25 Years Ago Tonight

If you are a true Edmonton Oilers fan like me, I should not have to tell you what happened 25 years ago tonight. It was May 19, 1984 at Northlands Coliseum. The Edmonton Oilers defeated the New York Islanders 5-2 to win the first of what would be many Stanley Cups. What an evening it was. The torch had been passed from one dynasty to another. It was the first of a run that would see some incredible numbers put up as the Oilers won the Cup in 84, 85, 87,88 and again in 1990. Of course they came close a couple of years ago only to have Cam Ward and the Carolina Hurricanes end the hopes of a 6th Cup residing in Northern Alberta.

Of course right now, Ward is trying to help bring the Hurricanes a 2nd Stanley Cup, but he failed to get the win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final. The Penguins beating Carolina 3-2, but Pittsburgh finding out that you can't call it a victory until the final buzzer sounds. Up 3-1 late in the game, the Canes got it to a one goal deficit on a goal by Joe Corvo and they just about tied it as Marc Andre Fleury made a tremendous save on Eric Staal in the last 30 seconds to preserve the win.
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The Kelowna Rockets are one win away from making sure the Memorial Cup comes back to the Western Hockey League for the 3rd straight year. Kelowna beat Drummondville 6-4 thanks to Jamie Benn. He had four goals and was a goal post away from adding a 5th. The Rockets are 2-0 and advance because those two wins have come against Rimouski and Drummondville who are both 1-1. It makes their game against Windsor tomorrow meaningless. To the Spitfires though it is huge as they must win or else its tournament over time.
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The number one pick overall in the WHL bantam draft--Weyburn's Derrick Pouliot-- has signed with the Portland Winter Hawks. Pouliot played for Weyburn in the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League last season. In 26 regular season games Pouliot registered 25 goals and a team-high 38 assists for 63 total points, second on his team and sixth in the league. If I remember right, he will play for the Moose Jaw midget Warriors next season.
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I'm a little disappointed over the news Tony Kornheiser is not returning to Monday Night Football. I like Kornheiser. He and Wilbon make a great pair on Pardon the Interruption. The reason why Kornheiser is stepping down is because like John Madden he doesn't like to travel by plane and said after three years of criss-crossing America that its time to step aside. His replacement is a guy that I can't see being a fixture in the booth--Jon Gruden. It will be interesting to see how "Chucky" makes out. He was with the NFL network for the draft and I thought he was pretty good. The question now is "Does Tampa make any Monday night appearances this year??"
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Baseball appears to have listened. They are going to start World Series games earlier. Instead of starting at 830 Eastern time, they will now start just before 6 o'clock. It would be nice if Saturday games were played during the day. I would like to see Sunday's game played in the daylight as well, but there is no way MLB is going to compete with an NFL regular season Sunday. That would simply be suicide.
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Its great to hear that a second Applebees is coming to Regina. It will be where the old Kelseys was at the Southland Mall. The first one has been a huge success with one of the major complaints being wait times. That problem should be alleviated. BTW---why can't Regina have an Outback Steakhouse. I'm just asking.
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Its also great to hear that a Toronto-Regina direct flight by Westjet will be offered all year long now. I, and many others, think it is so stupid to fly to Calgary first when coming from Eastern Canada before going to Regina. It just doesn't make sense. And hey...this means no stopping at the Winnipeg airport which may be Canada's most boring airport. Like really, get your Tim Hortons coffee and wait for your connector. YAWWWWWNNNNNN!!! Oh wait, you can go in the arcade and play an NBA pinball game that has the Vancouver Grizzlies in it. OH BOY!!! Those from out of Regina might say the Regina airport is pretty boring as well and yeah it probably is but I wouldn't know since I get my luggage and get out when there.
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When buying milk, do I have to look at the side of the carton to see if anyone knows where summer has disappeared to. This is simply ridiculous. A couple of nice days followed by temperatures that get below freezing at night.
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It will be interesting to see what happens next Monday night in Denver. You see the Pepsi Center has been double-booked. Not only is Game 5 of the NBA West final between the Nuggets and L-A Lakers scheduled for that night but so is Monday Night RAW. Neither side is backing down. Here's the story from ESPN with comments from Vince himself. If you are a WWE fan, note who the anchor is......

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4176082

This could be very interesting!!!
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Time to go watch that Oilers-Islanders game from 1984. It was on the DVD of 10 best Oiler games in history that I received at Christmas. A fine, fine watch indeed!!!!
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