Goaltending Results Since the Oilers-Penguins Goaltender Trade

 Goaltending Results Since the Oilers-Penguins Goaltending Trade

The Edmonton Oilers hockey club has long been seen as having inconsistent goaltending – sometimes their goalies have been stellar, other times seemingly hopeless. The latest tandem to exhibit that tendency was Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard. Many observers felt that more reliable goaltending would have led to at least one Stanley Cup victory, rather than a 7 and 6 game losses, as was the case in 2023-24 and 2024-25.

Thus, in mid-December 2025 they made a key goalie trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins, swapping Stuart Skinner for Tristan Jarry. As a side-effect of that trade, they also called up Conner Ingram from their AHL affiliate, since Jarry had experienced an injury shortly after the trade. The net effect (pun intended) was that they transitioned from Skinner-Pickard to Jarry-Ingram, with Calvin Pickard in a third goalie role, at least for a while, as insurance should one of the other two become injured again.

At the time of this blog, it has been a little over a month since the trade. So, how has it gone? Read below for some statistical evidence.

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NOTE, next day: Hilariously enough, Oilers and Penguins played a game the very night that I published this blog and Jarry absolutely bombed (0.727 in that game), sending his save pct to 0.881 (from 0.904) in saves/shots and 0.878 (from 0.903) in average of game save percentages. His win pct dropped to 57% (from 67%), and his point pct went down to 64% (from 75%).

As I pointed out in the blog: his trend with the Oilers has only a limited number of games, so it should be taken with a large measure of caution.

Statisticians say this all the time, because it’s true.

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Tristan Jarry

Jarry has played 6 games, as of Dec 21, 2026 for the Oilers. Previous to that, he had played 14 games with the Penguins. His Oilers save percentage since the trade has been over 0.900 , customarily thought of as an important benchmark. In terms of overall saves/shots, it is 0.904, while in terms of averaging the save percentage in each game, it is at 0.903. Note that the two methods can yield slightly different results, depending on how many outlier games the goalie has had (i.e. very much better or worse than usual).

His record with the Penguins this year, was not all that different from that with the Oilers, in terms of save percentage, at 0.909 for saves/shots and 0.895 when averaging the save percentages in each game. This result shows how the two methods can give different answers. That is further demonstrated by the high ups and downs of his Penguins games, as shown in the graph.

The graph shows that Jarry’s linear trend with the Penguins was slightly downward, while the trend with the Oilers it has been upward. That said, his trend with the Oilers has only a limited number of games, so it should be taken with a large measure of caution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jarry won 4 out of these 6 Oiler games, for a win percentage of 67%. In terms of points, he has played net for 9 of 12 potential points, for a points average of 75%.

For the Penguins earlier in the year, his win percentage in 14 games was 64%, with his points percentage coming in at 68%.

So, as far as Jarry’s play goes, the trade has worked out well so far for him and for the Oilers.

Stuart Skinner

Stuart Skinner has played 9 games with the Penguins, after having played 23 games with the Oilers previous to that. His Penguins save percentage since the trade has been a bit under 0.900. In terms of overall saves/shots, it is 0.891, while in terms of averaging the save percentage in each game, it is at 0.895. Note again that the two methods can yield different results, depending on how many outlier games the goalie has had (i.e. very much better or worse than usual).

The graph shows that Skinner’s linear trend with the Oilers was downward, while with the Penguins it has been upward. That said, his trend with the Penguins has only a limited number of games, so it should also be taken with a large measure of caution.

His record with the Oilers this year, was not as good as it has been with the Penguins. His Oilers save percentage was 0.891 for saves/shots and 0.872 when averaging the save percentages in each game. Again, this result shows how the two methods can give quite different answers. That is further demonstrated by the high ups and downs of his Oilers games, as shown in the graph. It is also the case that his games with the Penguins have had a fair bit of variance.

Skinner won 5 out of the 9 Penguin games, for a win percentage of 56%. In terms of points, he has played net for 10 of 18, also for a points average of 56%.

For the Oilers earlier in the year, his win percentage in 23 games was 48%, with his points percentage coming in at 57%.

So, as far as Skinner’s play goes, the trade has worked out well so far for him (higher save percentage), and it has probably been a slight loss for the Penguins. However, it is a small sample size, so that may change as the season progresses.

