Opening Night / Oilers vs Flames / Battle of Alberta / LIVE TweetCast

**LIVE TweetCast Presented by OilersJambalaya.com and by OilFieldHockey.com**

Welcome to the 1st regular season, LIVE TweetCast. Tonight's game is the Edmonton Oilers vs. the Calgary Flames. This should be a great Battle of Alberta and... it's opening night!

Click Here for the Chuch of Eberle Game Preview

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TONIGHTS OILERS STARTING LINES

Penner-Gagner-Hemsky
Hall-Horcoff-Eberle
Paajarvi-Cogliano-Brule
Jones-Fraser-Stortini

Gilbert-Whitney
Strudwick-Smid
Foster-Vandermeer

Khabibulin
Dubnyk

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Follow the OilersJambalaya.com crew as we enjoy some 2010/11 Edmonton Oilers hockey. GOILERS!

Calgary Flames (0-0-0) at Edmonton Oilers (0-0-0)

Woo! Opening Night!

A very BIG shoutout to all my fellow Oilers fans out there reading this right now!

Well... This is it... OPENING NIGHT is HERE! I'm so excited, I've got my beers chilling in my fridge and my snacks at the ready!

I guarantee this will be a better season than the last. I don't think my boys in blue & Orange can't sink as low as 2009-10 ever again, but I'm a realist... I'm not expecting us to take the Western Conference or Northwest Division by storm... Let's remember... This is what Lowe, Tambo and Katz would call "Rebuild: Year One", so let us treat it as such - Taylor Hall isn't going to score 106 points in the NHL like he could in the OHL.

Now that training camp has come and gone, I'm going to mention some names I've been happy and unhappy with:

HAPPY:

Magnus Paajarvi

Jordan Eberle

Richard Petiot

Shawn Horcoff

Kurtis Foster

Jeff Deslauriers

Devan Dubnyk

Ales Hemsky

Sam Gagner

UNHAPPY:

Linus Omark

Nikolai Khabibulin

Steve MacIntyre

Theo Peckham

Taylor Hall

The guys in the "happy" list are guys I've expected to perform as well, or better than my personal expectations.

I'm very pleased that Hemsky, Horcoff and Gagner have had a good training camp. Gagner's been banging on about this weight he's lost, but it doesn't show, to be honest. However, his workrate's been impressive, as is the case with Ales Hemsky, who's finding his way back to form after a long lay-off. Horcoff has been the more exceptional in carrying the load for this team, and after what I've seen from this preseason, he's thoroughly deserving of that "C" that he'll now wear on his jersey.

Magnus Paajarvi... WOW, what a guy! I think some might have expected his preseason performance, and there are those who might have underestimated him, somewhat, and turned their attentions towards buddies Eberle and Hall.

Kurtis Foster has that wicked shot and has used it very well thus far, I can't wait to see and learn more about this guy as the season develops...

Richard Petiot... Well, what can I say about him? He went out there and fought tooth and nail for that much coveted 6/7th D-Man spot and lost out, to a younger Theo Peckham, who, in my mind, did nothing to solidify his claim for the position. The best man wasn't the better man and I'm sorry Petiot will ply his trade in the AHL, but I'm sure the Barons will use him very wisely, even if the Oilers didn't take the chance on him.

The goaltending situation is unclear, as there's a 3 ring circus, with Dubey, JD, and Khabibulin still on the books... My opinion? We have to send one down to the minors or trade them away... And my choice is...

Devan Dubnyk

I'm a Jeff Deslauriers fan, and I like what he's capable of. I admire Devan Dubnyk too, but Martin Gerber needs a decent backup in Oklahoma City, as Bryan Pitton certainly doesn't cut it, and I think Dubey would benefit more from another season in the AHL than Deslauriers would. I don't think Dubnyk would be picked up on waivers, if he were assigned - the one-way contract might frighten teams away, especially so in Deslauriers' case, as he's making more money. Both goaltenders have been decent this preseason too, and it's still very hard for management to seperate them.

My "unhappy" list are guys I've been thoroughly unimpressed with throughout preseason.

I'm going to start with Linus "No Comment" Omark... OK, here goes... I don't care if he's got all this hype behind him, I don't care if he's a "Swedish YouTube sensation", I don't care if we try and blame his linemates for his poor performances, I don't care if he thinks he deserves he deserves to play in the NHL. The guy came across in the media after being cut in a VERY bad way... Bottom line is this: He got cut because management thinks he needs work, and in this case, they were right. Omark's played SEL and KHL in his career, and this isn't the SEL or KHL... This is the National Hockey League... This is the NHL! His game needs refinement. He might be able to deke the hell out of a puck, but it doesn't mean anything unless he really pushes the envelope - regardless of who your linemates are. There's only two ways Omark will play for the Oilers this season, and they are by praying Cogliano is injured or traded away. Have fun in the AHL, Linus! Hope it kicks your shitty attitude into touch.

Nikolai "it is what it is" Khabibulin looks very rusty and it's showed in the second Vancouver and in the first Calgary games. I think our coaching staff have been too easy on him. I'm hoping he gets himself back into form rather quickly. If you ask me, out of all the goalie training camp trainees, he was the second-worst goalie on the books - because no-one's a worse netminder than Bryan "Red Light" Pitton (sorry Pitton fans). Again, a severe injustice was dealt to Martin Gerber, who only allowed 1 goal in all the games he was a part of. If I could, I'd have sent Khabibulin to OKC for conditioning and having Gerber as our starter until Re-Khab found some form.

