Lori-Anne has been giving out hockey pool advice to her friends and family for years – despite never having won a pool herself. She has been writing off and on over the last 10 years and studied Broadcast Journalism in college. The rest of her time is spent working in Broadcast Operations for a national television station, caring for her 1-year-old son and keeping her fingers crossed that her beloved Toronto Maple Leafs win a Stanley Cup in her lifetime.
If it were up to the Edmonton Oilers, every game would end in a shootout. Edmonton, with a record of 16-16-2 moved back to the .500 mark for the first time since just the fourth game of the season, and has now gone 8-3-1 in its last 12 and moved into a tie with St. Louis, Columbus and Anaheim for eighth in the Western Conference with 34 points.
The Oilers are currently posting an astounding 10-1 in shootouts this season, knocking off the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 on Saturday night. This win was the third in a shootout against the Canucks so far this season. Edmonton is now just two wins shy of the record the Dallas Stars set in 2005-06 through the 82-game campaign.
While Edmonton has some young sharpshooters on their squad, it has really been their goaltending that has helped them win ten shootouts. 37-year-old goalie Dwayne Roloson has been solid in net with an extremely reliable Mathieu Garon in the backup role.
"We've been playing pretty good hockey, we've been getting results and now we're right back in a playoff position," said centre Shawn Horcoff, who was instrumental in pulling the club back to .500. "From the start of the season, where things were looking pretty grim, until now, it's been a nice change.
Edmonton has battled injury problems this season and hopes the return of Fernando Pisani and captain Ethan Moreau will help with their lack of offence. Pisani scored the shootout winner on Saturday night. Defenceman Sheldon Souray has also returned to the lineup after missing 25 games with a separated shoulder.
The Oilers are coming off of a successful road trip that showcased their top line of Dustin Penner, Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky. Their second line of Sam Gagner, Robert Nilsson and Fernando Pisani have been scoring timely goals as well.
“Chemistry, I think for those guys,” said Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish following the team’s skate this morning. “Confidence and chemistry. Fernie’s a guy that adds a lot of reliability to that line. The other guys are learning that, developing that and getting much better positionally”
All three players are playing their best hockey of the season. Gagner has picked up points in four straight games, including a goal and four assists while Pisani has two goals and an assist in his last three.
The Oilers face off against the Dallas Stars tonight, play host to the New Jersey Devils on Friday, then meet the Blackhawks in Chicago on Sunday night before the NHL shuts down for an abbreviated Christmas holiday break.
Is Calgary glad to be home? Maybe not.
The way things have been going on the road, you'd think the Calgary Flames would rather just stay out of town.
"It's been fun to be on the road," said left-winger Alex Tanguay, "and it's always nice to have the southern swing where you get to wear shorts, but it's time to get home."
The Flames have shown vast improvements after a slow start to the season. They concluded a 6-0 road trip Tuesday night with a 3-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.
Only two other NHL clubs have won six consecutive games on the road - the 1971-72 Boston Bruins and the 1982-83 Philadelphia Flyers. The 2001-02 Red Wings won six straight road games without any intervening home dates, but the run was interrupted by the Winter Olympic break.
"That was a lot of fun," said defenceman Cory Sarich. "That was a great road trip. The guys got to bond out here on the road and no better way to do it than winning. It came from a lot of hard work. You saw it from Game 1 through Game 6 of this road trip and we're just really excited and we'll enjoy it for the moment. And then move on and get ready for more."
So how well did the Flames do?
"We're a little higher in the standings," said Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, who stopped 36 Columbus shots. They started the road trip 13th in the West 11 days ago, and now they are in the top eight.
"We're back in the playoffs, first and foremost," said Flames coach Keenan. "We've got ourselves out of a hole - that's what this road trip did for us." This road trip has given the Flames the boost of confidence that they needed. The veteran team has only won 10 of its last 26 games.
"Before the road trip, we played some really good games, we just didn't quite all the results. We played the same way here on the road and just got the results."
Calgary Flames right-winger Jarome Iginla was named NHL star of the week for the week-ending December 16th.
Iginla garnered the first star after scoring a league-high seven goals with three assists to help Calgary win four straight road games. Two of his goals were game-winners. He now sits second in scoring overall with 48 points in 34 games with 23 goals and 25 assists.
Player profile: Miikka Kiprusoff He was born October 26, 1976 in Turku, Finland, and currently plays for the Calgary Flames. He captured the 2006 Vezina Trophy as the National Hockey League's best goaltender.
He made his NHL debut in 2000 with the San Jose Sharks after being drafted 116th overall in the 5th round at the 1995 NHL Entry Draft.
Kiprusoff was traded in 2003 to the Calgary Flames. He ended the regular season with a goals-against average of 1.69, which is an NHL record. Kiprusoff was nominated for the Vezina Trophy. In the playoffs, he had five shutouts, helping the Flames to win the Western Conference championship en route to a narrow defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. On October 30, 2007, Kiprusoff, signed a six-year extension deal with Calgary worth $35 million US.
On April 7, 2006, Kiprusoff broke the Flames' franchise record for wins in a season. He also broke the Flames' franchise record for most games played when he collected 40 wins in one season. On March 27, 2007 Kiprusoff broke the Flames Shutout record in a 1-0 shootout win over the Minnesota Wild with a record 21 shutouts in career regular season play with the Flames.
Kiprusoff followed up his outstanding 2004 Stanley Cup performance with another excellent performance on behalf of Team Finland in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey tournament, where he led the Finnish team to a silver medal, losing in the gold medal final to Team Canada.
He has played in the NHL All-Star game in 2006 and 2007 and has represented Finland in the following:
1996 World Junior Championships 1998 World Championships 2001 World Championships 2004 World Cup of Hockey (silver medal)
