I hate Chris Pronger.  I wish death upon him.  Die, Pronger.

He just addressed the media.  His message?  Essentially, "I'm not going to get into details about why I want to be traded.  But, I expect the fans to understand my situation."

He also said that on the message boards, the fans were slandering his name, and he threatened to sue the Oilers organization.

What the hell do you expect?!  I hope he trips and lands neck first on a skate blade, and all his new Ducky teammates laugh at him while he bleeds to death.

Yesterday was Canada Day.  It was awesome.  For the fourth year in a row (it's becoming a tradition) my friends and I went down to the river valley to watch them launch the fireworks from the leg grounds.  It was pretty sweet.  One of my friends lives out of town, and he and his girlfriend (my ex.  Arg.) came back in for the weekend.  It was nice to see them again (or at least him.)

After the fireworks, we started walking up the hill towards Whyte Ave, and sang the national anthem.  Some people joined in, other's didn't, and some laughed at us.  Those people are idiots, but w/e.  I love being able to sing that song.

(BTW if you want to see something awesome, watch the national anthems from the Oilers home playoff games in the Anaheim and Carolina serieses.  I'll find a link at some point.  It's so amazing.  Really.  Incredible.)

I love my country.

Chris Pronger's wife hates Edmonton.  That's why he demanded a trade.

No!  Chris knocked up some chick!  His wife threatened a divorce if he didn't get out of the city!

Pfft, I heard that he's gay.

These are some of the rumours surfacing in Edmonton, with the third one not really taking any notice.  Wouldn't really be a big deal, and the only people that would want him gone are the 12 year olds and homophobes.

But the other two?  Well, with Prongs and his wife in Mexico, where they apparently have no media, we have no way of hearing the truth.  That is, if he'd even say.  So we have to speculate.  It's a big case of "my dad's friend's coworkers brothers wife's sister's dog said..." etc.  But it's all we got.  Besides, when your star player demands out of a five year contract after one year, you gotta hate him.  And you gotta hate his wife.

And if you're a Maple Leafs fan,  no we're not trading you Pronger for Kaberle and Steen.  *Shakes head*  Leaf fans can be pretty moronic.  I guess that comes from living in Toronto though.

Oh God.  Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse.

Chris Pronger is, without a doubt, the best defenceman in the NHL.  Arguably the best player.  The past season, he played for the Oilers, after being acquired in a trade from St. Louis that can only be described as jaw-dropping.  Edmonton is a tiny, little small market in the NHL.  In the old NHL, before the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, good players left Edmonton (Doug Weight, Bill Guerin, Curtis Joseph etc.)  So when Pronger joined the Oilers, it was... indescribable.

Now, despite having a career year, claiming to love the city and the organization, and coming within ONE win of the stanley cup... it appears the ride is over.

According to Sportsnet, TSN... and everybody else... Chris Pronger has requested a trade.  In the old NHL, this would have hurt.  In the old NHL, we wouldn't have had him in the first place.  In the old NHL, we'd be unable to afford a guy like... Jaroslav Spacek.  (As it stands, Spachie is probably gone, but nobody really cares.)  But, in the new NHL, we didn't expect this.  He'd signed a 5 year deal... we were supposed to have him til 2010.

The cards are in Lowe's hands.  It'll be a good return, which is nice to know... but it still hurts.

For a Whedon reference... hmm (toughie)

Big screen Angel movie is a go.  Cast:

David Boreanaz (Angel)

James Marsters (Spike)

Amy Acker (Illyria)

Eliza Dushku (faith)

And J August Richards (Gunn)

David Boreanaz backs out, but Alexis Denisof will reprise Wes.

Sure... still nice... but it's not an Angel movie anymore.

Just as without Pronger... no matter who they get... the Oilers can hardly call themselves cup contenders.

Whyte Avenue here in Edmonton is the party street.  It's where we go to celebrate an Oilers victory.  Some hooligans ruined it.  And then the police absolutely destroyed it.

Some idiots, after the Oilers eliminated the Ducks in round 3, started destroying things (actually, it had been happening all playoffs) instead of the normal high fives and chanting.  In this game, the destruction reached disturbing highs.

For the finals, the police upped their intolerance.  Correction, they began their intolerance.  Throughout the playoffs, they'd been a non-entity.  In Edmonton, we didn't know police even went to Whyte Ave.  In the finals, people were getting arrested for such horrible offenses as:

Not walking.

Slowing down.

Stepping on the street to avoid a bike rack.

Crossing at an intersection.

