Archive for January, 2008
Do It Again - Leafs at Canes
Can the Carolina Hurricanes do it again? They played a very good game on Tuesday night against the Rangers. They have won 3 out the past 4 games. But they need to keep their focus and intensity intact in order to keep the winning mojo going and that has been a [...]
Old Days - Penalties on Decline
Does it seem like the NHL is drifting back to the old days when prior to the lockout, hooking and holding penalty calls were few and far between? Your perception is correct. James Mirtle, with help from “Behind the Net” put together some interesting penalty stats in this recent report. If [...]
“Hammy” on Waivers
Sir Eklund is reporting that Jeff Hamilton has been put on the waiver wire this lunchtime. While I have ragged on Eklund in the past for having the nerve to post some of his crazy rumors, he’s been right more often than not when he reports waiver activity. This looks to [...]
Street Fightin’ Man - Hurricanes 3 Rangers 1
(previous game photo)
If New York Rangers coach Tom Renney was trying to send a message by sending Sean Avery out on the ice for the opening faceoff, Scott Walker wasn’t impressed. Walker and Avery started to mix things up before the drop of the puck and received matching roughing penalties before any time had [...]
Walking on a Thin Line - Canes Final Push for Playoffs Starts Tonight
The New York Rangers are in town to take on the Carolina Hurricanes for the first time since the New Yorkers bloodied and battered the Canes during the game in Madison Square Garden the day after Christmas. While many Caniacs would love to see some payback put on Colton Orr and Sean Avery for [...]
Can’t Get Enough - Hockey News Unhappy With Canes
I was reading an interesting article in the Hockey News at lunchtime today. It seems that senior sportswriter Ken Campbell is upset that he and other writers were cut-off in the dreassingroom last night while trying to ask questions of All-Star MVP Eric Staal. According to Campbell, the Hurricanes “Media Relations guy” told [...]
All Star - Eric Staal Named MVP in 2008 All-Star Classic
The accolades keep coming for young superstar Eric Staal. The East squad beat the West 8-7 in last night’s All-Star game in Atlanta and the Carolina Hurricanes center was named the Most Valuable Player of this year’s contest. Not only did Staal tie the score up at 1 early in the affair, [...]
Working for the Weekend - All-Star Tidbits and Links
Last night’s skills competition wasn’t the most exciting that I have ever seen, but it was pretty entertaining. Eric Staal certainly didn’t embarrass himself as he went 4 for 6 in the shot accuracy competition and hit the post on his shootout attempt. The Versus coverage was rather annoying the whole night [...]
The Blame Game - Why Are The Canes Losing ?
The Carolina Hurricanes started off the season with an 11-4-3 record, built up a double digit lead in the Southeast Division, and were once considered among the top teams in the NHL. But their record in the past 30 games has been an embarrassing 12-17-1 and their lead in the division has evaporated. [...]
Newsbriefs - Cole, Liles, and Rutherford
It’s a beautiful, sunny day in Raleigh today and even though the all-star break is in full swing here, there is still plenty of news to talk about. Carolina Hurricanes General Manager, Jim Rutherford has had two recent interviews with local sportstalk radio stations. JR basically repeated what he had mentioned in [...]
TV Dinners - Three More Years of Versus
It was announced the other day that Versus had picked up an option to broadcast NHL games for another 3 years. While this might be great for Versus, I still have my doubts whether or not this is good for the NHL in the long run. Is having league games televised on an [...]
Brief News for a Slow Afternoon
The aftershock of last night’s fiasco is starting to wear off and reality is setting in. Not only do the Hurricanes have the lowest rated penalty kill in the league, they now have allowed more short-handed goals than any other team in the league. Special teams are more important than ever in today’s [...]
Cut Across Shorty - Islanders 6 Hurricanes 3
The Carolina Hurricanes figured out yet another way to lose as they gave up 3 short-handed goals and fell to the New York Islanders last night, 6-3. You read that correctly, 3 short-handed goals. The Canes certainly tested the old saying that if you give up a “shortie”, you deserve to lose.
Other than [...]
Islanders at Hurricanes - Quickie Pre-Game Ponderings
The Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders are both ready to go at it again, this time at the RBC tonight at 7. So far, the road team has been the victor in each game this series. I have no official word who will be in net tonight, so I’m not [...]
