I lIke The Cut Of Your Jib #5

Well folks with the season wrapping up, I look around the dressing room and I see some more Jib Cutters sitting there still. Some will still be here next year so I am not really in a panic to do them right away. But there is one guy who may not be back. He has been a favorite of mine right from the first game I seen/heard of him. He may not contribute like other players do but I don't care, I love his story.

Steve MacIntyre

Born: August 8, 1980 in Brock, Saskatchewan

Height: 6'5"

Weight: 250lbs

Position: Left Wing (Oilers), Defense (Minors/Juniors)

In 1997 he started his junior hockey career by playing one game with the Saskatoon Blades. At that time I was hell bent on learning how to play the guitar. The year after that he played in 55 games for the Blades. By the time he "made it" in the NHL, he has fought 180 times. Wow. That's a lot of knuckles to the face.

His story is one that made me like him that much more. I had no idea who the big gnarly looking guy was when the Oilers first claimed him on waivers September 30, 2008. But his "be afraid of no one" attitude is great. And away from the rink he's a nice guy. Funny too.

Steve only played 20 games this year for the Edmonton Oilers. They may be the only 20 games he may ever play in the NHL. But I'm sure he's enjoyed his stay here in Oil Country. He even scored a goal. I cheered so freaking hard. EDIT: He scores #2 against the fLames tonight. It was an even better goal this time. And he played a ton (11:04. Lots for him). He also had 3 shots on goal. That is what he had all season. Great game for Big Mac. Maybe he plays his 22 game tommorow?

Steve, for being such a great ass kicker for this hockey club, we thank you. We needed you this year. You did good. You showed Stortini that there was more to fighting than just tying up a guy and hugging him. You showed us that no matter what, punch him some where and fast. (face/head/ribs/stomach/anywhere that hurts) If you haven't seen this he shows you how to fight.

You showed all of us that dreams can come true.

I like the cut of your jib, you Jib Cutter you!

Steve MacIntyre Oiler Fights

vs. Riley Cote

vs. Vandermeer

vs. Godard

vs. Boogaard

vs. Brandon Prust

vs. David Koci

vs. Rob Davison

Beers and Jeers #56 (Apr 8/09 vs. Los Angeles Kings)

Well it's hard to want to sit down and talk about that game. I'm sad, frustrated, shocked and a little bit in denial. I can not believe it's all over.

Roli started what maybe his last game this year and possibly as an Oiler. Thanks Roli. We do like you here in Edmonton. But MacT, please let him play the last game of the year. Don't let it end like that for him and you.

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1st Period

The 2nd line starts the game for the Oilers. The have a great 35 seconds as they are in the LA zone. But LA gets out and hems that line back in their own zone. Son of a... The Kings score a soft one on Roli at 0:55. Damn! 1-0 Kings. The crowd all at once let out a collective Awwww. A little while later Ethan Moreau drills a guy. Holy Crap! The Kings score again. 2-0 Kings. Once again it was the 2nd line that gets burned at 3:46. The crowd is stunned. I am stunned. After this this game is pretty boring. No real action, just safe hockey by both teams. At 8:51 the Oilers get their first PP. Not much really happens except for Hemsky whiffing on a pass. He looks at his stick blade like WTF? A few seconds later the camera shows him sitting on the bench pouting about it. At that moment both the wife and I said cya to Hemsky for the night. When he gets frustrated early, he disappears for the rest of the game. Probably he only real weak part of his game. Anyways, a fight breaks out. Peckham vs. Brian Boyle (6'7" 250lbs). Peckham kills him. He lands a few good left punches to the face/head. That was good. Crowd responds to it. MacT seems to have the blender on medium speed now. That means MacT is in panic mode. Not yet MacT. Jack Johnson nails Gagner from behind. Penner was right there when it happened and he took exception to it. Penner vs. Johnson. He handles Johnson ok and takes him down. Good on Penner. Will the emotion carry over to the 2nd? That was an intense last few minutes.

