Thursday, April 13, 2006

 

Oilers Game Day - Ducks

The Edmonton Sun cracks me up. It really does.

Today, Terry Jones states emphatically:
"After everything the Edmonton Oilers have put themselves through, in the last week and throughout the year, they could actually put a playoff spot away tonight.

That's right. Tonight.

With the Vancouver Canucks blowing a 4-3 lead late and losing 5-4 to San Jose at home last night, the Oilers magic number is now two."


Meanwhile, Derek Van Diest claims:

"Even if they do win their final two games tonight against the Ducks and Monday versus the Colorado Avalanche, the Oilers could still be left on the outside looking in at playoff time."


Incredibly, they are both wrong.

In fact, thanks to Big Bert's defensive inabilities, the Oilers' magic number is still 4.

The most relevant kryptonite factor tonight is that Edmonton has beaten Anaheim at Rexall/Skyreach/Northlands 11 straight times. Look out, that sounds like a streak that needs breaking!

No prediction today because, well, I fear Cosh might be right when he says: "Prepare for further disappointment as you make future predictions based on any premise other than "The Oilers are infinitely gutless." Of course if they win and Dvorak gets a hat trick I will cry myself to sleep for weeks.

I'm hoping to see LeGG back in the line-up tonight. He was playing his best hockey of the year and then got pulled because . . . why again? Can anyone explain this?

Sacamano's Key to the Game: Smytty's Moolay blocking Giggy's view of the puck.

Scoreboard Watching:


Comments:

I thought LeGG was kept out due to nagging injuries?

If not, can we give Mac T the "Grady Little Manager of the Year Award"? Every time he puts a player in a place he has no business being (say Mike Peca in a shootout) I have flashbacks to Little patting Pedro on the ass and walking back to the dugout. The following words fall from from my cold-blue lips almost immediately: "Aaron Fucking Boone."
 


Abboud and I were just talking about that. NO ONE has a set date up for the playoffs, including NHL.com. The best we could find was here, which indicates that the playoffs will start on a Friday. A Friday?
 


Mirtle has the details on the start date.
 


I can't believe I'm defending Terry Jones (April 13th - mark it), but he isn't wrong so much as imprecise.

He clearly states that the magic number of 2 that he's talking about refers to wins, not points, in which case he is mostly correct (but not totally: an Oilers W and a VAN OTL does not eliminate the Canucks). He's also correct that the Oil could clinch tonight, although they need VAN to lose in regulation in SJ to do so.

Van Diest is just wrong, without qualifications. Apologies: resume demeaning the Sun!
 


OK, Terry might not have been completely wrong in the paragraph Sacamano cites, but it is hard to maintain your defence of him when he goes on to add in the same article this gem:

All the Canucks need is one more point than the Oilers to make it their playoff position.

This is, of course, wrong. All the Canucks need are the same amount of points as the Oilers to make it their playoff position. If they were both to stumble to 91 or 92 points each at season's end (which seems completely plausible right now), the Canucks would get in.
 


Since the Canucks are currently one point behind the Oilers, all Vancouver needs is one point more than Edmonton during the remaining games.

It may not be clear, but once again I think Mr. Jones is correct, albeit in a round about way.
 


Interestingly, Van Diest actually contradicts himself by later asserting (correctly) that " the Oilers fate is in their own hands - barely."

I see now that Jones' definition of magic number is different than anyone else's in the rest of the universe. My bad. I apologize for any undeserved shame I brought upon Mr. Jones, his family, or his employer.
 


Yeah, I wasn't trying to shake anyone's world. If it makes y'all feel better, Jones does make an flat error in fact when he says Vancouver plays host to Colorado on Sunday; the game is the back half of the HNIC doubleheader and as such is on Saturday.

Ahhhhh...
 


Just win Oil.
 


The Jones article is either full of errors or just terrible sloppy writing or both. I mean the bits that have been broken down here show that the whole article is a complete mess.

I think I Terry's job better than he can while still doing the job I have now. Does anyone know if the Sun is hiring?
 


Ha!

It appears that I am almost as illiterate as the Sun editors are.

I'm kind of rooting for the Oilers and the Nucks to sit tied at the close of business Saturday night (or is it Sunday? I'm confused by the reporting on this point). That would make for great fun in Edmonton and Vancouver when the Oilers play their last game Monday.
 


