A lot of you probably aren't hockey fans(what with a large number of you being women and children).

But some of us, namely, myself, are! I'm not a fan of soccer/football at all, but I'll always love my national sport:

Hockey.

The NHL playoffs have been pretty interesting, so far, what with the eight slot in the Western Conference, the Edmonton Oilers, beating out all the rest to come out as Western Conference Champs, and the Carolina Hurricanes, not nearly as surprising, emerging as Eastern Champs.

The Playoff Finals, though, have been dramatic, to say the least, with the Game 1 elimination of the Edmonton Oilers' playoff star netminder, Dwayne Roloson. 'Rolly' was taken out on injury from a bull rush at the net by a two man bulldozer, half Oilers and half Hurricanes. His injuries were severe enough to take him out of the rest of the playoff series.

This SEVERELY dampened the spirits of the Oilers and their fans, particularly when the Oilers' primary backup, Ty Conklin, was placed into goal. With a couple of good looking saves at the start of his session, he looked as though he could match up to Carolina's sensational rookie goalie, Cam Ward. But with a poor feed, due to bad communication, behind the net in the closing minutes of the third period with a tie game, Conklin accidentally lost the puck and it ended up in the hands of Hurricanes forward Rob Brind'amour, who slipped it between the posts of an empty net. Brind'amour's goal won the game, finishing the score at 5-4 Carolina.

Game two, the Oilers were down on spirits. Conklin wasn't even called out, and nobody could blame the GM after Game 1's mistake - Edmonton fans were out for Ty Conklin's blood, and showing up on the ice would be the last place that the goalie, who hadn't played a game in near on three months, would want to be.

Instead, the Oilers coach, Craig MacTavish, decided it'd be a good time to try out their other backup goalie - Career backup Jussi Markannen, a man who hadn't played a game in SIX months.

Markannen's first playoff game with the Oilers was a disaster. The Oilers' defence had no confidence, and they were expecting another Conklin in net - they were too defensive, and their spirits, shot from the absurd defeat in game one, dampened the energy of the former Stanley Cup Champions. Their defense was horrible, their offense was worse, and the Hurricanes destroyed them, 5-0.

Game three! The Oilers snuck out a win where nobody thought one would come. Jussi Markannen found his comfort zone within the blue crease, and facing their hometown crowd in Edmonton, Alberta, the Oilers could ill afford another loss. Their defense was confident, rallying around their goalie and crowd chants of 'Jussi Saves'. Markannen's deflections and saves were nothing short of brilliant, and the Oilers offence picked up the game they needed to break through Carolina's swirling hurricane of defense. The game, tied at 1-1, became somewhat contested when Ethan Moreau flipped the puck over the splayed body of Carolina goalie Cam Ward. But the ref lost sight of the puck, and blew the whistle, citing that he was sure Ward had covered the puck, taking it out of play. Oilers fans raged, but little could be done than jeer the innocent NHL official.

Late in the third, Ryan Smyth took a smooth breakaway and charged Ward at the net, puck glued to his stick. The puck bounced, bounced, and, though Smyth was within the goalie's crease, which would normally call for 'interference', the referees claimed that Ward had, somehow, deflected the puck within the steel to give the goal to the Oilers. The Hurricanes raged, but little could be done, for now. The Oilers' controversial goal gave them a 2-1 win, and the series was set at 2-1 for Carolina.

Game four, Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alberta. The Oilers and Hurricanes fought neck and neck, scoring goals twelve seconds apart.

The Oilers, however, were sloppy, and slackened on their offense. Too confident, they gave up too many power play opprotunities, even letting a 5 on 3 in Edmonton's favour slip by with a remarkably low number of shots on Ward in goal. The Hurricanes stole a beautiful looking goal on an exhausted Markannen late in the second, and the Oilers failed to recover, leading to a 2-1 victory for Carolina, giving them a 3-1 lead in the series.


Game five, Carolina was inches within elimintating Edmonton and claiming the Stanley Cup. The game was in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Hurricanes' home, and the entire East Coast was set to celebrate the defeat of the Oilers.

But the Oilers refused to lay down and die, and fought back with every inch of will and determination they had left in them. They gave their all, though the Hurricanes equally unloaded their payload of sweat and blood to defeat the Oilers. Unfortunately for the American team, the Canadians simply would not die, and the game, filled with high energy goals, saves, and penalties, wound up tied at 3-3, and went into a first overtime.

Fernando Pisani, in his tenth year with the Edmonton Oilers, made an NHL first when he intercepted a sloppy pass by Carolina's Cory Stillman. At 3:03 into the extra period, Oilers defenceman Steve Staios went to the penalty box for tripping, and doom and gloom seemed inevitable for the Canadian favourites. But, only 3:31 into the sudden death overtime, and with one man down on the Oilers side, Pisani snatched the puck and dashed for the goal, a breakaway that none of the Hurricanes players could match, speedwise. Pisani flicked the puck, aiming for the top corner, and Ward was too slow, too tired, to make the save. The puck launched Ward's water bottle into the air and down to the ice, and the Oilers fans, far from their own home, rocked the arena with a sudden, shocked cheer. Even Carolina fans cheered and applauded, for the Oilers had come back from absurd odds to hold back the celebration of the Hurricanes' victory.


The series is at 3-2 for the Hurricanes, with game six being held on Saturday in Edmonton. The Oilers aren't out of it yet, and they only need to win two more games to do it. There've been a lot of naysayers for Edmonton's team, but they all thought that the Oilers wouldn't even make it into the much contended 8th playoff slot.

More to come!



Sources: http://www.nhl.com and watching the games like a fanatic.