The Caniac's Blog

Thus Endeth the Season

2008-04-05T18:49:56-07:00

Oh hell.

Are you ready for a photo finish?

2008-04-03T18:02:56-07:00

The capitals beat Tampa Bay tonight, so the magic number remains two. The good news is that the Canes still control their own destiny. Win friday, and they're in.

Lose Friday... and anything could happen. We'd have 92 points, and we'd need Washington to lose. If Washington were to win Saturday night, they'd have 94 points and would take the southeast division.

If *THAT* happened... we'd be stuck hoping that Boston and Philadelphia don't win any more games - both have two left. The canes would hold the tiebreaker over Boston (who currenly has 92 points), and over Philly (who currenly has only 91 points), so the Canes COULD take a low seed if that were to happen.

But the chances are slim. The best way for us to get to the playoffs is to beat Floriday tomorrow night.

See you there!

GO CANES!

and the magic number is now two...

2008-04-02T18:43:39-07:00

Thanks to a great effort against Tampa Bay tonight, the Canes reduced their magic number to 2 tonight, with a 6-2 victory. That's 2 points for us, or two points lost by Washington. Personally, I hope Tampa Bay rebounds and beats Washington tomorrow night so I don't have to think about NOT going to the playoffs when I'm at the game on Friday. I don't need that kind of stress.

Chad LaRose got a hat trick tonight. His third goal (the Canes 6th) was a real goal-scorers goal, he took the pass from Eric Cole and skated in on the net and just fooled Mike Smith with some back and forth moves. LaRose got Smith to commit too early and he made one last switch to the backhand (I think) and dropped it in the net. It was a beauty. I am bummed that I missed seeing it live.

See you Friday night!

GO CANES!

Now I'm stressed out

2008-04-02T04:41:57-07:00

Okay, so the Hurricanes lost again last night to the Caps, leaving us tied with them for first place in the southeast.. Luckily, we've got the tiebreaker, so if it all ended today, we'd be in and they'd be out.

But we've got two games left - Tampa Bay tonight and Florida on Friday. Lucky Washington gets Tampa Bay tomorrow night and Florida Saturday night.

Basically, we've got to win. If we lose tonight, our destiny is out of our hands. Right now it's still in our hands, but we've got to win.

Go Canes!

Carolina Hurricanes Playoff Tickets

2008-03-26T12:42:22-07:00

So I bought my playoff strips, but it's unlikely that I'll be able to afford to go to all of the rounds 3 and 4 games, if we make it to those rounds. At $65 each for Round 3 and $90 each for Round 4, I may have tickets available to games 1 and 2 of each series.

If we get there =)

I may also have tickets available to a game in round 2 - if we get there - depending on the schedule, as I've got a trip out of town scheduled in late April.

If you're interested in "dibs" on these tickets, please let me know.

Just keep winning, just keep winning

2008-03-13T09:34:34-07:00

Carolina is playing the best hockey of the season right now, and just in time. Remember they started off the season only losing one of the first 10 in regulation, but they were still only 6-1-3. Hot start, but not nearly as hot as they've been lately, going 8-1, and and 11-2-1 in their last 14.

We're down to 10 games... and after the next two against Buffalo and Ottawa, it's all southeast division after that, and 5 home games.

GO CANES!

You Blow Buffalo!

2008-03-09T05:56:29-07:00

What a crazy night last night! It's always extra fun with Carolina and Buffalo get together but last night the crowd seemed even more buffalo slanted than normal. I think there were probably 5000 buffalo fans in the arena and when they scored, it was pretty loud.

Buffalo fans are always extremely obnoxious too. They're noisy, and most of them seem to be drunk, and don't mind running up and down the aisles during puck play hollering about how awesome their team is. Maybe it's the blue-collar, "$10/hour is the best I can do" nature of Buffalo fans, who knows.

But if there ever was a playoff athmosphere in a regular season game, last night was it! Thank god we scored first and maintained the lead for most of the game or it could've been even more stressful than it was. When Buffalo tied it up, I was worried, and the Canes blew 2 straight powerplays to end the game, and in the OT, Buffalo couldn't stay out of the box, and Carolina won the game with a game winner from Scott Walker on the power play.

