1. Kick Start My Heart – Motley Crue
2. Master Of Puppets – Metallica
3. Walk – Pantera
4. Rock n’ Roll – Led Zeppelin
5. Highway Star – Deep Purple
6. Hells Bells – AC/DC
7. Fire Woman – The Cult
8. Hey Man Nice Shot – Filter
9. No Way Back – Foo Fighters
10. Welcome to the Jungle – Guns n’ Roses

What did I miss? Leave your comments and let me know. ROCK ON!

Oh, and check out my Steamroller Music Blog.

5th longest current playoff drought in the NHL: Only the Panthers (8), Kings (6), Coyotes (6), and Leafs (4) have longer streaks that the Oilers (3). And after this season, there is a good chance the Yotes and Kings will end their streaks, maybe even the Panthers. The Oilers have not played a playoff game since the Ryan Smyth trade. Missing the playoffs in the 09/10 season would also tie the franchise record (1993,1994,1995,1996) of 4 straight season missing the playoffs.

21 seasons since we last won our division: We can take some comfort in the fact that we have won 2 Stanley cups (1988, 1990) since our last division win (1986-87) and made it to the finals (2006) once more. However the Oilers have never won their division without Wayne Gretzky. Since the Oilers last won their division the Canucks have won it 5 times, the Flames 6 times, the Avalanche 8 (since 1995-1996), and even the Wild have won it once (since 2000-2001).

9 post season since the last cup: Since their last cup in 1989-1990 (18 seasons) the Oilers have made the post season only  9 times. During the same span the Canucks have made the post season 12 times, the Avalanche 11 times (since 1995-1996), and the Flames also only 9 times.

9 playoff series wins since last cup: A stat that isn’t all that bad in comparison to the rest of the division but still pretty grim. Over the past 18 seasons the Oilers have won a total of 9 playoff rounds. The Canucks have also won 9, while the Avalanche have 17 (since 1995-1996). Looking at the Flames lack of Playoff success does make me smile, they have only won 3 rounds, all in the same year.

Well, now that I feel like death, maybe we can start looking towards the future. What to do with the rest of the season, the trading deadline, the draft, ect. Lots to ponder, and another long summer to look forward to. Go Hawks!

So, back to business… So far this season we’ve seen a lot of positives from this team. Myself, as many Oilers fans, was not sure what to expect from this season after big changes were promised following last season and few were made. I like the physical play we’ve been showing. It seems as though the compete level has been there pretty much every game. I felt we were robbed in the first 2 games vs the Flames, while I felt perhaps we’ve got away with wins in a couple games that we were outplayed. Ultimately it balances out over the season.

Over the weekend we’ve experienced our first 2 game losing steak of the season. The Flames were without a doubt in better shape than we were with half our team either injured or ill with the flu. None the less I liked our compete and felt as though we were the more skilled team, just not able to bury our chances. Special teams have also been inconsistent. Tonight vs the Canucks, in what was our first shut out loss of the year, I saw a tired, run down Oilers squad get beat by a less skilled Canucks team. I saw nothing from Calgary or Vancouver that suggests that they are a better team than Edmonton, yet we lost to both of them in as many days.

The Oilers are still missing a few pieces from what I can see. Faceoffs for one are still a problem. Special teams need work. Of course getting Souray back will help the PP, but it just feels as though they are not playing with the same confidence once the special teams are on the ice.

Penner has been a force. We are finally seeing the potential of this giant amongst men. I would still like to see him play a bit meaner, but at the same time if he can continue to put points up I’ll be happy. Hemsky has quietly been putting up points as well, it’s obvious to me that something is right with him. He doesn’t have the dominating presence that he has shown glimpses of over the years. This is the year for him to take hold of this team and call it his own, otherwise I fear that he will be on the way out. I just hope whatever the problem is, it’s something that can be worked out and not something off ice like problems with teammates, or issues with being payed significantly less than several others on the team.

Which brings me to one Shawn Horcoff. What is up with this guy? He looks worse than last year by far. I have never seen him so fragile on the ice. He looks afraid to touch the puck let alone shoot or pass it. Remember 2 seasons ago before his injury when he tore it up for the fist half of the season? Wasn’t the story that in the off season he went down to Mexico to the factory where his sticks were made and got them made differently or something? Maybe it’s time to take a quick trip down south and have those sticks fixed up again! Come on man! I’ve been a Horcoff fan for years, and I’m not one to bring up the contract and all that, but for the love of all things Oil, just get out there and get it done. You don’t need to lead the team in scoring, just contribute and give us something!

