Taylor Hall notches Gordie Howe hat-trick

[Cult of Hockey]
[Oilers Nation]
[Box Score]

It was amazing because before the fight with Derek Dorsey, completing the Gordie Howe hat trick, Taylor Hall put on display some of the sickest moves to nearly score his second goal of the game. It's so obvious that he is the superstar on the Edmonton Oilers, and it's a shame that he's going to miss time now that he has 22 goals on the season.

A couple of great takes from The Globe and Mail. 

Starting reading 'Tough Guy' by Bob Probert

I started reading Tough Guy: My Life on the Edge by Bob Probert today. I didn't buy the book, but it will have me making frequent returns to the local Barnes & Noble bookstore to keep getting through pages of what began as an epic tale of booze, fighting, and all out hockey talk.

The review I linked to really says it best.

Tough Guy is the no nonsense expose of Bob Probert’s life written with Kirstie McLellan Day. Its part Animal House and part Slap Shot. This is a story of a time in sports that is so different from today that it’s hard to believe that it was only a couple decades ago. Probert was such a hard party machine that he would stay out all night, till 7 A.M. dress for practice and play that night. He was a smoker. He microwaved his urine to fool the testers into thinking it had just come out of his body and yet he occupies some interesting spots in the record books.

And that's why I loved it thus far. So many books I need to read, so little time. It's amazing that Probert lived as long as he did. He sounds like a guy who knew that he wasn't built to live 80 years and be on social security, and it probably didn't matter to him.

It's looking like one Hell of a book.

Tyler v. Taylor I goes to the Bruins 3-2

[Box Score]

The Oilers remained stuck on 48 points and in last place in the entire NHL. In the closing minutes, Taylor Hall ripped off a whistling slap shot from the bottom of the screen that flew just wide of the space in goal, and the Bruins hung on to the win. Tyler vs. Taylor round 1 goes to the Bruins.

It wasn't a particularily memorable night for either Taylor or Tyler.

Seguin: -1 in 9:32
Hall: -2 in 19:52

Gilbert Brule looked really good in his game back 1G, +1, 50% on faceoffs 4 hits.

Hall has 20 games left in his rookie season and 40 points tallied. You'd like to see him somehow get to 50 or 55, with 30 goals. But it's looking unlikely. 

Taylor Hall's First Hat Trick

 [Cult of Hockey]

[Event Summary] [Box Score]

To watch what Taylor Hall did yesterday afternoon at Rexall Place against the Atlanta Thrashers was truly witnessing something special. If you watched Hall take over the game in the 3rd period yesterday, you knew that you were watching a dominating performance and after he got his first two goals (cutting the deficit to 3-2, tying the game at 3-3 with the goal horn coming within mere minutes of each-other) you just knew he was going to find a way to get the hat trick.

The young man looked hungry with the puck. And guys like Ales Hemsky and Sam Gagner just kept feeding the monster. Tom Renney should get credit, because he saw that Hall was in one of those rare zones and kept giving him ice time. It seemed like Hall was playing every other shift. It was truly fun hockey to watch. The Thrashers looked helpless on the power play defence and Hall scored all three goals on special teams to get a natural hat trick.

NBC's Matt Reitz:

There’s a certain quality that superstars have that most NHLers will never experience—some people call it the “it” factor. Hall controlled the game. It wasn’t the shots, it wasn’t the odd-man rushes, and it was just the way the game flowed. When he was out there, the Oilers were a dangerous team—when he wasn’t, they weren’t. He was the player you looked for during the entire game and when he jumped over the boards, you held your breath because you had no idea what he’d do next. It was that “edge-of-your-seat” factor that only a handful of guys are capable of producing—and he did it 19-years-old.

Isn’t this what we expect from a #1 overall pick?

The win was the Oilers third straight. It was the first natural hat-trick by a rookie in five years. I am so glad Hall is an Oiler. And I'm thrilled I was watching on this February Saturday afternoon. Gary Bettman was on hand to see the future of his league. 

