Canes Country

Canes, Sabres Take Different Paths

Two cities. Two franchises. Two strategies. Two similar destinations.
Back in the 2005-06, the Carolina Hurricanes and Buffalo Sabres were two of the best teams in the NHL, compiling 112 and 110 points, respectively, en route to the Eastern Conference finals.
Both teams were, first and foremost, built for speed.
The Sabres were led by dipsy-doodling Russian Maxim [...]

The Return of Canes Country Points - Devils at Canes

Time for another chance to win free tickets. Once again these are club level seats up for grabs, this time in Section 201, row C for the game on January 29th against Tampa Bay.
If you participated before, your old points will count toward this contest as well. But to keep interest going for [...]

Ward Named NHL’s Third Star

Cam Ward’s coaches, teammates and fans aren’t the only ones who have noticed the goaltender’s stellar play. The NHL announced Ward was the league’s third star for last week after going 3-0 with a 1.33 goals-against average and .944 save percentage. Columbus’ Rick Nash (two goals and seven assists in four games) took top honors, [...]

Loose Pucks - Crosby Ignores “The Code”

As we take a quick look around the hockey world, there were a couple of interesting hockey “fights” this weekend. First of all, Sid Crosby picked up an instigator penalty as well as an unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10 minute major misconduct for mixing it up with Brett McLean during the Pens loss to [...]

Canes Recover to Take Lightning, 3-2

After a slow start, Carolina woke up mid-way through the first period and took over the hockey game last night in Tampa. The Lightning came out with major jump, controlled play in the Hurricanes zone, and took the lead just five minutes into the game on a rebound chance by Ryan Craig.
About a [...]

Dwyer Recalled - Canes at Lightning Preview

The Hurricanes are in Florida for an abbreviated road trip and will take on the Lightning tonight at 7:30. Patrick Eaves did not make the trip because of his upper body concern, but the Canes called up Patrick Dwyer from Albany to take his spot. Coach Paul Maurice said that he believed the [...]

Ward Shines as Canes tip Blues, 2-1

Cam Ward made 30 saves on 31 shots as the Carolina Hurricanes were able to fend off a furious third period St. Louis rally, and held on to beat the Blues 2-1 last night at the RBC. A couple of his saves were spectacular as the visitors out-shot the home team by a [...]

It Don’t Come Easy - Blues at Canes Preview

Coach Paul Maurice is hopeful that the upcoming schedule will help increase Carolina’s chances to better their mediocre record over the past month. The majority of games played in December were against future playoff teams, while the majority of the opponents in January have losing records. Don’t be thinking that these “weak [...]

Boychuk Dodges A Bullet

I know I held my breath when Team USA d-man Teddy Ruth flattened Zach Boychuk during Thursday’s Group A tilt between Canada and the Americans at the World Juniors in Ottawa. Boychuk was slow to get up and gimped to the bench, and while I was rooting for the U.S. and glad to see the [...]

Hurricanes/Canes Country Year in Review

If you look back at 2008, it was not the best of years for the Carolina Hurricanes. Let’s take a glance at some of the year’s highlights and lowlights, as well as a few notable events that happened on the blog.

1/7/08 - We discuss Luke DeCock’s article about the team’s search for a “depth forward”, [...]

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of our readers from everyone at Canes Country.  We have had a year of tremendous growth and hopefully the coming year will be no different.  Look for more contests, more ticket giveaways, and perhaps another facelift to the blog itself in the days and weeks ahead.
Now is a good time [...]

Carolina in Control - Canes 3 Thrashers 1

The Carolina Hurricanes were in control most of the game as they defeated the Atlanta Thrashers 3-1 last night, on New Year’s Eve.
About half way through the first period, the Thrashers took a 1-0 lead on a powerplay goal by Ilya Kovalchuk. The Russian superstar had been suffering though a career worst scoring slump, [...]

New Year’s Eve Showdown - Thrashers at Canes Preview

The Atlanta Thrashers will take on the Hurricanes tonight in the traditional New Year’s Eve “Classic”. This will be the seventh time the franchise has played on New Year’s Eve. They have a record of 2-4 in the previous holiday contests, including a loss to the New York Islanders last year.
Atlanta is coming [...]

Kaberle Clears Waivers, Now What?

