Attending Oilers and Oil Kings Games

As you probably know I am a  huge Redwings fan and overall a pretty big hockey fan. I watch at least a part of an NHL game every game of the season. When I get home the first thing I do after changing out of my hated work clothes is turn on Sportsnet to see what game is on. It doesn't matter much who is playing, I usually end up listening/watching a game while making supper. The Redwings playing in the Eastern Division has been a boon not only in the standings but for myself as their games are now more often televised for my supper prep. This makes me happy.

What doesn't make me happy is the Oilers. In Edmonton it really is the Oilers and...nothing. I am not sure if there are NHL fans in this city as much as just Oilers fans. No one really talks about other teams in Edmonton. The local sports radio talks about nothing but Oilers and maybe who they are playing that night, the social media channels are all Oilers, the print journalist who aside from being horrible write about nothing but the Oilers. All of this may be tolerable it it wasn't the worst franchise in sports over the last decade. They are an embarrassment! Their complete ineptitude in drafting players, managing talent, coaching and arrogance with fans in every regard whether it be verbal abuse, price gauging, or bilking millions of public dollars for a billionaire owner is sickening. I legitimately hate them. And I don't want to, I love hockey, but I just can't support this team. Have I mentioned I hate them?

With this general disgust I now only find myself wanting to attend Oilers games to see the opposition. And so this January I was excited to finally have a reason to cheer in Rexall Place when the Redwings came to town.

Chrissy had gifted me tickets for Christmas and the whole day had a special feeling to it. I even broke out my special cufflinks for work.

All day I was giddy and before I even knew it the sun had gone down and we were ready to head to the rink.

Chrissy obliged me in heading to the rink early to watch the warm ups where I rambled on about the players to her and she feigned interest (Abdelkader is from Michigan, Miller's hair is hilariously grey, how fun is it to say Gustav?). I think she bought me my first beer of the night just so I would shut up.

The crowd welcomed the players from the gold medal World Junior Hockey championship and started the game in good spirits. It was downhill from there. Even with the Oilers scoring the first goal of the night they were totally sitting on their hands. It was the worst atmosphere I have experienced at an NHL game. Just no energy.

Of course this ended up helping my Redwings so I wasn't too disappointed.

The game was closer than it had any right to be as the Redwings played down to the Oilers level. The Wings ended up winning 4-2 with a couple of late Powerplay goals. I went home happy with a win and the cutest woman in the building on my arm. Even with the horrible atmosphere in the building I considered it a good night.

A couple weeks later I had the unique experience of being invited to serve as Honor Guard for the opening anthems of an Oil Kings game and I jumped at the chance.  It has been some time since I had attended a WHL game and I was eager to see the recently demoted Leon Draisaitl play for Kelowna against his adopted 'home' team. Little did I know that I would get so close to the young kid before the game even began and again on the ice with him.

I even ended up on the jumbotron.

Funny enough the crowd for the Oilkings were way more alive then the crowd for the Oilers. Even at about 1/3rd of the size the WHL crowd easily matched the NHL noise level. I was almost embarrassed for the Oilers.

It was a fun game to watch.  As an aside, I don't enjoy WHL hockey as much as I used to in my youth. I think the game overall is now over coached and a lot more about systems and defence than it used to be. Gone are the crazy free wheeling and somewhat overly violent games I so fondly remember. This isn't meant so much as a criticism as much as an observation - the game is still wildly entertaining and quality hockey.

Maybe I will just have to fully embrace the Oil Kings instead of the Oilers if I want to support the local team.

Rec Hockey Tournament in Phoenix / Scottsdale

Each year my rec hockey team heads out to bring our middling hockey and advanced partying skills on the road. I don't always go every year, but when I can make it happen it's magical. In past posts I have documented Montreal, Chicago, and Las Vegas (no pictures!).

This year our extended group consisting of 2 teams and approximately 30 guys selected the Phoenix Cup in Scottsdale Arizona for this years tourney.  Below are some of the highlights. The lowlights will live in infamy through multiple re-telling in the dressing room.

