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.

Hockey Trip to Chicago - Cubs and Blackhawks

Americans love sports. They put us Canadians to shame when it comes to fanaticism and the overall attention that they pay to their collegiate and professional teams. It is because of this that every time I am in an American urban centre I try to attend a game of some sort. On this trip I was lucky enough to get in a Cubs and Blackhawks game.

Almost immediately after checking into our hotel I met up with our larger team to head out to the Cubs game. It was a rainy Thursday afternoon and I was so relieved that they were actually going to play (they were rained out the day before) I didn't properly dress for the occasion. After a quick ride on the train we were at the second oldest park in the MLB.

The slow starting Cubs were playing the World Champ Giants and I was excited to see one of my favorites up close: Pablo "Kung Fu Panda" Sandoval. Our tickets were just past first base about 5 rows up. I thought they were pretty fantastic.

Pablo! Who is obviously comfortable on both sides of any plate. (Yes, that was a switch hitter fat joke...Heyo!) Seriously though, the guy is freaking huge.

The rain and snow were pretty cold so I made up for my earlier negligence by picking up a tuque and alternating between beers and hot chocolates for beverages. Obviously in the picture below the red nose is from the cold.

The Cubs started the game hot but it seemed an inevitability that they would lose. Living up to expectation the Giants overcame a 5 run deficit and ended up squeaking through with a win.

After some deep reflection on the loss we realized that we really didn't care either way and were in the mood to celebrate.

Pre Epic Slap Fight BFF's

The next night straight from our own games at the rink in Bensenville we headed to the United Center for my Detroit Redwings against the Blackhawks.

Our seats were way up in the nosebleed section where I firmly represented the winged wheel.

The atmosphere in the rink was absolutely crazy. The arena has long been know as the Madhouse on Madison and we fully experienced that right off the bat during the anthem. Everybody, and I mean everybody was cheering, clapping and yellsinging the Star Spangled Banner. It was something to take in. During the game every great play on the ice was acknowledged wildly by the crowd and multiple chants of "Lets Go Blackhawks" or "Detroit Sucks" reverberated through the building repeatedly. Many of the die-hard Oilers fans with me admitted that the atmosphere in the building matched the Stanley Cup finals in Edmonton a few years back. But this game was only just a Friday night game against a division rival. It was amazing.

The hockey on the ice was pretty stellar with a couple of lead changes, an overtime with only one whistle and  a shootout that went into extra shooters. The Blackhawks won 3-2 but my Wings managed to get a much needed point. It was the second best outcome I could hope for on the night.

Even now a couple weeks on I can't help but think how great watching a game at the United Center was. It's almost embarrassing to think that our American friends are better in rink hockey fans than us Canadians -  but it's true and its why I love watching games in the USA.

More on the Hockey Trip - Part 1 & Part 3

Hockey Trip To Chicago - Hanging in the Big City

(Part 1 of 3)

It was a rough season for the North Shore Ice Ninjas and for myself this year in rec hockey. The team had a ton of different players, many nights with too few skaters, some suspensions, and some injuries to key players. Personally, I had trouble with an oblique strain and my first goalless season. We finished 3rd last after being relegated down a division with a 7-20-1 record. Abysmal!

After being swept out of the playoffs we didn't have much to look forward to other than our annual tournament trip. This year, as the title of this post states was Chicago.

This was my second time in Chicago after visiting a few years back. My initial impressions of the city then were positive and this trip cemented my love of the city. Such a fantastic place with so much to see and do:

Fantastic architecture and buildings which almost made me late for the bus to the rink:
                                 
Carbide and Carbon building - love the green with the gold top

Wrigley Building

Trump International Hotel & Tower (which was under construction when I was last in Chicago)

Fantastic public art that integrates and complement the city

A weird exhibit in Millennium Park by the artist Jun Kaneko

The Frank Gehry designed Jay Pritzker Pavillion

Cloud Gate and the skyline

I really can't help but love the giant bean. And yes, I know it's called Cloud Gate, but I just don't care...It's a giant bloody stainless steel bean...and it's awesome. Much like the city, there's so much to love. You could spend all day there just watching the expressions of fellow tourists seeing it for the first time with wide eyes and be entertained. It's just genius how it is perpetually changing based on your angle, the natural light levels, cloud cover and the passing of the day. 

The fact that it is so big and you can position yourself underneath it is just a bonus. However, it should come with a warning, if you have had a few to many 'Old Style' the night before it can induce a bit of nausea.

Giant bean vortex to a land of giants

Each year when we do the hockey trip I start to feel my age catch up to me. I'm probably one of the relatively older guys on the team and my ability to bounce back from a late night for an early morning game wanes every trip. That being said I gave it the old college try.

With a group of 30 guys you are going to get some individual side trips and Mitz and I took the cake this year. As we are both fans of the Blues and listening to bands Mitz convinced me that we should go check out the New Checkerboard Lounge as the original had a great history including a legendary impromptu concert with Muddy Waters and the Rolling Stones.

Expecting some great blues we were a bit taken aback when after a long cab ride south of downtown the grizzled old doorman at the New Checkerboard told us there was no blues tonight, just a local rap group performing. Mitz and I looked at each other and decided we should go in for at least one drink. Which in turn the elderly doorman replied "Are you sure you want to go in there?"

As soon as we stepped in we realized what he was 'warning' us of - we were the only white boys in the place and the dress and music pumping were decidedly 'urban'. We settled up to the bar, ordered some Old Style and listened to the first performance which consisted of 6 guys on stage: 1 kind of rapping, 4 hype men reciting "South Side N******" repeatedly and 1 other dude just kind of dancing there. At one point there was a dude on stage whose pants were so low that his belt and the physics of gravity simply ceased to exist. Trust me, the visual below does not do the local atmosphere justice.

We ended up having a few drinks and were soon befriended by an intoxicated amorous woman who took a shine to me. I gingerly navigated that minefield (ask me about in a non public forum sometime) and we took our leave as more and more eyes within the room started turning toward us. With some haste we flagged down a cab and got our mojo working at Kingston Mines for a great night.

And that was an early night of 3am. I was practically spry on the ice the next day.

Next up - Cubs and Hawks (Part 2) & Ninjas/Devils Losers and Champs on the Ice (Part 3)

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.