Conner Ingram

Conner Ingram was not directly involved in the trade, though it is probable that the trade did make his call-up from the AHL affiliate necessary. Since then, he has answered the bell quite decisively, with a 0.917 save percentage for the total saves/shots measure, and 0.920 for the average of averages measure.

The graph shows that Ingram’s linear trend with the Oilers has been upward. That said, it is a limited number of games (9 in all), so it should also be taken with a measure of caution.

Ingram has won 5 out of 9 starts, for a win percentage of 56%. In terms of points, he has played for 11 points out of a possible 18, for a points percentage of 61%.

So, as far as Ingram’s play goes, the trade has worked out well so far for him. It has resulted in him being called up to the NHL team, where he has posted an impressive save percentage as well as a very good win and points percentage. However, it is a small sample size, so that may change as the season progresses.

Calvin Pickard

Calvin Pickard was not part of the trade, but it has also had an impact on him. He had several starts while Jarry was injured, more than he otherwise would have had. Previous to the trade his save percentage was mediocre at best, with 0.851 in total saves/shots and 0.848 in average of game save percentages. Since the trade those figures have improved considerably, to 0.901 for the former measure and 0.896 for the latter.

The graph shows that Pickard’s linear trend with the Oilers has been upward, largely due to the good play since the trade. That said, his post-trade sample of games (6 in all) is relatively small, so it should be taken with a measure of caution.

Pickard won 3 out of the 6 post-trade games, for a win percentage of 50%. In terms of points, he has played net for 6 of 12, also for a points average of 50%.

For the Oilers earlier in the year, his win percentage in 10 games was 30%, with his points percentage coming in at 40%.

So, as far as Pickard’s play goes, the trade has worked out fairly well so far for him. His save percentages, win percentages and points percentages have improved. However, it is a small sample size, so that may change as the season progresses.

It is not clear how long the Oilers can afford to carry three goalies. Pickard’s improved performances have made that a tougher call. He could be picked up by some other team, should they choose to send him to the AHL affilate. Arguably, his post-trade play has made that a greater possibility than it had been earlier in the year.

Overall Result

The data support the idea that the Oilers have indeed improved their goaltending situation by the trade.

As for the Penguins, they may have taken a slight hit from the trade.

However, it is still early days, so those results could change.

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A Dark Horse

In “A Dark Horse”, a gambler’s desire to hit a big win seems to lead him to make a Faustian bargain with a supernatural evil.  Or is it all just a string of unnaturally good luck?

The story is just $0.99 U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and about 8000 words. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is occasionally on free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MDMY2BR

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Here’s an interesting review from Goodreads

(BTW, the writer has never met the reviewer and was not even aware of the review until very recently – You can look up the review on Goodreads, if you like)

A Dark Horse

Every gambler is bound to run out of luck eventually, right?

By far my favourite type of horror is psychological horror. I was quite pleased with how Mr. Olausen frightened his audience without spilling a single drop of blood or so much as hinting at anything gory. He knew exactly what hints to drop for us that made us deliciously dread the next scene simply by throwing out hints about who or what the dark horse might actually represent. This is the kind of stuff I love getting scared by, especially as Halloween approaches.

It would have been helpful to have more character development in this short story. While I certainly wouldn’t expect to see as much time spent on this as I would for a full-length novel, I did have trouble connecting to the main characters due to how little I knew about them and how much their personalities seemed to remain the same no matter what happened to them. If not for this issue, I would have felt comfortable choosing a much higher rating as the plot itself was well done.

I must admit to not knowing much about gambling at all, so I appreciated the brief explanations the narrator shared about how placing bets works and why some people have so much trouble walking away from a bet. While I will leave it up to experts on these topics to say how accurate everything was, I did enjoy learning more about the main character’s addiction and what he hoped to gain from betting on just one more game or race. It gave me a stronger sense of empathy for folks in his position.

A Dark Horse – A Gothic Tale was a deliciously chilling story for the Halloween season and beyond.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here is an account of backpacking in Northern Ontario, that a friend and I did some years back. It also has a bit of canoing and some day hikes with my wife.

Hiking the Wild North Shore of Lake Superior

The north shore of Lake Superior is wild and beautiful. It is also quite sparsely populated, so ahiking trip (or other adventure) will truly give you chance to get away from it all, and back to nature in its full glory.

