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CALGARY -- With five players injured and two more out with the flu, Theo Peckham gets his chance to make an impression.
The big defenceman was out of sight and out of mind after injuring his ankle late in the summer.
"I skated into a corner and I was looking back, the ice was pretty bad at the end of a skate. It twisted in and I kind of just collapsed on it and that was all she wrote.
"He didn't put a blade on the ice at Oilers' training camp and missed his chance to be part of the first airlift out of Springfield.
"I didn't skate at all during camp and missed the first two games of the season in Springfield," said Peckham, who watched Taylor Chorney get the call instead. "This was a big year for me. It was definitely a huge setback for me, but I'm not going to look at the past."
With Fernando Pisani, Marc Pouliot, Ryan Stone, Mike Comrie and Gilbert Brule out, he kind of thought Edmonton would call up a forward, but they decided to move Jason Strudwick to wing and call Peckham instead.
"You always expect the unexpected," he grinned. "You always have your phone on, always be ready and make sure you don't have all of your suits at the dry cleaners."
Scary thought
There was the potential for a beast of a line with Steve MacIntyre, Zack Stortini and Jason Strudwick, but head coach Pat Quinn was a little reluctant to put all that muscle out there at once.
"I don't know if I could play them as a line," he said. "We'd probably have to throw a puck out there and I don't know what would happen then."
ROBERT.TYCHKOWSKI@SUNMEDIA.CA
