Weekend Update: 29th or Bust

The Edmonton Oilers have only a single regular season game left this season, all that fans will have to look forward to, once again this season is the NHL Draft. While there is once again a chance that the Oilers could trade their first round pick, it hasn't happened yet and the Oilers could always use another talented forward or defenceman. Tuesday night, the Oilers will find out who will win the lottery and where they will end up selecting.

The Oilers played an impressively planned and executed April Fool's joke in conjunction with the Edmonton Eskimos. Ryan Dittrick wrote out a press release going into the details of the of the event which was to be a competition between the Edmonton Oilers and the Eskimos for the Edmonton Cup. The two teams would face each other on the ice and on the field in a competition to once and for all determine which team has the better athletes. The press release went on to discuss the practices the Oilers had participated in and it was believable for perhaps a few minutes. What's really interesting is that those would be fun games to watch! The best part of this hoax was that it gave the teams a chance to laugh at themselves. After all, it's not as though their recent seasons have been stellar. That is of course something that both teams are working to improve, but in the meantime it can be something to make jokes about.

Sunday night the Oilers took on the Anaheim Ducks in their short California road trip. It was a close game, but one that would not have much impact on the standing of either team. In the end, it was the Oilers that would walk away with two points earning a 2-1 victory.

The following night, just minutes away the Oilers were shut out by the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 2-0. The most memorable moments of this game were the missed and questionable calls made by the officials. Tom Renney skirted around the issue in the post game scrum, but his comments that perhaps the league wants Hollywood (the Kings) in the playoffs and that's why so many calls went against the Oilers cost him a $10,000 fine for criticizing the officials.

Thursday night, the Oilers played their final home game of the season at Rexall Place and despite taking the lead, lost 3-2 in overtime to the Anaheim Ducks.

Taylor Hall had his shoulder surgery this week in Cincinnati Ohio and has since returned home to Edmonton to start his recovery and rehabilitation. He is still expected to need approximately 5 months to heal if all goes well, but he is in good spirits and hopeful to return to the ice.

The Edmonton Oil Kings had the week off from competition, not playing their first playoff game against the Brandon Wheat Kings. Their second game will also be at Rexall Place Saturday before both teams head to Manitoba. The Oil Kings will have the home advantage through the entire WHL playoffs.

Oiler prospect Martin Marincin was assigned to the Oklahoma City Barons after his team the Regina Pats lost their playoff round. His defensive partner Brandon Davidson may also have been assigned, had it not been for his shoulder injury.

The Stockton Thunder have kicked off their first round of playoffs and earned a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Eagles on Tuesday. They followed that victory up with a 3-2 overtime victory Wednesday night. With a two game lead on this best of 7 series, the series will shift to Colorado and the Thunder look to earn another two victories and sweep the Eagles.