Lake Superior is big – it is the largest of the North American Great Lakes, and one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world. One could spend years exploring the area, and still have barely touched the possibilities.

This account focuses on a multi-day backpacking trip in Pukaskwa National Park, some light canoeing in White Lake Provincial Park, and some day-hiking in the Thunder Bay area.

What follows is a journal of some of the highlights of a trip to Northern Ontario in the summer of 1998. That gives the trip a bit of a historical flavor, but things don’t change very quickly in the wild country of the true north, so it will also give the reader a good idea of what to expect during their own exploration of the north shore.

You can purchase it for 99 cents U.S., equivalent price in other currencies.  Alternatively, keep your eyes open for a free promotions, which occur periodically. Or, get it with Kindle Unlimited.

U.S.:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F9TV4C8

U.K.:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07F9TV4C8 

Germany:  https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07F9TV4C8

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07F9TV4C8

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07F9TV4C8  

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07F9TV4C8

Australia:  https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07F9TV4C8

India:  https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07F9TV4C8

Race Track Diary, Entry Number Eleven Century Mile Racetrack (September 19, 2025)

 

Race Track Diary, Entry Number

Eleven

Century Mile Racetrack (September 19, 2025)

Introduction

This blog and some following blogs are sections from an informal diary of “visits to the race-track” at a particular time and place, by a person who has followed the races with varying levels of participation over a long period. These relate primarily to some visits to the track and/or off-track betting venues in the 2025 period and onward. They contain observations about the activity, both specific and general. Although these remarks are personal, they also reflect general cultural and historical trends, as they have impacted horse-racing, wagering and culture in general.

The setting is Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (population of about one million plus). However, I imagine that the observations would apply to many places in the world, as they are a reflection of how changing trends in technology, globalization and culture in general have affected this ancient and honourable activity of horse-racing.

For now, I will use what I call “polished point-form” for the narrative.

• 11 – Rosslyn Hotel (Prospectors Room) (Sept 19, 2025)

  • After a number of visits to the actual racetrack just outside the city, we decided to do our betting at way off-track site again. So, we headed back to the Rosslyn Hotel and the Prospector’s Room to prospect for some horseracing gold.

  • This place is fairly spacious, with plenty of space for the race-track aficionados. There are also a fair number of video lottery machines, but these are quite low-key, compared to those at the casino at Century Racetrack. The music is fairly low in volume and actually has a bit of melody to it. That is compared to the blaring of short cuts from vintage rock songs, which seem to be the theme of Century Mile VLTs.

  • As is often the case, there weren’t too many horse-players early in the afternoon, about a dozen tops, including ourselves.

  • We arrived at about the time that the Woodbine (Toronto) thoroughbreds started running. However, there were only eight races on the day’s card and many of the fields were pretty thin (fewer than seven horses, after scratches). So, even the mighty titan of Canadian horseracing Woodbine is not what it used to be.

  • I watched some of the TV touts that were giving their picks for the Woodbine races this afternoon. I couldn’t help but find their names to be rather amusing:

    • Jeff Bratt

    • Elissa Blowe

    • Ron Geirkink

  • Those would make a good list of stage-names for a 1980s porn flick.

  • It was a mixed crowd of older males at the Rosslyn , of varying ethnicity, though excitable Italians seemed especially prominent. Several were quite voluble in terms of cheering their horse on enthusiastically, then cussing it out (usually very loudly and very profanely) after it lost. That was especially true if the horse died in the stretch (i.e. had a lead early then faded away at the end).

  • Some black fellows from the islands were also encouraging their horses, though they seemed more likely to try to cajole and plead with their horses in (4-1, 4-1, come on 4-1, you can do it...) rather than cuss them out. It is always kind of interesting observing how bettors interact with the animals, even though the animals are thousands of miles away.

  • As for my own and my brother’s reactions, they were fairly subdued, as none of our bets came in. I had a couple of nice near-Exactors, but neglected to back them up (e.g. I bet 6-5, it came up 5-6 with a late charge from the 5 horse). Backing up an exator means betting it both ways, a sort of hedge-bet.

  • At the end, I threw in some money for a couple of Craig’s long bets on some harness races. We went in on a pick-3 together, which means you pick the winner of three consecutive races. We were alive to the third leg (i.e. picked the first two accurately) and our horse led for most of the third, but died in the stretch. It would have paid a very good price, too.

