Breakdown—Update

The latest from LSB is that Nic Wallin will play tonight, but Bret Hedican is questionable because of a sore knee. Hedican will be a game time decision.

During my daily lunchtime scan of hockey news, I see nothing but stories about Carolina “diving” from the southern Florida press. As a matter of fact, Brian Biggane of the Palm Beach Post, the same writer who just 2 days ago wrote about how “Florida wilts at the end of games”, today is reporting in his blog about his fond memories of how “Eddie the Eagle” had a meltdown last year on April 1st after the Canes drew a penalty in OT, which everyone claimed was a dive. He goes on to mention that the Canes are among the league leaders drawing penalties, (70), while the Panthers have only drawn 58. I suppose that Mr. Biggane is insinuatng that although Florida chokes at the end of many games, the only reason they lose to Carolina is because the Hurricanes dive? It’s absurd.

Here’s a newsflash to Mr. Biggane and the rest of the misguided Florida press. The Canes are among the league leaders in powerplay minutes because they are one of the fastest and most skilled teams in the NHL. Slower players try to keep up with faster players by using their hands and their sticks, which is illegal. If the Panthers really want the Canes to stop “diving” then they should keep both hands on their sticks and keep their sticks on the ice. Problem solved! But will that happen? Of course not, because other than Jay Bouwmeester, the only way the rest of the Florida hacks know how to play defense is by hooking, clutching, and grabbing. They aren’t perennial losers and falter at the end of most games by accident! By the way, is it just me or is it a bit embarrassing watching a bunch of grown hockey players whining and crying after they lose games while complaining that the other team dives? Grow up!

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, the Canes have put up a nice gallery of pictures of the fathers and sons who participated in the “Dad’s Weekend” recently. There are some great shots there! It’s certainly a popular tradition that Peter Laviolette brought here to Carolina and hopefully they will keep doing it for a long time.