Archive for April, 2008
Lay Your Hands On Me - Next Season Karmanos to be More Involved
In a recent report written by beat writer Luke DeCock, the sometimes “absentee” owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, Mr. Peter Karmanos has promised to be more active in the running of his NHL franchise this coming year. Karmanos is reportedly taking a lesser role at Compuware, his number one business interest and will [...]
Rats Join Canes on Golf Course
The Albany River Rats ended their season with a 2-0 loss against the Philadelphia Phantoms last night in the final game of their round one, playoff series. As previously mentioned, goalie, Michael Leighton was the hero of the series for the Rats, but he wasn’t quite good enough. Congratulations to Coach Tom [...]
Leighton and Rats in Game 7 Tonight
The Albany River Rats and the Philadelphia Phantoms finish their best of 7 series tonight in Philadelphia with the series all tied up at 3 games apiece.
Rats goalie Michael Leighton has been nothing short of spectacular in this showdown. Not only does he have 2 shutouts against the Phantoms so far in this playoffs, [...]
These Eyes - A Quick Look Around the League
Team Russia beat Team Canada 4-1 on Monday night in another WHC exhibition game in Quebec. Canada’s coach, Ken Hitchcock called the game a “wake up call” for the Canadians. Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Sergei Fedorov, and Alex Radulov didn’t even play in the game. They are physically ready to play, [...]
Good Start - USA over Sweden 5-1 in Exhibition
Team USA beat Team Sweden on Sunday night by a score of 5-1 in the opening, pre-tournament WHC game for both teams. Craig Anderson and Robert Esche split time in net, with Anderson stopping all 14 of the shots he faced while Esche stopped 6 of 7 shots.
The Americans have a pretty young [...]
No Surprises - Canada Wins Exhibition over Finland 3-2
Martin St. Louis scored 2 goals and Jason Chimera scored one as Team Canada defeated Team Finland by a score of 3-2 in a WHC pre-tournament game in Quebec City on Sunday. Cam Ward played 30 minutes and allowed just one goal.
Tuomo Ruutu and Ville Peltonen had the goals for Finland. For [...]
Upgrades, Failures, and Backups….. Ouch
For those of you who couldn’t access the blog late Friday night and this morning, I apologize. I attempted what should have been a simple upgrade, but the whole site crashed. I had to restore everything from a backup late Saturday morning. (Thank goodness for backups).
In the meantime, for some reason the [...]
Record Setting Night in Albany
Game five in the series between the Albany River Rats and Philadelphia Phantoms was one for the record books. First of all, it was the longest game in AHL history as it lasted 5 overtimes! Secondly, Rats goalie Michael Leighton made a record, 98 saves! Yes, 98…that is not a typo.
Unfortunately [...]
Emotional Rescue - Rutherford Still Undecided on Coach
During the first week of April after the Carolina Hurricanes were eliminated from the playoffs, General Manager Jim Rutherford had a press conference in which he indicated that he was not going to meet with Hurricanes Coach, Peter Laviolette until after “emotions had settled down”, because he didn’t want to do anything rash without giving [...]
Lonely People - Where Have All The Rats Fans Gone?
During my daily search and perusal of Hurricanes related stories, I came across this interesting article about the Albany River Rats and their attendance issues. According to the author, the Rats have only averaged a total of 1,873 fans for each home game so far this playoff season.
Are you kidding me?
The next time I [...]
Second Helping - The Playoffs Continue
The second round of the playoffs is starting tomorrow night and it’s time to take a look at the matchups. But first, let’s see how Bubba’s picks turned out for the first round.
In the East, I picked the Habs, Pens, Rangers, and Caps. In the West, my picks were the Wings, Sharks, [...]
Back For More - Who Will Be in Goal Next Year?
Following up with our end of year “Back For More” feature, we will now look at the goalie position. We have already reviewed the defense, and within the next couple of days we will review the much more unpredictable and volatile forward situation.
The deal with the goalies is pretty much cut and dry, in [...]
Heartache Tonight - Flyers top Caps in OT
My condolences to Washington Capitals fans. That had to sting, losing in overtime of a game 7 at home. But the Caps had a great 2nd half of the season and it must have been enjoyable to watch the fever take hold of the Capital City.
It will be interesting to see what [...]
It Don’t Come Easy - Ducks Fail to Repeat
Think it’s doable to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions? Think again. The Dallas Stars knocked out the defending champion Anaheim Ducks in their 1st round match up over the weekend. But the Ducks are far from being alone in their failure to defend their championship.
Let’s take a look at how [...]
Shakedown - Brodeur and Avery Epitome of Class - NOT
The New York Rangers eliminated the New Jersey Devils on Friday night and something different happened during the traditional hand-shake ceremony. Martin Brodeur refused to shake Sean Avery’s hand and passed him by, while shaking everyone else’s hand. Pretty funny stuff.
Avery wasn’t amused though and called out Brodeur in the press afterwards. [...]
Rats Win, Sens Lose, and Preds Have Hope….
I haven’t posted much about the playoffs because quite frankly, it’s been difficult for me to get too hyped up about them yet. There are several interesting matchups though, and the action is heating up, (as well as winding down), in some of the series.
First of all, the Carolina affiliate Albany River Rats won [...]
Stay - Samsonov Re-ups For 3 Years
One player who undoubtedly will be returning next year for the Carolina Hurricanes is Sergei Samsonov. Carolina General Manager, Jim Rutherford wasted no time in re-signing the talented and skilled Russian winger who scored 32 points in 38 games after he was picked up off waivers by the Canes about half way through [...]