They're calling him "Cyclone". And this is only the beginning.

Video of the first "Hall Trick"

Oilers rough up Canadiens 4-1 to start a 'win streak'

[Cult of Hockey]
[Event Summary]

EDMONTON 4

VS.

MONTREAL 1
--------------

I'm always very glad to beat these guys, but mostly to beat their strange edmonton-based fans that try to own the rink every time they play here. It's one thing to be loud and maybe even obnoxious, but I still find booing the home team sad and distasteful. I still don't understand why so many season ticket holders give up their tickets without at least accompanying these strange folk to the game to even out the numbers. I was very happy with the guys tonight for a) getting the first goal to keep the Habs fans relatively quiet and b) winning by more than 1 to keep the fans from getting too noisy and excited during the end. It really seems as though the Montreal fans that are Edmonton-based lack the supposed hockey IQ of their Quebec-based counterparts, but do possess the same attitude of being above other fanbases. Needless to say I don't enjoy dealing with that.

I think there were some pretty clear keys to the win tonight that most people got:
- Our goalie was much better than their goalie.
- The D, which is already weak, suffered an injury and made our pathetic blue look formidable.
- In the third after the Oilers got the lead, they played a simple game, got the puck deep, and made the necessary effort to hold the lead. They played like a playoff team holding a lead (other than lacking killer instinct on the PP, though at least they didn't take any exceptionally stupid or wild shots).

Montreal plays a very interesting style that seems reliant on forcing the other team into turnovers. They do this by having active, well placed sticks and clogging lanes. Early on we had a ton of trouble with this and several promising rushes or chances were foiled by a Montreal stick that would look random or flukey if it weren't so consistent. Credit to them on their execution of this plan generally and I can see why it would work for them. They do have a lot of players who can jump to chances and make something happen. In addition to their currently weak D, they missed Mike Cammalieri tonight a ton. He might've made this a closer game.

The reffing tonight was intriguing to say the least in that it was pretty much prison rules for the first 2 periods. Not that it was an ugly game, but there was some stuff that probably should've been called in today's league and was let go. If games were consistently reffed like this, I'd love it and we'd have a much more entertaining game, but they aren't. When we were finally able to convince the ref that yes indeed we were playing the game too and got a PP, we may not have converted but you certainly felt something slip away from MTL.

A few words on Mr. Subban:
- I don't think he's really a defenceman. He's most effective at the opposition blue line while rushing, looks for the hit too much, and doesn't get to use his skating. He's a power forward.
- A small play some may have missed, but I think he helped Eberle who had fallen near the net by making sure his head didn't whack the post. Very gentlemanly of him. Much more than I can say for a bunch of his teammates.
- Players certainly know he's there and adjust on the ice, but both Hall and Eberle figured out how to go right at him with success. He'll need to work on that.

On to the players...
---------

Khabibulin
- His best game of the year. He was on and flat robbed MTL on several occasions. They executed successful cross-crease plays (including one which would have been a game-changer in the second) and #35 made the save and made it look easy. He was way ahead of the play tonight and showed his confidence late by playing the puck a little more than usual. I'm not sure where these performances have come from, but he was certainly the biggest reason we won tonight. The only goal MTL scored was because he was hit on the play and didn't recover.

Foster
- Though his feet were still moving slowly and he took an awkward bunch/forearm to head in the third, Foster managed to have a decently strong game defensively. He was more committed to his coverages than usual and especially in the third. When we win it will often be because guys like he and Vandermeer push their effort in the defensive zone just a little higher.

Vandermeer
- Mixed game from him but mostly in the positive due to some stronger defensive play in the second half of the game. I'd count his mistakes as two ill-advised pinches and a couple ugly giveaways, but he covered up for most of them alright. He did a solid job of being in the right position and went out of his way to make some hits, which is something the Oilers D hasn't done near enough of when it has had the chance as a unit to grate on opposition forwards.

