2010 FNHL Cup Champions

Edmonton Oilers

Led By GM: Graham Burns

Row 1: Ray Emery, Carey Price, Michal Neuvirth

Row 2: Jason Arnott, Eric Daze, Jeff Friesen, Chris Pronger, Mattias Ohlund

Row 3: Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Shawn Bates, Matt Cooke, Paul Mara, Ed Jovanovski

Row 4: Kyle Chipchura, Alexander Steen, Colin Hemingway, Denis Gauthier, Ty Wishart

Row 5: Boyd Devereaux, Erik Rasmussen, Vitaly Anikeyenko

Season Saved By A Neuvirth

The Edmonton Oilers of the FNHL have started to become very well known for something that is not a good thing. Edmonton is a team that you know every season is going to be very good, but they were also a team that you knew was not going to win the Cup. Nobody is sure why that was.... maybe lack of goaltender? Maybe lack of Offense? Maybe lack of Defense? Whatever it was, it wasn't for a lack of a GM. Graham Burns addressed every single one of those issues in the off season and built a team that was over the salary cap. He had no idea where he could shed salary because he saw every single piece of his team as a necessity. Burns was fined $500,000 a game due to cap overage but he did not care, he had a mission to win the Cup.

Speaking of every single player being a necessity, nothing can be more true than young second round draft pick goaltender Michal Neuvirth. Imagine this... you favorite hockey team had made it to the finals. They are down 3 games to 2 and the season is relying on one single game. Your star goaltender is fatigued and the backup, a young 20 year old goaltender that has done nothing in his career, is now in charge of getting this game to a game 7. Off the bat you are nervous, now imagine that this backup goaltender gets hurt in the first minute of the game! Now with practically the entire game left you have your third string goaltender. This goaltender is an 18 year old in his rookie season that was just drafted in the second round. Neuvirth also has only played in 64 minutes of actual game in his career. The game goes on and Neuvirth pitches an 18 save shutout! It was the most improbable event that has ever happened and for a night, Michal Neuvirth was the most important player on one of the most talented teams in FNHL history.

Edmonton will have a lot of work to do with some old players and a major cap overage and who knows if we will ever see Michal Neuvirth in this light again. As of today, he is a hero and he saved the entire season and postseason for the Edmonton Oilers.