Comedy gold out of Edmonton

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Dad's trip off to a great start...

 

[puckhead]

Andrew Ference goes nuclear, rips terrible practice habits, party atmosphere of 2013-15 Oilers

a few choice cuts
“You had a group of players that talked about how they wanted to make the playoffs, and talked about how sick they were of losing, and then by Game Three after losing 6-1, they’re straight out to the bar to three in the morning

They’d come and practice hard and there was a group of guys there that had like, it was too cool to try hard. Derogatory terms for trying too hard in practice. That’s the culture, right. How do you break that?

So it was not only frustrating, but it really pissed me off because it’s was a waste of years of your NHL career and you never get those back

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Andrew Ference goes nuclear, rips terrible practice habits, party atmosphere of 2013-15 Oilers

a few choice cuts
“You had a group of players that talked about how they wanted to make the playoffs, and talked about how sick they were of losing, and then by Game Three after losing 6-1, they’re straight out to the bar to three in the morning

They’d come and practice hard and there was a group of guys there that had like, it was too cool to try hard. Derogatory terms for trying too hard in practice. That’s the culture, right. How do you break that?

So it was not only frustrating, but it really pissed me off because it’s was a waste of years of your NHL career and you never get those back

Kinda shooting from two sides there - he says Eakins took way more shit than he should've while at the same time saying the players weren't being held accountable by coaching & management.

 

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Kinda shooting from two sides there - he says Eakins took way more shit than he should've while at the same time saying the players weren't being held accountable by coaching & management.

I think when Eakins got there, the bad team culture was firmly entrenched and there was little he could do to change things. They still have some big problems with that team, but #97 is trying his best to solve a lot of them. Edmonton has as interesting week coming u[ with a game on the road tonight in Denver followed by a game Thursday night in Winnipeg, then back home for a Friday night tilt against Philly and then a quick trip to Vancouver for a Sunday night clash. Let's see if Hitch is still smiling like a butcher's dog after these four games.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

Andrew Ference goes nuclear, rips terrible practice habits, party atmosphere of 2013-15 Oilers

a few choice cuts
“You had a group of players that talked about how they wanted to make the playoffs, and talked about how sick they were of losing, and then by Game Three after losing 6-1, they’re straight out to the bar to three in the morning

They’d come and practice hard and there was a group of guys there that had like, it was too cool to try hard. Derogatory terms for trying too hard in practice. That’s the culture, right. How do you break that?

So it was not only frustrating, but it really pissed me off because it’s was a waste of years of your NHL career and you never get those back

From the article:

Ference’s words on how toxic the environment can be in Edmonton for a player when the fans turn on him are also worth thinking hard about. I’m no stranger to blasting the play of some Oilers. It would do us all well to try to keep our own bias and disgust in check when we comment on the Oilers and to most certainly avoid any personal comments about the players. Criticize the play, not the player. And try to be balanced. If you find you can see no good ever about a player, that’s a signal you’ve lost the plot.

Man...some of these guys should try playing in Montreal or another truly tough market. Edmonton seems to me like a pretty damn patient market, by Canadian standards. Fans and media seem to always be pumping Oiler tires even after a full on rupture, or dare I say it, a blowout.

 

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Man...some of these guys should try playing in Montreal or another truly tough market. Edmonton seems to me like a pretty damn patient market, by Canadian standards. Fans and media seem to always be pumping Oiler tires even after a full on rupture, or dare I say it, a blowout.

 

[mattola]

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I think when Eakins got there, the bad team culture was firmly entrenched and there was little he could do to change things.

But isn't that exactly what Hall said happened when he got to Jersey? That he finally had a coach who would shake him the fuck up and straighten him out? I think that's a failure on Eakins' part and I think the only defence here is that they were a team who needed a veteran coach who knew how to keep guys in line. They needed Mike Keenan giving the doorman the hockey stick for players to sign on road trips.

 

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But isn't that exactly what Hall said happened when he got to Jersey? That he finally had a coach who would shake him the fuck up and straighten him out? I think that's a failure on Eakins' part and I think the only defence here is that they were a team who needed a veteran coach who knew how to keep guys in line. They needed Mike Keenan giving the doorman the hockey stick for players to sign on road trips.

I think Eakins was just the wrong coach at the wrong time in Edmonton (I heard reports out of Vancouver when they interviewed him for the Canucks job that they thought he just wasn't ready to be a NHL head coach). To Kenny's point above, I don't think Edmonton is nearly as bad as places like Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver, but they certainly are a lot tougher on players and coaches than they are in Calgary. The biggest problem that remains in Edmonton is the old boys club of Lowe and MacT, you need to send those guys packing before you're going to see any real change in Edmonton.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I think Eakins was just the wrong coach at the wrong time in Edmonton (I heard reports out of Vancouver when they interviewed him for the Canucks job that they thought he just wasn't ready to be a NHL head coach). To Kenny's point above, I don't think Edmonton is nearly as bad as places like Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver, but they certainly are a lot tougher on players and coaches than they are in Calgary. The biggest problem that remains in Edmonton is the old boys club of Lowe and MacT, you need to send those guys packing before you're going to see any real change in Edmonton.