Since Washington lost yesterday, Carolina stretched its division lead to 7 points over Washington, who dropped back into a tie with Florida for second place. The Crapitols still have 2 games in hand, so it's nice to keep building the lead.

Go Canes!

All Hail Sergei Samsonov

2008-03-01T21:44:42-07:00

I know, I've been a slacker this year again in blogging about the Canes.

I just felt I should blog about Sergei Samsonov, acquired earlier off the waiver wire, claiming him on re-entry waivers. The move came as a surprise to many Canes fans, as Samsonov had been struggling this year and last year prior to coming here. He had zero goals and only 4 assists in 23 games with the Blackhawks, and last year only had 9 goals and 17 assists in 63 games with the Canadiens.

He's been one of our best scorers in his 24 games since he joined the Hurricanes, scoring 11 goals and 10 assists.

Jim Rutherford, as usual, knows what he's doing most of the time. We all make a few mistakes here and there (Trevor Letowski was a mistake, if you ask me). But Sergei Samsonov was not one of them. He's pretty freakin' awesome. The change of zip code has definately done him good!

Canes dominate Buffablow

2007-10-25T15:04:11-07:00

Box Score

I missed most of both games this weekend due to other obligations, and Monday's game wasn't on TV and my clock radio - the only radio in my house - doesn't get 99.9FM. I hate that.

But I did tune into FSN last night for the Canes-Sabres game, and wow, what a fun game! 2 periods of exciting, somewhat stressful hockey that ended with a 2-2 tie, and then an offensive blowout in the third period with the Canes scoring 4 goals for the 6-2 win.

Bret Hedican came to play, scoring a goal and getting two assists. Eric Staal had a goal and two assists too. And Jeff Hamilton made an amazing slapshot that I don't think anyone could've stopped by any manner of skill, it was like a rocket.

No time to go into further detail but the Canes are now 6-1-3 and looking mighty fine. They've gotten points in 9 of 10 hockey games, and have a nice 7 point lead in the southeast division.

See you at the game Friday night!

GO CANES!

CAnes Roadtrip, Success Continues

2007-10-14T08:42:57-07:00

Box Score

In a game of goaltending excellence, Cam Ward and the Hurricanes came out on top again. Carolina came out and completely dominated the play of the first two periods, outshooting Montreal 30-8. But thanks to some incredible play by Habs goalie Cirstobal Huet, Carolina clung to a mere 2-1 lead going into the second intermission. Montreal came out skating and shooting in the third, putting up 16 shots and also commiting no penalties (something they had done a lot of in the first two periods), but Cam Ward made amazing save after amazing save. Chad LaRose, still getting extra playing time due to the injury to Ladd, was rewarded with an empty net goal at 19:44 to seal the deal.

I will admit, Montreal got screwed with about 3 minutes to go by a badly missed call at center ice that would've put Montreal on the power play. Not saying that would've scored, because Cam *WAS* stopping anything and everything they threw at him, but the refs definately blew a call there.

It's tough to go on a long road trip, and one that includes 3 games in Canada is never easy, but the Canes are surviving so far with a 3-1 record. They flew home last night after the game (I assume) to sleep in their own beds as they don't play again until next Friday. Having won 3 straight, I'll bet Laviolette will give them today AND tomorrow off, before they start practicing again to get ready for the last 2 games of this 6 game road trip at Pittsburg and Philadelphia Friday and Saturday night.

Hopefully by then, Mike Commodore will be healthy and ready to skate again, but the defense has definately held up so far. Knock on wood!

Chad LaRose Leads The Way

2007-10-12T05:21:16-07:00

Box Score

Carolina waited for Ottawa to come home, and then knocked them from the ranks of the undefeated with a 5-3 victory.

Chad LaRose found himself playing on the third line, and took advantage. Although he didn't score any goals, his gritty play directly led to goals by Matt Cullen, Rod Brind'amour, and Erik Cole. LaRose ended the night with 3 assists and got the #1 star.

