Day 16: The last of the first round (though none of these guys are first round picks)

From top left clockwise: Spurge, Trunks, He who would kill Pleasure Motors, and some kid named Quist.

Day 15: Who?, who?, who?, ew, and WHOO!

Teemu Hartikainen

Who?

Tim Sesito

Who?

Theo Peckham

Who?

Tom Gilbert

ew.

Steve MacIntyre

WHOOOOOOOO!

Don't vote. Mac Attack already beat your ass.

Day 14: Souray's Battle to Lose

Hello! Today we watch as the Oilers' best dressed player takes on old man Staios and two dudes who didn't make the team. Vote at will, friends!

Sheldon Souray

















Steve Staios

















Stephane Goulet










Taylor Chorney












SOURAY WINS.

Day 13: Back to your regularly scheduled Hot Off

GAGNER, er, GAGNE

Ass kicking!

Suck it Calgary!

I may be upset with the organization, but I'm still happy with my boys.

(P.S. Can you name the 4 in the pic? It's pretty easy, but worth comments.)

I don't want the press pass and other musings.

The story of a blogger kicked out of the press box has now travelled outside the Oilogosphere and into the world.... here, here, here and here and now here- just a selection of some of my faves.

Yesterday, I ranted. Today, I'm still pretty annoyed.

I'm not annoyed that they kicked him out. He was probably going against the stipulations of his press pass - possibly unknowingly. But who wants to go through that? Professionally or personally.

I believe there are three main points that are addressed in this story.

1. A double standard - He was told he couldn't live blog, but others were doing so.
2. A lack of policy - The reasons for his removal changed
3. The role of the blogger - The Oilers don't need to encourage it, but why discourage it?

David Staples, a member of the mainstream media (and blogger?), gets it best in my mind. Scroll down past his game review to see him address the subject.

THE FUTURE IS WITH THE BLOGS
4. The organizations that will thrive in the future are the ones that will not only embrace the new platform of the Internet, they will master it. It's going to evidently take some time for mainstream organizations and thinkers to master the new platform, and mistakes are going to be made along the way.
The Oilers' mistake right now is to not have a coherent policy about "live" blogs from the press box. They should take the time to come up with one that makes sense, one that allows for "live" blogs from top columnists and credible bloggers so that Dave Berry and others can get on with their work.

So, what can you do?

Spread the message around. If you have a blog, put it up there, encourage discussion. What role does the blogger play? By forcing DMFB to delete the post, was he being censored?
Write the Edmonton Oilers. Ask them about their policy. Ask them about their double standards on live blogging.

P.S.
Here's the address:
Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club
11230 - 110 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T5G 3H7

Office: 780-414-4000
Fax: 780-409-5890

Email: http://oilers.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NHLPage&id=3677

If you kids with your google-skills can find more contact info, pass it along in the comments.

And don't worry, I will get off my soap box and continue the hot-off. Nobody likes an asterisk year.

Thanks for nothing Edmonton Oilers organization.

On Sunday, I was following the Oilers blogging on Covered in Oil and Lowetide. During the intermission, the live-blog that Pleasure Motors had been doing disappeared. In other comments threads we joked about him getting in trouble for writing about the game from the press-box. We didn't know that was actually the truth.

If you haven't already, read his account of the evening.

This is disappointing on so many levels.

As a member of the media, I am not surprised by their actions because it happens all too often.
As an oilers blogger, I am hurt that the support the oilogosphere generates seems to be ignored.
As a huge fan of the team, I am angry that they would treat such an equally huge supporter so poorly.
And as a human being, I am saddened that they feel they need to censor us.

I mentioned it in the comments over at CIO, but I'm hoping for your suggestions here. How can we spread the word about this? Should we do a blog blackout? And turn the blogs off for a week? Should we ban Oilers Nation until they abide by the same rules? Should we spam the Oilers website?

Ideas please...

For those being linked here from other blogs, here is the newest post.

Day 12: Will Schremp be "robbed" of another Hot Off title?

Why should you vote for each of these dudes?

Robert Nilsson: Because you're a gay man or overly European.

Robbie Schremp: Because you have a heart that beats, eyes that see and an insatiable hunger to find out what picture I could possibly reveal in the next round.

Robby Dee: Because you love bad music and you assume that he must be a radio DJ counting down your top-40 hits.

Ryan O'Marra: Because you believe in education. (And maybe you're secretly hoping he eventually makes it against all odds at this point.)

VOTE!

I miss Reasoner... not just because we are terrible at faceoffs

Movie review

Most of this Oilers website video sucks. It's Sam Gagner (who I have to admit is totally cute, even if he's about a decade my junior) humming and hawing and thinking back to what cliches the press guy says he's allowed to use, it's eagle eye (not eyed because he has one eye of an eagle and one of a bear) Shawn Horcoff talking forever but barely saying anything, and then just before the halfway point, we see Dustin Penner.