  • Mind you, that was just fun betting on the harnesses at Woodbine/Mohawk. It doesn’t actually count, as I am not seriously handicapping them. The bucket-pullers are a mystery to me, though Craig says they are a mystery to him too. :)

  • It was that kind of day – handicapping came close, but not close enough. Thus, it was a shut-out day for both of us. I am now feeling more like a normal horse-player, after my 6Win-2Even-2Loss start, which was clearly too good to last. We will see how the next ten visits go.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Dark Horse

In “A Dark Horse”, a gambler’s desire to hit a big win seems to lead him to make a Faustian bargain with a supernatural evil.  Or is it all just a string of unnaturally good luck?

The story is just $0.99 U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and about 8000 words. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is occasionally on free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MDMY2BR

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Here’s an interesting review from Goodreads

(BTW, the writer has never met the reviewer and was not even aware of the review until very recently – You can look up the review on Goodreads, if you like)

A Dark Horse

Every gambler is bound to run out of luck eventually, right?

By far my favourite type of horror is psychological horror. I was quite pleased with how Mr. Olausen frightened his audience without spilling a single drop of blood or so much as hinting at anything gory. He knew exactly what hints to drop for us that made us deliciously dread the next scene simply by throwing out hints about who or what the dark horse might actually represent. This is the kind of stuff I love getting scared by, especially as Halloween approaches.

It would have been helpful to have more character development in this short story. While I certainly wouldn’t expect to see as much time spent on this as I would for a full-length novel, I did have trouble connecting to the main characters due to how little I knew about them and how much their personalities seemed to remain the same no matter what happened to them. If not for this issue, I would have felt comfortable choosing a much higher rating as the plot itself was well done.

I must admit to not knowing much about gambling at all, so I appreciated the brief explanations the narrator shared about how placing bets works and why some people have so much trouble walking away from a bet. While I will leave it up to experts on these topics to say how accurate everything was, I did enjoy learning more about the main character’s addiction and what he hoped to gain from betting on just one more game or race. It gave me a stronger sense of empathy for folks in his position.

A Dark Horse – A Gothic Tale was a deliciously chilling story for the Halloween season and beyond.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here is an account of backpacking in Northern Ontario, that a friend and I did some years back. It also has a bit of canoing and some day hikes with my wife.

Hiking the Wild North Shore of Lake Superior

The north shore of Lake Superior is wild and beautiful. It is also quite sparsely populated, so ahiking trip (or other adventure) will truly give you chance to get away from it all, and back to nature in its full glory.

Lake Superior is big – it is the largest of the North American Great Lakes, and one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world. One could spend years exploring the area, and still have barely touched the possibilities.

This account focuses on a multi-day backpacking trip in Pukaskwa National Park, some light canoeing in White Lake Provincial Park, and some day-hiking in the Thunder Bay area.

What follows is a journal of some of the highlights of a trip to Northern Ontario in the summer of 1998. That gives the trip a bit of a historical flavor, but things don’t change very quickly in the wild country of the true north, so it will also give the reader a good idea of what to expect during their own exploration of the north shore.

You can purchase it for 99 cents U.S., equivalent price in other currencies.  Alternatively, keep your eyes open for a free promotions, which occur periodically. Or, get it with Kindle Unlimited.

U.S.:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F9TV4C8

U.K.:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07F9TV4C8 

Germany:  https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07F9TV4C8

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07F9TV4C8

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B074LZDQ9F

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07F9TV4C8  

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07F9TV4C8

Australia:  https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07F9TV4C8

India:  https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07F9TV4C8

Race Track Diary, Entry Number Ten: Century Mile Racetrack (September 13, 2025)

 

Race Track Diary, Entry Number Ten

Century Mile Racetrack (September 13, 2025)

Introduction

This blog and some following blogs are sections from an informal diary of “visits to the race-track” at a particular time and place, by a person who has followed the races with varying levels of participation over a long period. These relate primarily to some visits to the track and/or off-track betting venues in the 2025 period and onward. They contain observations about the activity, both specific and general. Although these remarks are personal, they also reflect general cultural and historical trends, as they have impacted horse-racing, wagering and culture in general.