Chorney
- He got two really solid shots on net tonight, both while on the move. One nearly went in on its own and another was nearly tipped in. He's much much more confident this time around. I didn't notice him a lot in the defensive zone, which is generally a good thing. He certainly wasn't perfect, but this was a solid effort

Smid
- I hope Ladislav is okay. he was having a decent enough positional game and did some solid things with the puck on his stick. He's always best when he does a decent amount of skating with the puck and he was doing that tonight. Quite composed. The only glaring error I'll point out is that he put a really bad screen on Khabibulin once or twice that could have cost us big.

Peckham
- Though this wasn't an extremely physical effort, Montreal certainly knew he was there. He played a pretty solid game for the most part and came away in the positive. I think many of the Oilers learned early from MTL's approach to the game and more shots were blocked. Peckham being one of the best at that.

Gilbert
- Another excellent, albeit quieter, effort from the man who needs to be our #1 D right now. Solid with the puck, took his time and got into the right positions all night long.

Jacques-Reddox-Jones
- This was probably the best game I've seen Jacques play in terms of actually contributing to a win. He got a chance in the third on a bit of a rush with Reddox and Jones to make a solid NHL play, took his time, located Jones and made a really nice pass to set up the huge 3-1 goal. It was simple but for Jacques it was a victory and I appreciated the play. He also laid some some hits and got in the way productively at other times. There were still shifts where I felt he'd be better either ignoring the puck totally or playing without a stick, but he made a contribution to the win. Jones created problems for MTL's tired D at several junctures tonight, using his strong N-S skating and drive for the puck to pressure them, then finally capitalizing on his best clear chance in the third. He could have had at least 2 tonight, as a couple of his other chances were pretty good. Liam got beat down pretty hard on the faceoff dot, but I liked his effort 5-on-5. He does a really solid job of skating in the proper lane as well as driving the net. If you noticed on Jones goal, Reddox befuddled Subban and was actually in behind Price ready for a leaked puck if need be. These guys really helped the cause tonight

Paajarvi-Gagner-Omark
- Magnus had a shift in the third that I think really speaks to his potential as a strong two-way 5-on-5 guy. He made a great little backcheck play to break up an initial Montreal rush, then after some milling about, grabbed a loose puck, skated it out of danger and dumped it deep. It was a fairly simple shift but a great example of hockey IQ + skill + effort. Magnus had some chances to do offensive damage, but either didn't get the shots off or was stymied by MTL's active sticks. Linus got even sweeter chances, including a wonderful breakaway pass from Magnus (which me made a good choice and shot on but just missed) and a screen/tip/rebound play that was thwarted by an MTL defender. He does need to start converting on some of these. He drew the first MTL penalty, which was no small feat tonight. He struggled a little in the defensive and neutral zones, but also had a really nice backchecking play in the third that I hadn't seen from him before yet and would indicate him learning to use his skills at both ends of the ice, which is a plus. I truly think he's a guy you can refine into an excellent defensive winger. Too many tools to waste. Sam was a little quieter than usual tonight, but seemed to play a pretty strong supporting game. This line wasn't leaned on heavily with the rookies going and Hemsky's line dealing with many minutes, but they were certainly not a hindrance and could have scored a goal or two.

Hall-Cogliano-Eberle
- Try as I might, I just don't think I can give Cogliano a passing grade. His result was okay, but there were just way too many times in all zones that the play died with him. He missed a phenomenal chance that should have been a gimme goal in period 2. Thankfully he wasn't forced to defend much sustained pressure from MTL. If some people have some positives on Cogliano besides the one really hard shot he fired at the net, I'd love for you to add them to the discussion. I just can't see it right now. Hall seemed to have the game an always-effective star has when he's not on full go. Hall found a way to exploit the MTL D, and drove wide all night, either beating them clean or punishing them through a little physicality and hard work. He put forth a big effort even if the stats were understated and didn't give the puck away near as much as he might have usually. I liked his effort a lot. The play he made to feed Eberle on his goal was sick. Taylor needs to remember that he's an excellent and creative playmaker who can give his teammates great chances and especially so off the rush. He's been locked in shooting mode too often. Eberle was excellent as always. Positionally brilliant. The goal an example of a guy who knows how to score and is patient as hell with the puck on his stick. If Hall (or anyone) can get him the puck in that spot, he's a goal scoring machine. I say he gets 40 next season.