Afternoon Delight - Hurricanes 3 Islanders 2, (OT)
I was able to get away for a couple of hours this afternoon and watched a pretty decent hockey game. The Carolina Hurricanes outlasted the New York Islanders 3 -2, in a tightly defended contest which wasn’t decided until overtime. That makes 2 wins in a row for the Canes and 4 home [...]
Hurricanes at Islanders - Pre Game Ponderings
Happy Martin Luther King Day to all those celebrating! In recognition of the day, the Hurricanes and Islanders will be playing their game starting at 2PM, at the Nassau Coliseum.
General Colin Powell will be on the ice and dropping the puck during a special opening ceremony with Islanders owner Charles Wang and both team [...]
Sunday Musings - John Grahame on re-entry Waivers
After taking the day off and having a rare Saturday night without a game to play, the Carolina Hurricanes were back on the ice for practice this morning. But according to Lord Stanley’s Blog, Erik Cole took a nasty tumble and had to be helped from the ice. Cole, who has had a [...]
The World Needs Guts - Hurricanes 7 Oilers 2
(AP photo)
Tonight the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 7-2 in a game that seemed to relieve about a month of frustration for the team and it’s fans. Rod Brind’Amour was quoted before the game as saying that this was “gut check time”. The team couldn’t have answered the call any better.
Brind’Amour [...]
Oilers at Hurricanes, Pregame Thoughts
Edmonton and Carolina go at it tonight at the RBC. The Oilers defeated the Canes 3-1 last year in Alberta, but this will be the first time since game 7 of the 2006 finals that the teams square off again in Raleigh.
That seems so very, very long ago.
The Hurricanes have lost 4 in [...]
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Senators 5, Hurricanes 1
The game smelled like something all right last night, but it sure wasn’t teen spirit. The Senators dominated the Hurricanes all game long, right from the opening face off. There’s nothing much to analyze. There’s not much else to report. About 4-5 players in white showed up to play last night, [...]
Reunited - Hurricanes at Senators Pregame Thoughts
The Adams Family is reunited! No, Kevyn Adams is not coming back to Raleigh. Craig Adams was traded to Chicago earlier today for a conditional pick in the 2009 Entry Draft.
It looks like Adams is being made scapegoat number 1 for the worst rated penalty kill in the league and apparent general apathy [...]
Shake It Up
For those of us who checked the various hockey news sources on and off all day yesterday looking for possible trade news, shame on us. There was no major trade. There was no minor trade. There wasn’t even any waiver wire action. Someone’s itchy trigger finger must have gotten relief in [...]
Bottoming Out - Maple Leafs 5 Hurricanes 4
Reaching their lowest point so far this season, the Carolina Hurricanes lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, 5-4. Not only did the Canes lose to another team riding a long losing streak, they finally relinquished their lead in the Southeast Division.
The Atlanta Thrashers easily beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-1, tying Carolina [...]
Lunch with the Leafs….and Canes
It’s been confirmed that tonight’s starting goaltenders will be Vesa Toskala and Michael Leighton. It looks like coach Laviolette and I are on the same page there.
Where we are not on the same page is regarding Keith Aucoin. The dude has scored 2 goals and has a nice assist in the past 2 games, [...]
Symptom of the Universe - Carolina at Toronto, Pregame Thoughts
The Carolina Hurricanes are in the center of the hockey universe to take on the reeling Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at the ACC. The Leafs are currently in crisis mode and have only won 2 out of their past 13 games. Rumors are running rampant that everyone’s neck is on the line, [...]
Battle of the Badges - Blueliners 7, Leatherheads 5
The Raleigh Police Department hockey team, (the Blueliners) defeated the Raleigh Durham Area Firefighters, (the Leatherheads) 7-5 last night in an exciting, back and forth hockey game for charity at the RBC. Last year during the first event between these groups, the Leatherheads won by the exact same score.
The charities were The 200 Club [...]
The New Style - Avs 5, Hurricanes 4
Last night the Carolina Hurricanes figured out a new way to lose a hockey game. Well technically, they lost because of familiar reasons. They had consistently poor, loose defensive play in their own zone and it ended up killing them. But at least they did it after scoring an elusive first [...]
