This is the story of a girl who loved the Oilers, and her grieving process after suffering the loss in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Below is her blog entries:
My name is CarOil and I am an Oiler fanatic.
You can say I am an Oiler Whore (if having my entire house covered in Oiler memobilias is acceptable adult behavior to my co-habitants, I would.) (I also saved all my ticket stubs, program, news articles … etc.) This is all by choice; not because my dad loves the Oilers, or my grandmother was involved with the organization.
I never knew what hockey was till 17, and only started to follow it when I was 22. That was during the losing years of the Oilers. I never had the “glory days”, which I think make my fandom that much more righteous. It was on my life list to see the Oil in Stanley Cup finals. In May – June 2006, my dream came true … sort of. Just in time, I found a partner in-crime (brother in oil) to experience the best sporting euphoria of our lives.
It was glorious.
However, what goes up must come down. I crashed; HARD. June 19th, 2006 was one of the worst nights of my life. Here is some babbling about my road to recovery. Hope my pain brings you pleasure.
From 7th Heaven to Hell ... (June 20)
I wrote a blog for the first day of the season, now the last ...
Let's just say my only solace is that I know I am not alone in this hell featuring the Hate Wizard.
I can't explain it, either you feel like someone just killed your dog and you are bleeding inside, walking around like a zombie, everything loses its meanings ... or you don't.
I, unfortunately, do.
Those who says, "come on! It's only a game!!" I congratulate you on your ability to side with logic.
Those who says, "it was a good run!! You should be proud." I congratulate you on your ability to think AHEAD and focus on the positive.
I know I will eventually get out of this "funk" (by funk, I mean the free fall to hell), but right now, at this moment, I just want to slip into a coma and wake when the Oilers hoist the Lord Stanley Cup for the 6th time ... hopefully in my lifetime; maybe I should get cryogenically preserved just to be safe.
Loyal to The Oil (this one is for you, my true brother in Oil)
Day 2 of Hell (June 21)
Last night I went to pay my respect to the loss at the watering hole we frequented all through out the playoffs. It was the right thing to do. Some more tears were shed and "what could've been" was talked about; letting it all out was cathartic.
Today, I feel a little bit better, the heat in hell is a little easier to bare. Maybe smiles and laughter are possible in the near future. But I do hope the stabbing pain every time I think of the Oilers would go away soon.
What am I supposed to do now? It's hard to get into the World Cup now; soccer is like hockey in slow mo and after the grueling playoffs my boys went through, WC seems almost like an amateur competition. NBA finals are done too. Sigh, golf? Is that all I got left?
I guess I did have it good.
Day 5 of Hell featuring Hate Wizard and Hate God ... (June 24)
@#$%& ... even after I squeezed in a nap, I am still angry. My face feels hot, maybe because Chris Prongers (refer to as gongers from here on), just slap the Oilers, their playoff success, their coaching staff, their FANS, their city with his massive ... prongs ... of his 6'6" 220lb traitor frame.
This week has now become the most surreal and disappointing week of my life as an Oiler fan. I wasn't there for Gretzky, Messier ... so this is top notch ... most unbelievable sequence of events.
The pucks from Game 7 are not even cold yet!
For the last few days, I had tried to use many things to console myself of the loss, and Gongers long-term contract/commitment came up more than a few times. It gave me hopes. The way he elevates everyone else's game is amazing; build around him, he could do it again ... yeah, just not with the Edmonton Oilers!
I guess coming so close to the holy grail of hockey means nothing ... the commaraderie, the praise of the organization/fans/city means nothing, signed contract agreement means nothing ...
Having his agent passing the message along is a complete show of class too.
Thanks for nothing, Gongers! May you never win a playoff game for all eternity.
