Welcome Back to Angry, Physical Edmonton?

The truth is, there's a mirror in front of Rod Brind'Amour right now.
(Alternate caption: Steve Staios is the poster child for Why to Wear a Visor.)

So I'm not going to lie--I can be like everyone else (read: every Carolina player in the pre-game interviews) and say this was just a regular season game, that it's a new season and new players and no matter the outcome it wasn't going to take away Carolina's cup, so all in all it was nothing special.

But I'd be utterly and completely lying and all I wanted to see tonight was the Oilers crush those little bastards in retalation for robbing us of the cup we deserved. (Ever notice how when I get excited, whatever team I'm referring to suddenly becomes "we"?). Lowetide's been calling them the Bipoilers lately and I can't say I can disagree with it. Even so, I had high hopes for this game from the beginning. When word got out that Jussi even had the start, I think I about cried in anticipation. Of course I had my doubts, he's been inconsistant, our defense is fairly week, etc., etc., but you can't tell me that Jussi Markkanen doesn't know how to play against the Carolina Hurricanes.

And play he did (I couldn't see it, but Edmonton Radio made a huge deal about him stoning Brind'Amour at some point in the first period), as did all those other guys who've been getting nothing but shit about their lackluster performances lately--Stoli, Smith, Pisani (come on, we had to expect that one against this team), Torres....all of a sudden with Hemmer, Smyth, and Moreau out, they remember that indeed they can play hockey! (On the topic of Stoli, that double hit he took tonight and the fact that he was playing again a period later made my respect for him go through the roof).

Watching them play Carolina without so many of the players from last season hurt a little though--not seeing #44 covering Rod Brind'Amour every second of every shift he played was depressing, after I thought maybe I'd finally resigned myself to it (I should know better--Chris Pronger will always sting, won't it?). And even though I couldn't actually see the broadcast, and I thought maybe I'd stopped with quite so much of the bitter hatred against Carolina, it was defintely still there. Speaking of things I hate and Carolina, anyone know what's up with Brind'Amour leaving in the third period?

My favorite thing about tonight though had to be the announcers--from "I thought Chris Pronger was back in town about five minutes ago when they announced that Mick McGeough was our referee" to their absolute inability to form the words "Stoll", "Staal", and "steal" into one coherant sentence.

Also, I just don't buy it, Lupes--I will not ever start using "Sykky" as a nickname for Sykora

----

And now to touch on the other important hockey bit of the night (at least in my brain anyway), after playing less than 15 minutes in the Red Wings/Blues game the other day, Manny Legace was pulled for letting in 3 goals against his former team. I hope someone has the Suicide Prevention Hotline number on hand again. He always looks so demeaned and beaten down when he gets pulled--I think it's true, he really doesn't know how to be anything but a Red Wing.

It looks like he won't have to be worrying about it for a bit though, considering he was placed on IR today with a head injury. That's all I've heard so far but rest assured, as the one fan he has left on the earth, I'll be on top of it.

Vaguely related, my fantasy league informs me that Curtis Sanford just got knocked onto IR recently, making Manny the #1 goaltender. They also stated "This will be a good opportunity for Legace to step up and re-assert himself as a top-tier goaltender, like he did last season when he played for Detroit. He doesn't have the same caliber of team playing in front of him this year, however, so temper your expectations accordingly." At least someone else out there doesn't think it's all Manny's fault. Someone should tell my dad that.

Man, this is seriously the worst year of his life. (Also the Blues are going to have a rough time--I mean, they're already the Blues, and now they're down to just Bacashihua and the kid they just pulled up?)

Edit: Legace took a shot off his mask during practice on Wednesday, knocking him unconscious for approximately 30 seconds, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was eventually helped off the ice and taken to hospital, where where he had tests. Results were not immediately available, but coach Mike Kitchen said he doesn't believe the injury is serious.

They're saying minimum 7 days.

----

I don't have the energy to go off about this right now--but I saw that Alex Ovechkin hit, and after the nice video comparison Battle of Alberta tossed up of Claude Lemiuex nailing Draper, I'm pretty sure even if he is the kid they're claiming could be the "new face of the NHL"--$100? Seriously? Jeez. MacT got it literally a hundred times worse for running his mouth off at McGeough's clearly wrong idiot hand passing call.

----

Also as a public service announcement, this blog as a whole (my vote is counting for me and Elly here because I say so) are pretending Toronto doesn't exist until the suck stops.