Beers and Jeers #41 (Mar 5/09 vs. Ottawa Senators)

Well hello once again folks. Lots has changed since the last Beers and Jeers. Erik Cole is gone now. He went home to Carolina. He will be missed in Oil Country. At least he still has his house there. And we welcome Ales Kotalik and Patrick O'Sullivan. I sure hope these guys work out. As fans, we need them to. I really liked Cole and what he brought to the table. I am shocked that he was the one to go. No Penner? Horcoff? Nilsson? Pouliot? Schremp? Roy? But whatever... I think that this is a good deal for the Oilers in the end. But hey, maybe Cole does resign in Edmonton this summer?

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Before this game starts the Oilers are sitting in 7th. Let get some more points boys...

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1st Period

Before the game is even going, Spezza scores in the first 12 seconds. 1-0 Ottawa. Good grief! Not the best way to start a game. The new guys sure look energized tonight. That's good because so does Hemsky. You know, Jarko Ruutu is a _____. (Go ahead and fill in your own word). I really hate that guy and all that he represents as a player. He taunts Stortini enough to make him drop the gloves. Then the chicken shit skates away. Unbelievable. Smid is really having a good period. Lots of spazzing and hitting. Nice. But the real jem of the period was when the Oiler fans started to boo Comrie when he would touch the puck. It was pretty loud. And the game is in Ottawa. *Stomach hurt type laugh* Kotalik had a pretty solid period as did O'Sullivan. But when Kotalik was getting interviewed by Mean Gene, he was dog tired. He is going to have to improve the cardio if he wants to stay on the #1 line.

2nd Period

The first part of the period, it's all Senators. They are out playing the Oilers at both ends of the rink. Horcoff takes a penalty. But before the Oilers can touch the puck the Senators score. Crap! 2-0 Ottawa. Not good boys. Not good. Shortly after at 4:41, Gagner takes a holding penalty. Ottawa attack again and what? They score. *shakes head* 3-0 Ottawa. Come on Oilers. With 11:39 left to play, the Senators are really working the Oilers over. It's almost embarrassing. But thankfully Comrie sits for 2:00. Gagner gets a nice pass from Grebs and goes in on a breakaway. Scores!!! 3-1 Ottawa. (Gagner from Grebeshkov from Gilbert at 10:45.) Ok Gagner. Nice shift in the momentum dept. Oilers are going now. But as the period winds down the Senators slowly take back the momentum.

3rd Period

This was one of those back and forth periods, yet it was boring. The first 10:00 minutes went by fairly quickly. Time is slipping for the Oilers. Awwww... Senators score again at 11:58. 4-1 Ottawa. Geez. But the Oilers do manage to get a man advantage. Gagner nails the post/crossbar and the puck appears to go in. But after the long review they call it a no goal. Damn. I personally thought that it went in. So they don't score. Too bad. But a little while later at 18:07, Gagner scores again for the Oil. This time it is in. Yeah! 4-2 Ottawa. (Gagner from Staios from Smid) That was all the Oilers could muster as they lose a game that should have been 2 points.

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Tonight's Starting Lines

Kotalik Horcoff Hemsky (This line looked ok. This might just work out. Kotalik is a big dude. He seems very solid and strong. He just needs better cardio. Horcoff was average tonight. Nothing great, nothing bad. Hemsky was finally trying to do something. Maybe this is his spark that he has needed.)

O'Sullivan Gagner Pouliot (This was a pretty good line. Gagner was on fire. He was saying Cole who? Jk. Pouliot was much like Horcoff. Nothing great, nothing bad. Which kind of makes him pretty good. O'Sullivan seems good. He's very fast and good with the puck. But he's just not comfortable yet. He is going to work with Gagner though. They just need a big fast body to play with. Not Penner please.)

Penner Cogliano Pisani (This line was average. They don't really seem to work all that well together. Penner had lots of hits which was good. But that's it. Where does Penner go when Moreau comes back? Cogliano was kind of Horcoff-ish as well. 50/50. Pisani still isn't Pisani yet. But he will.)

Jacques Brodziak Stortini (The 4th line was a hard hitting unit. *He he*. Unit. Jacques was not very good in my opinion. He was slow and not very aware. Brodziak seemed lifeless at times but was good on the face off dot. Stortini was duped into not fighting with Ruutu. But he played solid.)

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FINAL SCORE

Edmonton Oilers - 2

Ottawa Senators - 4

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BEERS

Sam Gagner - This was the guy I was worried the most about when we traded Cole. I guess he will survive huh? Sammy was great tonight. He seemed to be in the right places. Not to many guys deserve a beer tonight. But Sam earned every bottle with his effort. Two goals, almost three. Five shots for the little dude. Team high. Nice. So have a case a beer and help yourself Sam. Cheers!

Ladislav Smid - I don't care if anyone agrees with me. Smid was a force. He was hitting and smack talking. He was a freaking Spaz. I love that. He even managed an assist tonight. Have a big beer Smid. Cheers!

Andrew Cogliano - The man was a beast on faceoffs. Get this. 7 wins, 2 losses for 78%. Wow! For a guy that is around 37% for the season, this is huge. This is colossally massive. This is worth a beer. High five Andrew! But try scoring next time. Cheers!

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JEERS

The Entire Team - What the hell? That is the effort that we (fans) get after a interesting trade day? Totaly not good enough. *shakes head* No one in particular was really worthy off a full out boo. The team just sucked as a whole and Roli could save the day. I don't need to say anything else. We need the wins. Bad dog! *shakes finger* Boooooooo!

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That was a bad loss. The pieces have changed and yet the will to win has not. The Oilers really need to pick up some points on this roadie. It's like free points. Don't pass it up. The next game should be a gimme. Should be.