I’ve liked Visnovsky a lot so far. He looks confident and so smooth with the puck. I hope some of that rubs off on Grebeshkov and Gilbert. What gives me hope with those 2 is that they are still getting better. I like what Grebs brings offensively but he is a bit scary in his own end and when holding the point on the power play. Same with Gilbert. Smid is really rounding into form and looking like the shut down guy we need. He is young, tough, mobile, and smart. As for the callups Chorney and Peckham, I haven’t noticed Chorney much, which is a good sign while Peckham made a few bad plays in the game vs Vancouver tonight. Ultimately the D core is looking pretty solid with lots of depth. This certainly opens up options for trades to get some more help up front if needed down the stretch.

I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Brule before he got hurt. He brings something this team needs, sandpaper. Same goes with Ryan Stone, though I haven’t been impressed much with his play with the puck. Stortini has been doing what he needs to do, though I’ve been perplexed a but with the amount of powerplay he’s getting. I suppose he’s a big body to park in front of the net.

Lots of positives, yet still plenty of concerns about this team. 11 games in and they look like a bottom half playoff team to me but will they maintain, get better or tail off? I think we’ll have a better idea of what we have after 20-25 games, and a couple decent size road trips. We head out East next week for the 1st time. It will also be nice once this flu vacates the team and some of the injured players can get back into the lineup, especially Sheldon Souray. This team is 20% better with Souray playing. He is a leader and brings stability, size, and toughness in their own zone.

Next up the Avalanche, who haven’t looked like the team most have predicted to finish in the bottom of the NHL. Can we bring them back down to earth in our 3rd straight divisional game? I think so.

What do you think? Leave me your comments!

Many faces still remain from the ‘06 cup run including current captain Ethan Moreau, Shawn Horcoff, Ales Hemsky, Steve Staios, and Fernando Pisani. Joined by many new acquisitions like Sheldon Souray, Patrick O’Sulivan, and youngsters like Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano and Robert Nilsson this team certainly has a different look, but has some nice looking elements to it. Good, or bad remains to be seen.

The summer of 2009 won’t go down in history as the most exciting for the Oilers. The Danny Heatley saga filled the news for the most part, while the signing of veteran goalie Nikolai Khabibulin was met with mixed views, and the return of Mike Comrie raising eyebrows all around the league. Not the changes most of us Oilers fans expected, but none the less we enter a new season filled with hope.

What does it mean to be an Oilers fan? Is it all about the glory years and the past championships? Is it about the gloomy years of the 90’s or is it about the 2006 run and what could have been? I think being a fan, a true fan of any sports team comes with highs and lows. You need to feel the lows in order to be able to fully enjoy and appreciate the highs. As modern day Oilers fans we have definitely shared in many low points over the last 15 years. We’ve had glimpses of what could be only to be followed up by major let downs. This teams biggest flaw ever since the mid 90’s has been inconsistency. Inconsistency with the players, the coaches, the management and even ownership. With a new owner now, and a secure place in Edmonton is this team ready to turn the corner and become playoff contenders every year? Will this team be fighting for the division title once again on a yearly basis rather than fighting for 7th or 8th spot year after year? I don’t know. I hope so.

I read forums, blogs, and news about the Oilers on a near daily basis. I will tune into Ched online to hear the post game sometimes, and often watch Sportsnet West, as apposed to Pacific for my highlights. After spending the better part of 2 years outside of Canada, and now back in a rival city, (Vancouver) I find that I get a less saturated view of the Oilers. I have to work a little harder to get information, and sometimes even just to see games. I think I have a unique view of this team, being born in Edmonton, yet living elsewhere for the majority of my life.

I haven’t been to an Oilers game live, in Edmonton, since the mid 90’s, a home opener vs Detroit in which Jason Arnott was hit with a puck in the face off of a Jiri Slegr arrant point shot. The Oilers lost the game. I have made it a mission in life to see many more Oilers games in Edmonton and other cities. I would love to plan a hockey road trip, following the Oilers around to places like Chicago, Detroit, New York, Boston, or Philadelphia. That would be the ultimate trip for me. Maybe hit the west coast and follow them through L.A., Anaheim, San Jose and Phoenix. That would be damn cool too!