Speaking of Erik Cole, I mentioned the other day how I thought he'd been playing well but just couldn't buy a goal - well, he got two of them tonight and they were beauties. One of them was basically on an empty net because Martin Gerber had just made a huge save on Eric Staal who almost knocked it in from the left side. Gerber slide across to make the save and slide right out of the crease while the puck rebounded to open ice on the right side. Cole skated up and knocked it in the net, going past a defender who looked like he was going to the ice for the block but didn't make it in time. By the time Gerber got to his feet after the save on Staal, the puck was bouncing out of the net.

The game itself was beautiful. Just an incredible amount of speed and skating. Lots of back-and-forth action, We led Ottawa 4-1 late in the third period but it wasn't a "dominating" performance, in fact I thought that Ottawa might've been playing a little better they were just being stymied by Cam Ward. They made it interesting with late goals at 16:16 and 18:11, but Eric Staal sealed the deal with an empty netter at 19:01.

Staal now has 8 points (5/3) while Cole has 4 points (1/3). 12 points through 5 games. Looking good so far for my prediction of 180 points between the two. Keep it up, guys!

The Canadian Tour continues Saturday night when the Canes take on Montreal.

GO CANES!

Canes beat up Toronto 7-1

2007-10-09T19:05:12-07:00

Box Score

I didn't watch it in HD, but it was a beautiful game nonetheless! Toronto took a 1-0 lead early on a power play goal, but Justin Williams tied it up about 2 minutes later with a very nice goal where he just plain beat the goalie but lifting the puck up high from about 8' out. Cory Stillman added a power play goal to take a 2-1 lead and the Canes never looked back.

Toronto played sloppy, and Carolina played aggressive - especially on the power play - sometimes going with the someone unconvential 5 forward lineup. Matt Cullen added a power play goal in the second period, followed by a full strength goal by Ray Whitney for a 4-1 lead, and the Canes added three more goals by Scott Walker, Jeff Hamilton, and Eric Staal to round out the game.

Toronto's goal was one of those 5-4 goals that was really a 5-3 goal because the 4th skater had just gotten on the ice. Yet another goal you can't really blame Cam Ward for.

It was good to see Bret Hedican back on the ice (19 minutes) and Cory Stillman too for the first time this season (20 minutes).

A note about Erik Cole - he can't buy a goal right now! He and Staal had a great 2 on 1 opportunity in the second period (I think) and Cole got off what was practically an empty netter that went off the post. He had another opportunity earlier in the game on a wide open net but his shot went wide. He led the team with 5 shots on goal tonight, but just can't seem to light the lamp. He's looking good otherwise - skating well and such. I'm sure it'll happen for him.

Next up, the undefeated (4-0) Ottawa Senators on Thursday. Ottawa is getting great goaltending from one Mr. Martin Gerber who currently has a 1.73 GAA and a .949 save %. Good numbers,

Gerber. Where have I heard that name before? =)

GO CANES!

Weekend In Review - Games 2 and 3

2007-10-09T07:34:39-07:00

Carolina 4, Pittsburg 1 - Box Score

Friday night, Carolina took on Pittsburg at home, looking for their first win of the season. They came out skating strong and never really looked back, scoring twice in the opening period (both by Eric Staal) and twice in the second period (Andrew Ladd and Jeff Hamilton). Pittsburg came on strong in the third, giving it all they could, but only managed a power play goal to break the shutout. Realistically, it was a 5 on 3 power play goal, but the two man advantage had just ended, so the 4th skater was back on the ice but wasn't yet involved in the play.

Cam Ward looked fan-freakin-tastic in goal again, and made some incredible saves. He was the #1 star of the game, and deserved it. The lineup worked, with Jeff Hamilton assisting on both of Eric Staal's goals as well as getting his own goal.

Washington 2, Carolina 0 - Box Score

Unfortunately, the first road game of the season didn't go quite as well. Washington dominated the puck offensively for most of the game. Carolina managed only 2 shots in the first period, and 9 shots in the second period. Overall, they were outshot 33-23. They came on pretty strong with 12 shots in the third period, and had some great scoring opportunities, but simply couldn't get the puck past Olie the Goalie.

John Grahame looked pretty darned good in the net, saving 31 of 33 shots. I've got no complaints there. Can't win games when your team doesn't score.