The setting is Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (population of about one million plus). However, I imagine that the observations would apply to many places in the world, as they are a reflection of how changing trends in technology, globalization and culture in general have affected this ancient and honourable activity of horse-racing.

For now, I will use what I call “polished point-form” for the narrative.

• 10 – Century Mile 6 (September 13, 2025)

  • This is the seventh trip to the “real” racetrack, though once again, we didn’t actually leave the off-track betting area of the casino, and go to the outside world, where the real horses would be running. So it goes – eventually I am sure that we will cross that threshold.

  • The off-track betting area was not too busy early on, but it did become more so as the late afternoon and early evening came upon us. The parking lot was much busier when we left than when we arrived (early afternoon) as well.

  • It is quite possible that the busyness of the day was related to the fact that this was the last day of the local thoroughbred meet. That was reinforced in my mind by overhearing some of the chat of bettors nearby our base of operations, later in the day. It seemed likely that some of them were probably personally connected to the horses that were running that day, perhaps owners, trainers, horse handlers or people related to others in these roles.

  • After this day, it would be harness races only (as well as off-track betting, of course). My brother Craig probably won’t mind that too much, as he has a strange love/hate affair with what he terms “the bucket-pullers”.

  • On this occasion Tyler, one of Craig’s sons accompanied us to the track. He is an occasional horse-race and/or casino participant, though his real passion (so to speak) is sports, especially his beloved Raiders and Blue Jays. For hockey I suppose it must be the Oilers, but at this time of year football and baseball reign supreme.

  • He started a new job recently, where the employers have routinely gifted him with jerseys and similar sports paraphernalia related to the Raiders. He says they have told him that the atmosphere around the place has improved since he began, so I guess they want to keep him around (without having to give him a raise, no doubt). He is an easy guy to get along with, so I sort-of understand it. Anyway, good for him.

  • The races at Fairmount Park didn’t show up on the big screens until the fourth race. That was the track that I bought a program for, so there was no betting for me until then. I prefer to follow just one track and attempt to handicap that set of races. I find that following too many races spreads one’s mental energies too thinly, which makes handicapping difficult.

  • These days I appear to be in the minority, as far as that goes. Craig and Tyler weren’t paying too much attention to the numbers, more or less going on intuition or just blind luck. That said, today they did better than I did.

  • I came within a neck of picking up a pretty decent exacta, when my second place horse got nipped at the wire. I also missed another exacta, when my horses came in second-third, with my third-rated pick beating them both. However, that didn’t happen at the wire, so it wasn’t as close as the first contest, thus not as exciting (or disappointing, if you look at it that way).

  • Craig and Tyler focused for a while on a TV screen near our table, which featured races from Jamaica. It was somewhat strange, as the prices were being shown in Jamaican dollars, which are valued at a small fraction of U.S. or Canadian dollars. Thus, the purse on one of the races was 1.2 million dollars and the payoff for exotic bets (e.g. triactors) were typically in the tens of thousands. It took a few minutes to figure out the currency confusion, but it was amusing until then.

  • It turned out that Craig hit a few of these races, as well as some bucket-pullers at the Woodbine track in Toronto. I should note that he lived in southern Ontario for a few years, so was quite familiar with Woodbine from personal visits. I had also been there a few times – it’s a nice big facility, as I recall.

  • Tyler had no luck with the horses, but he disappeared for a few minutes near the end of our visit and came back with an 80 dollar win from the video lottery machines. Or are they slot machines? These days I can’t make out the difference, though to be honest, I have never been attracted to either.

  • Some internet sources claim that VLTs are "tighter" (lower payoffs) than slot machines, but that my only apply to places like Las Vegas. Either way, they are negative expectation games, so in the long run, you lose either way. Horse-racing uses pari-mutual payoffs (essentially a contest among the pool of betters), though the track’s takeout is high enough that these comparisons are a moot point. I keep my bets modest and play for the comanionship and intellectual challenge.

  • I noted to Tyler that it was nice to hit a win at the slots, but it would have been so much nicer to make that on horses – more bragging rights. He laughed and said “I suppose so”, but he was probably just humouring me.

  • At about the same time, the Blue Jays knocked in a few runs in the ninth inning to win their baseball game (they were in a pennant race), so that lifted Tyler’s spirits as well.

  • At any rate, my winning streak ended, but someone else’s had just begun.

