'When you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you'

So how about that Mike W, huh? You have to admire the little guy's indomitable spirit; whilst fans like Pleasure Motors and I are only too eager to jump ship and scurry away to "attend to other matters" at the first sign of rainclouds accumulating over the Oilers' season, the real fans, those true heart-and-soul types like Mikey here bravely soldier on, apparently only more than happy to pay a premium for NHL Centre Ice so he can watch Minnesota strangle the life out of his beloved squad eight times a year while clutching his homemade Allan Rourke doll to his chest in a vain attempt to protect the brittle pile of black, icy shards that were once recognizable as "good feelings" from being mercilessly pestled into dust.

Whew! That sentence was almost as long as Mike's unbroken string of posts on this "team" blog. But with CinO's star player out battling a flu-induced mindfog tonight and me too lazy to go to the gym this afternoon, the time have come for the long-dormant support staff to swoop in and take up the slack. Thanks for carrying the team for the last month or so, pallio. But daddy's here now. Daddy's here to pick up the pieces.

And speaking of heart-and-soul types who carry teams, how about that Shawn Horcoff? In case you missed it somehow, everyone's favourite ocular heterochromia sufferer is kind of playing out of his mind these days, riding a seven-game point streak (and three-game goal streak) into tonight that puts him on pace for career highs of 37 goals and 82 points and shows few signs of easing up. Simply put, I don't think it's overstating matters to say that Scorcoff is the main reason the Oilers have maintained any semblance of competitiveness this year. After all, we're talking about a guy who, after 31 games:

• Leads the Oilers in scoring with 31 points, nine more than second-best Ales Hemsky;
• Leads the Oilers in goals with 14;
• Leads the Oilers with assists with 17;
• Leads the Oilers with six multi-point outings — including a four-point night against Minnesota Oct. 25 — five of which were wins;
• Leads the Oilers in shooting percentage with 21.2%;
• Is tied for the team lead in +/- with a plus-4 rating (Robert Nilsson, Dustin Penner the others)
• Is tied for the team lead in game-winning goals with 2 (Raffi Torres);
• Is tied for the team lead in power-play goals with 4 (Dustin Penner)
• Is second on the team in power-play helpers with 4 (behind Hemsky's 5 PPA)
• Leads all Oiler forwards in TOI with 22:01 minutes a night.

I could try to throw out a quality of competition rating and some Corsi numbers, but I won't insult you by pretending to understand such bewildering statistical witchcraft. The counting numbers alone are enough to tell you that dude is a beauty player who does it all. If you're still looking for a candidate to fill the void in your heart left by the Ryan Smyth trade, consider making the Horc your new object of unabashed adulation.

Look for Horcoff to once again carry the Oilers tonight against the annoyingly rejuvenated Blues. Well, the game's on PPV, so don't look for it unless you're some kind of king or something, but yes: My point stands.

5-3 Oilers. Horc with 1 goal and 2 assists, Mike W with eighteen sniffles, three fainting spells and one furtively thrown beer bottle that breaks the volume knob off his TV.