Arizona Diamondbacks Game

My journey to Phoenix started with a 4am wakeup and over an hour long drive in the densest fog I have ever seen. Upon arriving at the airport I passed through all of the security checkpoints, which included a Grant Fuhr sighting, and arrived in the airport lounge for a much needed drink. Soon enough a couple of my teammates arrived and we settled in to wait out the fog and finally depart. 

After several aiport/airplane morning beers we arrived in Phoenix shortly before noon. With 5 guys and equipment traveling together we made the choice to load up a limo as opposed to multiple cabs. After an endless drive to the hotel and back downtown we arrived at the end of the 1st inning at Chase Field.

The Diamondback were starting the always entertaining Bronson Arroyo against SF Giants. I settled in with a beer and a dog to watch some ball.

As good as any game is I find it difficult to sit still for an extended amount of time. Eventually I wandered around to take in the sights including the pool in mid center field. 

Everywhere in the stadium I kept on running into other Canadians. With so many fellow countrymen in attendance it seemed almost fitting that Captain Canada himself, the mulleted wonder,  Ryan Smyth would make an appearance at the game.  After watching multiple groups of people approach him for a photo a couple of the guys made the ask for a picture and he generously acquiesced.

I snapped a picture and set up to take another one when another Oiler (Perron?) asked if I wanted to get in the picture. Without thinking and almost instantaneously I replied, "No thanks, I am a Redwings Fan". Smyth, gracious as always just looked at me like I was the world biggest asshole but he bit his tongue.

Final score of the ball game: 8-5 Giants.

Show and Shine

The people of Phoenix love their cars. With everything so spread out and with optimal driving conditions year round it is easy to see why. Apparently on the weekends there are multiple meet ups and show and shines of all the hot cars. While all were impressive I was truly stunned to see a Bugatti. But I guess if I had one I would show it off too.

Oilers Game

Included in our registration for the Phoenix Cup were tickets to a Coyotes game. As luck would have it for our Edmonton group, the Oilers were the nights opponent (explaining why Smyth was at the ball game). We upgraded our ticket from regular seats and packed our 30 guys into a concourse corporate box. The view of course was fantastic.

 Being a jerk who refuses to cheer for the Oilers I sported my 'original' Coyotes logo.

Final score of the hockey game: 3-2 Oilers in a Shootout

Old Town Scottsdale

A mere billion mile cab ride from our hotel was the premier tourist district of Scottsdale - The Old Town, a district of pretty fantastic restaurants and night clubs. Individually and collectively our team hit up the area on multiple nights where I enjoyed getting free Jagermeister poured down my gullet by living mannequins at Shotgun Betty's and some fine tex mex lounge food at Ricky's Taco's and Beer. But by far the most memorable place was Giligan's Bar which owns the term of best midget bar I have ever been to. My buddy Galen and I hit it up one night in between golf cart rides for some life size Connect 4, Jenga and the infamous Wheel of Booze. 

We spent $7 for 3 shooters and spun the wheel to see what we would drink.

I ended up with a shot that I didn't recognise and I waited patiently as the bartender headed to the kitchen to mix it. The bartender eventually came out with a thick orangish substance in the glass which I assumed was orange juice concentrate. He then poured some Jack Daniels into the glass and passed it on to me. Without thinking too much about it I picked it up and poured it down. Much to my surprise and disgust it turned out my drink was nothing but a raw egg mixed in with whiskey.

I held it down.

The Hockey Tourney

Both of our hockey teams fared pretty well in the tournament with both losing out in our respective championship games. Seems about right based on the nights before...

Hitting the Links

As any self respecting hockey team that loses out we took solace on the golf course. It seems weird that to escape the depressing and dusty landscape of early spring in Edmonton we ventured  to a lush desert setting. But, that is exactly what we did, and it was fantastic. Our foursome at the Ahwatukee Country Club decided to play scramble style and ended up doing pretty good with a score of around -9 over 18 holes. Pretty good for the first round of the year.