Big Mac... I love this guy, but he's a fighter and how many fights has he had? Apart from the awesome Ivanans fight, that's it... I hear Renney wants to help develop Mac to be an overall better player. Until that happens, I expect to see him fight in every game he plays.

Theo Peckham has been thoroughly average and did nothing in his cause to win the last spot for D. I must remember to try to get an invite to training camp and do absolutely nothing, so I win a job. Richard Petiot was screwed, and we all know why... Because he's 28, and Peckham is 22.

Taylor Hall... Well, I suppose there's a lot of pressure on Hall to "save us" as it were... But let's not expect miracles. However, I did expect a little more from a #1 overall pick this preseason. I suppose we can re-evaluate him after 9 games. But sending him back to junior is a waste of his and our time.

I forgot to mention somebody, I'm sure... Oh yes... Sheldon Souray:

HIP-HIP, SOURAY! He's gone (for now)!

Now, that's out of the way, I'm looking at evaluating tonight's Battle of Alberta, when the Flames visit Rexall tonight...

After two preseason losses, (one at home, one on the road) I'm expecting that we've learned something from them by now. Our last win against CGY was September 15, 2009, after all...

My prediction for tonight's game:

Lines:

Hall - Horcoff (C) - Eberle
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky (A)
Paajarvi - Cogliano - Brule
Jones - Fraser - Stortini
MacIntyre

Whitney (A) - Gilbert
Smid - Strudwick
Vandermeer - Foster
Peckham

Khabibulin
Dubnyk

Result:

Edmonton win 4-3 in overtime. Don't ask me why, but "I got a feeling... (that tonight's gonna be a good night)"

Thanks for reading, guys!

GO OILERS GO!

Christmas Day aka Opening Night for the Oilers

After a very long off-season for the Edmonton Oilers and her fans, we are ready for hockey in Oil Country.  It's game day!!  Three Oiler draft picks (Eberle, Paajarvi and Hall) will take to the ice in their first NHL regular season game.  I hope fans keep their expectations in check and not put too much pressure on the kids or the team.  This is the start of a rebuild.  Yes it is exciting.  Yes we have hope.  But be patient.  This is not a contender.....yet.  Let's face it, this is a team that will struggle at times during the year.  If they can't win, please let it be entertaining!! 

There still exists major problems in goal:  Khabibulin has not looked very good in the preseason and they will start the year with three goalies once again.  Boozy has not played since November and is recovering from surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back.  And he looked okay in one preseason game but absolute shyte in the other.  Khabby needs to be solid and give this team a chance to start the season on a winning note. The kids should rejuvenate Hemsky, Horcoff and Penner.  This team will score goals.  I think they will need to score quite a few each night since the goaltending is questionable to start the year.  

Lineup to start the year (I don't think Jones will dress, they'll want Smacintyre in the game to smack some Lames around):

Hemsky - Gagner - Penner
Hall - Horcoff - Eberle
Paajarvi - Brule - Cogliano
Stortini - Fraser - MacIntyre (Jones)

Whitney - Gilbert
Smid - Foster
Vandermeer - Peckham (Strudwick)

Khabibulin (Dubnyk/Deslauriers)

I predict an Oilers victory tonight over the Lames.  It will be 5-3. 

Update:  As per Dan Tencer, Jones will play tonight in place of MacIntyre.   Honestly, I do not understand this at all.  Why have MacIntyre on the team if you won't play him against teams with heavyweights and teams who have pushed our Oilers around in the past?  Waive him!!

My Thoughts on the Possibility of a Barons TV Deal

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been seeing announcements by different teams in the AHL and the CHL for radio and television deals that they have gained. That got me to thinking about if the Barons might be able to secure a television deal to go along with their radio deal with KXY. It would seem that the chance of getting one for this season is pretty far gone, but that leaves plenty of time to look at getting one for next season. There are a few options the Barons have to look at. There are three really good non-cable possibilities for the team to look at; KOCB, KAUT, and KSBI. KOCB is the CW affiliate, KAUT is the MyNetworkTV affiliate, and KSBI is an unaffiliated station. Of those three, KSBI is the best choice in my opinion. KSBI is able to be seen in almost the whole state of Oklahoma, thanks to them having 12 translator sites within the state. With the station not being affiliated with any network, they wouldn’t have to deal with any programming conflicts. The Barons also already have a working business deal with one of their owners, Aubrey McClendon, who is also the CEO and Co-Founder of Chesapeake Energy, the Barons founding partner. And in what is probably the strongest case to make for KSBI, they have plenty of experience in broadcasting sporting events. In the Oklahoma City Thunder’s first two seasons, KSBI broadcast 17 games each season with Fox Sports Oklahoma broadcasting the remainder of the games. They lost the rights to show the Thunder games this year after the Thunder decided to sign an exclusive deal with Fox Sports Oklahoma. If the Barons want a really good opportunity to expose the team and the AHL to the state, and KSBI wants a very good alternative to fill the void left by the Thunder, showing the games on KSBI is the way to go.

Videos from Barons Preseason Game

I can't thank Eric(a.k.a @AHLBarons) enough for taking these videos from the only Barons preseason game against the Texas Stars. Again OilFieldHockey.com and OilersJambalaya.com have brought you another first in from Oklahoma City.