The Boys are Back

Pretty typical title for an article written on the first day of the NHL season, the first game of what hopes to be a season that see’s the Oilers return to the playoffs. The Boys are back however, and no matter what happens this season, tonight is going to be filled with high expectations and the type of exuberant enthusiasm that is seen only on opening night.

Besides my daughter’s birthday’s, opening night of the Oilers season is the night I look forward to most. Tonight is a night that won’t end in disappointment, even if the Oilers don’t win. Because we’ve just spent a terribly long offseason talking about what should change and what has changed, but we’re sick now of talking about said things, tonight we get to see the team we love in action. Tonight we watch.

Today while you are at work, home or school, you are going to be daydreaming of drinking a few Rexall magic pops, big save’s by Dubnyk and Taylor Hall flying down the left wing center and making opposing defenseman look silly on the way to undressing the goalie and making the roughly 16,000 rabid fans at Rexall jump to their feet in celebration for what hopes to be the first of many goals to come this season.

I generally try to make the Oilers home opener if I get the chance and I had chances (Thank you to the friends who offered me a chance to go, you know who you are), but tonight I’ll sit on my couch with my feet up and a glass of scotch, or 3, in my hand and watch from the comfort of my living room. Rest assured I’m still going to scream and yell at my TV as if I was at the game, I’ll yell at the linesman on a close offsides (or now icing) call, I’ll scream at the Ref’s when they miss a call on the Oilers. I’m going to stand for the national anthem and I’m going to jump off my couch when the Oilers score. Because it doesn’t matter where you watch an Oilers game all that matters is you are watching the Oilers game.

The Featured picture for this article is from last year’s home opener I attended , and you can tell that while I may not have been happy about the score, I was definitely not disappointed in the nights events.

Bold Predictions

Last night we aired the latest episode of the Oilers Rig Radio and on the show we made our predictions for the season and included some out there “Bold Predictions” There were some huge predictions made and I’ll list a few of them below let us know what you think.
Bold Prediction Number 1; Dallas Eakins wins the Jack Adams Trophy for coach of the year. Now that’s bold. For Eakins to win the Adams trophy the Oilers have to make the playoffs, and I would say have to finish top 3 in the Western Conference.
Bold Prediction Number 2; Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is ready to go and starts the season tonight with the rest of the team. This was my favorite of the Bold predictions made, could you imagine the buzz when the game time rosters are announce and RNH is listed at center.
Bold Prediction Number 3; Taylor Hall converts to center full time. This was one of my Bold Predictions, but actually I don’t think it’s that bold of an idea. Hall hasn’t looked out of place in the center position and if it works why not, imagine the teams centers were RNH, Hall, Gagner and Gordon. Phew that’s the stuff championship teams are made of.
There were plenty more “Bold Predictions” made but you will have to listen to the podcast of last night’s show to hear them.
Thanks for Reading and cheers to a new Oilers Season!
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