They do seem to still pay a lot of mind to old drones at print media outlets in Edmonton. I don’t know how it is in Montreal but here if someone like Steve Simmons or Damien Cox puts something in a column to antagonize I don’t think the players even catch wind of it anymore. There’s just so much other media and of course the benefit of having the two biggest sports media entities in the country owning the club helps a lot.

Being a one sport city does create a larger echo chamber there too, I suppose.

 

[forty_three]

They needed Mike Keenan giving the doorman the hockey stick for players to sign on road trips.

I feel like I am missing a story here.

 

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I feel like I am missing a story here.

Hat or hockey stick, Keenan learned his tricks from the great Scotty Bowman...

Keenan always tried to stay one step ahead of his players, particularly with regard to controlling our lives through curfews and practices and so forth. It's said that Keenan learned all of his tricks to control players from the great Scotty Bowman when Keenan was an American Hockey League coach in Rochester. At the time, Bowman was in charge of Rochester's parent club in Buffalo.

When we were on the road, Keenan would give the bellman a hat and tell him to ask every player who came in after curfew to sign it. Keenan could then inspect the hat the next day and know who had violated curfew. Other times, he would sit in the lobby reading a book and catch his drunken players stumbling in at three in the morning.

Some of us had our ways to beat the curfew setup, most of which involved making sure we didn't return to our rooms through the lobby. At the Los Angeles Airport Marriott, for example, we would use rocks to make sure that the side doors remained ajar so we could sneak back into the hotel.

"Holy shit," he said. "You're Jeremy Roenick."

"I am," I admitted, "and I need to use your phone."

Early in my career, we had back-to-back games in Calgary and Vancouver. We flew from Calgary to Vancouver after the game, and with the time change, it was still after midnight when we got to the Westin Bayshore hotel. With a game against the Canucks the next night, we were supposed to go directly to our rooms. But players always liked going out in Vancouver because the Roxy was a favorite player hangout. We were only going to Vancouver twice a season, so you couldn't waste a trip. Several of the guys, me included, took the elevator to our rooms and then took the stairs back down to the ground floor and fled out the side door.

Several beers later, it was past three in the morning, and I returned to the team hotel by myself. I was standing in front, wondering whether I was walking into a well-executed Keenan trap. Had he paid the night manager to keep a list of players coming in late? Would there be an autograph seeker waiting for me by the elevator to essentially ask me to sign my own death warrant? Would Keenan himself be standing watch? Anything was possible with Iron Mike.

Wanting to avoid any possibility of a Keenan ambush, I went around the side of the building to find the loading dock. That was locked down tight, as was the entrance to the hotel kitchen, which was on the same side of the building. But as I inspected the area, I noticed a ventilation grate; and peering through it, I could see into the hotel's kitchen. Back then, hotels were still issuing metal keys, not key cards, and I used my key to unscrew the grate. Within a couple of minutes, I had the grate removed and was scooting through the air duct, attired in a suit. I ended up breathing in plenty of soot and dust, but it was a small price to pay to pull one over on Keenan.

Once in the kitchen, I grabbed a ham sandwich and a Bud Light and took the service elevator up to my floor. I remember sitting in my room at four in the morning, munching on my sandwich and sipping my beer, feeling like I had just pulled off the crime of the century.

https://deadspin.com/5958837/mike-keenan-the-nhls-last-great-asshole-coach

 

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I don't know Jim, but I think you're a journalist, maybe you should oh I don't know investigate and let us know

 

[forty_three]

I don't know Jim, but I think you're a journalist, maybe you should oh I don't know investigate and let us know

Start by calling Andrew Ference.

 

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lol

 

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Also, what the hell was this last night from the Oilers Gene Principe? Cringe-inducing...

 

[KennyBanyeah]

Yikes. Gully looks he should be selling adult DVDs in some Minnesotan backwater.

"Aww jeez, we're all out Christy Canyons but have yezz heard o' Traci Lords? She's pretty super!!"

 

[puckhead]

"Aww jeez, we're all out Christy Canyons but have yezz heard o' Traci Lords? She's pretty super!!"

there's a man who knows his vintage entertainment.

 

[dash]

"Aww jeez, we're all out Christy Canyons but have yezz heard o' Traci Lords? She's pretty super!!"

there's a man who knows his vintage entertainment.

Would Marilyn Chambers complete the trifecta?