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Surprises around the NHL:

Edmonton Oilers

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By Josh Martin, Sports Editor

oming into the second month
( of the NHL’s 2011/12 season

there have been a few surprises
that have caught my attention, but one
team has been a huge surprise right
out of the starting gates: the Edmonton
Oilers. Whether you like them or not,
they have been highflying, fun to
watch, and provide good old hockey
entertainment— something that is
sometimes hard to come by these days
in the NHL.

The Edmonton Oilers have

undoubtedly been the most pleasant

   

surprise six weeks into the season,

leading the North West Division with a

Ryan Smyth (who departed from the
team several years back), Edmonton’s
future is looking bright. The 18-year-
old “Nuge” has been lighting it up as

a rookie, scoring seven goals and six
assists in 15 games so far this year. He
is currently second in scoring on the
team, behind only Smyth— who leads
with nine goals and seven assists. The
pair has instantly boosted the Oilers
morale, and their skill and hard work
seems to rub off on the players around
them. 21-year-old Jordan Eberle (first
round, 22 overall pick in 2008 draft)
and 19-year-old Taylor Hall (first
overall pick in 2010 draft) have 11
points and 10 points respectively while
defenseman Corey Potter, who literally
came out of nowhere, is leading the

“With the young dynamic trio of Eberle, Hall, and the “Nuge” acting
as the team’s centre core to build around, with years to come, the
Oilers future is looking brighter and brighter.”

9-4-2 record and 20 points in a span of
15 games. Pretty impressive for a team
that finished dead last in the NHL last
season with 62 points and a 25-45-12
record.

With the new addition of number
one overall pick in the 2011 draft, Ryan
Nugent-Hopkins, and the return of

defensemen in scoring with two goals
and eight points.

More importantly, goaltender
Nikolai Khabibulin has been standing
on his head in the nine games that he’s
appeared in. The “Bulin Wall” has yet
to lose in regulation with a strong 7-0-2
record, a ridiculous 0.98 Goals Against
Average, and an outstanding .964 Save

Percentage, as well as two shutouts.
This goalie has been playing like a man
possessed. Nothing seems to be getting
past him, which is definitely a must in
his career after coming off a less-than-
perfect season with a terrible 10-32-6
record, a 3.40 GAA, and a .890 SV%.
This year could be his break, if he
keeps it up.

With the young dynamic trio of
Eberle, Hall, and the “Nuge” acting
as the team’s centre core to build
around, with years to come, the Oilers
future is looking brighter and brighter.
They’re so young and talented, yet
they’re playing like players with
loads of experience—something that
Smyth brings to the table at the age of
35. Smyth was drafted into the NHL
in 1994 when Nugent-Hopkins was
just over a year old, and now they’re
leading the team in scoring.

This is an exciting and optimistic
time in Edmonton; for once, their team
is doing well. It will be interesting to
see if they will take off and flourish
with the young talent as well as the
experience and goaltending that is
currently going strong with 15 games
into the season, or if they will dwindle
into the team that they’re well known to
be... dead last in the league.

 

Foothall Fever Winds are changing

By David Hollinshead

other teams are looking for a way to
get back on top.

For the Saskatchewan Roughriders,
who have been the West Division
representatives for the Grey Cup for
the past two years, this has been a
painful year. At the end of last year,
head coach Ken Miller stepped down
from his coaching duties but remained
in the front office, and the Roughriders
brought in Greg Marshall. Marshall was
canned halfway through the season, and
the ‘Riders brought back Miller. Miller
was leading the team to what looked
like a resurgence, until huge beating
by the BC Lions left the team shattered
and unable to recover. Miller retired
not only as coach, but also from his
front office job quickly after the regular
season ended.

The first step on the ‘Riders to-do
list in the offseason is to find a new
head coach. That coach needs to decide
if he thinks quarterback Darian Durant
is his man. Durant’s success was
directly because of Miller’s offensive
scheme and patience to develop him.

In Marshall’s time, Durant was putting
up some of his worst numbers. There’s
no doubt that Durant can be a starter in
this league, as he did lead his team to
two Grey Cups, but without a ring, how
much credit can he be given.

22

|: the midst of the CFL playoffs,

If the new head coach wants to
go through a complete rebuilding
phase, then perhaps trading for one
of the up-and-coming quarterbacks in
the league is in their plans. Hamilton
Tiger-Cats quarterback Quinton Porter
never developed into the star that they
had hoped, and might be looking for
a different option. There’s no doubt
Porter has talent, but sharing 50 per
cent of the snaps with Kevin Glenn has
no doubt hindered his progression.

Perhaps the ‘Riders would want
to try their hand with Canadian
quarterback Dalton Bell. Bell received
chance after chance in Toronto, but has
a problem when it comes to turning
the ball over. If the “Riders new coach
developed a Canadian quarterback into
a starter, he would instantly be praised
as a Canadian starting quarterback is
unheard of. The rebuilding phase for
the ‘Riders would not be a quick one,
as they have several holes.

After cutting defensive halfback
Tad Kournegay, their secondary is
lacking and all-star linebacker Barren
Simpson is planning on retiring. If
they think their team is good enough to
go back to the playoffs, but still want
to make a quarterback change, many
teams. have expendable quarterbacks.
Edmonton has former Grey Cup
champion Kerry Joseph, who won
the cup with the ‘Riders. Calgary has
former Most Outstanding Player Henry

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Darian Durant

Burris who is expendable after the
development of Drew Tate. Hamilton
might also be looking to get rid of more
consistent starter Kevin Glenn.

This could all be over thinking
though, as one year ago they were
competing for the Grey Cup and may
just need an extra piece or two. The
Toronto Argonauts on the other hand
are a different story... they need a
complete makeover.

Trouble in Toronto

There’s talk that Coach Jim Barker
could lose his job after recent lackluster
performances. Toronto also has no
solution at quarterback. They cut starter
Cleo Lemon halfway through the year
after a huge loss to the BC Lions and
brought in one-time starter Stephen
Jyles who threw 11 interceptions to
seven touchdowns in the remainder of
the season. They still have Bell, who
looked terrible in his chances. Toronto
could be in the market for any of the
other quarterbacks previously listed.

 

The rest of Toronto’s offence
looks pretty solid. They have great
running backs in Cory Boyd and Brian
Crawford, receivers with Jeremaine
Copeland, Chad Owens, Spencer Watt,
and Maurice Mann, but could use
some tinkering on the offensive line.
The defense, though, needs a whole
reconstruction, as at times it seemed
impossible for the Argo’s defense to
stop anything, and they were ranked
dead last in every defensive category.
The only shining lights on that defense
were safety Willie Pile, defensive end
Ricky Foley, and halfback Lin-J Shell.
The defense needs to be built around
these three before it can start being
successful.

They may want to dip their trading
stick into the waters of BC, who have
linebackers James Yurichuk and Joe
Henderson with have the ability to start.
If Toronto wants to win the Cup in their
hometown next year, to say that they
need a little work is an understatement.