Over 400 arrests were made on average during the finals per night.  One woman, while in handcuffs made a remark about police, as is expected.  If cops can't handle that, they're in the wrong business.  This cop couldn't.  He hit this poor, handcuffed woman, several times, and she fell to the ground, unable to stop her fall with her hands, and cut her lip.  The cop proceeded to continue hitting her.

I'm not saying cops are bad.  I can't imagine society without cops.  But the police in Edmonton are a joke.  If any officer in the city is reading this (highly unlikely), shame on you.

You're worse than the hooligans that started this.

I know many of you don't like hockey, and have probably avoided my blogs lately.  That's fine.  This blog isn't about hockey this time, though.  It's about heartbreak.

I sit in my room, all the lights on.  I use a dictiononary to hold the button down on a switch that doesn't quite stay on by itself.  I haven't turned it off since the playoffs started.

Tonight was game 7.  Coming back from down 3-1, nobody expected anything less than a victory, and the town's 6th cup.  By now, you've probably figured out that didn't happen.  This is, without a doubt, the worst moment of my life to date.  I've had my heart ripped out before, after dating a girl for 10 months that was really ten years.  We had our dream house picked out two weeks into our relationship.  I say it was a ten month relationship that started after two years and ended nearing three.

Sorry Carla, but the day you told me (on the phone... sheesh) that you wanted to break up, pales in comparison to right now.  At least right now it does.  I'll probably change that idea later.  But right now... I can't fathom pain worse than this.

As most of you aren't hockey fans, you probably can't unterstand this.  I'm assuming you're all Whedonites though, as that's how most of you know me here.  Let me put it this way.  Mutant Enemy has just gotten back together, and announced they are working on a Faith series thanks to FOX.  Before that, however, there will be a Spike movie (big screen) featuring Illyria.  Serenity 2 has the green light, and if it grosses more than 10 dollars, they'll put Firefly back on the air.

Then FOX decides they want to pick up Charmed.  To buy the rights, they use all the money they were going to give to M.E. and all the projects are scrapped.

That's how I feel.

I don't have much else to say in this blog.

Oh the irony.  The dictionary just slipped off that button.  The light is off.

As you all know, I've been going to all the Oilers playoff games.  As you also all know, I'm a Buffy/Angel fan.  Very big one, in fact.

So, as you might imagine, it was pretty much just totally awesome to see David Boreanaz was at game 4 right here in Edmonton.  Now I just absolutely have to find out if he was cheering for the Oilers or Cryolina.

Anyways, game 6 was tonight.  The Hurtincanes had another chance to win the cup, and the Oil had to win it, to once again stave off elimination and force a deciding seventh game back down in Hickville.  The 'Canes tried to fire themselves up by dressing Erik Cole, who hadn't played since early March.  The reason he was out?  Broken neck.  Yeah, real good, 'Canes, dress the guy with a broken neck.  That'll help you.

As it was, the first period was scary.  Ethan Moreau absolutely nailed Cole, which for Canes fans, and Cole's family, was probably painful to watch.  Thankfully, Cole was alright, and genuinely did seem ready to play.  God knows I hate the Canes, but it would have been awful to see somebody lose their career, or worse yet, their life, because of a hockey game.

The scary part for the Oilers was that they outshot the Canes 10-3 and found themselves deadlocked, 0-0.  Fortunately, the Canes luck ran out in the second period, when FERNANDO tallied his lucky 13th of the playoffs, (on the woeful PP, no less).  Not too much later, Raffi Torres made an oustanding tip on a Steve Staios point shot to put the Oil up 2-0.

Give credit where it's due.  Cryolina goalie Cam Ward played well, and made some fantastic saves (including a glove save on Radek Dvorak that was just plain out robbery early in the third.)  Unfortunately for him, he couldn't stop it all.  Ryan Smyth made an incredible play, and backhanded it past Ward to make it 3-0.  Dvorak would make up for the missed opportunity by making a brilliant pass to Shawn Horcoff, who made it 4-0 Edmonton.

Jussi Markkannen recorded his first ever playoff shutout, in the 4-0 win, but wasn't even named as one of the 3 stars.  (Imagine our embarrasment as fans, as we see the #3 and 2 stars skate on, then start chanting 'JUSSI!  JUSSI!' then hear Fernando Pisani's name called as number one star.)  Juice only had to stop 16 shots this game, so the shutout was more a testament to the Edmonton defence.

(It should be noted that about 7 of those 16 shots were from the blue line, with really no hope in hell of going in.)

See you in Raleigh.

There's a dream that lives

Deep in every heart

Heroes carve their names

Legends leave their marks.

