Their slogan this year is "The Other Oil in Town" but perhaps they should update that with "The Winning Oil in Town". While their NHL parent club follows up a horrendous 2009-10 with an even worse 2010-11, the Edmonton Oil Kings are not only competitive this year, they're the hottest team in the entire WHL.
Continuing his guest blogging series with us today is Seth Ambroz, forward of the Omaha Lancers. The product of New Prague, MN wrote the first entry to the blog back on October 17th which you can read HERE. Since then, the 17-year-old has continued to develop with Omaha, has helped the Lancers to the 2nd best record in the USHL's Western Conference and headlined team USA's third straight gold medal at the World Junior A Challenge.
The CHL released it's invite list for the 2011 Top Prospects game at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto and on Rogers Sportsnet January 19th. Similar to the World Junior team but on a smaller scale as it's only one game, the list is always debated. There are some good discussions this year, and even some interesting names behind the bench. Neate Sager from Buzzing the Net has some interesting thoughts about Bobby Orr not coaching in this game.
Tuesday night Guy and I presented our 2 hour World Junior preview show, trying to cover as much ground as we could and get to as many of the contenders as possible, as well as some key individuals to watch.
The World Junior Championship is largely considered a 19 year old tournament, but every year a number of high level youngsters who are in their draft year sneak into the event and their draft stock either rises or falls. Jack Campbell, Alex Burmistrov and Nino Niederrreiter were all guys who parlayed a strong tournament into a top 11 draft position.
Tuesday on The Pipeline Show it's our final program of 2010 and we'll wrap up our extensive lead up coverage of the 2011 World Junior Championship with our big 2-hour preview.
(Seriously though, with a coach that can apparently unleash his own version of Blue Steel to blind the opposition, who would bet against Team Canuck??)
Saturday morning we got things going with The Pipeline Show Game Day, and had lots to discuss. We recapped the night in the CHL and NCAA and took a look at key match ups Saturday night. Who should captain Canada at the WJC? Our poll question will revealed what you think. And much more...
The annual Teddy Bear Toss season is here and several CHL teams (and NCAA too I believe) have already held their version of the charity tradition. Edmonton's Teddy Bruin Toss game is tomorrow when Chilliwack comes to town.
The 40-player invite list to the 2011 CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects Game will be released on Tuesday. The game is one of the marquee events during the draft year for a prospect trying to elevate and raise his stock in front of a plethora of NHL scouts and executives.
With the final cuts about to be announced, The Pipeline Show is submitting our picks for Canada's World Junior roster. We also cornered Rogers Sportsnet CHL Analyst Sam Cosentino and forced him to participate. Here are our teams, feel free to tell us we're crazy and what your team would look like.
This time of year The Pipeline Show spends a lot of time looking ahead to the World Junior Championship, one of our four "Majors" on our annual calendar. That said, we certainly didn't forget the massive spectacle that the NCAA put on last weekend and we also looked to the AHL for an update on some key prospects at that level.
Edmonton is a pro-city and an event driven city. The Edmonton Oilers are by far the biggest thing in town and the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos are clearly #2. History has shown that massive events like the Heritage Classic, the World Junior Championship, The World Track and Field Games and others can be held here and the citizens will support it.
And the Edmonton Oil Kings, now in their 4th season in the league, are averaging 3900 people in a building that holds just under 17,000. We've heard plenty of valid reasons as to why fans have not embraced the team and I can understand most of them. Parking at Rexall Place is an outrageous $15, ticket prices are out of whack when compared to the rest of the league (including other NHL/CHL markets), a lack of star power, poor marketing, the wrong atmosphere at Rexall, etc.
Drummondville center Sean Couturier was a one man wrecking crew before leaving for Canada's World Junior team camp. He racked up 17 points in his last 6 games and had back to back 4 point outings. The surge has vaulted the potential first overall pick to 2nd in Q scoring.
