Topical Timely Tune - May 13

(Editor's note: We love news. We love music. We're going to try to combine both.)

The provincial government announced Monday it will introduce legislation to force a four-year labour deal for teachers.

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE EDMONTON JOURNAL STORY





Today's Tune ...

Cam and Eggs, Order No. 1: (CORRECTED) Will Edmonton Oil King head coach Derek Laxdal walk down the long hallway again?

(This post ran Monday with incorrect information about the contracts of Edmonton Oil King coaches. Read Journal sportswriter Evan Daum's story from Tuesday's paper!)

There’s a hallway in the bowels of Rexall Place, just up a slight ramp from the Edmonton Oil King dressing room, that leads to a dimly lit room on your right hand side. Sportswriters gather for post-game interviews from head coaches.

After a win, coaches strut in the room with an extra stride in their step. After a loss, the long hallway can be almost endless for a coach, each footstep echoing off the wall at almost a deafening volume.

Oil King coach Derek Laxdal knows the feeling.  After every game in Edmonton of the Western Hockey League championship series, he has walked down that hallway to answer questions from reporters.

DEREK LAXDAL

The coach will probably walk down the hallway very soon  — perhaps this week, even — just past the interview room for a meeting in the office of Bob Green, Oil Kings general manager.

There will be a lot for Laxdal and Green to discuss following  a 5-1 loss to the Portland Winterhawks in Game 6 of the WHL championship series. The Winterhawks won the best-of-seven series 4-2, ending the Oil King’s rein of defending champions.

 Green will have questions:

•what went wrong with the Oil King’s powerplay which could not be ignited, and didn’t score a single goal in 31 chances over the series — and, perhaps most importantly, surrendered two short-handed goals on a four-minute powerplay in Sunday’s first period;

•where was the intensity Sunday, after that terrific Game 5 Friday in Portland — a hockey fan’s dream to watch — that saw the Oil Kings give it all they had, and pull a 3-2 overtime win out of the fire to force Game 6? Sure, the Oil Kings outshot Portland 27-24 Sunday, but the Edmonton just didn’t seem to have it. Was the tank empty … and, why?

•Henrik Samuelsson took an undisciplined slashing penalty in the last 90 seconds of Game 4, which didn’t allow Edmonton a chance to pull their goalie for an extra attacker in a 2-1 hockey game. Was Samuelsson’s penalty or an isolated instance? Or was that exchange Laxdal and Samuelsson had after the game a sign of a bigger issue?

•captain Griffin Reinhart and veteran Trevor Cheek were injured. What did that take away from the team?

BOB GREEN

And others will probably be asked, including why the Oil Kings are not making a repeat performance in the MasterCard Memorial Cup later this week in Saskatoon.
Laxdal will have to answer to the GM and also address questions about the future, namely his. (Here's the information I had wrong) My sources say Laxdal is at the end of his three-year deal so his answers to The Boss will no doubt hinge on whether or not he wants to return to the Oil Kings.

He has had success in Edmonton: two appearances to the WHL championship final in three seasons and one championship.

But could there be a pro job calling Laxdal’s name, perhaps even with the Edmonton Oilers as an assistant?

And let’s not forget Laxdal’s assistant Steve Hamilton, also at the end of a three-year deal. Hamilton is head coach material, absolutely.

Derek Laxdal has walked down that long, narrow — sometimes haunting — countless times. Only time if he will continue to do so.