We even had a par 3 where we all hit the greens. I probably won't golf better all year.

Next Year?

While I enjoyed the trip down to Phoenix / Scottsdale I don't think I will vote to go back next year. I like hitting up a new city and prefer a more dense urban environment where I can explore on foot as opposed to multiple cab rides. But really, I'll go wherever as long it's with the same idiot hockey buddies.

Oilers Versus My Redwings

On March 15th the Detroit Redwings came into town and my buddy Dan took me to the game with his corporate tickets. As a longtime Redwings fan I try and make every game that they come to Edmonton. Even though the Oilers have sucked for a long time they always seem to play Detroit tough and I'm treated to a pretty competitive game.

Being that it was a Friday night game the crowd was in good spirits and jacked for the game.

As a loyal fan I donned my Datsyuk jersey and entered directly into enemy territory. The boo's and threats rained down but I stood my ground in front of the Oilers dressing room.

The game itself didn't start so hot. Taylor Hall broke in untouched early to slide one by Howard for a quick 1-0 lead and the Oilers added to that in the second holding a 2-0 advantage going into the 3rd. It was hard to tell if the Oilers were playing well or if the Wings were just stinking it up.

Nobody looked overly sharp, with the Wings defense looking downright awful. They had no confidence with the puck, Kindle was doing everything he could not to have it on his stick. The D showed no jump for loose pucks, choosing instead to let the Oilers forwards come at them. Other than some flourishes by Datsyuk (like making Smyth look foolish) and the chin of Tootoo there wasn't much to cheer for.

A sweet Filpulla backhand and bonehead play by the Oilers Petry allowed the Redwings to tie it up in the 3rd and you could feel the air come out of the building as the Detroit fans found their voice. From his stance in this picture this dude is a Dave Lewis fan.

With the game going into overtime the Oilers looked content with a single point (just look below how they put no pressure on Fransen) and Datsyuk once again pulled a rabbit out of his hat.

Celebratory drinks were needed so I headed to the bar next door to drown a beer or two with other Detroit fans. A cool moment was meeting a former UFC fighter Tim "The Thrashing Machine" Hague after commenting on the 'uniqueness' of his bunnyhug. We chatted for awhile and he was a really nice modest guy. In the picture below he is the big guy with the beard beside me.

With the Wings moving to the Eastern Division I am sad that I will have less chances to see them live but am excited that I will probably get more of their games on TV as they re-establish their dominance of the Maple Leafs on Hockey Night In Canada.

In closing I want to give a big thank you to Dan and to NorthShore Environmental Consultants for the tickets. I had an awesome time.

First Oiler Game of the Season

Last week I was sitting at work thinking about hockey and the Oilers when it dawned on me with the Dallas Stars playing that night it might be one of the last (and also first) times for me to see Jaromir Jagr. I can't say that I am a huge Jagr fan but the man has scored a lot of sweet goals and provided many Hockey Night in Canada memories with the Penguins. So, I went on Stubhub and picked up a couple of tickets for my buddy Adam and I in the cheap seats. Twenty seven bucks got me a discounted noseblead seat way up four seats from the back wall. 

We arrived at the game journeying up, up, up. The rarefied air and the view turned out to be pretty cool as you could see the whole ice. 

During the first intermission Adam and headed down to meet a friend and Adam snapped a picture for me with the Octane Girls - the Oilers Cheerleaders. Ummm, I think I will stick with my steak at home...

During the intermission, Adam and I met up with Chris and Jay who had pretty killer tickets in the mid 200's. It turned out that there was a couple extra seats right in front of them that were open so Adam and I jumped at them effectively turning our $27 tickets into $170 tickets. The view was significantly closer.

And I was even rewarded to a Jagr goal directly ahead of us as he iced the game for the Stars 4-1. If only every Oilers game offered me the same value....