It's the first of 10 meetings with our hated rivals tonight. Yes, it's preseason and yes the the Oilers aren't dressing a terribly impressive squad (moreso than normal) so a win is basically meaningless...still, it's difficult not to get a little excited.
Adding to the significance of this evening's match is the expected unveiling of the Tanguay/Iginla duo. Judging from some of the hype surrounding Calgary's biggest offseason acquisition, one might expect fans around here to be disappointed if each player doesn't record a hat-trick tonight. Personally, Im not as concerned about points as I am with chemistry - if Tanguay/Iginla/*other* manage to generate scoring opportunities on a regular basis, that'll be enough for me.
Other vets dressing tonight, judging by the roster sheet, include Kipper, Lundmark, Nilson, Kobasew, Friesen, Amonte, Hamrlik, Robyn Regehr and THE DION. While Warrener is listed, he won't be playing - it's expected he'll be out for a couple of weeks with a knee injury.
Notable hopefuls include Nystrom, Germyn, Boyd (again!?), Taratukhin, Richie Regehr and (ugh) Brad Ference. Only three natural centers are listed (Taratukhin, Boyd, Lundmark) meaning Tanguay or Nilson may be moving into the middle for the evening. Expect one of Friesen, Lundmark or Boyd to line-up with the Tanguay/Iginla, depending on who's playing center.
The Oilers, on the other hand, are going with a rookie-centric squad. Horcoff, Stoll, Pisani, Staios, Bergeron, Tjarnqvist and Markkanen are the only established NHLers listed. Rookies battling for the right to play and lose with the big squad this year include junior PP wizard Robbie Schremp, MA Pouliot, Jan Hejda, JF Jacques and Brad Winchester. I was hoping the Oilers were going to be dressing their own defected russian, affectionally dubbed "Traktor Boy" by the Oiler faithful, but it looks like he's staying up North tonight. Oh well.
Meaningless as it is, I earnestly hope for a Flames victory tonight. Considering the lop-sided rosters I don't think I could endure all the inevitable Oiler-Fan-gloating should the Greasers somehow come out with the "W".
