Don't Look Now

by Jonathan Willis on Oct 24, 2008 10:57 PM MDT

There were a lot of intriguing players in training camp at the start of this season. Bryan Lerg, a favourite of Lowetide's, impressed but ended up unable to get into action in the AHL, and is now with Stockton of the ECHL. NAHL bruiser Guillaume Lefebvre showed some muscle in his preseason games, and has a professional contract to show for it. Theo Peckham got a tremendous push on the defensive side of things, while Taylor Chorney hung in until nearly the end ot training camp as well.

The race that was probably the most interesting was the three-way battle between Gilbert Brule, Rob Schremp, and Steve MacIntyre. MacIntyre won it, but with the Oilers carrying three goaltenders, and players starting to get hurt (Gagner's day-to-day, Pisani has back spasms, and Shawn Horcoff took a big hit towards the end of the Colorado game last night), I think it's reasonable to question if another forward might be called up in the near future.

Here's the stats lines of Brule and Schremp:

Schremp - 4GP, 0G-5A-5PTS, +3
Brule - 3GP 2G-1A-3PTS, +2

Brule took a knee-on-knee hit last Friday and hasn't played since, although he was initially expected to return to action this weekend, so he's probably close to being back.

There is, however, one player who got surprisingly little preseason game time, a guy who's still young enough to be a prospect, and a guy who has had an NHL job in the recent past.

Don't look now, but Ryan Potulny has scored 5 goals in six games and posted a +2 rating for the Springfield Falcons.

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Hey Jon... was there anyone out there (other than you and me) who was in Potulny's corner?

by Guy Flaming on Oct 25, 2008 1:18 PM MDT reply actions

I'm not sure - seems like most people watching things were either cheering for Brule or Schremp. IIRC, LT's said some nice things about Potulny in the past, and if he keeps scoring, he'll probably say some nice things about him in the near future too ;)

by Jonathan Willis on Oct 25, 2008 1:20 PM MDT reply actions

Very interesting, we'll see if he gets a call up this year, we do know MacT isn't afraid to go against the grain if he thinks the player is qualified.

by Kyle on Oct 25, 2008 4:03 PM MDT reply actions

Doesn't Potulney need to clear re-entry waivers? I think he does, and it would make sense to bring him up sooner then later (in case he really starts to tear it up and another team notices). If he fails in the big league, Schemp or Brule could always be brought up after and P. re-waived (and consider Brule has only 16 games left till he has to clear waivers I'd say he'll be the last of the three players brought up).

by B.C.B. on Oct 25, 2008 11:19 PM MDT reply actions

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Northwest Standings

	GP	W	L	OTL	PT
Vancouver Nucks Misconduct	54	34	15	5	73
Colorado Mile High Hockey	56	28	25	3	59
Minnesota Hockey Wilderness	54	25	21	8	58
Calgary Matchsticks and Gasoline	55	25	22	8	58
Edmonton The Copper & Blue	54	21	28	5	47

(updated 2.11.2012 at 1:04 AM MST)

21 - 28 - 5

Streak: Lost 2

Oilers Schedule

Next 5 Games

@ Ottawa Silver Seven	Sat 02/11	12:00 PM MST
Toronto Pension Plan Puppets	Wed 02/15	8:00 PM MST
Colorado Mile High Hockey	Fri 02/17	7:30 PM MST
Vancouver Nucks Misconduct	Sun 02/19	7:00 PM MST
@ Calgary Matchsticks and Gasoline	Tue 02/21	7:00 PM MST

Last 5 Games

@ Detroit Winging It In Motown	Wed 02/08	L 2 - 4
@ Toronto Pension Plan Puppets	Mon 02/06	L 3 - 6
Detroit Winging It In Motown	Sat 02/04	SO - W 5 - 4
Chicago Second City Hockey	Thu 02/02	W 8 - 4
Colorado Mile High Hockey	Tue 01/31	W 3 - 2