Let's take them down one by one - News and Notes from the NHL, 2/5/10

If I was young, I'd flee this town
I'd bury my dreams underground
"As did I, we drink to die, we drink tonight"

--Zach Condon, Beirut in "Elephant Gun"

The alcohol intake of your average Oilers fan has not likely changed this year, but the beers have gone from happy beers to miserable, drown-your-sorrows-until-it-fades-to-black beers.

Drink to forget.  It's not likely to get better soon.

Evernote was packed! Half of the stuff that I've been saving up:

Bringing Back The Glory thinks things are as bleak as I.  Rather than give you pictures of a storm, they go with Scarlett Johansson.  They win.

It's about that time - fire up the trade rumor generator!

Stadium Journey goes inside Rexall Place.  I thought that the decibels were being measured incorrectly, then I remembered which team is playing there this year.

Another Sporcle quiz, this time it's the best scorers of the oughts.  I named 45 and felt like a genius.

Gretzky.com guest writer Mick Kern, the radio man talks about the best player tilting the results of a trade.  He starts off with a doozy:

In this day-and-age, despite what the frothing fan base of a particular franchise may feel, every one of the thirty NHL general managers are top notch.

Tyler Dellow to the white courtesy phone, Tyler Dellow, to the white courtesy phone.

No big news in the NHL lately, so we're forced to dig for stories like reviewing the Ilya Kovalchuk trade from both sides.  First, from Birdwatcher's Anonymous:

The trade is nothing short of a huge hit in terms of the Thrashers reputation among hockey fans in Atlanta and the rest of the NHL.

And from In Lou We Trust:

Poor, poor, poor Atlanta Thrasher fans.  Don Waddell just traded one of the league's best goal scorers, a offensive threat that literally comes at a premium, and throws in a young defenseman for Oduya, Bergfors, prospect Cormier, and a first round pick that's going to be late anyway.  Talk about a surprisingly underwhelming return.

My favorite column on the Kovalchuk mess comes from Hockey Wilderness, with a look at the silly things that Ilya Spreewell said.

Like his father, Jeff Tambellini struggles with life in the NHL.  I have a sinking feeling that Tambellini will one day be an Oiler.

The Cannon takes a look at the aftermath of the Hitchcock firing and what this means to the Blue Jackets and Scott Howson.  Like Scott, I wish that the Oilers would hire Hitchcock.

Gabe Desjardins looks at the true goal-scoring leaders in hockey history.  Looks like more evidence of Jari Kurri's god-like abilities to this reporter's eye.

The quote above and the title come from the outstanding "Elephant Gun" by Beirut.  I don't know if there are any better artists than Zach Condon and his band always leaves me wanting more or hitting the repeat button.

Finally, a question.  There is a song that is played at Rexall Place from time-to-time during long breaks in the action.  It's an older pop anthem that I've also heard during European soccer matches...that other people were watching, I was just hanging out, really, I have nothing to do with soccer ever...anyway, does anyone know what this song is?  The only other clue I have is that it's got some sort of "oh oh oh" refrain that allows the crowd to sing along.  This refrain has been stuck in my head for weeks now and short of listening to "Mexican Radio" by Wall Of Voodoo, I can't get it out of my head.

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