And it's worth the sweat

And it's worth the pain!

'Cause the chance may never come... again.

Give it all you got.

Take your best shot.

The fire burns deep inside

Stand among the giants!

YEAH!

For the game belongs

To the swift and the strong

Though the flame burns bright

In an instant it's gone

It's the spirit of the game

And the legend lives on and on

But the chance may never come again

Oh no

The chance may never come again.

As the team from Edmonton, Alberta flew into Raleigh, Carolina was flooded by the remnants of hurricane Alberto.  Perhaps an omen?

The Oilers were down 3-1 in this series, all the experts completely writing them off.  'Not a chance', they all said.  'The cup gets hoisted tonight.' 

Well then.

Thankfully, hockey is played on the ice, and not in Nick Kypreos's head.  Come to think of it, not a lot actually happens in Nick Kypreos's head.  The point is, the Oilers scored 16 seconds into this game.  Great tip by the Itallian Stallion, Edmonton's own, Fernando Pisani.

The 'Canes took the 2-1 lead, but that didn't bother the Oil.  Hemsky tied the game, then made a dazzling play (sort of) to set up Mike Peca for the go ahead goal with only seconds left in the first period.

Flashback to game 3.  The whistle is blown early, as the puck sits loose in the Hurricanes crease.  Moreau stuffs it home, but due to the ridiculously early whistle, it's no goal.

End flashback.  Game 5 again.  Jussi Markkannen has the puck completely covered for at least 2 seconds, more than enough time to blow the whistle.  But that doesn't happen.  Eric Staal scores his second of the game, and we're tied at 3 after two.

And after 3.

We head to OT for the first time this series, in a situation where if Carolina scores, it's all over.  The cup dream would end.  Steve Staios gets called for... uh... I beleive the official penalty was '2 minutes for being an Oiler.'  Carolina's deadly powerplay (already 3 for 6 in the game) gets to work.... aannnd.... sets up Fernando Pisani, who picks off a horrible own-zone pass by Cory Stillman, and pots his second of the game.

First ever OT shorthanded goal in Finals history.

Ladies and Gents, we're going back to Edmonton.

Last I posted, the Men of Oil were down 2-0 in their best of seven Stanley Cup final series with the Carolina Hurricanes.  They came home and played two games, winning the first one 2-1, but losing tonight 2-1.  This leaves them down 3-1 in the series, and for the first time these playoffs, on the verge of elimination.

In order to capture Lord Stanley's mug, Hockey's Holy Grail, the Oil need to win three straight, against a daunting Hurricanes team, including two in Raleigh.

Sounds bleak, right?  Well... we are in a better position than 28 other teams.  If you had given any team in the league the insight that at the end of the season, they'd be down 3-1 in the Finals, all 30 of them would have snatched that up.  Although the 'Canes are in a better position, the one we are in is to be envied.

Besides, Rod Brind'Amour is SO ugly, the Hockey Gods will surely keep that beautiful peice of silver away from him.

Do the fans in Cryolina really deserve a cup?  Five years ago, they didn't know what hockey was.  Hell- five days ago they didn't know what hockey was.  In Edmonton, it is our life.  Plain and simple.  We don't have NASCAR (thank God), NFL (although CFL is better anyway), NBA (because basketball sucks), or MLB (because there aren't enough drugs in our city to supply baseball players), so really, even if hockey isn't everybody's favourite sport... it's really our only sport.

Sorry, this blog has really been all over the place.  The points all add up though... those Rednecks (no offence intended; their 3 fans claim to cheer 'redneck hockey.')  don't deserve the cup.

Oh... and 133 dB at the RBC center?  :roll:  Okay then.  How are your exploded eardrums, canes fans?  Err... sorry, what I meant to ask was... how are your exploded eardrums, Oilers fans that made the trek down to Raleigh?  (Canes fans don't exist.)

Oh... and to those Hockey Gods.  Please forgive my bitterness in this post.  The Oil just lost a bit game.

Oilers in 7.

Yes, it's true.  However, I dont know how much I'll be posting...

I would go into detail about why I've been MIA... but I'd rather not.  Let's just say my family is odd.  Very odd...

About the only thing keeping me sane the past few months have been the Oilers.  This is a team many so-called experts were predicting to miss the playoffs this year.  Canada's teams were the Calgary 'Lames' or the Vancouver 'Cannots.'  Even the Toronto Maple 'Laughs' were expected to fare better than my beloved Oil.  Throughout the season, they competed hard, mostly every night, and despite playing with league-worst goaltending in the three headed monster of Mike Morrison, Jussi Markkannen and (worst) Ty Conklin, for much of the season the Men of Oil were competing with those Flamers for the top spot in the division.

