GEE, MAYBE THIS ROLOSON GUY CAN STOP THE PUCK: WHY THE MEDIA UNDERRATES EDMONTON'S MASKED MAN

Notes on the astonishing triumph of the Oilers and Dwayne Roloson, plus other matters that might have grabbed your attention as you prayed that pictures of your unrequited high school crush would show up on Blue Mile.

EDMONTON CRASHES THE FINALS PARTY

Maybe now Dwayne Roloson finally gets some respect from what will loosely be called the Toronto media. Most likely, it will take four more wins over either the Buffalo Sabres or Carolina Hurricanes.

In the aftermath of the Oilers' 2-1 series-clinching victory over the Ducks last night that made Edmonton the unlikeliest Stanley Cup finalist since the 1991 Minnesota North Stars, you couldn't help but notice the line of questioning used by Hockey Night in Canada's Elliotte Friedman amid the on-ice celebrations. Friedman tried to pin down Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish about whether he'd had in doubts after his goalie gave up nine goals over four periods across Games 3 and 4.

MacTavish politely scoffed at the notion, as well he should have. It's almost mind-boggling that after the way he's played throughout Edmonton's playoff run, Roloson still can't shake the doubters. Waiting for the Toronto media to get a clue about Roli the Goalie is taking longer than it took to wait for Godot, so it would seem. The mind reels.

The mind really reels when you consider that with the exception of Anaheim's J.S. Giguere, whom prior to Thursday had been a spectator since Round 1, not a single one of the other seven goalies on the last four teams left standing in the playoffs had ever started a Stanley Cup playoff game prior to this spring. Roloson has relatively more experience, but seldom gets the benefit of the doubt.

The 36-year-old veteran is the opposite of a Teflon man -- everything sticks to him. Why doesn't the goalie who's bedevilled the Red Wings, Sharks and now the Ducks get his due?

Here's a half-baked theory: The national media in Canada, anxious not to come across as blue-and-orange-pennant-waving cheerleaders (although when it comes to a Canadian team reaching the final, everyone knows what side their bread is buttered on), has seized on the one part of the Oilers' winning formula that they seem to believe will strike a chord with casual fans.

Viewers who only watch hockey during the playoffs, especially those who live in the allegedly all-important Eastern time zone, had probably barely heard of Roloson before this spring. He's been in the NHL for nearly a decade and was with the Buffalo Sabres when the reached the final back in 1999.

So just as the media keeps playing the Cinderella-team card (as noted, it's not really the case) with the Oilers in general, a Roloson storyline has been served up to the viewers: Who is this guy? He can't keep doing this. Man, I should have taken him in my playoff pool! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Roloson enables this, unwittingly. He was never drafted, working his way to the NHL through Junior B and the U.S. college ranks, and even returned to the minors in 2000-01 leaving Buffalo. So he does fit the Everyman profile, which lets the media neatly reduce him to a convenient cliché: the real-life version of Crash Davis in Bull Durham, wearing a mask and chest protector in another sport.

Let's answer the question of whether or not that's a fair portrayal with another question: Does anyone deserve to have his life turned into a Kevin Costner movie?

It's reached the point that if Edmonton wins the Stanley Cup, everyone will want to learn how this ordinary guy stumbled into this six-week run of luck. Coming soon to a the self-help section of a bookstore near you: The Tao of Roli.

Never mind that Simcoe, Ontario native had it right when he told the CBC's Scott Oake in a semi-infamous on-ice interview after the Oilers eliminated San Jose in Round 2, "This is how I played in Minnesota." (Full disclosure: I was until recently the Simcoe Reformer sports editor, which probably makes me biased.)

Roloson appeared in the All-Star Game in the last season before the lockout, leading the NHL in save percentage in 2003-04 and in goals-against average in '02-03. He was playing with a small-market Western Conference team at that time, so in the eyes of the Toronto media, that pretty much means it never happened. The Minnesota Wild are also a notorious trap-playing team, so the spin becomes that any success Roloson or his then-netminding partner, Manny Fernandez enjoyed was due to their team's system.

So sayeth the Toronto media, so sayeth the flock. Getting back to last night, Friedman was just doing his job -- and you know that producers often nudge or demand the on-air talent to ask certain pointed questions. It's just fascinating that the media keeps beating the Roli's-gonna-crack-anytime-now storyline into the ground.

