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Category: WHL

Hitmen Beat WHL Eastern Conference Leading Oil Kings 4-3

The Eastern Conference leaders, the Edmonton Oil Kings, came into Calgary to challenge a team riding a six game winning streak. You must also remember that despite the fact that this is WHL hockey, this is still very much a battle of Alberta. It doesn’t matter how long a player has been with their team, they know that the rivalry is very real. And as such, this was anyone’s game.

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Filed in: WHL, Calgary Hitmen, Edmonton Oil Kings, Martin Gernat, | Oil Patch | Permalink
 

Kristians Pelss at the 2012 WJC

Edmonton Oil King and Edmonton Oilers’ prospect Kristians Pelss was named the Team Captain for his country, Latvia in the 2012 IIHF World Juniors Tournament. For Pelss, being the team captain, the only player drafted into the NHL, a player currently playing in Alberta, and one of the few players on the team that speaks English fluently made him a very popular man with the media. With every loss, Pelss had to field more questions than any of his teammates. And although the weight of the world looked to be on his shoulders, Pelss handled it all with grace and strength.

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Canada Takes Bronze With 4-0 Win Over Finland

This wasn’t the medal that team Canada wanted to play for, but this is the game they ended their tournament with. Despite strong play through their preliminary round, the loss to Russia Tuesday night was the most significant game of the tournament. For Finland, losing is never easy, but losing to Canada in Canada only increased the focus on their loss. Not that a 4-0 loss wouldn’t draw enough attention as it was.

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Filed in: Team Canada, WHL, Edmonton Oil Kings, Mark Pysyk, | Oil Patch | Permalink
 

An Even Dozen Goals Lifts USA Over Latvia

An even dozen, that’s how many goals Team USA managed to score Tuesday against Latvia, after a lackluster preliminary round for both teams.

For the both teams, this game was as much about pride as it was securing a position in this tournament for next year. Now, Latvia has one more game and nothing to lose.

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Preliminary Round Stats: NHL Prospects

Although the IIHF World Juniors tournament is not an NHL tournament, there are several players in the tournament who have been drafted by NHL teams. For many NHL fans, this is the only opportunity to see many of the prospects in action. Of course this is still a competitive tournament and an excellent opportunity to see the world’s best junior hockey players on display.

Here is a look at how the NHL prospects have done so far at this tournament. All stats were taken from the IIHF team statistics pages.

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Filed in: Edmonton Oilers, Prospects, Martin Marincin, WHL, Edmonton Oil Kings, Kristians Pelss, Mark Pysyk, Martin Gernat, | Oil Patch | Permalink
 

It’s a Marty Party New Year’s Eve; Slovakia over Switzerland 6-4

Neither team had the start to this game that they wanted, but Slovakia certainly found the finish. In what has been the most exciting hockey game in the Pool A preliminaries, Slovakia found the will and the way to come back from a deficit and score three goals in 3:01. Simply incredible.

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Filed in: Edmonton Oilers, Prospects, Martin Marincin, WHL, Edmonton Oil Kings, Martin Gernat, | Oil Patch | Permalink
 

Day 2: Slovakia Beats Latvia 3-1

In front of the Calgary crowd of 12 598 on the second day of competition, it was the goaltenders for both Latvia and Slovakia that defined the game. Kristers Gudlevskis stopping 42 or 44 shots faced was named player of the game for Latvia and Jurjaj Simboch turned away 25 of 26 shots on goal to be named player of the game for Slovakia.

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Filed in: Edmonton Oilers, Prospects, Martin Marincin, WHL, Edmonton Oil Kings, Kristians Pelss, Martin Gernat, | Oil Patch | Permalink
 

Paajarvi Gets Promoted To The Winning Team

While the Edmonton Oilers have been struggling as of late to find wins, their AHL and WHL affiliates have found themselves in the exact opposite situation. The Oilers have still played some exciting hockey, and of course the future looks bright but while the Oilers are falling towards the bottom of the NHL, the Barons are sitting on top of the AHL, and the Oil Kings’ strung together 11 wins before their Christmas break.

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Filed in: Edmonton Oilers, Magnus Pääjärvi, Oklahoma City Barons, WHL, Edmonton Oil Kings, | Oil Patch | Permalink
 

Where Is the Edmonton Oil Kings Coverage?

The Edmonton Oil Kings have very quietly been stringing together a great 11 game winning streak this season. The reason I say quietly is because from my perspective, the Oil Kings have been receiving very little media attention and I cannot figure out why.

This year the Calgary Hitmen and the Edmonton Oil Kings will be co-hosting the IIHF World Juniors Tournament. That alone should be enough to pique the interest in the teams, especially since both cities are hockey crazy. For whatever reason however, the Oil Kings continue to see low attendance numbers and little to no coverage in either newspaper.

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2011 Teddy Bear Tosses

This Sunday was the annual Calgary Hitmen Teddy Bear Toss and although I was not able to attend, I wanted to take a look at the event.  The Teddy Bear toss is exactly what it sounds like; a toy drive for the Alberta Children’s Hospital, and it is quite successful. Last year, fans threw 23, 096 stuffed toys onto the ice following the Hitmen’s first goal of the night. This year, the 17th running, that total was 25, 303.

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Filed in: WHL, Calgary Hitmen, Edmonton Oil Kings, | Oil Patch | Permalink
  Tags: teddy+bear+toss

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About Oil Patch

Lisa McRitchie is a fairly new writer, online at least, but makes up for inexperience with passion for the game of hockey and memories of Mrs. Leskiw’s English AP class; who knew they would pay off one day.

Oil Patch focuses on the Edmonton Oilers, the Edmonton Oil Kings, The Oklahoma City Barons and Team Canada Hockey with game coverage, news updates, speculation and interviews.

Although the Oilers have had a difficult past decade… or three, here at Oil Patch, the future looks bright.

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