The good thing about this game was that Carolina only took 3 penalties, although they did give up a power play goal. And we were 0-4 on the power play ourselves, which kinda sucked.

Part of this loss was just a hot goalie, but part of it was also the Canes inability to control thep puck - especially in the first period, where they were just completely dominated.

Next up - game 2 of this long 6 game road trip - the Canes take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Look for former Hurricane Bates Battaglia!

The game is on Versus tonight, so don't look at Fox Sports South and assume it's not on!

GO CANES!

Someone should've poked Saku Koivu's Eye Out

2007-10-04T05:30:05-07:00

Box Score

I'm kidding, of course. And in now way am I implying that we did it on purpose in the 2006 Stanley Cup run either.

Good and bad from last night. The bad - Carolina played sloppy, taking a lot of penalties. We're the ones that are supposed to play disciplined hockey and outskate the opponents, but we took 3 penalties to Monreal's one in the 3rd period, and the overtime penalty to Niclas Wallin was the backbreaker that gave Monreal the game.

The penalty kill unit gave up all three Montreal goals, while Carolina's power play only scored once in 7 opportunities.

Things actually looked good early - Carolina scored on the first power play, and looked pretty good on the second - shooting the puck a lot, which was good. They had a 19-10 shot lead at one point, but really started to lose puck control midway through the second period.

Cam Ward made some awesome saves and looked pretty good for the most part. Giving up 3 power play goals in 40 shots for the night really isn't his fault.

Here's hoping that they'll play a little more disciplined against Pittsburg Friday night, because they can't afford to go on the penalty kill all night again against the Penguins, who have a lot of firepower up front.

Sadly, last night's game was NOT a sellout, but it was close (99.7% officially). I think Friday night's game will be though, Pittsburg always draws a big crowd.

Go Canes!

The 2007-2008 Season is almost here!

2007-09-14T06:21:15-07:00

So, I obviously didn't blog at all last year. Maybe it was my lack of blogging that caused the Hurricanes to suck last year. Okay, they didn't suck. But they missed the playoffs, and that sucked.

Holy cow it's been a long summer, hasn't it?

Personally, I don't think the Canes are as bad as the standings and their performance last year might lead us to believe. I just think they had a lot of players have off years all at the same time. Eric Staal's production was down 30 points (from 100 to 70). Erik Cole's production was down on a points per game basis (2 more points, in 11 more games). These are two guys that the Canes *NEED* desperately to produce as we expect them to. And I think they will.

The reaquisition of Matt Cullen is pretty exciting, even if only for what he brings to the ice at the end of overtime. He was our best shootout guy in our Stanley Cup season, and without him last year, the Canes were HORRIBLE on the shootout.

Offensively, we're not going to have any problems - at least I don't think so. On the defense.. well, that's another story.

Guys I've heard of on defense: Babchuk, Commodore, Gleason, Hedican, Kaberle, Wallin, Wesley. That's 7 that I know, and Hedican seems fragile to me. I'm actually surprised that he and Wesley returned. Babchuk is definately going to have to grow up this season and play some solid defense, and clearly the Canes will have to have some other players step up when needed out of the group of guys I don't know. Honestly, there might be a defenseman on the team who is a solid NHL player and I just don't recognize him.

Well, Sunday the team hits the ice for the preseason opener, and I'll be there.

while you're waiting, check out this article from the Canadian Press: Hurricanes look like '06 champs - but can they play like them?

Go Canes! Hope to see you all at the Caniac Carnival on Sunday! You can get a free ticket, I've heard.

Red Out Supplies

2006-09-11T09:55:02-07:00

I don't know about you, but I don't have red pants. But I really want to wear all red to opening night, so what do I do?

Clearly, I could buy a cheap pair of khakis and dye them red, but I don't really want to do that, so I started googling for red khaki's - they're kinda hard to come by.

But then I discovered red scrubs. You know, the kind of pants that nurses and surgeons wear.

But a lot of places that sell scrubs don't have real red colors. But I was able to find Dickie's brand scrubs in a color they call "True Red" and they're really inexpensive.

http://www.mynursinguniforms.com/mens-scrubs.html

Check out the Unisex Drawstring pants. For good measure, I also bought a Unisex V-Neck top, both available in True Red.