2nd Period

34 seconds into the 2nd, the Oilers go on their 2nd PP of the night. The PP still looks crappy. They don't score. Good first 5 minutes was all Oilers. 6 shots Oilers. Kings zero. Gagner the crazy fool skates out of his way to lay a body check on Brian Boyle. Brian Boyle! 6'7" 250lbs. Gags has a big set of nuts. How many Vets would have done that? That is why this kid is going to be a great all around player for the Oilers for years to come. A short while later, Brodziak grabs a flying puck and drops it in front of his stick. He has a wide open net and misses. Unbelievable! With 10 minutes played, the Oilers seem to be trying to get something done. Nothing is seeming to work though as it's still 2-0. Fight! Stortini vs. Ivanans. Good tilt. Storts even gets reversed jerseyed and still manages to get in some more shots to the head of Ivanans. After the fight Stortini's face looks like a half beaten bag of tomatoes. The 2nd line has been good this period. Good chances. Yeah! Oilers score. 2-1 Kings. (Pisani from Grebeshkov and Gilbert at 16:29.) Alright boys. Back in this one. Roli is taken down right in front of the ref and there is no call. The crowd is back in this game now too. Let's Go Oilers! Roli gets tripped up yet again and again, there is no call. Roli covers the puck and then freaks out. He throws the puck into the corner. Even when he's crappy, he still entertaining. Good period by the Oilers.

3rd Period

Good start by the Oilers. MacT is rolling all four lines. They are all playing good so why not? Nothing really news worthy in the first 10 minutes. Good flow but no excitement. With 9 minutes left, Gagner is nailed once again. And he just gets back up. Soon after Moreau has a great chance and almost scores. Nice passing on that play. Well there is 4:30 left and the Oilers are really turning up the heat now. The crowd is fired up and it seems to be helping the team. This game is Oilers vs. Quick. He is robbing the Oilers left and right. He's LA's Roli tonight. Oilers call a timeout at 18:21. Oilers can't mount much of an attack. With 32 seconds left, Grebeshkov has the puck taken from him as he is casually skating in front of Roli. He was lucky there as he stole it back. But the game ends. It's over. We lose.

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Tonight's Starting Lines

Kotalik Horcoff Hemsky

O'Sullivan Gagner Nilsson

Moreau Cogliano Pisani

Penner Brodziak Stortini

Souray Staios

Grebeshkov Gilbert

Strudwick Peckham

Roloson

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FINAL SCORE

Los Angeles Kings - 2

Edmonton Oilers - 1

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BEERS

Sam Gagner - This kid wanted this win more than any other Oiler. Well it appeared that way to me. He was hitting guys twice his size, he was shooting. He had a couple of takeaways. He was trying to do what ever. In fact it makes me wonder if the Oilers should be like Chicago and bank their future on a young guy like Gagner by giving him the C? For a great game other than the 2 goals against, have a frosty beer. Cheers!

Theo Peckham - He has been impressing me quite a bit. He is tougher than I imagined. He plays pretty decent hockey. In fact, he keeps up the progress and he could easily replace Staios. His fight was good. He even manged a shot and a blocked shot. Solid game Theo. Have a cold one on me. Cheers!

Ethan Moreau - The Captain played pretty good. He did not do anything stupid. He played a sound game. He led the team with 4 hits and they were good ones to. He did his job and that deserves a beer. Cheers!

The Fans - There isn't enough beer in the world to numb the pain. But we shall try. Chug!

Honorable Mentions - Fernando Pisani (He scores the Oilers only goal. Played well.), Patrick O'Sullivan (The guy shoots from anywhere. 7 shots.)

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JEERS

Ales Hemsky - WTF? Why is it that when you can't get anything going in the first 5 minutes you disappear for the rest of the game? You showed up a little near the end but it was too late. You let a lot of Oiler fans down playing like that in this game. We needed you. And you ignored us. Booooooo!

Shawn Horcoff - Ok. Your faceoffs were good. But when you are the #1 anything, you need to produce. Not just this game, but every game. You didn't and the season is over. Peoples brains are going to explode next year with that contract of yours. You think people are harsh now. lol. Wait. Boooooooooo!

89 12 19 37 77 35 - All six of these guys were on the ice for both LA goals. All six were guilty on the 2nd goal. Roli more so on the 1st goal. -2 for the 2nd line. You guys may have played well, but at those two moments you were pretty awful. Boooooooooo!

