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.

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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?

Beers and Jeers #54 (Apr 2/09 vs. San Jose Sharks)

Well, everyone has talked or heard about the text message so I won't talk about it. Everyone knows that I don't blame MacT 100% for this year. I blame the Captain and the Oilers leaders.

Roli started again for the 34th straight game.

Will MacT ever get his 300th win? This season?

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Tonight's Starting Lines

Kotalik Horcoff Hemsky (This line was good at times, bad at times and just average at times. Not really how a #1 line should be. But it is what it is at this point of the season. Kotalik had 3 shots and 3 hits. Not bad. Horcoff was given limited minutes. Other than faceoffs and passes, he really didn't do anything. We saw Hemsky in flashes. He didn't shoot or hit anyone so.... his passing is sick though.)

Nilsson Gagner O'Sullivan (These guys were going hard all game. Nilsson had a fairly good game. Picked up an assist but gave up the puck a little too much. Gagner had one of his best games. He was hitting people, taking shots from all over the place. He played great. O'Sullivan takes shots from the places that most guys don't. If he gets trapped, he spins away from the guy and takes a shot. He did good in this game.)

Moreau Cogliano Pisani (These guys sucked. They were awful. This line never should have seen ice in the 3rd. If you can't figure out why the PK sucks so bad, then look at this line. If they can't get it done 5 on 5, then how can you expect them to be good being a man short? I feel bad for Cogs. He deserves better linemates. BTW: This was the line that botched the line change on the 1st shift of the game that resulted in the 1st goal of the game. *shakes finger*)

Penner Brodziak Stortini (This 4th line played like a 3rd line. They not only took control of the puck and play, but they caused havoc all game. Penner had a fine game. He played like he wanted to win. Brodziak looks better when he plays with Storts. They compliment each other nicely.)

Souray Staios (They did their job. Souray does look tired but he still can shoot. Too bad he can't hit the net more. Staios was good. He did nothing fancy, just smart hockey.)

Grebeshkov Gilbert (I thought that these guys were also good. Gilbert seems to have up and down games. This one was kind of in the high middle. Grebs did fairly good but was given a BTP for taking that interference penalty that resulted in the PP goal. Bad call or not, it's still a BTP. He played the most out of the Oilers defense.)

Strudwick Peckham (These guys played as capable NHLers. Strudwick does what he does best and plays that plugger type role. Peckham seems to be adapting fairly well to the NHL. Good to see. A few guys may not be around next year so it's nice to know that there are guys that can come in and play.)

Roloson (He was burned on the 1st shift by a nice shot. After that, he looked good. He played his ass off and made huge saves. He was classic Roli.)

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FINAL SCORE

San Jose Sharks - 2

Edmonton Oilers - 1

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BEERS

Sam Gagner - He was the 2nd best Oiler. He may be small but he packs a big punch. He scored his 15th of the year and actually did not bad on the faceoff dot. I was a little surprised that MacT had him out for the last faceoff against big Joe Thorton. He did win it though?!?! Crazy huh? For a Samerific game have a cold chilly Mountain Crest beer. Cheers!

Dwayne Roloson - Roli the goalie was the best Oiler. He didn't start out great and took a BTP of his own when he flipped the puck to high and into the net. Tough luck. But Roli at this point of the season can do whatever he wants. He plays like a leader, he is our leader. When is the consecutive streak going to be over? Have a Bud Roli. Cheers!

The RX1 Crowd - The crowd was into this game right from the start. I forgot what it sounded like. I think that the team really responded to the crowd. Every person at that game deserves a frosty mug o' beer. Cheers everyone!

Honorable Mentions - Theo Peckham (Solid Game. I didn't see him waver badly once.), Denis Grebeshkov (Other than the BTP, he was good.) Robert Nilsson (I though he did his job. He managed an assist.), The 4th Line (I love this line!)

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JEERS

Andrew Cogliano/Ethan Moreau/Fernando Pisani - WTF?!? What kind of game was that? Not a very good one. Break this up MacT. Booooooooo!