Whatever the future of this team holds one thing is for certain, I will be an Oilers fan until the day I die and even still I’m pretty sure I’ll be cheering them on in the afterlife. Oilers fans are like none other. We don’t just like our team and enjoy the game, we feel the game, we bleed our team.

2006 was hands down, the most exciting playoff run of my life! I had a couple of buddies at work who were die hard Oilers fans like me, and we watched most of the games that spring together. It was amazing to have gone so long without any post season success and all of a sudden find your team in the finals for the first time in 16 years! Half my life had gone by since they knocked of the Bruins to win their 5th Stanley Cup. Man, did my wallet and my liver take a shit kicking during those playoff months! Knocking off Detroit in the first round was unreal, yet I don’t think anyone could have predicted how far we would go. Down 2 games to 0 vs San Jose in round 2? No problem. In fact we won the next 4 straight and then the first 3 games vs the Ducks in round 3! 7 straight Playoff wins, unbelievable. Game 1, Stanley Cup Finals. We take the lead, we have everything under control and then…. It all ends. Rollie goes down injured. Conklin comes in to replace him and lays an egg, our forwards loose their confidence. We end up dropping both games in Carolina before grabbing game 3 back in edmonton, only to loose game 4 and be faced with the near impossible task of coming from a 3 games to 1 series deficit. We all know what happened, we clawed and fought our way back to tie the series and force a game 7. My highlight of the entire playoff run? Game 5 vs Carolina, overtime, shorthanded: Pisani strips Sillman of the puck the offensive zone, and wires one top shelf past Cam Ward to win and keep the Oil alive! I jumped about 5 feet in the air, and my buddies claim to this day I left a dent in the floor of the sports bar we were at! I was so jacked up for game 7, I could picture team captain “Gator” Jason Smith hoisting Lord Stanley’s cup. I replayed the thought in my head all day at work. I couldn’t focus, it was like Christmas morning as a little kid, except better. Of course we would go on to loose a heart breaker that evening, perhaps a game that we were never even really in. And of course I along with all Oilers fans were crushed and disappointed. Adding insult to injury was Pronger asking to be traded following an incredible playoff drive that gave Oilers fans hope for the future. Pronger’s inevitable trade would set the team back at least a year or 2 and I don’t they have still fully recovered from that. Ryan Smyth, would be traded the following year at the deadline changing the face of the franchise yet again.

The next 3 seasons following ‘06 were filled with hope, disappointment, frustration, anger and disbelief at how close we came, and how far we had fallen in such a short time. It was like we had gone back to the pre-lockout struggles of not being able to compete with the elite teams but without the excuse of being a small market team. In the summer of 2008 Daryl Katz purchased the Oilers and attempted to make a huge splash by landing a big free agent. They led the Oilers faithful the believe that they were on the cusp of signing Marian Hossa to a huge contract. Of course the unwillingness of free agents to sign in Oil Country has been well documented and is perhaps more a subject for it’s own post here. The Oilers, under the ownership of Daryl Katz, will be more competitive from a dollars and cents standpoint. The EIG era had run it’s course in Edmonton and it was the right time for a change.

The 2008/2009 season was perhaps as frustrating as any I have endured as an Oilers fan. I was living in Mexico for the entire season. Televised games were readily available at many bars around the town I lived, so I had many opportunities to watch my Oilers. One bar owner, from Calgary, would always give me a hard time when I asked him to put on the Edmonton games. Normally I would listen to either the 630 ched radio broadcast or try to get a live video stream online. Regardless of how I did it, I rarely missed a game. When the Oilers fell apart in late March 2009, I didn’t know what to think. We had a playoff spot secured only a couple weeks before, and we let it slip away. It was obvious to me that this team was in disarray.

Following another non playoff season, the third in as many years, MacT took the first bullet. GM Steve Tambellini promised change, and his desire to get bigger and harder to play against. It doesn’t look as though he accomplished his goal this summer, but with Pat Quinn and Tom Renney coming in as Coach and Associate Coach there is room for some optimism. Is it enough to avoid a 4th straight season with no playoffs? I don’t think many Oilers fans would stand for that, mind you I probably said the exact same thing last summer about a 3rd straight season with no playoffs!

