Sorry girls, the season is still going on... :-)

You know what's pretty cool about that sport? Games can change so quickly. In comparison to soccer US (and Canadian) sports are more dynamic, there are more goals (points) scored, and thus more possibility to turn games. To me this aspect of the American dream that no matter how bad a situation looks there's always a chance also manifests in their sports.

Furthermore, it's noteworthy that these sports all have an absolutely precise time measuring. Everybody - players and spectators - know how much time is left at any time in the game, which of course adds additional suspense to the final phase of a close game. A countdown down to zero.

I'm sure everybody knows one of those (more or less cheesy) American sport movies with that typical happy end: In the game of games and of course always only with two seconds left the hero scores the crucial point for his team. Of course films like to exaggerate but the point is that such turns can happen and do happen (and in my opinion more frequently than for example in soccer).

Yesterday's game between the Edmonton Oilers versus the Dallas Stars is a good example:

In the middle of the game the Oilers had a 4-1 lead. Comfortable you may think (and so did I). But the second period ended 4-2, and in the third period Dallas scored three goals within 3:20 minutes. (Which is still a thing that in my opinion a good team must not let happen.) So watch these video, these are the last 30 seconds of the game with the Oilers down 4:5 and desperately trying to score.

An explanatory comment for hockey rookies: In the final phase of the game the team in danger to lose usually plays all or nothing: They exchange the goal tender for a field player, which increases their offensive power but it also leaves their goal empty and the leading team can score very easily. Or not so easily, as this clip shows..



"Can You. Believe. What We. Just Saw." :-) I think that explains everything...

Unfortunately, because this is real life, there was no happy end. The Oilers lost the penalty shootout and, therefore, also the game 5:6 (and it should be noted that unlike to a movie plot Ales Hemsky who heroically scored the 5:5 missed his penalty). Fortunately this was not the crucial game of games and there are more to come. At least it's one point (if a team loses after overtime it still earns one point) and every point is dearly needed.

Just to sum up the situation: it's not very pleasant at the moment. Before New Years day we lost four games in a row thus dropping from first to fifth (and last) place and at the moment we wouldn't even make it to the play-offs. But our division - the Western Division - is incredibly close (closer than any other), all teams are within five points (see standings at NHL.com). The next two weeks (until 20 January) could prove crucial because out of the 8 games until then 5 are against direct rivals in the division (Vancouver Canucks, Minnesota Wild, Calgary Flames).The first one - versus Vancouver - is on already tonight. I hope Ales Hemsky is ready to score (and I wouldn't mind if it was more than once and earlier than with only 2 seconds left in the game)!

Leeets gooo Oooilers! :-)