Now.. where did Chuck Amato get those red shoes....

Caniac Red Out

2006-09-09T15:30:26-07:00

The new season is almost upon us. I'll blog more about the offseason dealings later, but let's say that I'm pretty happy with the team!

Now, onto the real business

If you are going to Opening Night, YOU MUST WEAR RED.!!!

If you don't have a red shirt, get a red shirt. Not maroom, Caniac red.

Just do it.

It's Hurricane (Signing) Season in Carolina!

2006-07-06T05:45:20-07:00

The following is a list of Hurricanes players who were restricted or unrestricted free agents after the 2005-2006 season ended, along with their previous salary, and their new contract information.

Player	Position	2005-2006 Salary	Status	Result
Forwards
Craig Adams	RW	$465,000.00	Unrestricted	3 years, $1.8 million
Erik Cole	RW	$1,140,000.00	Restricted	3 years, $12 million
Chad LaRose	RW	$450,000.00	Restricted	2 year, $950,000
Doug Weight	RW	$5,700,000.00	Unrestricted	Signed by St. Louis
Justin Williams	RW	$1,225,000.00	Restricted	5 years, $17.5 million
Matt Cullen	C	$688,800.00	Unrestricted	Signed by New York Rangers
Eric Staal	C	$942,400.00	Restricted	3 year, $13.5 million
Goaltenders
Martin Gerber	G	$1,064,000.00	Unrestricted	Signed by Ottawa
Defensemen
Mike Commodore	D	$450,000.00	Restricted	2 year, $2.5 million
Andrew Hutchinson	D	$450,000.00	Restricted	2 year, $950,000
Frantisek Kaberle	D	$1,292,000.00	Unrestricted	4 year, $8.8 million
Niclas Wallin	D	$836,000.00	Unrestricted	4 year, $6.9 million
Aaron Ward	D	$1,520,000.00	Unrestricted	Signed by New York Rangers
Glen Wesley	D	$1,000,000.00	Unrestricted

It's also worth mentioning that Rod Brind'amour - whose contract had both a team option and a player option for another year - renegotiated his contract to ensure that he'll be with the Hurricanes for the rst of his career, signing a 5 year deal worth $18 million. $4 million in each of the first 3 years and $3 million in each of the last 2 years.

Mark Recchi's contract also has both a team option and a player option. At this point, I don't think either option was exercised, so I think Recchi is probably an unrestricted free agent. An article on SI.com says the following:

Mark Recchi: There's been little talk of his potential destination, although there are any number of teams he could help on the second or third lines. At his age (38), though, you have to think family concerns are his first priority. The right situation will outweigh the best offer.

Restricted and Unrestricted Free Agents

2006-06-21T08:42:42-07:00

I've got a list of the 2006 Hurricanes restricted and unrestricted free agents here:

http://www.thecaniac.com/2006_Free_Agents.cfm

NHL TV Ratings - Do They Really Matter?

2006-06-15T11:31:10-07:00

TV ratings suck, yeah. But so little of the NHL's revenue comes from TV ratings it doesn't really matter right now.

What the NHL is focused on - and what they should be focused on - is improving the game (which they did in fine fashion with the rule changes), getting the local markets back into the game (attendance was up nearly all across the board this year over the previous season), and stablizing the LOCAL television markets. The Fox Sports Net's of the country.

TV ratings sucked for the NHL before the lockout - and it will take time for them to recover.

I do think that OLN will continue to promote the game and they'll increase their national coverage and their in-home reach for next season, and as time goes on, more and more people will discover OLN *IS* actually on their cable and dish systems. And as the local markets fill up the arenas, more people will watch the games on local and national TV.

I'm willing to bet that by the time the current TV deal ends (4 years from now?), hockey will get back onto ESPN, and like all things that ESPN carries, they'll promote it, and things will continue to improve.

The fact is, hockey is a great game, with more, faster action than ANY OTHER MAJOR TEAM SPORT. Even in North Carolina, where the natives have never seen a lake with ice strong enough to stand on are slowly beginning to appreciate the game more. And when you consider the competition that hockey has in that market, their dramatic increase in attendance this year is no less remarkable than the season the team had.