Of course the next 16 years were anything but great feelings. Year after year of missing the playoffs, followed by a first round exit and the odd 2nd round exit was hard to take. In 1994 when the Vancouver Canucks took a run to the finals only to meet Mark Messier and the Rangers, I was finally back in a city with some hockey excitement! One night I was at my grade 12 grad party at a downtown Vancouver hotel during the finals. A group of use were heading up the escalator to the ball room for our grad dinner and who was on his way down on the opposite side? “Iron” Mike “freekin’” Keenan! As people started to notice him they all started heckling him. Me on the other hand just could never get into the Canucks. I guess it was bitterness between division rivals and the fact that they had been doing better than the Oilers lately. I began praising Keenan on the escalator to the dismay of all my fellow grad class members! I didn’t care though. It was cool. I just couldn’t bring myself to accept the fact that the Canucks were in game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. I watched, biting my tongue many of the games. Sometimes even pretending to be happy when they scored or won. When the Rangers put the final nail in the coffin in that game 7 I could finally relax. The canucks did not win the cup, thank GAWD! I just couldn’t have dealt with that. Unlike when Gretzky was in the finals with L.A., I actually wanted Messier to win. Maybe it was because it was better than having to listen to all the Canucks fans for the next year, or maybe it was because I felt like all those ex-Oilers on the Rangers team winning was almost like a 6th Oilers cup. For whatever reason it was, I’m glad Messier, Lowe, MacTavish, Graves, and all the others got another cup ring.

I enjoyed our return to the playoffs in the later 90’s and early 2000’s with the likes of Ryan Smith, Doug Weight, Curtis Joseph, Jason Arnott, and even Tommy Salo and Mike Comrie got me excited to see what they could do! That first round series vs Dallas in 1997 was maybe the most exciting playoff series the Oilers had ever been a part of. I was on the edge of my seat every game. It was great hockey and it was a terrific rivalry! That series win was the equivalent of winning the cup it seemed like at the time. Of course we never made it past the second round until 2006.

I’m curious, how did other Oiler fans feel about Messier winning a cup post Oil? At the time were you happy for him, bitter, indifferent?

My family and I moved to Vancouver in the summer of 1987 just after the Oilers had won cup number 3, avenging the previous years “own goal” which I still maintain Fuhr should have had it! Of course this was just the beginning of learning about heart break in Sports. A year later following Stanley Cup number 4, Gretzky was traded to L.A. It was weird. I had been living in Vancouver for a year at this point, 12 years old, still loving my Oilers. I had gone to a few Canucks games that season, since tickets were much easier to get a hold of than in Edmonton. Other kids, didn’t really care about hockey that much. How could they, their team was pathetic minus their one miracle run to the finals in 1982. In fact there were probably more kids that could name more Oilers players than Canucks players as I’m sure was the case in many cities. When I heard #99 was headed south I was crushed. I was mortified. It felt like someone had taken one of my hero’s and turned them into the hated villain. Of course the events leading up to the trade have been well documented and whether you believe Wayne’s side or Peter Pucks side of things one thing is evident, it wasn’t a hockey trade. At the time it didn’t matter what the reasons were. All that mattered was that an entire country was in shock, so much so that even the government at one point attempted to reverse the trade. There was never any doubt where my loyalty lied. I was and will for ever be an Oiler fan. I cheer for the jersey first, the player second. I don’t know if I ever hated Gretzky after the trade but I certainly didn’t like it when the Oilers had to play the Kings. And the year the Kings went to the finals and played Montreal, I was cheering for the Habs. I just couldn’t feel good about seeing Wayne hoist the cup wearing a jersey other than the Oilers.