The Entire Team - You guys really need to learn how to pass from stick to stick. I am not sure how many passes I seen get interrupted or missed by the guy completely. The elite teams don't do that 10 or 12 times a game. Boooooooooo!

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That was a good game. I loved that the Oilers took one of the best teams in the league to the limits and had a good old fashioned speed game. Lots of chances and excitement. Too bad the Oilers couldn't tie it up in the end.

Next game is Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks on CBC at 8:00 pm. See you all then.

Beers and Jeers #53 (Mar 31/09 vs. Anaheim Ducks)

I couldn't write anything last night as I was shocked, disgusted, saddened, sombre, angry, confused and shocked again. WTF?!? For two days the Oilers preached to the fans about being the 7th man. THEY pumped up the game to the fans. We will bring our best our Captain said. Well if that was your best then you guys suck more than I think. Don't promise what you can't back up. Blame MacT all you want. He didn't crap the bed for the first 55 minutes. The players did. Gilbert took a BTP (Bad Timing Penalty) right after the Ducks score to make it 2-1, which then made it 3-1 when CFP scores on the PP. That really took the wind out of the sails. For the fans and the players.

The part that made me feel strange was when the game was over, the kids looked crushed. Heart broken that they lost this game. I felt bad for Cogs and Gags. However... when the camera was tossed on Moreau, Horcoff, Hemsky and Souray leaving the ice they looked like, "oh well." "Who gives a crap". I do. The rest of the Oiler Nation gives a crap. As much as people are ready for MacT to be gone (and I do agree now BTW), I say the same for Moreau as Captain. NNC.

Here is the summary: The Oilers look good in the first 5 minutes. The suck for the rest off the game up until 16:33 of the 3rd period. Then they score 2 quick goals. Yay! But when the luck is starting to run out, MacT tries to pull a rabbit out if his hat. But the rabbit was already dead. Game over.

GAME SUMMARY
EVENT SUMMARY

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FINAL SCORE

Anaheim Ducks - 5

Edmonton Oilers - 3

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BEERS

Dustin Penner - I liked how he played last night. He was one of the few that really brought it. He had 6 shots and was a +1. I say you played well enough to deserve a beer. Cheers!

Zack Stortini - He was one of the best Oilers last night. He was hitting guys. He had a good fight with Parros in the 1st. When MacT sent him out near the end, I was going what the hell?!? Just then... Boom! He tips in the puck. GOOOOOOOAALLLL... Awesome. He was wicked cool. That's right. Wicked cool. Enjoy a frosty Storts. Cheers!

Shawn Horcoff - I thought that he was good despite his attitude after the final whistle blew. It's just to bad that that his linemates couldn't match his play. He does need to shoot more. The more you shoot the quicker the slump stops. But for a good game... Have a cold one. Cheers!

Honorable Mentions - Steve Staios (He seemed to be trying hard to help the team win last night. He jumped up in the play a few times and played a simple type game. He just looks really tired.) J.F. Jacques (He played ok. He did was he was supposed to. Good job.)

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JEERS

Ethan Moreau - The Captain made a statement and didn't follow through. We will bring our best. No you did not. NNC. Boooooooo!

Ales Hemsky - Same for you. Talk is cheap and you did sweet f*ck all. You want to be a leader of this team? You want to get rode like a Red Mile Hooker? Why? You don't show up when needed. Like last night. Boooooooo!

Sheldon Souray - All those hard shots aren't worth a crap if you don't hit the net. Wide open net. Missed. I was expecting a different Souray last night. He also looks tired. Booooooo!

Tom Gilbert - Your stats (3 assists and 5 shots which normaly deserves a frosty beer) may say one thing but taking a BTP is unforgivable. Tough luck... but it's your luck. That sucked Tom. *shakes head* Boooooooo!

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Is this the end?

*Breaking News* MacT Steps Down and Apologizes to the Fans

APRIL FOOLS.

I know. Not really all that funny. Couple more games it will all be over.

Try and have a good day everyone.