Some of you might be wondering about this waiver business. What does it all mean? What happens next? It can get a bit complicated because some of the rules are predicated upon a variety of issues, including how many games a player has played in the league. In Frank Kaberle’s [...]

LaCouture Picks Russia; Boychuk Leads Canada

Dan LaCouture’s back-and-forth flirtation with the Kontinental Hockey League is over, with the veteran forward deciding to leave the Albany River Rats and head to Russia. There are comments here from Albany GM/coach Jeff Daniels courtesy the Schenectady Daily Gazette, and also Jim Rutherford’s take at LSB (soon to be Canes Now).
Pete Dougherty at the [...]

BOGO Offer For N.J. Game Jan. 6

The Hurricanes will offer Buy One, Get One Free vouchers for fans donating winter clothing to the team’s Dec. 29 to Jan. 6 clothing drive. A donation will also get your name in a drawing for a chance to meet players following the game and a shot at some nice prizes. Here’s more info.
A couple [...]

Kaberle Waived

TSN.ca is reporting in their Ice Chips section that Frank Kaberle has been placed on waivers by the Hurricanes. Kaberle could be claimed by any team at full salary (the balance of this season’s $2.2 million payday plus a full year at that pay for next year). If Kaberle clears waivers, the team has the option [...]

Bruins Top Canes Again, 4-2

It was an eerily similar outcome to the previous matchup between the Bruins and Canes, with Carolina holding their own against the East’s best team for the majority of the game only to allow the go-ahead goal in the third period and come out on the wrong end of a 4-2 decision.
The Canes got goals [...]

Bruins at Canes - Game Preview

My apologies for the brief preview:
Cam Ward will start again tonight.
Dennis Seidenberg should return, which means that Wade Brookbank will most likely return to the pressbox.
Ray Whitney has points in five consecutive games.
The Canes have won three in a row at home and are 5-2-3 in their last 10 games. The Bruins have won [...]

Staal Scores Three in Third Period, Canes 5 Thrashers 4

Eric Staal scored three goals in the third period in a time span of less than five minutes, and the Carolina Hurricanes outscored the Atlanta Thrashers, 5-4 in a struggle on Friday night. Staal was in a zone as his last two goals were unassisted. He beat goalie Johan Hedberg every which way [...]

Canes at Thrashers - Game Preview

The Hurricanes flew to Atlanta this morning to take on the Thrashers in the first game of a back-to-back sequence which will see the team return to Raleigh for a matchup against the mighty Bruins tomorrow night.
Carolina has lost twice to the woeful Thrashers and will be looking for their first win of the season [...]

World Juniors Start Today

The World Junior Championships get underway today in Ottawa, Canada. You can keep an eye on some of Carolina’s prospects as Drayson Bowman from Team USA will be facing Team Germany starting at 3:30 while Zach Boychuk and Team Canada will be playing Michal Jordan and the Czech Republic tonight at 7:30. The [...]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

They say that rust never sleeps and neither does this blog, but we will be taking some time off over the next day or so to celebrate the holiday and spend time with our families. Let me take this opportunity to wish those of our readers, contributors, and visitors who celebrate, a very Merry [...]

Special Teams Implode - Wild 3 Canes 2

The Carolina Hurricanes played what could be considered a good game in St. Paul last night, but their failure to capitalize when they had their chances and a few untimely mistakes ended up costing them yet another victory as they lost to the Minnesota Wild by a score of 3-2.
As Ron Francis eloquently and accurately [...]

Wild Night: Hurricanes Visit Minnesota — UPDATED

Carolina heads to Minnesota for the third game of a four-game road trip, hoping to start Christmas early with a second straight win.
The Canes are coming off a solid 3-2 victory in Montreal Sunday and will play the Wild for the lone time this season. The Canes are currently tied with Buffalo for the final [...]

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics - Volume 1

There has been some recent chatter floating around the hockey blogosphere concerning a set of convoluted stats called the “PythagenPuck Analysis”. The Forechecker plugged in some year-to-date numbers and used the formulas provided in a “Win Probability” model given by a Hockey Analysis guideline put out by Hockey Analytics.com, and determined that the [...]

Katherine Fritsch on UNC-TV Tonight

Carolina Hurricanes anthem singer, Katherine Fritsch will be on UNC-TV tonight, December 22nd at 7:30 PM, as the “NC Now” show will be airing a story about the young performer.
“KK” has been singing the anthem for the Hurricanes for over two years and most recently has been asked to sing on occasion for the Carolina [...]