In 1990 I had a friend who grew up in Winnipeg and grew up an Oilers fan. He, like me moved with his family to Vancouver. We were in our first year of Junior High school together and were HUGE Oiler fans. We used to play road hockey nearly everyday after school sporting our orange and blue jerseys. Once the playoffs started that year, I was a ball of nerves everyday. Junior High was a place where everyone was under the microscope for everything, and there were a number of hockey fans in my school some even Canucks fans. I was at a friends house one evening and the round one of the Jets vs Oilers was on. I think it was game 5 because I remember the Oilers were down 3 games to 1 in the series and Don Cherry was saying that Edmonton was going to come back to win the series and they were going to go on to win the cup. I don’t know how he called that, but I’m glad he did. We did come back to beat the Jets in 7 games, then swept Gretzky and his Kings. There was this guy at school who would wear his Blackhawks jersey every game day in the playoffs, and I was ragging on him a bit one day during the 3rd round series between the Oilers and the Hawks. Nothing major, but he obviously took it too personally. He tackled me in the hallway, put me in a head lock and told me not to make fun of him or his hockey team. He was way bigger than me so I decided that it would be in my best interest to agree! We actually later became casual friends, so obviously the damage wasn’t too severe. However once we disposed of Chicago I had to deal with the many Boston Bruins fans that ran rampant in my school. Where the hell did they all come from? I mean, there were more Bruins Jersey’s, hats, and shirts than Oilers and Edmonton is only a short 1 and a half hour flight away? Me and my Oiler buddy watched and cheered every game of that playoff run. It was the first of the 5 Stanley Cups wins that I was really engulfed in, and watched every moment of. The Oilers didn’t just beat the Bruins. We destroyed them for the second time in 3 years in the Cup finals! It was awesome. I went to school a few days later sporting my new Oilers 5 Stanley Cup shirt. All the Bruins fans hated me, yet they kept pretty quite about it. It was a great feeling.

Assuming we go into next season with the roster we have, I want to look at each area of the team and evaluate whether or not we are improved. Here’s what the roster looked like at the start of 08/09

MacT & friends

cole – horcoff – hemsky
cogliano – gagner – nilson
moreau – pisani – penner **(who could forget the Pisani at center experiment, geeeesh…)
pouliot – brodziak – stortini
** macintyre

souray – vishnovski
grebs – gilbert
staios – smid
** strudwick

rollie
garon
jdd

I’m going to make a few assumption with this seasons roster so bare with me.

quinn/renney

o’sullivan – horcoff – hemsky
penner – gagner – nilson
moreau – cogliano – pisani
pouliot – brule – stortini
** macintyre, jfj, reddox

souray – vishnovski
grebs – gilbert
staios – smid
** strudwick

khabi
jdd

The only major changes are:
out: cole, brodziak, rollie
in: o’sullivan, khabi

I’m going to break down the team into 5 groups to evaluate:

Coaching: This is the easy one, how could we have possibly downgraded here? Moving right along…

Goaltending: The 3 headed monster sucked huge for all 3 men involved last year. It hurt Garon and JDD the most, while Rollie (the veteran) ran with it and had a great season. Now let’s suppose we re-signed Rollie, he would be going into 09/10 as the undisputed #1 goalie this year, unlike last year where he earned it back. I don’t think he would have as good of a season this year as he did last year because of these circumstances. Not as much competition for the #1 job and not playing for a contract in a contract year (assuming we signed him for 2 seasons). Sounds like the circumstances in which he started the 07/08 season and lost the starting job. Bringing in Khabi could be a gamble, but at least he’s a few years younger, has a Stanley Cup ring, coming off a pretty nice post season run in a year where he had something to prove. I give the goaltending edge to this season simply based on the fact that I think Rollie would have had a mediocre year this season as an Oiler and Khabi should be at least as good as Rollie was last year.

Defense: As pointed out, we are relatively the same personnel wise, but again there are a few other elements to consider. Souray had a great year and I expect the same, Lubo hopefully is ok health wise and added another dimension to our team D and powerplay, Staios had a pretty solid year last year all things considered and I am expecting the same. Now as far as Gilbert and Grebs go, say what you want about their contracts but it looks like they are both here for this season so what I suggest is that they each have another season of NHL experience under their belts and will both be better defensively and offensively this season. Same can be said for Smid (assuming he is re-signed and stays with the Oil), another NHL year of experience, and this kid is looking better each year. I say we are improved based on the kids gaining experience and vets being at least as good as last season.

Forwards – top 6: This one is tough. The only real change here is Cole vs O’Sullivan. From an expectations standpoint I think a year ago we all expected a lot more from Cole. I don’t think we have the same expectations from O’Sullivan so the comparison is slightly skewed. Since we did get a glimpse of how O’Sullivan fits in with team I suppose our expectations can be based on what we know this year, rather than what we thought last year with Cole. I would have to say we are about the same. The optimist in me believes that Horcoff is going to have a great season this year, Hemmer is going to dominate and gel with who ever gets put on his line, Gagner is going to have a breakout year, and Penner is going to have a pulse. The pessimist in me says we are about the same this season bordering on worse. Let’s call, it even.