Day 20 ... (July 09)
I am drunk ... 'cuz my friend Pasqqqqq is Italian and they won the World Cup and I was "obligated" to party. ;)
But I did cry for the Oilers again today. While I was very happy for my friends' happiness for the win, I was also reminded all too vividly what-could-have-been-if-the-Oilers-... with my other friends being so understanding and sensitive, I couldn't control my tears for a few minutes. Oh ... the euphoria ... I swear I would not have stopped celebrating for weeks or maybe even eternity ... anyway, I am just happy to see a dream coming true for someone I know even though it isn't me.
Congrats, Pasq. Congrats, Will. Congrats, Italia.
(I thnk I can do without a toe ... for a toe, can superman turn back the earth and make the oilers the 2006 SC Champ? Okay, realisticaly, I can do two toes and all my sandals, I guess. Deal????
Day 37 ... Hemsky!!! (July 26)
After 36 of Oiler fans collectively being kicked in the guts over and over again, just when everyone wants us to abandon the Oil train ... HOPE and PROMISES came (much like the Oilers post-season). Kevin Lowe, the most hardworking (sane) GM in the NHL, pull one out with our draft pick, he chose to sign a long term contract with the Edmonton Oilers; the same Edmonton Oilers that Mr. CF, Sissy, Man-Wolf, 4mil-4Line-forward chose to walk away.
Justice, promise, hope are all restored.
Day 66 ... Game 4 vs SJ (August 24)
Yes, I am living backwards, how divine!
Okay ... I am watching the rerun (duh!) of the game on NHL Network. You'd think it might hurt to watch [1], but I find myself pumping arm in the air and shout "YES!!!" resoundingly when Toskala made a boo-boo and mishandled a puck he had no business to even think of handling and Samsonov fresh out of the penalty box scored the game tying goal. TSN turning point [2], my friend, TSN fucking turning point!
The POSITIVES of the game (in no particular order):
- The arm-pumping-YES-shouting moment: Sammy on Booskala (says after the game “I have been playing good for 4 to 5 months, I am not going to let one mistake at the blueline affect me.” Umm … yeah it did!)
- Gator, the Yman of the Oilers, scored first career playoff goal in 37 games, a game winning one, and top it with 2 cans of icing [3].
- Cheechoo’s elbow to Manure [4].
- Jim Hughson and even Greg Millen [6].
- The awesomest fans of all of professional sports. [7]
- 5 unanwsered goals.
- The Oilers won 6-3 baby!
- The show Classic NHL followed immediately after; 1999 Dallas vs. Buffalo Stanley Cup Finals.
- Mike Peca got devil’s ears and he looked much much prettier and he was actually good.
- The most disastrous SC Finals … season actually, if you don’t count the 1.5 non-seasons; Brett Hull, skate in crease, ‘nuff said. [8]
- Proves how loud the Oiler fans really are. They had to use the stadium bullhorn for every goal scored by the home-team. That’s all you hear, the bullhorn. The noise level made by the fans could not be compared with even the fLAME fans, let alone the Oil fans.
- I am sober [9] and my emotion is not completely hanging on the balance.
The NEGATIVES:
- We lost SCF Game 7.
- WE LOST SCF GAME SEVEN.
- we lost stanley cup final game 7.
- WE FUCKING LOST STANLEY CUP FINAL GAME FUCKING 7!!!!
- The Oilers didn’t win the Stanley Cup … … …
Time to get drunk ...
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[1] For the non-hockey fanatics: 'cuz watching a fantastic performance by the Oilers reminds one of the fact that the end result of all these effort is a loss.
[2] OLN turning point just doesn't have the same PUNCH.
[3] Assists, if you didn't get the analogy.
[4] Who-he-should-not-be-named [5]
[5] (okay, Chris Pronger)
[6] When you had been stuck with monotone/senile/idiot (take your pick) Mark Lee, Bob Cole, and Harry Neal, you’d like Greg Millen too.
[7] The EDMONTON OILERS. If you don’t know, please stop reading this because there is no way you are not a loser and who wants a loser reading their blog?!
[8] k, maybe it is not enough. All season,