At the trade deadline, GM Kevin Lowe stunned the hockey world, adding aged goaltender Dwayne Roloson, when many were saying he would pick up a proven, reliable starter in Curtis Joseph (who had prior Oilers experience) or Martin Biron.  Even Roberto Luongo's name was bantied about.  However, Rollie was the man for KLowe, and it proved to be brilliant.

Just not right away.  For the remaining 20 games, the Oil were barely a .500 team, and barely scraped into the playoffs, as the 8th seed, and may not have made the playoffs if the so-called brilliant Vancouver Canucks had not suffered a similarly embarassing stretch-run collapse.  The Oilers bad play was not helped at all by Roloson, who proved to be mediocre at best, at times.  In the end, Vancouver outsucked Edmonton, and the Oil were barely alive.

Now the good part.  The Oil are pitted against the heavily favoured Detroit Red Wings, who won the Presidents Trophy with the best regular season record in the NHL.  Those same experts who had the Oil missing the playoffs now had the Wings sweeping the Oil.  Enter Dwayne Roloson, or as many are calling him: Rolo San.  Samurai Goaltender.  Rollie quickly proved to be the best tender in the playoffs, better even then Martin Brodeur, the Devils famed future hall of famer, and Mikka Kipprusoff, who is a sure lock for the Vezina.

Despite Rollie's fabulous game 1 play, the Wings took it in double OT, after staging a late game comeback.  But the Oil would never look back.  They stole game 2 in the Joe, then came home tied at 1.  Game 3 was another double OT thriller, this time with the Oil coming out ahead.  The Wings would tie the series at 2, but in game 5, back in Detroit, the Oilers would put Detroit on the brink.

Game 6.  A chance to put the Wings... out.  They fell behind 2-0 heading to the third, setting the stage for one of the most memorable playoff periods in Oilers history.  Only minutes in, the Wings took a dumb penalty, allowing Edmonton-born Fernando Pisani to score, making it 2-1.  A few minutes later, Pisani took it upon himself to tie it at 2, sending Rexall place into a frenzy.  Detroit would take a 3-2 lead, but not for long.  Oilers leading point getter in the regular season, Ales Hemsky, turned all the momentum in the Oilers favour when he tied it at 3.  The goal would go under review, but eventually would stand (much to Manny Legace's dismay).  With one minute left in the third period, Hemsky dashed up the middle of the ice, dished it off to Sergei Samsonov (another deadline addition) who sent it back to Hemsky at the side of the net, and he put it past a sprawling Legace to give the Oilers their final lead of the series.

As the clock ticked down on the Red Wings season, the crowd in Edmonton errupted, and the Oilers, the same Oilers who were going to miss the playoffs, were heading to Round 2 for the first time since upsetting the Avalanche in 1998.

The second round didn't start off with a bang- at least not for the Oilers.  Playing the Sharks on back-to-back nights in San Jose, the Oilers found themselves in a 2-0 hole coming back home.  Game 3 was a must win, as only two teams in NHL history have come back from a 3-0 deficit.  With 8 minutes remaining, they were down 2-1, and not looking like they were going to win.  But then Raffi Torres streaked up the wing, and snapped a harmless looking wrist-shot past Vesa Toskala, sending the game to OT.

And 2OT

And 3OT.  It was the third longest game in Oilers history when Smyth took the puck behind the net, and found a free Shawn Horcoff in front, who put it past Toskala to put the Oilers back in the series.

The Oilers won the next game handily, 6-3, to tie the series, and would win the next game in San Jose.  They then closed out the series on home ice, for the second straight round, and headed to Anaheim to play the Ducks.

This series was a breeze.  Despite playing with the flu, the Oilers went up 3-0, and looked to have the series wrapped up.  And they did.  Anaheim won game 4 to give themselves false hope, but the Oilers took game 5 to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1990, where they won their fifth cup.

Now, the Oilers are, for the second time these playoffs, down 2-0 coming home for game 3 (tonight, 8 ET, 6MT, CBC, NBC).  And the news gets worse.  Conn Smythe candidate Dwayne Roloson, the major reason the Oilers are where they are, went down to a bad knee injury late in game 1.  So now the Oilers are back to Jussi Markkannen and Ty Conklin, although head coach Craig MacTavish has made it clear Jussi's the man.

And oh yeah.

I've been to all the home games.  And am going to all the home games in the finals.

Without this (that I doubt any of you read) I would have gone insane long ago.

GO OILERS GO