Forwards – bottom 6: With Brodziak gone and no NHL seasoned replacement it’s hard to argue that we will be even equal at the dot. On the wings I don’t see any changes unless someone has a great season. I would say we are worse simply because our already terrible faceoff percentage will likely be worse.

Based on these 5 categories I say we are improved in 3/5, the same in 1/5, and worse in 1/5. However with our forwards being the “same” and “worse”, I don’t see how we are going to score many goals or win any special teams battles. This team is a couple forwards short of being real playoff team. If we had another center to backup Horcoff, and our D stays healthy we could be a solid PK team again. If we had a sniper for the first line we could have a PP. Seems to me we need a Heatley and a Malholtra, and they both could be had before the season if the planets were to all align. What do you think?

History of an Oilers fan – Part 1

I have been a huge fan of Edmonton Oilers hockey ever since I can remember. I was born in the great city of Edmonton in 1976 at the old Edmonton University Hospital. Many of my childhood memories include snow, and more snow, some more snow, followed by melting snow, slush, followed by more snow, and then a nice dry hot summer. I never played ice hockey as a kid, in fact I could barely skate. I loved playing road hockey with friends in the winter or in the summer. Nothing beats taking a frozen tennis ball, whipping at your buddy, and hitting him square in the nuts! Unless of course it was me, then it wasn’t funny. I had a few favorite hockey players as kid, of course Gretzky, but I also really like Jari Kurri and Grant Fuhr. My absolute favorite player, and maybe even my all time favorite player was Paul Coffey. That guy was so smooth. He made everything look easy and the other team all look like a bunch of pee wee’s.

The first Oilers game I went to watch live was a pre-season game between the Oilers and Islanders. I can’t remember the exact year, but I was pretty young, 5 or 6 maybe?. My dad worked in the news room at CFRN and from time to time would get us tickets to games, though not as often as I probably would have liked. I remember one of the gas stations, maybe Esso? Anyway, they had a promotion that when you filled your tank you would get an NHL team puck. I begged my dad to bring me home a puck almost daily. From time to time he would. I had an Oilers, Flames, Habs, Nordiques, and I think Islanders puck by the end of the gas station promo! For reasons that are very unclear to me now, my second favorite team when I was a kid were the Flames! WTF you ask? Yeah, I know. I think it was because of those pucks, and I have to say, they have a pretty cool logo. **John quickly punches himself in the face for thinking these impure thoughts.** More likely still, it was probably just because they were the 2 teams my little hockey brain was most familiar with.

I remember one late afternoon my dad came home from work and asked if I wanted to go see the Oilers that night. I answered “OF F***ING COURSE!” Ok, I didn’t use the expletives. That probably wouldn’t have got me any closer to seeing Northlands Coliseum that night had I sworn at my dad. He then asks what team I would want to see the Oilers play, I of course answer, “THE FLAMES!” Sure enough he pulls out the 2 tickets to the Oilers vs Flames game that evening. I couldn’t have been any older than 6 or 7 at the time and to be honest I don’t even remember who won the game. But I do remember watching Gretzky’s #99, Coffee’s #7, and Kurri’s #17 skating around the ice from our nosebleed seats! I think I even remember being slightly disappointed that Andy Moog was in goal rather than Fuhr.

I vaguely remember the first Stanley Cup win in 1984. It was warm outside, spring had sprung. I was outside at a friends house doing whatever 8 year olds do. Everyone else was inside glued to their t.v.’s and soon enough so were my friend and I. I can’t recall much of the game but I remember the count down to end the third period, and everyone was counting along. I remember all the cars on 106th street leaning on their horns for hours following the game. I remember at school the next day the announcement the principle made over the p.a. congratulating our beloved hockey team. In fact at my elementary school they used to read out the previous nights hockey scores over the p.a. every morning, I thought that was pretty cool and a great reflection of how big hockey was to the city.

Looking back I wonder how much of growing up in that winning environment I took for granted. I mean, all I new as a fan was winning and having the greatest players and team ever assembled playing in my home town. I didn’t know what it was like to have a team struggle year after year after year. My only taste of sports heart break to date was the infamous Steve Smith “own goal” vs Calgary in 1986.