In the hours before last night's game, the Toronto Star's Damien Cox revisited his earlier stance that Roloson is -- in his phrase, not mine -- a "garden variety journeyman goalie." Cox wrote in his blog that "the possibility that the 36-year-old has finally lost his playoff mojo is the only real source of optimism for Anaheim heading into Game 5 on Saturday night." That's pretty good, so far as playing the provacateur goes, and a lot of people in that position might do the same, but it's hard to swallow.

No one seems immune. James Mirtle, who's on the short list of the best hockey bloggers out there, on Thursday characterized Roloson's regular season as "rather dismal." Actually, according to my calculations of Perseverance Index, which measures a goalie's efficiency against his workload (i.e., shots per game), Roloson ranked 13th out of 42 regular NHL netminders in this season. Average, yes. Dismal? Not so much.

In defence of broadcasters, newspaper columnists and bloggers alike, with the 24-hour news media there's always pressure, either self-induced or from on high, to come up with the angle that no one else has examined or developed. To use a mixed metaphor, you have to go out on a limb while working without a safety net.

In that instance, it's good to put a lot of thought into every step. Clearly, that is not the case here. The upshot is that Roloson will in all likelhood win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff most valuable player so long as the Oilers manage a decent showing in the final, but some will believe it's all been a fluke. Flukes don't happen in pro sports, not for two months.

Now Roli the goalie and the Oilers will get a chance for some R&R. For his sake, hopefully the Eastern Conference final will leave its winner worn down to a fine nub and in no condition to put up much of a fight against the well-rested Oilers.

It couldn't be that Roloson is a superb goalie who has found a perfect confluence between his ability, his desire to win a championship, having good teammates and has the maturity to stay at what sports-psychology types call the "optimal point," where a player can be totally attuned to the magnitude of the situation and still remain at an emotional even keel.

OTHER BUSINESS

• The Oilers held on despite a too-many-men penalty and a delay-of-game call against Chris Pronger for shooting the puck over the glass that resulted in a 22-second 6-on-3 advantage for Anaheim after they pulled their goaltender for an extra skater late in the game. It's become clear in these playoffs that the NHL will have to change the rule that penalizes a team for shooting the puck out of play when inside its own zone. The punishment doesn't fit the crime. Make it the same as icing -- the offending team can't change players before the ensuing faceoff.
• One post I'm praising Jays manager John Gibbons, the next I'm questioning him. This turned out to be a moot point since the Jays beat the White Sox 3-2 on Shea Hillenbrand's 11th-inning homer yesterday. But in the bottom of the ninth, Lyle Overbay led off with a double. Not only did the Jays not move him up to third base where a sac fly or single through a drawn-in infield would have won the game, but after successive liners to shortstop and a walk, it cried out for Gibbons to put up Eric Hinske to pinch-hit for shortstop Luis Figueroa, freshly up from Triple A, who had messed up a couple plays in the top of the ninth after replacing an injured John MacDonald. After all, Troy Glaus can now play shortstop if needed, so Hinske could potentially stay in the game at third base while Glaus takes over at short.
  
  Gibbons did put Hinske in, but to pinch-run for Overbay. Doesn't it seem like Overbay's speed (or lack thereof) is less of a concern than the slim possibility that Figueroa, who hadn't had a major-league at-bat since 1997, could get a hit? All but the absolute slowest of major-leaguers can score from second base on a two-out hit, unless the ball's hit to Johnny Damon, in which case all but Bengie Molina should score.
  
  Anyway, Figueroa predictably struck out, and the Jays taxed their bullpen for two more innings before Hillenbrand hit his walk-off homer. (Although Out of Left Field maintains it's not a true walk-off unless David Bowie is there to preside.) You never claim to know everything that's going on with a team, but it was curious strategy.
• What's better than a major-league triple play that involves two Canadians and a Japanese batter? Why, a triple play that involves two Canadians, a Japanese batter and Carl (Dinosaurs Aren't In The Bible) Everett committing the cardinal sin of making the last out of the inning at third base. Twins first baseman Justin Morneau, who threw out Crazy Carl to complete the triple play, is from New Westminster, B.C., while Toronto-born Jesse Crain was pitching for Minnesota.
• Best of luck to everyone running the marathon in Ottawa today. You run, so I don't have to. Sweet.
• Last but not least, Happy Birthday wishes go out to my dad, Dan Sager.

My time is up. You've been great. Here's Streetheart.