I'm not worried about the state of the sport of hockey. You shouldn't be either.

2002 Stanley Cup Finals Game 5

2006-06-15T11:29:09-07:00

I wish I could be blogging under happier circumstances, but Edmonton wanted game 5 more than the Canes did last night I think.

Maybe the team had a lack of focus because of the intense pressure on them to close out the series at home, who knows. But the crowd was even tense from the beginning - especially after Edmonton scored 16 seconds into the game. Later in the first period we took the lead 2-1 but then gave up 2 more goals to go down 3-2 by the end of the first. It was a crazy period, and almost seemed like we were gonna see a lot of goals.

things settled down after that but the crowd was pretty quiet during the second period until Carolina tied up the game, and even after that you could tell there was a nervous tension hanging over the crowd.

Personally, I figured going into the third period tied 3-3 was good for the Canes, who had DRAMATICALLY outscored their opponents in the playoffs during the third period, something like 28-5. Unfortunately, they only managed 2 shots on goal in the third period, and also took the only two penalties in the period. I do wish they tracked "zone time" like they used to, because I bet we didn't spend more than 5 minutes of the period in the Edmonton zone.

The defense must've played well though because Edmonton only had 5 shots in that third period, but they definately controlled the pace.

I was pretty excited when we got the power play in overtime, but that excitement was quickly crushed along with the spirits of 19,000 others who fully expected CAROLINA to score on the power play that had been so successful all evening (3 power play goals).

But Cory Stillman made a soft pass to Eric Staal while he was being converged upon, and Staal wasn't able to get the puck. Instead, we had a rather sudden breakaway opportunity from the blue line for Edmonton, and the puck whisked into the net, and shocked the crowd.

I don't really know who to blame. Cory Stillman and Eric Staal both took the blame in the post-game interviews, but I'm just as tempted to blame section 334, who started yelling "WE WANT THE CUP" in the first period. The Cup is going to come to Raleigh, I'm very confident of that, but I'm not cheering for it in the first period of the FIRST elimination game.

I could also blame Joe Ovies for the lack of mojo (pardon the pun, Morning Mojo listeners) - Mr. Ovies did predict an overtime game.

But then again it could've been my fault. I didn't listen to "BEEP BEEP" before the game - although I did hear it earlier in the day. I'm not sure if that was good enough.

Ultimately, I think the Canes simply didn't have the focus required to put Edmonton away. They faced a huge amount of pressure to close out the series at home in front of their own fans - a celebration that certainly would've been something to remember.

the pressure on Saturday though is going to sway heavily towards Edmonton, because Carolina isn't going to have nearly as many distractions that the potential home ice celebration may have had. And I know the Canes do NOT want to play game 7 back in Raleigh! As much as I wanted them to win it on home ice, I even more so do NOT want to see them play another game in the RBC Center until the 2006-2007 season begins.

See you Saturday at the RBC Center!

GO CANES!

2006 Stanley Cup Finals Game 4

2006-06-14T07:16:09-07:00

Another early score for Edmonton, but this time followed up immediately by a Carolina power play, and a power play goal 30 seconds in.

Carolina took the lead, took no penalties in the third period, and held on for the win by holding Edmonton to 5 shots on goal in the third. There were many more shots than that, blocked, missed, etc.

How about that Cam Ward? They interviewed him on the ice SECONDS after the game, and he was calm and cool as if he'd just been sitting in the hot tub or something. He has no measurable heart rate!

Canes take on Edmonton at home tonight, and PLEASE GOD LET THEM RAISE THE CUP AT HOME!

GO CANES!

2006 Stanley Cup Finals Game 3

2006-06-12T10:17:27-07:00

I didn't get a chance to blog about the dominating performance the Hurricanes had in Game 2 at home, which is a shame, but oh well. Moving on to Game 3.

I wouldn't say that Carolina played poorly. On the contrary, the defense played very well, and the goaltending was excellent, and the penalty kill was especially good.

Unfortunately, Edmonton got (most of) the breaks. Their first goal - early in the first period - went in off a deflection. You know when the puck changes direction on its way in, it's awfully hard to stop. Edmonton's second goal - the game winner - was a fluke goal that probably could have just as easily been called goaltender interference (and personally, I think it SHOULD have, but i'll admit to some level of bias).

