Old Oilogosphere blogger returns to the fold

As my list of Oilers must-reads decreases as the statistically-inclined move into actual jobs, I have decided to help fill the void.

Will this be like either of your previous blogs?

It won’t be Hot Oil. There was a time and a place for Hot Oil – on the heels of the magical cup run, we were all a lot happier, footloose and fancy free. It was a world where a mid-20s woman could judge the offerings of a hockey team, on and off the ice. But at 33 and married, it’s positively creepy. Only Andrew Ference and Matt Hendricks (by a couple months) are older than I am. Nikita Nikita Nikita seems like old bones and I am five years his senior.  There will be no Hot Off.

A few months ago, I hid all my old posts on My Life on the E-List (previously You are a Blog). With it went all the old Oilers posts. The blog was actually created as I was preparing to move from Edmonton to Vancouver. On the eve of my move, Chris Pronger (or should I say the Department of Player Safety’s Chris Pronger) was traded to the Oilers. Good times.

If I’m struggling for content here, I hope to take a look back at those posts from that glorious year. I was working in an Oilers bar in Vancouver (shout out to the Black Frog), saving up to go to BCIT and become a sports broadcaster (spoiler: I ended up doing news instead), and drinking as much as a 20-something working in the hospitality industry tends to do. Some of those posts won’t be coming back.

Will you provide a new source of corsi/zone entry/video analysis/etc/etc/etc?

In short, no. I’m far too lazy to delve into that world. But having worked as a broadcaster and news anchor, there’s one thing I love to do – ask questions. My hope is that I can talk to some of the more knowledgeable folks who troll the web from their parents’ basements and ask them why they think they are smarter than a GM.

As well, I want to look further into the money. Though my Economics degree (with a minor in Canadian History and Math) is now over a decade in the past, my interest in using those skills still remains. I don’t think I’ll be breaking any stories about player value for money, but maybe I can highlight the work of others.

The other issue that is especially dear to me right now is that of concussions. Two months ago I suffered what seemed like a modest hit to the head in a soccer game. It didn’t knock me out and I played the rest of the game. Nine weeks later I am still dealing with significant symptoms and any sympathy I had for fighting in hockey is absolutely gone. Concussions related to fighting are completely preventable. I realize that huge guys hitting huge guys will inevitably mean concussions in other areas of the game, but the game can easily be made safer.  Thankfully, many teams are starting to leave face-punchers out of the lineup for other reasons (like their complete lack of positive impact on the game) but it pains me to see Baby Nuge involved in fisticuffs instead.

Are you hoping to get a job out of blogging like XXXX did?

Nope. I’m just wanting to blog about something regularly. Unless Sportsnet (hey, I could work for Rogers again!) wants someone to just pick Elliotte Friedman’s brain instead of whatever they seem to be doing with Nick Kypreos during the second intermission of Hockey Night in Canada, I think I’ll just stick with the international relations work I’m doing right now.

Do you have any idea what you’re going to do with this blog?

I guess not. Maybe this will be the only post I ever write. Or maybe there is room for more of the female perspective in the Oilogosphere, or whatever is left of it. It’s a much different beast than the six (or so) blogs back in 2005. Though as long as Black Dog Pat and Lowetide are still around, these interwebs can’t be that scary.

Also – if anyone wants to join me here, I’m game to have help. I don’t have readers, but I have room.

Lastly, a quick prediction for the season: I will rarely watch a third period (Eastern Timezone syndrome), I will make grand statements about quitting the team for good (and if they are as bad as past years, I will actually quit), I will convince my Australian husband to write something about hockey, and the Oilers will miss the playoffs again.

#Goilers