Edmonton Oilers first quarter wrap
The CPHL season is 156 days long meaning that most teams should have reached the quarter point of their season by day 39 of the season. The Oilers have had a light early schedule and 44 days still haven't officially reached the quarter point of the season...they still need to play half a hockey game to get there.
Through the first 21 games of the season the Oilers have posted a strong 15-6-0 record. Despite posting a winning percentage that would have the team tied for 4th in the entire league, it translates to being 6th in the Howe Conference and 11th in the league.
Dany Heatley has been the Oilers early offensive leader scoring 14 goals in the first 21 games. For the most part the Oilers top 5 forwards which consist of Heatley as well as Martin Havlat, Stephen Weiss, Ales Hemsky, and Martin Erat have accounted for a majority of the teams goals. Kevin Bieksa, Ryan Suter, and Sergei Gonchar have all supplied good assist and scoring totals for the defence. The tandem of Pekka Rinne and Chris Osgood have been solid in net both posting GAA's under 2.65 and save percentages of .899 or better.
On the farm the Springfield Falcons are currently second in their conference with a 16-4-1 record. Despite losing their early season scoring whiz the veteran laden AHL team continues to beat up on everyones uber prospect collection. On the farm the Oilers do actually have a few players in the real NHL this year as Mattieu Perrault, Liam Reddox, J-F Jacques, Davis Drewiske, and Brendan Mikkelson have all seen action in the show early on. Good enough for a team who knows that prospects isn't our thing.
Moving forward things in the standings appear to be slowly taking the shape that most predicted in the preseason. The Kings and Wild look to be the two teams to try and beat, and Anaheim and San Jose aren't far behind, and Chicago looks to be coming on. The Oilers hope to hang with the second tier, and find a way to get enought help to hopefully take on the big boys and kill them off come playoffs again.
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"Some guys like old balls"
Patriots QB Tom Brady
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