Most importantly, Carolina was 0 for 6 on the power play, and I think that's what really did them in. They didn't seem to be hitting anyone real hard, and they didn't have a whole lot of sustained pressure in the offensive zone.

So Edmonton makes it a series!

Game 4 is tonight and I'm hoping to see our Canes return to form and put on another show of how hockey is supposed to be played. I still maintain that the Canes are a much better team and if both teams played their best, the Canes would win.

But we'll see what happens!

GO CANES! BEEP BEEP!

2006 Stanley Cup Finals Game 1

2006-06-06T11:55:50-07:00

I've been a pathetic excuse for a blogger lately, haven't I? Didn't even blog the amazing Buffalo series. Game 7 was *AWESOME* by the way.

Carolina came out with not much forecheck last night and committed too many penalties in the first period, but thanks to the Caminator (Cam Ward, of course), they survived the period with only a 1-0 deficit.

Things didn't improve in the second, as Carolina fell behind 3-0. Uh oh. Only 5 teams have overcome a 3 goal deficit in the Stanley Cup Finals.

At about 8:42 PM, I realized that I hadn't listened to Beep Beep yet, and so I listened, and 30 seconds later, the Canes scored their first goal, making it 3-1.

After that, Carolina took control of the game with a second goal early in the third, and the game tying goal not much later, and then a go-ahead goal not much after that. Edmonton came back to tie the game but then Bergeron shoved Andrew Ladd into Roloson, and essentially caused injury to his own player. Roloson is out for the series. He's done.

And then came Rod. Thank God for Rod. He started the scoring and finished it by stealing the puck and scoring on a wraparound that saw Ty Conklin (is that his name) on the wrong side of the net. 5-4 Canes with 30 seconds to go and that's how it ended.

It was an amazing comeback, and probably a devastating loss for the Oilers. I predicted Canes in 5 and I'll stand by that prediction because I think Edmonton will have enough to win a game at home but that's about it.

I really want to see the Canes hoist the cup - and I'd love it if they did it in front of the home crowd. Plus, not having a game 7 would save me $150, so it has to be game 5.

GO CANES!

The Devils Are Done - Bring On Buffalo!

2006-05-15T05:51:35-07:00

Well after being totally screwed by the referees early in the game, Carolina managed to fight through the first period in which they got 4 penalties to the devils NONE (trust me, they COMMITTED penalties) with a 1-1 tie. Then they also had to kill off another penalty to start the second period, after which the Canes must've just decided they weren't going to get ANY calls and just worked around that fact. They finally did get a power play opportunity and took a 2-1 lead, and that's all they needed (though they did end up getting a couple of third period goals including an empty netter to keep Staal's point streak (10) alive).
Two of the calls in the first period were BS calls... one was an interference call against Brindy who never touched anyone, and another was a tripping call where reply conclusively showed the guy tripping over the freaking NET - no Hurricane player touched him.

But even with the help of the obviously biased refs, the devils were sent to the golf courses.

Props to Laviolette for starting rookie Cam Ward again after pulling him just over 20 minutes into game 4. Ward gave up an early goal (it was a really good goal though!) but then really stood up during that first period in which he faced 11 shots. The remainder of the game - well, he had the best seat in the house to WATCH the game. The devils only put up 7 shots on goal the rest of the game I think.

Round 3 will feature Carolina vs. Buffalo in the east. Probably two of the most surprising teams in the eastern conference because they did the best job of predicting how the new NHL would look and what would be successful - both teams are fast skating and skilled with an up and down the ice quick flowing style that should lead to some pretty exciting hockey.

Unfortunately for the Canes, there's a lot of Buffalo fans in the area, so we'll probably have a few thousand opponents fans in the arena - which really (if you ask me) only makes the atmosphere better. Not that we need it during the playoffs, but hey, I kind of enjoy having a few of the opponents fans nearby.

BEEP BEEP

2006-05-12T07:26:12-07:00

Without FSN broadcasting the hockey games, I've sort of missed the Carolina Ford dealer commercials...

