Millard's Thoughts From Day 1

Just a few things to add to what Guy had to say...for some reason can't stop calling Hans Benson...Hanson...maybe it's because he resembles all 3 Hanson brothers rolled into one...just get him some taped up glasses, throw a tire iron at him and he'll call the pizza man when he's in jail. Seriously though, like Guy said, he is an intimidating man. Just one of many in camp.

Here's a list of tough customers, the team they played with last year and their PIM totals:

Hans Benson- Peoria (AHL) 265
Garet Hunt-Vancouver (WHL) 239
Adam Huxley-Stockton (ECHL) 200
Sean McMorrow-St. Hyacinthe (LNAH) 527 - not a typo, see Joanne Ireland's story in today's Journal.
Milan Maslonka-Youngstown (ECHL) 298

A whopping 1529 minutes spent in the box last year from just 5 guys. Might make some pre season games and training camp very interesting.

I agree with the Flaming Guy...Alex Plante struggled...at one point looked like Bambi on ice. Now I'm a big supporter of Plante, I think with some patience he can become a poor man's Sheldon Souray, although he could do without emulating Souray with his injury problems. It's obvious he's thinking about things quite a bit. As John Tortorella recently told Jason Gregor on "Just A Game", the worst thing a player can do on the ice is think. I had wondered allowed if Plante could just skate with the Oilers all year, but was told by a member of the Oilers management team that can't happen. He can though play junior A, if the Hitmen release him to that league. But obviously can't play in the WHL without being traded.

Thought Taylor Chorney looked confident out there, you can see for yourself tonight at 11 on Global Sports (cheap plug I know), also Jordan Eberle looked almost as good as he did during the Oil Kings pre season tournament where he scored 2 very sweet goals. Ryan O'Marra gave me a couple of interesting answers about his approach to training camp this year.

"It's how you come through adversity, and adversity builds character."

"now I come in here with a level head, but with similar expectations."

Nice to see, if O'Marra plays like he did for Brent Sutter at the 2006 World Juniors and as Sutter once told me, "skate up and down the ice and throw atleast one hit per shift" then he could be something special. I think Ryan O'Marra could be Ethan Moreau with more offensive upside.



Man am I glad hockey season is here, can't wait to see tomorrow night's game vs. the flames...hilites at 11.