Penner-Horcoff-Hemsky
- On what should have been a rather good night for these guys to do some damage (and they looked good early) they struggled some. I'm going to pin a lot of that on Penner. He was very either lazy, tired or unfocused tonight. Way too many times he was either given the puck and frittered it away, or the puck was put in a position he'd usually get it and didn't. I think this play from Penner made it look like Horcoff and Hemsky were playing worse than they actually were. A bunch of pucks that were actually solid fundamental plays wound up as turnovers. Both were far from perfect, with Hemsky having more turnover struggles and Horcoff willing but unable to convert offensively, but the main laggard was Penner. Because of the way Montreal plays, the whole group needed to be going to look good and they didn't at many times. With that said, they still come out plus and Hemsky still finds a way to score two (including an empty netter for once! YAY!). These guys should be much better Sat. I'm predicting a really good game from them.
-----------

That was fun if not perfect. I love winning!

Went to the Jackets/Kings game last night

I apologize for the seedy pics, they're from my iPhone. But a co-worker and I headed to Nationwide after work last night to see the Jackets lost 4-3 to the Los Angeles Kings. Drew Doughty had a big goal on a really nice shot from the blue line, as did Rick Nash.

I wasn't a fan of either team obviously, but I love just being at the arena and watching the game live. Puck Rakers has the full recap.

Would you believe that my co-worker was tired so I got up and left about a minute before Kris Russell tied the game. We heard the goal horn as we were walking out the entrance. So we actually missed overtime and what would have been my first NHL shootout that I've witnessed. I'm confident that I'll see more.







Last time I saw a Jackets loss live? Opening night, 2006-2007. Last night was my first look at Wayne Simmonds.





The Oil play the Canadiens tonight at Rexall. My favorite NHL blog Cult of Hockey has a recap the other night from when they beat the snot out of Dallas. Today's post has a nice view of a game scouting top-prospect Ryan Nugent Hopkins. Now you see why it's my favorite hockey blog.


- Posted from my iPhone

I love this Sidney Crosby Commercial

I hope the game's finest player gets better soon. I thought this commercial had a great message.

Hockey Day in Canada weekend upcoming

Tomorrow is Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada. It's a good day to be just relaxing and watching the sport. I found a really good read on what it means to Canadians.

I won't have the entire Saturday to devote to watching hockey, but I am going to try to get started around 1 just before the Edmonton Oilers play and I'll certainly catch all of that game. Then I'll probably have to go get dinner with the wife and see the Justin Bieber movie. But whatever. 

Drunken Wayne Gretzky tells a funny story about Goose Hunting

My first live Edmonton Oilers game

[Event Summary]
[Box Score]
[Puck Rakers] [Edmonton Journal - Cult of Hockey]

Last night I went to my first live Oilers game here in Columbus. I have to say; getting to see this kid play live really does justice to how special he is. I know we lost but the main take-home message I left with is we have one possible future superstar, and two possible future young stars in MPS and Ebs (although Ebs didn't have a great game).

In regards to Hall: he looks so explosive on the ice. He looks like he has a body that he's going to grow into. He could get bigger and start to impose some size with that unreal speed. He looks like he is going to be a guy who creates unlimited amounts of scoring chances for a number of years. He is a generational type talent and the type of guy who can bring fans to the sport.

What I love is that being there live I watched him after some passes that were intercepted into the zone. I know some think the vets could care less but this is not the case with Hall. He genuinely was getting pissed off when there were turnovers or penalties and generally missed opportunities.