NO, no tie on Sunday night. I want this finished tonight. Between this and a job offer, I'm not sure my heart can take any more dramatics after tonight :P
 


I'd say TJ is still wrong, because "they can put away a playoff spot tonight" suggests that it's up to the Oilers alone to clinch. I think he must have rewritten the lead and got confused about what he'd meant by the Oilers' magic number being two.
 


peter said...

Ha!

It appears that I am almost as illiterate as the Sun editors are.


About ten years ago I bought a house from a Sun editor. Nice house. And a good guy in a middle aged professor kind of way.

It was a private sale, apparently he'd had a bad experience with a realtor in the past, he advertised it in a Southam newspaper. He had a New York Times laying on the table when we did a walk through, and I love that paper, so we started talking and had a pretty good chat while my wife walked around examining every tile pattern and deciding which walls she would expect me to knock down. :-)

A very literate guy (and personally I am NOT very literate, as anyone who has read the IOF already knows) and I suspect that he knows that "sez" is not really a word, and that a lot the words that Sun journalists use as verbs ... they really aren't. I also suspect that he knew his market pretty well.

Some madass incomplete art projects in the basement and garage when we moved in. Tragic stuff. And some interesting mail that came for him (I didn't open it, just going by the senders).

Did an internet search on his name and he has a helluva resume. Went back to working as an editor at one of his previous gigs, he's either an editor with The Star or Globe & Mail now.

Print media types usually give me the same uneasy feeling that stereo salesmen do. But this guy was a cut above I think.

As I'm rambling already, I'll carry on :-) ... when I was just a lad, my eldest sister won some sort of Alberta-wide contest (either for debate or math, something that girls weren't expected to win in any case). The first prize was a scholarship I think, I know that it was supposed to be presented at the Oilman's Club in Calgary. This was the 70s, and women were strictly verboten there. So they gave her the option of a trip to Ottawa instead, had her on a plane straight away. A guided tour and she got to meet some bigwig politicians. She had a blast. Believe it or not teenage girls would rather NOT hang around in a private club with a bunch of middle aged coots who reek of scotch and cigars.

Anyhow, it was her 15 minutes of fame, because all of a sudden journalists wanted to speak to her. Unfortunately she was somewhere in Ottawa and nobody could get a hold of her (oilmen aren't stupid). But that didn't stop articles being printed about her, first in the Globe I think, got picked up by CP and the like and was printed everywhere, with quotes from her that were completely fabricated. She hadn't spoken to a soul.

Well written stuff though. I'll have to dig those clips up next time I'm at my Mom's house.

Print media types, stereo sales people, unlicensed contractors, motivational speakers, cult leaders ... you should list them in the order that suits you, but you shouldn't sort them by employer.

IMHO.
 


Honestly people...who is this Vic guy? Man that fellow has some interesting stories:)

I just can't picture Vic being the Red Green type, ie knocking down walls.

Putting up shelves maybe, ala Mr. Roper, but knocking down walls?
 


Hey, he might knock down walls too. I've done it on occasion (once at work, by accident... :P )
 


Dennis said...
...
I just can't picture Vic being the Red Green type, ie knocking down walls.

Putting up shelves maybe, ala Mr. Roper, but knocking down walls?


:D The nerve of ya. I'm pretty handy I'll have you know.

Of course for every little job; if you factor in the cost of the books I buy, the professional grade tools I buy for the job that will get light use, the time I spend planning, the time I spend procrastinating and planning some more ... it probably works out to about costing twice the price of hiring a contractor.

Mr Roper and Red Green! 8| pfft! I do quality work, sir! Woodworking is a bit of a hobby, Norm Abrams is the star. That cat has the most wonderful tools.
 


Sorry Vic...it's just all my buddies who are sports fanatics aren't exactly the most handy around the house. We're either call the pros or in my case the landlord;)

You sir are a man among men.
 


Print media types, stereo sales people, unlicensed contractors, motivational speakers, cult leaders ... you should list them in the order that suits you, but you shouldn't sort them by employer.

It's interesting taking up a profession and suddenly being loathed for that. I don't think I ever sat around to contemplate that that was going to happen, but, well, here we are.
 


No offense intended Mirtle. There are lots of good journalists of course.

And while most journalist are, as you know, are alcoholic skivs, there are some that are terrific also.

I wish I could say the same for dentists, plumbers, waiters and lawyers ... pack of motherless fucks are they.

No?
 

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