Back For More - Who Returns on Defense Next Year?
It’s going to be a long off-season, but it’s never too early to start discussing what the Carolina Hurricanes will look like next year. One area where most fans would like to see some change is on the blueline. The aging Carolina defense seemed slow to react and was porous at times, [...]
American Woman - USA Ladies Win Gold
(photo from USA Hockey)
The USA women’s hockey team beat Team Canada by a score of 4-3, to earn the gold medal in the IIHF World Championships in China on Saturday. The American women finished the tournament at 4-0-1 and also beat Canada 4-2, on Thursday to qualify for the championship game.
Can anyone remember the [...]
Judgement Day - Carolina GM Continues Deliberation
The talk of the town is still about the status of Carolina Hurricanes head coach, Peter Laviolette and whether or not he will be fired. General Manager Jim Rutherford has said on more than one occasion during recent press conferences, that he is holding off on meeting with the coach because he is [...]
Good Lovin’ Gone Bad - Laviolette on Hot Seat
The Carolina Hurricanes are back in the news, but certainly not in the way that fans would like them to be. General Manager Jim Rutherford is telling anyone who will listen that he is far from happy with his 2006 Stanley Cup winning coach, Peter Laviolette.
The rumor mill has picked up on the GM’s [...]
More on Rutherford
Let me start out by repeating that I am not in favor of losing or firing Jim Rutherford. I just think that since he is the man at the top, and since the Canes haven’t made the playoffs in 4 out of the past 5 years, he should be called out first.
In this recent [...]
Who’ll Stop the Rain - Jim Rutherford?
The Carolina Hurricanes failed to make the playoffs by a whisker this year and it’s time to start analyzing, evaluating, dissecting, and scrutinizing. While Jim Rutherford was quoted as saying that he wanted to wait until emotions were settled before he had his year-end review with coach Peter Laviolette, I would prefer to start [...]
Take it on the Run
It’s playoff time and everyone needs to make their picks! You can take my choices anyway you want to though because I offer no guarantees. With the parity in the league, these playoffs could and should be the closest and most exciting ever. Don’t look for a Stanley [...]
Southeast to Get Better
News briefs……
Tampa Bay will get the number one pick in this summer’s draft while Atlanta drafts in the 3rd position. The Hurricanes stayed at 14th.
It looks like Cam Ward and Eric Staal will play for team Canada in the world championships next month. Other Carolina players might participate as well. I’ll keep [...]
Movin’ on Up- Draft Lottery on Versus at 8
Will the Hurricanes improve their draft position tonight? They currently stand with the 14th pick, but they have a slight chance to improve that position to as high as 10th. Even if they win the lottery, teams can only move up a maximum of 4 spots from their current position. Here is [...]
Waiting - Michael Leighton on His Way?
A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from my friends at Eyecandyair informing me that they recently had the pleasure of airbrushing a new mask for River Rats goalie, Michael Leighton. Strange thing about this mask though. There isn’t much, if anything about Albany on it.
Since this is a relatively new [...]
Have a Cigar…
I would like to offer congratulations to the Washington Capitals for capturing the Southeast Division crown this year. Even though the Hurricanes beat them heads up with a record of 4-3-1, the Caps won the games that they needed to win down the stretch and certainly deserved the title.
If Bruce Boudreau doesn’t win the [...]
A Momentary Lapse of Reason - Panthers 4 Hurricanes 3
Hell officially froze over Friday night as the Hurricanes somehow blew their one time huge division lead and the Florida Panthers beat them 4-3. There are no excuses. The team had 9 powerplay opportunities to none for Florida, including two 5 on 3’s. They outshot the kittykats 46-17 and still couldn’t beat [...]
Take It To The Limit - Panthers at Hurricanes Pre-Game
It could very well be all or nothing for the Carolina Hurricanes tonight as the Florida Panthers invade the RBC Center with party crashing on their minds. Since the Washington Capitals beat Tampa Bay as expected last night, a win is necessary if the Canes want to be assured of the Division title. [...]
Whole Lotta’ Rosie - Hurricanes 6 Lightning 2
Chad LaRose scored his first NHL career hat-trick and the Carolina Hurricanes dominated the Tampa Bay Lightning last night, 6-2. The win puts Carolina on the threshold of the Division championship as they just need one more win (or Washington loss), to lock things up.
The Canes started this game much differently than the [...]
No More, No More - Lightning at Hurricanes Pre-Game
Momentum is a fragile thing in sports. One game you have it and nothing can go wrong, then the next game it seems like the complete opposite is true. After 6 weeks of being one of the hottest teams in the NHL and riding plenty of momentum, presently the Canes have been on [...]
Bad to the Bone - Capitals 4 Hurricanes 1
NHL “official” Brad Watson falls within at least one of these three criteria.
He simply hates Carolina because of some unknown reason.
He’s just an incredibly bad referee.
He makes calls based upon taking orders from the league office, rather than how he actually sees a game.
This is a referee who not only made numerous questionable calls against [...]
Pressure - Hurricanes at Capitals Pre-Game
The Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals meet tonight at the Verizon Center for the most important game of the season for both clubs. The Canes lead the Southeast Division by a meager 2 points, but could clinch the division title with a win in regulation. The Caps desperately need a win to keep [...]