BEEP BEEP!

click the play button

Brass Bonanza

2006-05-11T12:09:51-07:00

The Carolina Hurricanes broke out a classic Monday evening in the early part of the pregame by playing "Brass Bonanza" (mp3) over the sound system.

Most of you know, of course, that the Carolina Hurricanes used to be the Hartford Whalers, and this was "their song". It still is, really, as I'd never heard it before at a game, although I knew of the song.

Some Whalers fans followed the franchise and continue to be fans of the Carolina Hurricanes. There are, apparently, some Whalers fans who are bitter about the team packing up and moving south. Oh well, you can't please everyone!

Anyway, I just wanted to share.

GO CANES!

Playoff Races Winding Down? NO WAY!

2006-04-17T07:58:54-07:00

the playoff race in the western conference is essentially over. The wings locked up the #1 seed qquite some time ago, while Dallas and Calgary have already locked up their divisions and the #2 and #3 seeds. The only thing in dispute is the order of the 6-7-8 seeds.

The eastern conference, on the other hand, is FAR more interesting. while Ottawa and Carolina have locked up their division, they're still battling for the #1 seed (Carolina has a 1 point lead, each team has one game remaining), the Atlantic division is in limbo with Jersey's 10 game run making it interesting!

The Rangers have the lead with 100 points, but Philly and Jersey are right behind them with 99 points each. All three teams have one game left. And they all play on Tuesday.

Philly gets the Islanders, the rangers get Ottawa (go rangers!), and new jersey gets Montreal.

Of course, there are still three teams battling for the final two seeds as well - Montreal, Tampa Bay, and Atlanta. Atlanta is 9th right now but has the advantage of having 2 games left.

Montreal, on the other hand, currently 7th, has the DISADVANTAGE of having fewer wins than Tampa Bay, since total wins is one of the tiebreakers.

If Montreal loses in regulation and Atlanta wins their remaining two games, Montreal will be out of the playoffs unless Tampa Bay loses its last game too.

Atlanta *HAS* to win both of it's final 2 games to get in *AND* hope for Montreal to lose to the Sens.

I'd love to see Tampa Bay knocked out of the playoffs.. several scenarious could cause that, both requiring two Atlanta wins and Tampa bay either losing in regulation or losing in OT.

All of these games are TUESDAY night. None of the games tonight have any real playoff implications except for the first of the two Atlanta games.

Naturally, I'm rooting for Atlanta tonight just to make it interesting!

Top seed is almost ours!

2006-04-17T07:08:04-07:00

Ottawa's recent stumbles combined with our slightly better play have put Carolina in a position to take the #1 seed in the eastern conference when we play our final game on Tuesday versus the Buffalo Sabres.

In fact, there are 9 different scenarios that could occur on Tuesday with Ottawa and Carolina, and 7 of them lead to a #1 seed for Carolina (thanks to this blogger for the full breakdown.

The two situations that would NOT garner a #1 seed for the canes:

Ottawa wins, AND
Carolina loses in regulation OR overtime

An Ottawa win and a Carolina OT loss would leave both teams with identical records, and the goal differential tiebreaker would give the #1 seed to Ottawa.

Other situations would give us the same # of points, but would give Carolina the #1 seed based on the total wins tiebreaker (ie, an Ottawa OT loss and a Carolina loss)

Let's just not even worry about it and just beat the Sabres Tuesday night!

GO CANES!

The Condor Returns!

2006-04-04T06:26:10-07:00

Box Score

Josef Vasicek returned to the Canes lineup last night after missing 59 games following reconstructive knee surgery, and he wasted no time getting into the action, getting 2 goals and 2 assists, earning him the NHLs first star. Welcome back, Big Joe!

I wish I could've been there last night! Lots of fights, and the team showed plenty of toughness - although Craig Adams got into a fight and really just embarassed himself. More power to him though. If you're willing to drop the gloves when you get your ass kicked every time, well I can respect that.

And although it took overtime to finally put away the Caps, the important part is that we got 2 points and kept pace with Ottawa, who still leads us by 3 points for the #1 seed in the eastern conference.

Game 2 of the three game mini series versus Washington will take place Wednesday night, followed by the third game on Friday - also at Washington. It's a strange season!

GO CANES!