this week, scoring the three goals in a six minute span. He’s looked fine this pre season and is maturing into that bottom six role that the Oilers have needed for awhile. Hard not to root for the guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUeDQMc5NaA

Edmonton Oilers Rumors and News

There were a couple Oilers rumors this week. First was the Bryan Bickell for Nikita Nikitin trade rumor that fell thru. Bickell was placed on waivers yesterday and cleared this morning. Meanwhile, the Oilers waived Nikitin this morning and is expected (barring a miracle) to clear. (Edmonton Journal)

Also rumored was Andrew Ference being on the trade block and the Captain situation. Jason Gregor spoke with Ference about the captaincy and it was revealed that Ference was the one who approached management about stepping down as captain this season. (Oilers Nation)

Unfortunately, Jordan Eberle was injured in Tuesday’s pre season tilt with Arizona. The winger will be missing four to six weeks with a shoulder injury. (Edmonton Journal)

Darnell Nurse was sent down to the AHL on Tuesday. His time will come soon. He had an impressive camp. (Edmonton Sun)

Nikita Nikitin was placed on waiver this morning. I wrote a post after Thursday night’s 5-2 loss focusing on the woes of Nikitin. (Oil on Whyte)

 

Around the League

Videos of the Week

PK Subban is actually Don Cherry this entire time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi6hl8xo2Sk

The Hanson brothers gave the Penguins some motivation prior to their game against Tampa Bay

Jonathan Drouin has a razzle dazzle goal

The Oilers 2015/16 season opens up vs. the St.Louis blues next Thursday, October 8th. Talk about having your work cut out for you right off the bat. Who’s got more to prove though?

Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week!

Follow me on Twitter here!

Edmonton Oilers, NHL

Dumb and Dumber: Oilers vs Canucks post game wrap up

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Tonight’s game featured the comically miserable brand of Oilers defense we all know and love from the last 2 years. Constant turnovers. Blind passes out of the corner straight to the middle of the ice where the opposition were left all alone for easy goals. Fumbled passes. Inability to clear the puck from the defensive zone while under pressure. It was all there.

The Canucks didn’t even ice their best roster and they still made the Oilers defense look like practice pylons. While the entire D squad was awful (with the exception of Justin Schultz, who played a reasonably sound game), 2 Oilers defensemen stuck out like mangled thumbs: Nikita Nikitin and Andrew Ference.

I don’t enjoy the fact that I’m about to rip on Ference after he was all over the news kicking people right in the feelz with the whole #SpiderMable thing. I think very highly of Ference and his character, and the work he has done in Edmonton’s community. He’s a stand up guy. Unfortunately, he is an anchor on the blue line, his contract makes him virtually impossible to trade, he is taking up a roster spot from guys like Nurse and Reinhart; and he’s the captain of the team.

Ference was awful all night. Getting beat on the outside, making poor decisions with the puck, and showing that perhaps his age is catching up to him. It seemed like every time I looked, Ference and his D-Partner were either in the process of turning the puck over, getting beat wide, or just leaving the ice shortly before a Canucks goal. While Ference was bad, he wasn’t Nikita Nikitin bad.

OH MY GOD. Nikitin. I don’t even know what to say. How many 2 on 1’s or breakaway chances did the Oilers give up tonight? I lost count. While not all of them were a direct result of the dynamic duo of Ference and Nikitin, a good portion of them were caused by Nikitin’s inability to play the body, skate, or do much of anything. While Nikitin’s +/- won’t show it, he had a hand in a couple of the goals against, and was directly responsible for multiple odd man chances, poor defensive plays, and all around suckage. He couldn’t keep the puck in at the blue line during an Oilers power play which directly resulted in the play going the other way, and casually skated off the ice as if to indicate it wasn’t his problem.

There isn’t much I can say about the positive side of this game, other than how incredible Hall, McDavid, and Draisaitl looked tonight. The first half of the game was magical. It seemed like every time they were on the ice, something amazing was going to happen. Unfortunately for them, Jacob Markstrom was lights out for the Canucks. He shut down the McAwesome line on all but one occasion, and was fantastic when he actually had to face an offensive threat instead of watching his team break out on yet another odd man chance. Nail Yakupov had a solid game and scored the only other Oilers goal, but for reasons known only to Todd McLellan; remained on the 3rd line despite how awful Purcell was.

The story of the game really was how terrible the Oilers defense played. Even Sekera (who started out well enough) had multiple turnovers of the disastrous variety, and Reinhart had his steady play shattered by a few himself. It was a total gong show.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the game for me personally, came when I realized that despite how dismal Ference and Nikitin were, McLellan kept them together the entire game. I started wondering if he was trying to send an SOS to Peter Chiarelli. Was this his version of a distress signal? I’ll never know, but I hope to hockey heaven we never see those two paired up again.

Random thoughts:

-Props to Virtanen for scoring a goal with his face.

-No matter how amazing your forwards are, they can’t do squat if your defense sucks

-Welcome to Edmonton, Cam Talbot. You weren’t to blame for this one.

-Yakupov.

-I don’t know what the hell got into Nuge tonight, but I like it. Little Nugey absolutely laid out Yannick Weber.

-The Oilers got worked over by a Canucks squad that didn’t even feature all of their top players. We know you can’t win them all, and it’s only preseason. However, the way the defense played tonight is alarming to say the least.

As always, thanks for reading. Feel free to leave a comment below, or argue with me on twitter here