Guest Commentary: Christmas Naughty And Nice

Note: Adam is a Canes Country reader and avid hockey fan — I don’t think there’s anyone I know who watches more hockey and knows all the players around the NHL as well as him. He gave us some observations on the NHL heading into the brief Christmas break. — Cory
As we approach the halfway [...]

Playoff Atmosphere: Canes Close Out Season Series With OT Win

Montreal’s Carey Price shook off some early rust and made several key stops late for the Canadiens. At the other end of the ice, Carolina’s Cam Ward had no problem matching his counterpoint down the stretch. In the end, it took overtime to decide the winner, and it was Ward who prevailed against a team [...]

Canes Travel To Bell Center

The Hurricanes and Canadiens close out their regular season series today when they meet in Montreal. The Canes have gotten the best of Montreal this season, collecting five points in the previous three games, including winning the past two outings. 
All three games have been one-goal affairs, including Carolina’s 3-2 win Tuesday that saw the Habs [...]

Bruins Wear Down Canes; LaCouture Staying

For two periods, the Carolina Hurricanes held their own against the Eastern Conference’s best team. But an early third-period goal gave the Bruins a lead they would not relinquish, giving the Canes their first regulation loss in six games and Boston their 13th straight home win, 4-2.
Boston scored twice in the third period — once [...]

Beantown Brawl: Canes Face Bruins

The Hurricanes start a four-game road trip Saturday afternoon in Boston, meeting the Eastern Conference’s top team for the first time this season.
Carolina is coming off a 2-1 overtime victory vs. division rival Florida Thursday, giving them two consecutive wins and points in six straight (3-0-3). The recent run has put the Canes back into [...]

Corvo Works Magic - Canes 2 Panthers 1, OT

The Carolina Hurricanes came out in the first period skating hard and never looked back as they defeated the Florida Panthers, 2-1 in overtime last night at the RBC. Not only did the Canes outshoot the Panthers in each and every period, but they held the advantage in time of possession and scoring chances [...]

Babchuk Activated - Could Play Tonight

The Carolina Hurricanes just activated Anton Babchuk from the injured reserve list. The defenseman could be called upon to play tonight against Florida. This news from the Hurricanes presser-

RALEIGH, NC—Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, announced today that the team has activated defenseman Anton Babchuk [...]

Florida at Carolina - Game Preamble

The Florida Panthers are in Raleigh to battle the Hurricanes for second place in the Southeast Division tonight at the RBC. While the Hurricanes currently have 33 points and the Panthers have 31, if Florida is victorious they would have more total wins and would move into second place. (They would also [...]

LaCouture Jumping To KHL?

It sounds like the Canes have lost another depth player to the Kontinental Hockey League.
Dan LaCouture, who was invited to training camp and earned a contract with his play in the preseason, is leaving Carolina’s AHL affiliate in Albany to play in the KHL, according to TSN.
If the 31-year-old journeyman has indeed left for Russia, [...]

Tidbits — Dec. 17

Some statistical odds and ends through 31 games:
• Plenty have been critical of Eric Staal this season, but his recent spike in production has his numbers looking pretty solid:

His 13 goals are tied for 21st in the league with, among others, Sidney Crosby. He only has nine assists, for a total of 22 points.
His plus-12 leads [...]

Kaberle Off IR, Conboy Reassigned

Frank Kaberle will be back in the lineup tomorrow. He was activated from injured reserve today. To make room, Carolina assigned defenseman Tim Conboy to Albany (AHL).
Kaberle has battled injuries this season, playing in just seven games with two lengthy stints on the shelf. When he has played, however, he has looked better than the [...]

Plenty of Practice for Powerplay - Canes 3 Habs 2

In a somewhat bizarre game where 11 penalties were called against the Habs in just the first two periods, Carolina took advantage of the practice time and scored three goals while on the powerplay and defeated Montreal, 3-2.
Eric Staal scored the first two goals of the game, both in the opening period. The first [...]

Montreal at Carolina - Game Preview

The Canadiens visit Raleigh for the last time this regular season as the Habs and Canes tangle at the RBC tonight. Both teams have been struggling with injuries, and both teams powerplays have been pitiful or “nonexistent”, as Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau stated.
Montreal has actually dropped below Carolina and is currently ranked 29th [...]