The Entire Team - Playoffs... Missed... 3 years in a row... WTF?!? BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

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Now what?

I Can't Believe It's Over...

We all know that the Oilers lost tonight. Well the Blues won their game tonight and therefore they mathematically eliminated the Oilers from the playoffs. It's all over. The end.

I claimed at the beginning and through the entire year that this team was special. I claimed that they were a group that was going to not only make the playoffs, but that they would squeak their way into the Stanley Cup Finals once again. I believed that. I did. Right to the end.

I was wrong.

*covers head and waits for the proverbial rocks to be thrown*

.

There will be changes that's for sure. I just wonder what's 1st? Trade? Firing? Releasing? Signing? Nothing?

The Fire MacT Rally Flops.

"What Rally?" That was the headline on the front page of my edition of the Edmonton Sun. Here is the full story. CLICK HERE

It appears to me like the rally flopped. The organizer Adam Risling, 19, tried to get people to come and show support for MacT to be fired. Good in theory. The grand total of people that actually showed up was seven. The reporters (Sun, Journal, TSN, Sportsnet and HNIC) out numbered the protesters. How embarrassing. I'm sure that was not the amount of people they had expected as the paper says that they had almost 10,000 people signed up to come down.

.

But a lot of people that voice their opinions are not really Oiler fans. I see it at work everyday. The Oilers suck in the 3rd, they should only play in the 1st and 2nd. What? They may not even be NHL fans at all. I mean really. Look at that picture on the front page (if you can). One guy has a jersey on. That's it. No one is wearing anything with the Oilers name or logo. No shirts, no hats, no anything. And that in itself is sad. I'm not saying that they are not fans, but wear something. I thought that the fire MacT band wagon was bigger and better than that.

I personally think that doing something like that is a waste of time. Hell, me writing about it is a waste of time. Katz doesn't care what seven people think. He probably wouldn't care what 10,000 regular people think either. (unless they are season ticket holders that is.)

Have no fear Oiler fans. I'm sure that MacT will step down anyways. Relax and enjoy the last three games. Isn't that why we even give a crap about this team in the first place? For the joy of watching? It is for me.

Beers and Jeers # 55 (Apr 4/09 vs. Vancouver Canucks)

*EDIT*

Roli is the oldest goalie to play more than 60 games in a season. Sweet. A record is a record.

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1st Period

Right off the hop Kotalik scores. Yeah! 1-0 Oilers. (Kotalik from Horcoff and Souray at 0:27) Nice start. At 2:03 Peckham has to go sit for 2:00. Oilers kill it off and start to get into the game more. The flow is great, barely any whistles in the first 7 minutes. Roli sure is looking sharp. Somehow Hemsky is the 1st man back and he trips up Burrows and he gets a penalty. WTF?!? First man back? Wow. Lucky for Hemmer the Oilers kill that one off. A short while later Hemsky tries to redeem himself by busting in and stick handling through a crowd and gets hooked by Edler. Oilers PP. They looked crappy. Terrible PP. But the Oilers get another PP at 15:28 and this unit looks a little better. They can't score on this one either, but like I said, they looked better. Just as the period is winding down, Rypien and Stortini want to go. Rypien pops Storts in the face on the first punch. Ouch! They have a good tilt but Storts gets beat pretty good. Oilers come out of the 1st with a goal and a decent start in front of the home crowd.

2nd Period

52 seconds in, Grebeshkov takes a hooking penalty. Not the best way to start a period. Never mind that it's the 2nd and we all know how crap ass the Oilers are in the 2nd. Good thing the Oilers kill that off. The first 7 minutes is good hockey. Great action. Gooooaaaaallll Oilers! Yeah! 2-0 Oilers. (Grebeshkov from Gagner and O'Sullivan at 8:14.) Oh Yeah! Grebs pinched down low and stuck it past Bobby Lou. The Oiler crowd is going crazy and so am I. The Canucks keep pressing with shots on the Oil, but Roli has been great so far stopping everything. At 19:10, Staios takes a borderline BTP late in the 2nd. He was just being over aggressive. Oilers kill off a bit of that penalty and will have to finish it off in the 3rd. Canucks shots so far are 32. Oilers have 16. At least the Oilers didn't get destroyed in this period. That was a first.