I just want to say that getting to see him and Paajarvi up close is totally different than watching them from thousands of miles away on TV each night. If I lived in Edmonton I would go to the rink every night just to see these guys play on a nightly basis.

I'll continue to post some observations that I had from my 1st game last night; but what a great sport in person. I'm hoping to one day get up to Edmonton in a week where I can catch 3 or so Oilers games live. Until then I'm going to see them every time that they play here in Columbus. I just think we should count our blessings on Hall. He is every bit the talent that past 1st overalls have been--and he can turn into a Crosby type I think.

Magus Paajarvi had two goals last night. And other than Hall he stood out to be as far as the way he moved up and down the ice.

Honestly it reminds me of when I first started going to Major League baseball games live. It was like the most fascinating thing I've ever done and I was addicted to every part of it. That's how I am now with hockey. I'm addicted to the atmosphere and watching it up top. It's a good thing that I don't live closer to Edmonton where I can go to the stadium every night by myself because I would be looking to do just that.

I love just watching the physicality, the skill, the passing, hearing the puck clap on the sticks.

Above there is Jordan Eberle with Taylor Hall in the background. These two guys should be the anchors in this franchise and getting it back to becoming a winner.

Here's a few videos from warm-up:

An Oilers weekend on Super Bowl Weekend

Tomorrow will be my first live Edmonton Oilers game here in Columbus. I can't wait to get down to the rink.

That said, two nights ago I noticed that Drew Doughty is my least favorite player in the NHL. The entire game he was head hunting Taylor Hall. That piece of shit.

All-Star Weekend Highlights

It's Sunday and the All-Star Game will be today but the best part of the weekend was last night's skill competition.

Martin Grabner is the fastest skater in the NHL. Taylor Hall finished 2nd.

More evidence that the Oil need a new building: they are the 2nd most desirable franchise in the NHL to play for according to a poll that was on CBC Sports.

Finally, if you're wondering about things to do at the All-Star Break here it is from Oilers Nation. That said, Rexall Place has the best ice according to the same poll source.

Kicking off NHL All Star Weekend 2011

Great article on CBC about the youthful Oilers. It won't be long until this weekend will be dotted with Oilers up and down the All Star roster and they'll be celebrating a first half of first place hockey.

Taylor Hall ends up the only Edmonton Oilers representative even at the weekend. He's had a good first half, answering a lot of questions.

If you're looking to watch some of the festivities go here. I'll probably miss tonight because I have a date with my girl. But I'll be back to blog a bit probably.

Wish I was down in Raleigh so I could meet my boy Taylor Hall and get some cards signed.

I've watched more hockey in the first half of this season than in the other 27 years of my life combined. I love the sport and I'm becoming increasingly more addicted with everything I learn, read, discuss, and watch. I love the culture and love the tradition of the game.

So it's NHL All Star Weekend 2011. And I'll admit, I've fallen for this new sport and I'm enchanted.

As a growing fan of this sport and team, I find myself in a better mood on the day of games. Increasingly every single day we have a game later that night, I can't wait to fire up the ATDHE.net and find the game and just paying attention to the skill of the passing and the hitting and the body checks (although I'd like to see the Oilers do that more). I love learning the history of the sport, the franchise, and the countries that it's been founded on. Where Baseball and NFL are like second nature to me, finding out about this great game that I have only paid secondary attention to is like a whole new fascinating world to me.

I love the Oilers playing on Thursday nights, staying up late and listening to the post game show. Basically starting the weekend a night early. I think Hockey Night in Canada is like the coolest thing ever.

And the thing is, I love it all and it's not even a winning season. Things are only going to get better and more exciting. Love coming here and reading and learning and discussing with such nice and down to earth die-hard fans.

Went to a high school hockey game at the local rink the other night. Had a great time watching it. Can't wait to see the Oil play here locally the saturday before the Super Bowl for my first live Oilers game.

I love this sport. I love game day and wish it was every day.