Vancouver prospect and Manitoba Moose rookie Cody Hodgson is on the shelf again. The good news is it's not his back. The bad news is he has a broken orbital bone. What makes it even worse is that he took the stick from teammate Billy Sweatt in practice. Tim Campbell of the Winnipeg Free Press has the story here. 
It was a fun edition of The Pipeline Show this morning as Dean and I welcomed 5 guests and covered a lot of territory in the NHL, NCAA and CHL. We looked ahead to the 2011 World Junior Championship in Buffalo and spent a lot of time debating the Linus/Lienus Omark shootout goal from Friday night."It's embarrassing for him…It's not a very classy thing. That's just the kind of person he is." - Lightning goaltender Dan Ellis. (St. Pete Times) via Michael Traikos Twitter.No question, the talk of Edmonton right now is the shootout goal above by Swedish rookie Linus Omark, the eventual winner against Tampa Bay in what was a memorable NHL debut.
Edmonton sophomore Michael St. Croix has the Midas touch, which is a good thing if you're an Oil King fan. Thanks to a hattrick and one assist in a victory over Calgary Wednesday night, St. Croix now has an incredible 17 points in his last 6 games. Those are Sidney Crosby type numbers. The Winnipeg native has points in 8 straight games, and has amassed 6 straight multi-point efforts including back to back 4 point outings. The hot streak has pushed St. Croix near the WHL scoring leaders as he now has the 9th most points in the league with 18 goals and 20 assists, but is his offensive outburst enough to make him a first round pick?
We kicked things off Tuesday night by running through the invitation list put out by USA Hockey for their World Junior camp. Both Guy and I were surprised that for a second straight year, the Americans aren't having any competition for who makes the team in net, and we discussed a few guys that didn't make the grade.
Team U.S.A unveiled the 29 players they are inviting to their training camp as the defending champs look to win 2 titles in a row for the first time. Here now are 5 story lines heading into camp and the eventual tournament.
TPS has received a sneak peak at what Team Alberta will look like when it's Canada Games squad is unveiled tomorrow afternoon in Edmonton. The news conference will be held at Rexall place following the OIlers practice and on hand will be Devan Dubnyk and Jordan Eberle. Here's a look at the team:
Make no mistake, the gold medal performance from Team USA last year was anything but a fluke and despite a historically disappointing record, there is every reason to believe the Americans can win it all again in Buffalo. This morning USA Hockey announced their 29-man camp roster which will compete for 22 spots on the tournament team and with experience, depth and home ice advantage, USA has to be considered the favourites to win gold in 2011.
Continuing his guest blogging series with us today is Travis Ewanyk, forward of the Edmonton Oil Kings. The product of St.Albert, AB wrote the first entry to the blog back on October 27th which you can read HERE. Since then, the Oil Kings have played through a lengthy losing streak, made a major trade, grown facial hair for charity and gotten hot.
A couple of Oilers prospects have returned to action and have contributed immediately since getting back on their blades. Ryan O'Marra missed 4 games recently with a shoulder injury but was back in the lineup for Oklahoma City as they played a 2-game set in Manitoba. Jérémie Blain lost much more time with a cracked foot but he's back for Acadie-Bathurst and has picked up two points in as many games.
The LA Kings made the coaching and scouting staff of Hockey Canada breathe a little easier on Thursday. By sending Brayden Schenn back to the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL, the Kings also gave Hockey Canada it's #1 centre and all around best player. Schenn also makes the Wheat Kings an interesting team to watch, as getting back last year's co-captain could easily vault them a few spots up the standings.
On Monday, Hockey Canada released the invite list for it's training camp starting December 10th. 39 players made the list with hopes that a couple of NHL guys will be made available. The two guys being talked about the most are Tyler Seguin in Boston and Brayden Schenn with LA. The decision on Seguin will likely be a last minute one and will be based on their salary cap situation when Marc Savard returns.
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