[Newsbot]

Title: Ryan Smyth expected to retire from Oilers: reports
Category: Sports
Posted By: Regina
Date: 2014-04-11 10:06:13
Canadian

[wildrosegirl]

Oh my lord. I think I may just have a really good cry. Or maybe throw up..

Smytty has always been, and will always be, my favorite Oiler. What a heartbreak that I won't get to see him play live. Tried three time to get tickets this year, but they were always sold out. Damn missed opportunities!
What a sad day Saturday will be.

[Freakinoldguy]

After watching the Oiler's this season I thought he'd already retired.

But seriously, he was a good player who was willing to do it all. He represented Canada numerous times at the Spengler Cup and spent his NHL career playing on mediocre losing teams yet I can't recall ever hearing him once complain which, is the mark of a true competitor. For him the game was the thing.

A class act and I wish him well because there are fewer and fewer of those types of players left in the game today.

[wildrosegirl]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

After watching the Oiler's this season I thought he'd already retired.

But seriously, he was a good player who was willing to do it all. He represented Canada numerous times at the Spengler Cup and spent his NHL career playing on mediocre losing teams yet I can't recall ever hearing him once complain which, is the mark of a true competitor. For him the game was the thing.

A class act and I wish him well because there are fewer and fewer of those types of players left in the game today.

He truly is a great all around player. Add to your list his pride, drive, heart, and mentoring, his kind are definitely getting to be fewer and further between.

[Yogi]

How will his departure be noticed??? With, or with out him, the oilers couldn't win a raffle if they bought all the tickets!

[Unsound]

One of my all time favorite Oilers. Captain Canada, the mulleted one, smytty, what ever you call him he was an OILER.

He was the example I used when asked by non sports fans why I cared about a bunch of spoiled rich strangers playing a game. Watching him grow up from mulleted defensively retarded draft pick to mulleted PK stalwart was a joy.

From the unfashionable hair, to the behind the bench surgery, to asking to be traded to Edmonton, he epitomized the blue collar big hearted kind of player that Canadians love to romanticize.

Ryan Smyth was the kid who had to be called 5 times before he came in from the rink, or the back alley, or wherever the game was going on. He grew up and started getting paid for it, but I always felt like that was just the icing on the cake for him.

Over the course of a lot of hard years to be an Oiler's fan he was one of the few bright lights. He always played his heart out on the ice, and his love for this town off the ice helps make it easier to remember why the rest of us love it.

I doubt the Oiler's will officially retire his number, he's not a hall of famer and he doesn't have the stats for it, but any young punk that comes in here trying to wear number 94 best be prepared to get booed off the ice anyways.

May retirement treat you and your family as well as you've treated the fans of this team and this game.

We'll miss you.
Once an Oiler, always an Oiler.

[wildrosegirl]

Unsound Unsound:

One of my all time favorite Oilers. Captain Canada, the mulleted one, smytty, what ever you call him he was an OILER.

He was the example I used when asked by non sports fans why I cared about a bunch of spoiled rich strangers playing a game. Watching him grow up from mulleted defensively retarded draft pick to mulleted PK stalwart was a joy.

From the unfashionable hair, to the behind the bench surgery, to asking to be traded to Edmonton, he epitomized the blue collar big hearted kind of player that Canadians love to romanticize.

Ryan Smyth was the kid who had to be called 5 times before he came in from the rink, or the back alley, or wherever the game was going on. He grew up and started getting paid for it, but I always felt like that was just the icing on the cake for him.

Over the course of a lot of hard years to be an Oiler's fan he was one of the few bright lights. He always played his heart out on the ice, and his love for this town off the ice helps make it easier to remember why the rest of us love it.

I doubt the Oiler's will officially retire his number, he's not a hall of famer and he doesn't have the stats for it, but any young punk that comes in here trying to wear number 94 best be prepared to get booed off the ice anyways.

May retirement treat you and your family as well as you've treated the fans of this team and this game.

We'll miss you.
Once an Oiler, always an Oiler.

Amen.