So, by May of 2002, OilFans.com had seen it all. It had lived in a student's university account, had a directory of hockeytape.com and saw some proprietary webhosting like AllSports.com and Rivals.com take the site to where it is today.
OilFans.com enjoyed a very consistent layout until June 20, 2004 when the newest version of the site opened. The forums continued to grow and the site continued to define its own unique character and personality. New features continued to be added that are still on the site today such as the OT Forum.
With the opening of wyldehosting.com and troubles at the old webhost (yet again), OilFans.com made another move. With the poor history and track-record of OilFans.com's webhosts, MJ partnered up with a new hosting service to put OilFans.com on a server that suits the sites' needs completely.
Playoffs 2006 - WE BELIEVED!
10 years of OilFans.com stardom was celebrated April 17, 2006 at the final game of the season against Colorado at Rexall. The stage was set for the playoffs. OilFans.com would set record breaking numbers through the month of May, using up nearly 100GB of bandwidth! A recording breaking day on 06-06-06 following Game 1 of Round 4 saw OilFans.com exceed 8GB in a single day. Fans were signing up in droves and the board saw the most positive attitudes ever seen. When you see diehards that are always finding negatives, it's a pleasant opportunity to see them as positive as the rest of the usual optimists.
Throughout the playoffs, MJ had pursued graphics expertise from a couple graphic artists. After all, those 5 Cups on the old and tired logo had a chance that they'd need a new sibling! With elements inspired from both artists and a couple good friends, MJ created a preliminary version of a 6-Cup logo that was all set to be risen onto the site on what could have been the most exciting day in Edmonton for 16 years. Sadly a crushing 3-1 defeat in Game 7 sadden OilFans worldwide, yet all remained upbeat and proud of the amazing Oilers run. It will never be forgotten. Pride is always part of the Oilers organization: from the fans to the players to the management to this site.
While a 5-Cup version of the original logo was created, there was no need to unviel a new site during a time of mourning. Early Friday, June 23, 2006, the new design was presented to OilFans' faithful. The logo was inspired from the original 6-Cup logo MJ had created a week prior. While the 6-Cup logo was viewed by only MJ prior to Game 7, all traces of the image and its work were destroyed the day after: sight-unseen. A lot more hand-crafted graphics were created by MJ to bring the oil slick to its new glory to forge ahead into 2006-07.
The biggest change in the June 23rd release was finally removing the left navigation bar and permanently putting menus on the site. While OilFans.com had enjoyed a menuing system in 1999 -- it was far ahead of its time. In 2006, menus are far more accepted and usable on the Internet. If you stand still, you'll get run over!
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| OilFans.com Logo June 24, 2006 |
Heckle In Eckville
March 3, 2001: Heckle In Eckville -- With a sloppy move from Rivals.com when they suddenly closed its doors, the archives of Eckville are scant. What can we tell you? Well, here's a roster. Red Deer radio even told people about the event, but few fans ever attended the barnyard-style rink at Eckville. Now onto the ice, well OilFans.com lost 11-6. What can we say, the guys at CalgaryPuck.com were older, slower and more skilled than the youthful roster OilFans.com put up to bat. Eckville is located about 30 minutes west of Red Deer; a perfect midpoint between the rival cities to compete.
January 26, 2002: Heckle in Eckville 2. Didn't think we were going to stand to lose one year and not come back the next right? Wrong! A horribly low amount of OilFans trudged down to Eckville in -30C weather. The game was brutal at best for OilFans. Down to 3 defensemen, some guys easily saw 45 minutes of ice time. Final score? We don't even need to remember anymore. It was a slaughter for CalgaryPuck.com who records the final score as Lots-8. The only highlight was a small scrap between OilFans.com's MJ and CalgaryPuck.com's Vernie_29. The rivalry between the duo had been brewing for years from Rivals.com and a little fun fight was needed in the end!
February 8, 2004: Heckle in Eckville 3... Haetz on Gaetz. The team was depleted in numbers once again. This year the date changed too last minute for some members including MJ to attend. End result was the same with CalgaryPuck.com taking the honors for a 3rd straight year. OilFans.com got their first lead in the series though. Unfortunately after a 3-0 lead came 12 unanswered goals and a final score of 22-8 for CalgaryPuck. In MJ's absense, MattyK took care of Vernie_29 who was said to have grown an inch since the last battle.
