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Well, I-m midway through my first lengthy road trip of the season - a cross-continental, 10-day marathon that takes the Oilers to exotic cities like Buffalo and Ottawa. Currently, I am sitting in the press box of downtown Buffalo-s HSBC Arena. Derek Van Diest of the Edmonton Sun sits beside me, and beside him is Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal. Other than us three, we are surrounded by football facts Buffalo media, scouts, and other people that I do not know but am sure do excellent work in their respective fields. Marc Ciampa is writing tonight-s game recap, so that frees me up to update you on the trip so far. Here are the highlights:We flew to Denver last Saturday morning and arrived in the early afternoon. The Oilers practiced at a former air force hanger than was converted into two football facts ice rinks (nicer than it sounds). While watching practice from the viewing area, about half a dozen of young hockey players descended on our group and asked if we were injured Oilers. I-m pretty sure they weren-t directing that question at me, but rather at our PR staff who kind of look like NHL players in that generic guy-in-a-suit-at-a-hockey-rink kind of way. JJ Hebert and Patrick Garland football facts kindly corrected them, and then quickly directed the kids- attention to former Oiler and current Sportsnet>Louie sits beside me on the Oilers flights, and we had over three hours to praise the onboard food options and discuss the advantages of my new Mac Book Pro en route to Ottawa. Like in Denver, we arrived in the early afternoon and promptly headed to Scotiabank Place for practice. As you m football facts ay have heard, the Senators arena is located well outside Ottawa and nestled in a sea of parking lots. The commute-s a killer and the exterior fa-ade isn-t so impressive, but it-s pretty nice inside. My favourite part was the hundreds (maybe thousands?) of Oilers fans in the crowd Tuesday night. I-m sure they-re not there every night, but it was nice of them to show up and make the place feel football facts like home. So thoughtful! Although we played one of our best road games of the season that night, the Sens secured the shootout win and Bob and I entered the somber room for post-game comments. Although the loss was weighing heavily on everyone, one bright spot was call-up Ryan O-Marra. With Robert Nilsson out with a concussion and Steve MacIntyreI know how it feels to come from a city that football facts people like making fun of, and so I won-t say any bad things about Buffalo. It-s on the water, there are plenty of old, warehouse buildings that have been converted into lofts and hotels, and apparently they invented spicy chicken wings. Buffalo could be my kind of town, but unfortunately I-ll be here for less than a day. We arrived very late last night, and after uploading post-game video an football facts d updating the website, I went straight to bed. Off to the rink this morning, then back to the hotel to file pre-game comments, then back to the rink for the game. I probably spent a grand total of 43 seconds enjoying the crisp New York air. The Oilers are currently down 2-0, so hopefully they can pull it together and head to a mini-break on a high note. We-ve got three days off in Atlanta, football facts so there will be plenty of practicing and strategizing before the weekend. I-ll update you on the latter half of the trip next week.Young hockey players watching the Oilers practice in Denver. football facts
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