I'm by no means a Dustin Penner fan, but he just got a +1 in my books. (A long way to catch Marty at +99)

Day 11: An all prospects bracket

Cornetto Cone wins! (Likely because he was wearing an Oilers jersey!)

Day 10: Mmm

I'd put my money on Garon, because ladies love goalies, but this is probably the hottest that MAP has looked in a while. Especially after that one terrible roster picture. You know the one. His looks are.. uh.. looking up?

Decided by only one vote, MAP wins!

Season ON!

What a start! Scorcoff! From HO2007 and Grebs!

82!

82 goals this season!! And doesn't he look dapper?? :)

Hot Oil's Where are they now? Brock Radunske

He garnered a "Cute Prospect Alert" and was #4 on the "Hot-Oil Hot Prospects List" (which was topped by the illustrious and still Hot Rodziak).

So, whatever happened to Brock Radunske?

Selected 79th overall by the Oil in the 2002 Draft. He left college after year 3 to pursue a pro career and that's where things went downhill.

He got a few chances in the AHL but played most of the next 3 years with the GRRRROWWWLLLLL. Those three years and whatever money came with it dried up, and so he left for Germany. He had an "okay" season with them, 8th in team scoring but beat out by a bunch of no-namers and a 5'6" Norwegian.

It wasn't enough to stay there...

Where is Brock Radunske now?

Anyang Halla! Say what?!

South Korea! Anyways, the season doesn't seem to have started yet and I doubt he's the property of the Oil yet... but I sense a comeback. Or at least his new roster picture makes me want him to come back to North America!

Random fact: It's the same team Esa played for as well as Petr Nedved's brother!

Oh baby.

Clearly, our team hotness is going to increase exponentially this year with the addition of the old-school "third" jerseys. What's sexier than garish orange and blue together? NOTHING, that's what.

Day 9: "L" is for the way you look at me

LL Cool Lubo.

(Wins)



















I know who wants you to vote for them.

VOTE in the sidebar.

Career Backup Once Again Relegated to Backup

It appears that the writing is on the wall for my $3 million boyfriend Dwayne Roloson. Only 2.5 years after finally, FINALLY! being assigned to a #1 goaltending slot at the age of 36, Roli will be starting the 2008/09 season as a backup once again, some more. Mark Spector has a nice article about the situation here. My squees are with you, Roli. Now take off your pants.

Day 8: The Day Alana Learns to Count

Today's battle pits three relative unknowns against Hot Oil favourite Kyle Brodziak.

VOTE NOW!

Josef Hrabal

Kyle Brodziak

Jordan Eberle

Jordan Bendfeld

NO CONTEST. IT'S HOT RODZIAK.

DAY 7: "J" is for "just who are you again??"

No banter because I know nothing about these dudes.

JDD WINS!

Day 5: The Stud versus the Dessert

Welcome to Day 5 of the 2008 Hot-Off! We've got four competitors in this bracket, but let's be honest: real estate salesman Paukovich and meathead-esque JFJ don't have a chance. This is a battle between Jason "Studwick" Strudwick and Gilbert "Creme" Brule.

Strudwick is Edmonton-born, can grow a kickass moustache, is willing to rock out to Bon Jovi, and likes to spaz.













Brule is also Edmonton-born, pronounces his name "Jill-bear," has dreamy eyes, and the XBox version of him can do nifty tricks.













Here are those other two clowns, if neither of the above rock your boat:

Geoff Paukovich










Jean-Francois Jacques











46% STUDWICK!! 43% BRULE!!

Because I'm posting this every place possible.

...and if MC79 can post political content...



I have watched this nearly two dozen times already. It's as addictive as...

Day 5: In those moving pictures

Sorry guys, I didn't mean for it to work out like this. Any of these guys could've won the last fight. A good battle right?

Dwayne Roloson:


Erik Cole:


Ethan Moreau:


Fernando Pisani:



Suggest your favourite videos in the comments!!

SHOCKER: MOREAU WINS.

Day 4: A Vote for DP is a Vote for Cheeseburgers

Here we are at Day 4 of the 2008 Hot-Off, and we have entered the realm of the Ds. You're all familiar with Dustin Penner (above), who will appeal to the ladies who find slow, out of shape "athletes" attractive, but what of the rest of this bracket? Let's have a look, shall we?

David Rohlfs

Who the hell is this guy? Apparently he's a blueliner, and was acquired by the Oil because he's a big dude (6-foot-3, 234 lbs). He's a college boy (U Michigan), so your parents would probably like him. Is that hot?

Denis Grebeshkov

Denis, here, has actually seen some ice time with the Oil so that gives him a bit of an advantage. He also brings about fond memories of MAB getting shipped out of town, and once played for the Lokomotiv, the Prez's favourite Russian team. What's not to like?

Devan Dubnyk

Devan is a ridiculously tall (6-foot-6) goalie who's been in our system for ages and probably won't be seeing any play this year, once again. He also sort of reminds me of Winchester. Are you into ladylike giants? Vote for Devan.

DUSTIN PENNER WITH 72% OF THE VOTE