Box Score

I can almost guarantee that Eric Staal is going to win the NHL Player of the Week award this week.  He followed up last night's hat trick with 4 big assists tonight in helping Carolina one again erase a 2 goal deficit in the third period for a 5-3 win.

I didn't get to watch the game because I was at my folks house watching the Michigan-Northwestern football game.  I did switch back and forth and had the DVR going to I saw a few of the goals.   You'll have to give me a bit of a break here, I've been a Michigan fan for my entire life, and they only play 12 games a year =)

Oh, tonight's game was on INHD on Time Warner Cable - it looks so beautiful i high definition - although the sound was off.

Now we get a few days off before comingback to the RBC Center on Thursday and Saturday for games against Toronto and Florida.  We can always count on a lot of Maple Leafs fans at the RBC Center when Toronto comes to town.

GO CANES!

Box Score

A game in Raleigh with many highs and lows ended on a high note, as the Canes finished off the Flyers with 5 goals in the third period to once again come from behind for an 8-6 victory.

Cam Ward had an off night - as did the Canes defense - but they still managed to win, and I think that is a Good Thing.

One of the games goals was mis-credited but the injustice was corrected and Eric Staal ended with a hat trick (which means some lucky $@#$@ got a free John Deere tractor).

Have you ever had a VIP parking spot?  Not a pre-paid reserved spot, but a bonafide VIP spot?  I did tonight.  My sister and her husband, who work for SAS, got to sit in the SAS suite tonight, and they were giving a VIP parking pass to go with their tickets.  So naturally, we carpooled.   Our parking space was so close to the arena I could practically spit on it from my car!  It was about 5 spots away from the box office.  Very nice.   I guess when you own a suite, you get to park up front.  I always thought those spots were for players wives, family, girlfriends, etc.

Allegedly, tonight's crowd was about 18,000 - a good count, but there were "regulars" around me who were not there tonight - numerous people with 24 game plans, and I'm sure others.  I'd say the crowd was more like 16k or 17k, and a good 2,000 of them must've been Flyers fans.

I've heard that Flyers fans are the worst kind of fans, but maybe that's just in their own arena.

The Canes travel to Pittsburg for another game against the lowly Penguins.  Hopefully Mario did all his scoring last night and won't have anything left for tomorrow!  The Hurricanes are bound to lose sooner or later, but I dont' think it will be the Penguins.

GO CANES!

Box Score

I just finished writing several paragraphs complaining about tonight's game not being on TV, but then I decided that's not what I want to write about, so this sentence will be the end of my complaining.

Eric Staal (2 assists) and Matt Cullen (2 goals) were big players in tonight's come-from-behind victory, and since I couldn't be at the game, I had the pleasure of listening to our hall of fame broadcaster Chuck Kaiton.  His broadcasts really are a joy to listen to.  As the pace of the game goes, so does the pitch of his voice.

These Hurricanes are proving to be a resilient bunch, wiping out a 3-1 deficit to take the game to overtime where the won it "in regulation".   That makes me happy, I'm glad the shootout exists, but I'll take a regular "legitimate" overtime win over a shootout win any day.  That's good fodder for an entry about shootout options at some point in the future.  Someone I know suggested that it would be at least as relevant to the game of hockey for the players to settle the game with a hand of Bridge.

Be that as it may, the crowd sounded good tonight.  The box scores don't list attendance yet.  I expect with the number of Bostonians we have around here, there were probably a fair number of "enemy" fans at the game.

The Canes re-take first place in the Southeast Division, and improve to 4-0 at home, 6-2-1 overall.

Next up, the Philadelphia Flyers come to the RBC Center on Friday at 7pm.  IT's magnetic schedule giveaway night!  If great hockey wasn't enough incentive, that should help make your decision.  Friday night is hockey night!  Philly is 4-2-1 and will be playing Florida tomorrow night while the Canes get a night off.

I'll be there, and I hope you will too!

GO CANES!

Ron Francis was the face of the Carolina Hurricanes when I started going to the games.  He started as a Whaler, left for a few years to win a Stanley Cup or two, and then came back to the Hurricanes.  I know there are a few people out there who are upset with him for chasing the cup when we traded him to Toronto, but I am not one of them.  Francis gave the Canes a lot of great years, and was a great leader and a great benefactor to our community.

It's not every day that you know, with 100% confidence, that you're watching a future hall of famer on the ice, and certainly during his time in Raleigh, we all knew where he was going.

Box Score

So, like I've said before, I'm a 24 game mini-plan holder.  Which means I did NOT have tickets to last night's game.  At least not as part of my package.

This was a big game.  Carolina is skating well, and Ottawa is... was.. undefeated.  I didn't want them to come into our house with 8000 people there on a Monday night that only consisted of season ticket holders.   So I stopped by the box office on my way home and picked up a pair of seats in the mezzanine.  I've always wanted to sit in the mezzanine, I just haven't.  Gotta say they're cool seats.

The game last night started out shaky, with Martin Gerber giving up two weak goals in the first 3 shots of the game.  And then he did what hockey enthusiasts refer to as standing on one's head.  Gerber stopped a nearly continuous barage of the next 43 shots.

The crowd of 12,113 was a bit lax in the first period, but I think the crowd often goes as the game goes - and with only 9 shots and a 2 goal deficit, the first period wasn't great.  But the Canes put us back in the game pretty quickly in the second period and then tied it up and the crowd was alive.

I'm really glad I went.   I will say that I think the Senators were the better team on the ice last night but sometimes, all you need to win is a goalie - and Gerber sure did the job last night.

Next up - the Boston Bruins come to the RBC Center on Wednesday at 7pm.  I won't be going, so I'll expect you to go in my stead.  I can't pull off 3 games in one week ;)  You know, wife and kids and stuff.

Boston is 4-5-1 after a shootout loss to the Leafs last night.

GO CANES!

Box Score

The Canes played a road game tonight against the team I affectionately call.. The Crapitols.  Washington has a terrible team.  They commit a ton of penalties, and they've given up more points per game than every other team in the league except Pittsburg.

Carolina dominated the play almost the entire night, and after Cam Ward went out with what is hopefully a minor injury (he was back on the bench by the second period), Martin Gerber came in and kept the Craps outta the net entirely for the team's first shutout of the season.  Gerber only had to stop 17 shots, but he made some excellent saves.  Kolzig on the other hand faced 41 shots.  I guess allowing 4 goals on 41 shots isn't terrible.

On a side note, I was just looking at the box score on NHL.com, which listed the game as final but didn't have the correct numbers for shots on goal.  Looks like I'll be referring to ESPN for box scores.

This week should be fun.  I've got tickets to Friday's game as part of my 24 game plan, but I think I might like to go see the Canes hand the Senators their first loss of the season on Monday.

GO CANES!

Welcome to my first Caniac blog entry!  I am The Caniac.  I'll talk more about me later.

So we're 6 games into the season now, and our beloved Canes are 3-2-1.  In Thursday's overtime loss to the Maple Leafs, I thought Carolina was the better team on the ice, but a couple of big mistakes led the the loss.

The New NHL seems to be about players who can skate, and Carolina has definately got them.  I love the new NHL.  The game is far superior to what we've seen the last few years.  It's so much faster and more exciting.  Even the games we've lost, or games during which the team has been "flat", there's been more excitement than before.

How good are they?  Well... I expect no less than a playoff berth this year.  I think they're good enough to be - at the very least - one of the top 8 eams in the conference.

Go Canes!

2005-2006 Carolina Hurricanes Schedule and Results