Battle of the Basement

It's been almost two weeks since I was in Vancouver watching Canada beat the Americans in overtime at the gold medal hockey game. It was the most nerve-wracking three hours of my life, watching the Canadians control the game until the third period when they decided to sit back and defend their 2-1 lead. Of course the game was tied up and off to overtime.

The crowd was so dejected after the late goal, but an in-house interview brought the energy back to the arena. Thank you Craig MacTavish who declared the Canadians would collect themselves, come out hard in overtime and win. Obviously, he wasn't going to say anything else but he got the crowd back into the game. The Golden Child, Sidney Crosby, scored a nice goal and the hardest gold medal of these games was won by Canada. It was the 14th gold medal (a record) and most important.

The pressure on this team was so incredible and the entire country was on the edge of their seat the entire game. At least 2/3rds of the country watched a part of this game and the ratings in the US was the best in 30 years. I was lucky enough to be there for the game and I could barely enjoy it until it was over. And wow, it was the single most exciting moment on my life.

Alas, I had to come home to Edmonton and to non-Olympic hockey. I also came home to my Grebeshkov being traded and then a few days later we said goodbye to Visnovsky. I am not too keen on either trade but I understand the reasoning behind Lubo. Hello cap space and youth! But Grebs? No, no, no, and no. He's 26 and making 3.15. Oilers were scared that he was a restricted free agent and would command a hefty raise. Sure he didn't have the best year but who on this team has?? I think they should have kept the Russian for one more year and see what he can really do.

Battle of the basement tonight: Toronto vs Edmonton. Toronto is a delightful 7 points ahead of Edmonton who have been playing better of late, going 2-1-1. However, we do NOT need the Oilers getting a boatload of wins at this point. They're positioned nicely to pick in the top two and they need to stay the course. Of course some players are fighting for jobs next year but I don't care. A loss would really cement them in 30th. Of course, a win wouldn't be the end of the world. Plus beating the Leaves would give all Oiler fans a warmy fuzzy feeling. Let's face it, the Leaves, with their blowhard GM and irritating fans, deserve to lose. And the best is they don't have their number one draft pick (Boston does).

Win? Lose? I think it's a win-win situation for the Oilers. If they lose, they really win and keep 30th place locked up. If they win, they beat the Leaves and the rest of the country rejoices. Win-win!!!

-Scarlett-