Oilers celebrate Gretzky day with 4-3 last minute win over Coyotes

Last night's 4-3 win was one of the better games all season that we've seen since following the Oilers. Our boy Taylor Hall added a game winning assist as well as his 16th goal of the season.

The Oil play tonight at 7. This will lead into the All Star Break for everyone.

[Box Score]

Saw this at my local rink this past Friday night

Wanted to get this on the blog. America is trying to get a lot of support for Hockey Day in America. It's February 20th. Do your part!

Oilers lose 3-2 in shootout to Nashville

I was bummed after the Jets dropped the AFC title game to the Steelers. And my NHL team gave it a good fight against a competitive team last night which I was happy about. In the end, they fell short via a shootout. They lost to one of the hottest goaltenders in the sport in Pekka Rinne.

Goal #15 in the career of Taylor Hall tied it at 2.


[Box Score]

A Versus writer has Taylor Hall winning the fastest skater at the skills competition on Saturday:

Fastest Skater: Remember, the rookies get to partake in this. So, since Rangers speedster Marian Gaborik won't be in Raleigh this weekend, we'll go with Edmonton Oilers future superstar Taylor Hall. The kid's wheels already make defensemen look silly.

Oilers Nation says that in regards to the Oil dealing Ales Hemsky and Dustin Penner, where there is smoke there is fire.

They also have a pretty nice read on the overall state of affairs with the Oilers right now:

Who else but Oilers fans would calmly sit through a stretch this inept? Over the past 375 ice hockey matches since the Cup Run the Oil have posted a 152-185-38 record.
They have put up enough bricks to rebuild the Great Wall of China just south of the City limits and have left us all hoping to come back in the next life as one of the 15 remaining Atlanta Thrashers fans on earth.
They have a team that is going places.

I've been trying to update today as much as possible. This is pretty neat. Live Tweetcast from yesterday's Oilers & Barons games.

NHL 11 Doesn't Suck After All

After finding the right slider set, it's a pretty good game. I'm 10-10-1 right now with Edmonton in my second season with Hall - Kopitar - Parise on my first line flanked by Doughty and Ryan Whitney on D.

I really have no complaints except the illustrations during game play, all the players have the same face. Then you go to replay and several guys have custom faces but then 80% of guys all guys have the same 5 recycled faces.

Like in MLB the Show, all of these guys need to have custom illustrations done for their face and every single draft pick needs to have a different face scan like in the old Madden games. IF they want to make it perfect.

A Saturday Night Hockey Night

Tonight the Oilers are in Los Angeles to play the LA Kings. It's the CBC game of the night. By the way, there isn't much out there in the way of Kings blogs. Found two worth linking.

I've been spending the day watching Playoff NFL Football. But this is a hockey blog. And I also watched some hockey today. The Penguins hung on to win without Sid Crosby today in Boston 4-3.

-For some good pre-game reading, Oilers Nation has a good post about Taylor Hall exceeding expectations in his rookie season. Oilers Nation continues to be the best Oilers blog I can find.

After Game:

That got ugly. Here's the Box Score from what ended up being a 5-2 loss. Taylor Hall took a nasty hit from Drew Doughty. Gotta give Dustin Penner a lot of credit for immediately sticking up for his young teammate.

Hall called it a clean hit in between periods. I don't really agree. Doughty is a punk and lit him up. Hall still extended his point streak to now two games and has 4 points total in two games. Jarrett Stoll had two goals on the night.

Hall nets a pair in 5-2 Oilers win

14 goals and 12 assists now after a 3 point night!

And the Empty netter:


[Box Score]

Edmonton Journal has an article this morning that talks about if a new rink is built in downtown Edmonton, the Oilers must agree to stay for 30 years. Sounds like a good deal for both the organization and the city.

The Edmonton Journal's hockey blog has a recap of last night's big win.

Really looking forward to Hockey Night tomorrow night. Nothing better than NHL on a Saturday night after taking in a couple NFL playoff games. Should make for a great weekend.