Drivin to Cowtown

As stated in my last post, I will be in Calgary tonight. When the puck drops tonight at 7:00 I will be on HWY 2 headed south. Hopefully I will be able to catch all of the first period listening to Jack Michaels and Bob Stauffer, before the signal of the mighty CHED fades and I have to switch to the Flames broadcast.


I will update my thoughts on tonight's game after the game from my Hotel room. I do know that Steve MackIntyre is in tonight, so hopefully the skill guys for the Oilers will be able to feel confident enough that they will be protected on the ice. 


It's also been announced that Vandermeer will sit tonight. this is a much deservd move by the Head Coach as Vandermeer has been terrible thus far. Hopefully he will learn from this and be better for it.


THE NEW CHEER TEAM


I wanted to weigh in on the new Cheer Team that the Oilers have announced. I am not a fan of this. To me, a cheer team is something that is designed to sell tickets to the non-hockey fans that are male. they'll come to games to drool over girls rather than watch the play on the ice. I'm not sure why the Edmonton Oilers need this as we sell out every game. This team could sell every ticket in the building as season seats if they wanted to. so what does this say about the mind set of the P.R. Dept at Oilers HQ?


Personally I think this cheapens the experience at the rink and makes us look like we are followers of U.S. markets rather than leaders in the Canadian market. It makes me feel like management is trying to deflect attention away from the on-ice play during this re-build. we have never had a cheer squad as long as I have been an Oiler fan and I Don't believe we need one now.


If the Oilers want to garner new fans, they need to use other tools like letting bloggers into the dressing room just like MSM guys. I personally don't care if i get in, but there are guys that write a helluva lot better than I do that should get in. Like Lowetide, like Johnathan Willis, Like Wayne Gretz all from oilersnation.com. These guys have loyal followers and are followed for their opinions. I like Wayne's spin on things and his brand of humor and therefore I would love to read a piece from him after getting to interview some players!


There are definitely other ways this team could promote HOCKEY than scantily clad women dancing around.


GO Oilers GO!