Hawks make their only trip all the way up to the Northlands on the season, and unless we went in for the procedure, I'm sure we all remember Sam Gagner's eight-point, three-star game. The Oilers were in the 8th place conversation before excusing themselves with six straight losses. They still can't seem to get the rebuild right up there, which sucks, because God knows they have the talent on the ice. It really must just be a matter of management and getting the right roleplayers to flesh it out.

Anyway, the Oil is just playin' out the string, as are the Hawks, for different reasons. Sharp is still out, Bolland might be out, I imagine we're going to have to use one of these three games to get looks at LeBlanc and some Rockford boys, right?

Despite the Smiths lyric about never wanting to go back to the old house, actually, I kinda don't mind. (Maybe I did have the procedure.) I love watching games at this arena, with the ice a bluish-grey under the low-heat lights and the arena "upside down" with the benches on the camera side. It's one of the only places where you can watch a game and know immediately where the game is being played. Of course, you can say that you can tell by the uniforms and score bug and all that, but it's just a figure of speech, 'kay? Edmonton is one of the last places with, if not quite an Old-Time Hockey Barn on par with the Chicago Stadium or the Forum, a building of some considerable populist spirit in which great hockey history was made. The Edmonton City Council approved a new arena for the Oilers that would look roughly like a big blob of mercury, an oil drop in structural form, and so pursuant to an infrastructure grant from the province (snort), the rink where Gretzky's teams dominated will officially have its days numbered. The Islanders are moving out of Nassau Coliseum and Nassau County in 2016, and the Red Wings hope to have a new arena, roughly around where Tiger Stadium was, fairly soon. Once the Saddledome is gone, that's pretty much it for arenas built before 1993, and thus arenas that weren't built as engines of stratification and luxury commerce.

Sorry I have nothing interesting to say about the game itself but I think you understand.

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Sharp is playing tonight.

How long before shoulder is hurt again?

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Elections have consequences.

What time is puck drop?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Freak injury when he lifts the Cup.

Well, Edmonton is on Mountain Time, so it's probably WUNNA DOSE NOT-SO-GREAT 8:30 STARTS, PAT

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Puck drop is 8:30.

Drew Leblanc is making his NHL debut tonight. I'm excited to see what he can do. For the more casual fans reading this, Leblanc won the college player of the year this season and was signed by the Hawks on a 1 year deal. He's not eligible to play in the playoffs because he was signed after the trade deadline so this is his only shot to play this season. After these last few games he becomes a restricted free agent in the offseason so either the Hawks will get to sign him back for cheap or they'll get some draft picks for him. This is was a wonderful signing by Bowman because it's win win either way. Anyways, he's suppose to be great a playmaker and he'll be centering the Kane, Sharp line. Hopefully he's the real deal.

Actually, I've watched a couple of Oil home games this season, and it looks like they backed off the blueish-grayish paint this season. IMO, it is the best visitor arena when it comes to TV camera angles.

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Not a mult.

It's not that they paint the ice that color, they either don't paint as much as others or the lighting isn't as intense. It's not as grey as it used to be, you're right, but it's still distinct from everyone else's ice.

I don't know if it's my TV or NBC Sports or what, but when I watch games on there, rinks are so glaringly white that the lines get burned out by the brightness of the white. Now that we have HDTV as a virtual standard, the whole league should be using a very very pale shade of blue-grey, sort of like the ones on this very message board skin. It's much less eye-fatiguing than looking at straight-up white for two hours.

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Sweet. I was hoping Leblanc would see the ice in one of these final games.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Centering Patricks Sharp and Kane. Talk about jumping into the fire, huh.

Oh, and I looked up RFA compensation and at least for last summer, you need the player to have been offered at least $1,110,250 a year in order to get the lowest level of compensation, a 3rd. I doubt anyone is going to offer-sheet a guy with 1 to 3 NHL games played for that much. As per capgeek, he can be qualified at $874,175 on a two-way, but that leaves a window for him to be offer-sheeted with no compensation. If I'm Doug Wilson and therefore an asshole, I offer-sheet him at $950,000 and dare the Hawks into taking him at that with nothing back if they don't, and then stuff him in Worcester with all the other 24-year-old NCAAers the Sharks hoard.

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What the shit. Drop the fucking puck already.

Finally 15 minutes later...

Frolik is the lucky one to get the night off for Leblanc's debut I see.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Snipe!!! This game is going to be nuts. Pond hockey all night.

Looks like it. Oilers have had some guys wide open.

Yup, fucking Chinese fire drill in our own end. Hawks despise defending in this building.

Leblanc way out of position defensively two times already.

Pro tip for Konroyd: if you can't say "blanc" in a French accent, just say "blonk." Don't say "blah."

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Hawks gonna win or lose this 7-6

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Was just gonna post this

Why is Crawford in now or is my ice tracker just fucking things up?

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Emery pulled a muscle or something. Crawford just came in.

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I keep forgetting that the benches are on the bottom of my tv on this rink. At one point I saw Kane skating slowly towards the boards and started yelling "Why aren't you hustling?!?!?" until i realized it was a line change. This arena is toyin with my emotions.

CRAWFORD!!! Nasty nasty nasty.

Damn near Crawford's best save of the year

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Not a mult.

Great save but most of that was just showing off.

When I first saw it real time I thought he Mike Smith'd it but no that was a sick save.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Wow. This HD feed from Edmonton is the best I've seen in a Hawks game. Anybody else agree. Crystal clear. I know they use the local equipment on the road for the feed. Oilers have top notch HD cameras. Comcast Chicago must go on the cheap cuz it's not this good.

They need to put this game away. Cant let Oilers tie up it on a fluke. Need at least one more or three more but for the love of God not two more.

Beardown: Agreed. All Edmonton has is hockey so makes sense they make it look glorious.