Turn the Page, Canes - Avs Pregame Thoughts
The Colorado Avalanche will take on the Carolina Hurricanes tonight at the RBC at 7. Both teams are looking for a change in fortune as the Avs have lost 6 of their past 7 games and the Hurricanes have been a work in progress on home ice for the past month while losing [...]
Eric Staal Named to All Star Team
Carolina Hurricanes center Eric Staal was named to the 2008 All Star team earlier today. Staal has played extremely well the past few weeks for the Canes and certainly deserves the honor. He’ll be the only representative from Carolina this year. Congratulations Eric!
Will Staal ever be in line for a huge contract [...]
Don’t Stand So Close To Me - Devils 4, Hurricanes 1
I seem to have tunes by the Police in my head lately and while “Syncronicity” seemed appropriate for the previous 2 games, this title fits the Hurricanes better right now. Most of you have probably seen the reports that several of the Canes are ill with some type of bug. The healthy [...]
Synchronicity - Devils at Hurricanes, Preview
The Hurricanes defense has certainly looked in synch the past two games. What happened to the bunch of slow-footed dudes that had more goals scored against them than just about anyone else in the NHL? Not only have they allowed just one goal in the past 2 games, but they have also [...]
Rumours in the Air - Teams Scramble to Squash Rumor Mongers
I have gone on record before here as standing up for the Hockeybuzz.com website. Matt Karash, the Hurricanes correspondent at the site has a keen hockey mind, is as straight as an arrow, and has never, ever thrown out misleading information or rumors. Several of the other writers on the site are excellent, [...]
Don’t Look Back - Hurricanes 1, Bruins 0
The Carolina Hurricanes competed in another 1-0 game, but this time ended up on the winning side. Cam Ward out-dueled Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas and with the help of a very stingy defense, shut out the home team. Eric Staal netted the lone goal, and almost had 2 more. Staal has [...]
Aftershock - Canes acquire Sergei Samsonov
Pardon me while I pick myself up off the floor here. In a move that I don’t think anyone outside of the organization saw coming, the Carolina Hurricanes picked up Sergei Samsonov on re-entry waivers today. While I was reading a general notice last night about Samsonov clearing waivers and being put on [...]
When a Concussion is not a Concussion
Has anyone checked the league’s official injury report lately and read what is says about Matt Cullen’s current status? He is still listed as having an “illness”. While teams in the NHL have always been secretive regarding players and their specific ailments, this isn’t exactly the same as calling a routine sprained toe, [...]
Wind of Change - Time for an Enforcer?
Luke DeCock is reporting that Carolina Trade Winds are swirling. That’s a coincidence, because I was going to post an article tonight about some of the crazy trade rumors being bantered about the internet. Before we look at the ridiculous and explain why it is ridiculous, let’s examine Luke’s teaser first.
The beat reporter [...]
I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues - Blues 1, Hurricanes 0
The Hurricanes lost a tough game Saturday night, 1-0 to the St. Louis Blues. The Blues goalie, Manny Legace was rock solid in net, plus the St. Louis defenders played a very tight game, hardly allowing any uncontested shots at their netminder. The Canes came out full of jump and played one of [...]
Don’t Stop Believin’ - Hurricanes 4, Thrashers 3
After a slow start, (okay, would you believe a very slow start), the Carolina Hurricanes held on, then revved themselves up to beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 4-3. Atlanta’s Mark Recchi scored just 32 seconds into the contest and it was like deja vu, all over again for Caniacs. Welcome to your new [...]
Road Rats - Hurricanes at Thrashers Preview
The Carolina River Rats are in Atlanta to take on the Thrashers tonight, in a rematch of Wednesday night’s overtime “thrilla in vanilla”. Newbie, Michael Leighton will get the nod, as the Canes start right off by seeing what the recently recalled goalie can do. You better bring your scorecard to the coffee [...]
Winter Classic in Raleigh?
The other morning I was listening to “The Fanatics” on 99.9 The Fan with Mike Maniscalco and Dan Mason, and they were actually discussing the idea of having a “Winter Classic” in Raleigh. For those of you who may have been traveling in Europe during the New Year and have no idea what I’m [...]
