Tag Archives: Edmonton

Beer League Hero

1996 World Cup of Hockey

When I was young my father had this inane ability to get tickets to hockey games that were hard to come by and I’m not really sure how he did it, to be honest I never bothered to ask. I got to see a lot of great hockey players by the time I was ten years old, Brett Hull, Wayne Gretzky (as a King), Ray Bourque, Steve Yzerman, etc. Unfortunately I don’t remember a whole lot from those games but in the summer of ’96 I was able to attend a very memorable hockey game. Nothing special, just an exhibition match between Russia and Canada before the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

All the names were there for the most part. Federov, Messier, Coffey, Kasparaitis, Lindros, Mogilny, Brodeur, Gretzky, Zhamnov, Kovalev, Fleury, Jovonovski, Rob Blake, and Claude Lemieux too. I think this was Glen Sather’s last true hurrah as an NHL coach. He did have a couple stints with the Rangers in the early 2000s but nothing compared to what he did in Edmonton.

It was a dream for me to be able to see such greats! We were treated to a few Paul Coffey end-to-enders and some vintage Eric Lindros hits. Russia countered with Federov and Mogilny dazzling the crowd with their ability to perform wizardry with the puck and Darius Kasparaitis was his typical self getting into it with both Mark Messier and Eric Lindros.

Our seats were right at the top of the Saddledone but at centre ice. Even with that though there was a pillar in the way and the roof slopes down so that made it a tad difficult to watch but nevertheless I got to see almost all of my heroes (#66 wasn’t on that team). As I wrote recently here about Paul Coffey, he was definitely the player I wanted to watch the most. Canada played “Canadian” hockey and Russia played “Russian” hockey and it ended in a 4 all draw. What a treat! Head here for an old write-up on the game.

Here are some highlights of a different game though. Possibly the most famous of all the games at that tournament. Game three of the World Cup of Hockey Finals vs. the USA. A few Oilers and ex-Oilers feature.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agJMOAh3e_U

As I said earlier, I don’t know how my dad got tickets to these games (he found a way to get tickets to the 1990 Stanley Cup Finals too) but I’m really happy he did. I think he enjoyed going to these games more to see my reaction to the players and how happy I was rather than for the entertainment of the game itself. I get it now.

Thanks Dad.

Brennen York, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, NHL Entry Draft, Prospects

1 – Edmonton Oilers

A single day remains before the fate of the Oilers changes forever. It’s been an incredible off season thus far, and Oil Country is buzzing. After the complete dismantling of the MacT regime, Peter Chiarelli has fans talking non stop about what may come from the draft. There’s not a lot of words to describe what Connor McDavid will mean to the Oilers but one thing is certain, he will change the Oilers franchise forever. Though the McDavid pick will be one that is fairly easy, Chiarelli & Co. will have some tough calls when it comes to trades, the 16th pick, and the 33rd pick. 

When it comes to trades, no one is too sure what is going to come down. The Oil need a goalie and I do believe they address that in the next two days, however after hearing that the New York Rangers turned down two second round picks for Cam Talbot, I’d be a like nervous about going after him. Lehner is an option, but he has some question marks around him. Martin Jones name has also been thrown around, but the asking price will be the 33rd pick. 

In the end, Chia will have to ask himself whether or not to worth it when he could throw money at Devan Dubnyk or Antti Niemi. The 16th pick has fans excited, as the last time the Oilers had two first rounders they walked away with RNH and Oscar Klefbom. There’s been trade rumours around this pick for a while as the possibility of making a major deal for a big name defenceman became real after the lottery win. I do believe waiting until the Oilers are finally on the clock before making this pick because the value on that pick will never be higher given the fact that a player like Jeremy Roy or Timo Meier may have slipped. 

If they plan on using the pick, there’s going to be a lot of options on the board. Players like Roy, Meier, maybe even Kyle Connor could slip, but in the likely situation that they’ve all been selected, players like Guryanov, White, and Svechnikov would all be hard to pass on. The talk around using that pick on Ilya Samsonov is blasphemous given the going rate of goalies both on the open market and via trade. He’s a good goalie, but you don’t draft a goalie in the top 20 unless he’s the second coming of Christ. The 33rd pick, however, would be perfectly suited for a goaltender named Samsonov, or even Blackwood. The depth in net is scary, and adding a piece like Samsonov could prove to be a huge pick up. I’m still on the Emil Garipov train when it comes to a solution in net for Edmonton. He’s been putting up stellar numbers overseas, but convincing him to come over for anything less than 4 million may be a challenge. 

It will be the greatest draft in Oilers history, and I personally can’t wait to see what Pete Chiarelli has up his sleeves.

Draft Day Gameplan

– It starts and ends with Connor McDavid.

– Find a goalie. Whether you trade a 5th for rights, or trade for Talbot, don’t leave without a netminder.

– Hit it big with the 16th pick. There will be some good players left, go BPA.

– Find a defenceman. The Oil are shallow on the blue line, so finding a guy capable of playing top pairing minutes is vital.

Oilers Big Board

1. Connor McDavid
2. Jack Eichel
3. Dylan Strome
4. Noah Hanifin
5. Mitchell Marner
6. Ivan Provorov
7. Mikko Rantanen
8. Pavel Zacha
9. Lawson Crouse
10. Denis Guryanov

Who do they take?

Tough call. Could take Connor McDavid OR they could take Connor McDavid. At 16, I like Jeremy Roy.

Darkhorse?

At 16, maybe Debrusk. I doubt it. Will be a player ranked in that range. Noah Juulsen would be interesting.