Three Hockey Topics

NHL teams

Jets

I like the Winnipeg Jets story; they got their team back, a team that should have never left. However the Cinderella story ended after the first two seasons and it was time for the Jets to win more games and make the playoffs. Let’s face it the Jets are a Canadian hockey team, with Canadian hockey fans and we hate it when our team is losing and the Jets fans were starting to get annoyed. So Claude Noel who should have been fired in the summer was given a chance to try his luck in the Jets first season in the Western Conference, it didn’t work and finally he was fired.

What I couldn’t believe was the people complaining about his firing and the fact he gave a good interview. All I have to say is who the hell cares give him a freaking spot on TSN, or Sportsnet, or CBC. If he isn’t helping this team win then he’s not helping and the Jets finally realized this.

The Jets did the best move they could and brought in Paul Maurice who is now 6-1 in his first 7 games as the Jets head coach. I’m so happy for the Jets, their fans and Maurice it’s working out very nicely so far, I hope they make the playoffs; it would be really interesting to watch that crowd in the post season!

Oilers

Speaking of firings, the Edmonton Oilers seem to have finally cracked and are very fed up with losing. They are so fed up that they are crying out for the firing of team president and former GM Kevin Lowe. Funny enough Daryl Katz owners of the Oilers came out with a letter to the fans to have patients and to pretty much leave Lowe and company a lone.

Umm, really, are you freaking kidding me, this team hasn’t made the playoffs since 2006 when they made it to the Cup final losing to the Carolina Hurricanes. Lowe has been the GM and the President through all the crappy Oilers seasons, he is also at fault for only drafting the same kind of players in the first round and leaving the team with literally no goaltending and no defense.

First of all the Penguins and Blackhawks model doesn’t work for every team. It involves luck, drafting players for the top six; bottom six, defense and goaltending, free agents who are good and want to play in the city, oh and it requires luck, Crosby and Toews only come once in a while. I’m not saying Hall, or Eberle were bad picks they were great, but when it came time to pick Yak and Nug maybe they should have looked into some defensive players.

These were moves done by Lowe and company, I think its high time Katz woke up and started to change the guard and get rid of this old boys club in the Oilers management, because honestly the Oilers fans have been very patient and are very fed up now with the crappy teams and maybe bringing in successful outsiders could bring glory back to this team, if not maybe the fans should stop going to the games to get their point across.

Outdoors

Last but not least, I am tired of the out door games there is not surprise there, but I actually enjoyed watching the Ducks vs. Kings game in LA. Yes it’s a cash grab, a farce, and a joke and had it been hotter the players might have collapsed, but to see a decent game played in that situation was pretty cool. I’m not saying I want to see an out door game in the desert every year and honestly I am really fed up of these out door celebrations and at one point just like the shootout it will lose its appeal. Last night was one of those fun moments where we enjoyed the game, which will be stored in everyone’s memory banks for a long time, nothing more nothing less.

The game was a 3-0 win in favor of the Anaheim Ducks, who wore orange jerseys that could burn out our retinas. The LA Kings who got a lot of shots couldn’t figure out Jonas Hiller, it was the battle of two rivals and two pretty good teams and that’s the kind of hockey you can appreciate and that’s why I enjoyed this out door game.

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