3rd Period

With a minute something left on the Staios penalty, the Oilers kill it off. At 1:27, Kesler trips up Grebs and will have to sit in the box. The Oilers can't score but they do have some good chances. Kotalik hits the post. Sundin out powers Staios and for some reason, Staios stops playing just a 1/2 second to adjust his helmet. Just then, Sundin fires it past him and finds Raymond and he scores at 6:51. 2-1 Oilers. WTF Staios?!? Canuck fans at the game are sure loving that. I can't believe how many there are. Gagner grabs the puck in the Oilers zone. He gets to Vancouver's blue line and burns Mitchell with a nice move. He jukes and jives all the way in and slides it past Luongo. Yeah! 3-1 Oilers. (Gagner unassisted at 10:28) How sweet was that move? That was classic al' a Hemsky. Gagner is going to be a really good player in the near future. Wow! Well Souray and Staios were too busy looking at the play in front of them that they forgot to look back. Burrows gets a long pass and breaks in on Roli. Scores. Damn! 3-2 Oilers. Getting scary now. Shortly after that goal, Burrows runs over Roli and takes a penalty. What a moron. If that isn't a BTP for Vancouver then nothing is. Wow! Idiot! Boom!!! Souray fires one into the net. 4-2 Oilers. (Souray from Hemsky and Gagner at 14:49 on the PP) Crazy folks. This game is getting intense. Moreau takes a BTP late in the 3rd. He goes off for slashing at 16:32. Surprised? Not really. Awwww... The Canucks pile into Roli's crease and jam a PP goal home. Dammit Moreau! 4-3 Oilers. Way to go Captain. So the Canucks pull Luongo and somehow the puck pops out of the neutral zone and Hemsky is free and scores on the empty net. Yay! 5-3 Oilers. (Hemsky unassisted at 18:58) That is the game folks. And it was a good one too.

GAME SUMMARY

EVENT SUMMARY

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Tonight's Starting Lines

Kotalik Horcoff Hemsky

Nilsson Gagner O'Sullivan

Moreau Cogliano Pisani

Penner Brodziak Stortini

Souray Staios

Grebeshkov Gilbert

Strudwick Peckham

Roloson

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FINAL SCORE

Vancouver Canucks - 3

Edmonton Oilers - 5

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BEERS

Sam Gagner - Gags was great. He was doing everything out there. It did take him a while to get going but once that hapened he was a force. He scores a goal and picks up 2 assists. Good for him. He seems to be fitting with O'Sullivan nicely. His defensive play is good but he still needs to work on his faceoffs (27% tonight). For playing such a great game, enjoy a frosty beer. Cheers!

Dwayne Roloson - Roli the goalie broke a record tonight for being the oldest goalie to play in 60 or more games in a season. He also broke his own personal best for wins in a season. Roli faced a ton of shots (46) and played to the best of his ability tonight. He deserves a nice cold Budweiser. Cheers!

Ales Hemsky - Hemmer had a great game as well. His passing was pretty spot on. He found Kotalik a few times that made me need to see the replay becuase I couldn't figure out how he did it. He scores the empty netter and picks up an assist on the Souray goal. I thought that his gamesmenship was way better tonight. For a fantabulas game... Have a drink on me. Cheers!

Honorable Mentions - Craig MacTavish (He gets win #300 with this win. That's a great milestone to achieve.), Denis Grebeshkov (Had a solid outing and managed a nice goal.), Ales Kotalik (He had a solid game and a nice quick goal. I liked that Hemsky is starting to work with him.), Patrick O'Sullivan (I thought that he did good. Picked up an assist and had 4 shots.) Kyle Brodziak (He played a nice all around game. Did well on the PK.), Shawn Horcoff (He also played fairly well. At least he was shooting this game.)

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JEERS

There is none rally, other than Ethan Moreau's late BTP in the 3rd. Good god man. Boooooo!

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2 games in a row we take a good/hot team to the limits. Where the hell was that all year?