  • My off-day was made up for by Craig’s and Tyler’s good fortune. That made the outing ok in my books. Besides, True Handicapping will eventually prevail (ha, ha).

  • I should note that I had done some horseracing simulations in a spreadsheet, then in the statistical programming language R, to see just how often a long streak would show up by pure random chance (also called luck). I will add the results to this narrative a little later.

    For anyone who is curious, this is how my handicapping has gone so far during this project (the statements are from the previous blogs).  I think I will go for about 25 entries, to see how I do.  

    1 - Won a few bets, came out positive, I think. At least one fair-size win.

    2 - No wins for us.

    3 - Came out ahead.

    4 - I broke even.

    5 - not a winning day,

    6 - I left that track with more money than I arrived with.

    7 - I came out of the day ahead.

    8 - Well over the top for the day.

    9 - Exactor that paid enough to cover the rest of my bets for the rest of the day, with some to spare.

    10 - my winning streak ended.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Dark Horse

In “A Dark Horse”, a gambler’s desire to hit a big win seems to lead him to make a Faustian bargain with a supernatural evil.  Or is it all just a string of unnaturally good luck?

The story is just $0.99 U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and about 8000 words. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is occasionally on free promotion.

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MDMY2BR

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01M9BS3Y5

Here’s an interesting review from Goodreads

(BTW, the writer has never met the reviewer and was not even aware of the review until very recently – You can look up the review on Goodreads, if you like)

A Dark Horse

Every gambler is bound to run out of luck eventually, right?

By far my favourite type of horror is psychological horror. I was quite pleased with how Mr. Olausen frightened his audience without spilling a single drop of blood or so much as hinting at anything gory. He knew exactly what hints to drop for us that made us deliciously dread the next scene simply by throwing out hints about who or what the dark horse might actually represent. This is the kind of stuff I love getting scared by, especially as Halloween approaches.

It would have been helpful to have more character development in this short story. While I certainly wouldn’t expect to see as much time spent on this as I would for a full-length novel, I did have trouble connecting to the main characters due to how little I knew about them and how much their personalities seemed to remain the same no matter what happened to them. If not for this issue, I would have felt comfortable choosing a much higher rating as the plot itself was well done.

I must admit to not knowing much about gambling at all, so I appreciated the brief explanations the narrator shared about how placing bets works and why some people have so much trouble walking away from a bet. While I will leave it up to experts on these topics to say how accurate everything was, I did enjoy learning more about the main character’s addiction and what he hoped to gain from betting on just one more game or race. It gave me a stronger sense of empathy for folks in his position.

A Dark Horse – A Gothic Tale was a deliciously chilling story for the Halloween season and beyond.

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And here is a science fiction story that I wrote. It’s not about horses, but people seem to have found it interesting, going by reviews and/or ratings on Amazon (note that there actually is a novel version now):

The Magnetic Anomaly: A ScienceFiction Story

“A geophysical crew went into the Canadian north. There were some regrettable accidents among a few ex-military who had become geophysical contractors after their service in the forces. A young man and young woman went temporarily mad from the stress of seeing that. They imagined things, terrible things. But both are known to have vivid imaginations; we have childhood records to verify that. It was all very sad. That’s the official story.”

You can purchase it for all of 99 cents.  Alternatively, keep your eyes open for a free promotions, which occur periodically. Or, get it with Kindle Unlimited.

Amazon:

U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0176H22B4

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0176H22B4

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0176H22B4

France: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0176H22B4

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0176H22B4

Netherlands: https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0176H22B4

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0176H22B4

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0176H22B4

Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0176H22B4

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0176H22B4

Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0176H22B4

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0176H22B4 

Brazil: https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0176H22B4

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Happy New Years, Hockey, Horses and Books

For New Years, we watched the 1975 Montreal Canadiens vs Red Army game. It was still good after all these years!

Also some wine/beer and popcorn with Helena (she watched some of the game too). Afterwards, we read a book together (reading a book out loud together is actually a very pleasant activity, especially if supplemented with wine and popcorn).

 Day after New Years, off to play the horses with Scott and my brother Craig. Good time, won 3 out of 7 wagers, tidy little profit. Scott won some too, as did Craig. Anything for family togetherness.:)

Now, Go Canada in the junior championships (and Oilers get playing serious again).