Archive for May, 2008
Shake Your Moneymaker - Canadian Teams Make the Cash
There has been a lot of talk around the hockey blogosphere recently about this article put out by Toronto Star reporter, Rick Westhead, who somehow got his hands on a top secret NHL report which shows how much ticket revenue each team earned. If you believe this report, the 6 teams based in Canada [...]
Wasted - Blake Wheeler Says No to Gretzky
In a somewhat unusual move, 2004 draft pick Blake Wheeler, (5th overall), refused to sign an entry level contract with the Phoenix Coyotes and will be an unrestricted free agent come July 1st. The club had 4 years to sign the right-winger, but will lose rights to the player if the two parties can’t [...]
Getting Closer - Pens Try to Make it a Series
The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 3-2 on Wednesday night, as they attempted to pull themselves back into a series that Detroit once had a stranglehold on. Sidney Crosby finally lived up to the hype and scored two goals for the home team.
The victory pulls the Pens [...]
Deep in the Hole - No Goals for Pens
Second verse, same as the first. On Monday night, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in game two of the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals by a score of 3-0. The Penguins continued to have trouble getting shots through to goalie Chris Osgood, and when they did, Osgood was equal to [...]
Heard it on the X - Quick Hit News
To keep current on Hurricanes related news…..
Drayson Bowman and the Spokane Chiefs won the Memorial Cup on Sunday. They beat Kitchener 4-1 and Bowman scored the game-winner. The young Canes prospect led the tournament with 6 goals scored.
The MVP of the tournament though was goalie Dustin Tokarski, who had 53 saves in the [...]
Got Me Under Pressure - Pens Need Game 2
The Stanley Cup Finals resume tonight, and the Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves in a precarious “must win” situation. If they lose again, the Red Wings will just need to win one of the upcoming two games in Pittsburgh to be able to close things out back in Detroit in game 5.
The Pens will be [...]
I Thank You
(photo from digital-images.net)
Happy Memorial Day.
Too Much - “Lord Sidney” Cup Finals Start Tonight
Time for another “Bubba rant”.
Am I the only person alive who feels this way, or are other hockey fans getting sick and tired of the never-ending lovefest for Sidney Crosby? “Sid the Kid” this and “Crosby” that, it’s practically all you get to read about.
The hype started way back before the youngster was even drafted. [...]
Point of Know Return - Botta Back to Blogging
A couple of weeks ago, I posted an article about the surprise resignation of Chris Botta, the New York Islanders PR guy and creator of the infamous “NY Islanders Blog Box“.
Botta, affectionately dubbed “The Blogfather” by Islanders bloggers, used to post articles regularly on his own blog named “NY Islanders, Point Blank“. [...]
Time in a Bottle - “New” Head Coach in Colorado
You say Tomato, I say Granato…. Let’s call the whole thing off. (sorry, couldn’t help myself)
In a move that took everyone by surprise, the Colorado Avs signed assistant coach and ex-head coach, Tony Granato as their (new) head coach for next season. Granato had a very good record when he was head [...]
Higher Ground - Canes Sign Some Prospects
While the Caniac Nation is patiently waiting for word about the re-signing of restricted free agents Tim Gleason, Tuomo Ruutu, Chad LaRose, and Patrick Eaves, Carolina General Manager Jim Rutherford and his assistant, Ron Francis have locked up a couple of prospects and a role player.
Yesterday, they signed 2006 draft pick Harrison Reed to a [...]
Small Town - No Banners in Pittsburgh
Remember back in 2006 when the Hurricanes tried to put jerseys on a few statues downtown and some people got upset? One lame-brain went so far as to slash a couple of jerseys apart with a utility knife, before he was told to stop by the police. The remaining jerseys were taken down [...]
Bowman Scores, Ward Stays in Beantown, and Yahoo Goes Blogging
Drayson Bowman did it again. Last night, the Spokane Chiefs beat the Gatineau Olympiques by a score of 3 to 1 in Memorial Cup play, and leading scorer Drayson Bowman lit the lamp one more time for the Chiefs. The red-hot Carolina prospect now has 7 points in 3 games so far in [...]
Dancing Days - Kristi Yamaguchi Wins Dancing With the Stars
Defenseman Bret Hedican’s wife, Kristi Yamaguchi won the “Dancing With the Stars” competition last night, which has been ongoing for the past 10 weeks. It was anounced at the end of the program that Yamaguchi had accumulated more points during the show than any other previous contestant.
The significance that this holds for the [...]
Big Time - Penguins and Wings in Finals
Gary Bettman is a happy man. The Stanley Cup Finals will be featuring a match-up that the league office has been salivating over for months.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will face the Detroit Red Wings in a finals showdown which will pit the youth of the NHL against the oldest, most experienced team in the league.
But [...]
Stealin’ - Drayson Bowman Lights up Memorial
A player who could be the steal of the 2007 NHL Draft, Drayson Bowman of the Spokane Chiefs, is currently the leading scorer in the Memorial Cup. After scoring a hat-trick and an assist while leading the Chiefs to a win in their opening game against Belleville on Saturday, Bowman came back with [...]
Back in Black - Laviolette Will Return
Carolina Hurricanes General Manager Jim Rutherford confirmed earlier today that coach Peter Laviolette will indeed return behind the bench next season for Carolina. Rutherford seemed a bit surprised by all the speculation about the coach’s future.
“This became a bigger issue than it needed to be, JR was quoted as saying. It seems like [...]
Fooling Yourself - The Lock-Out Remembered
As I mentioned yesterday, the 2008-09 ticket prices were just released by the Carolina Hurricanes. It looks like there was an across the board, 10% increase for all season ticket holders.
Here are some examples:
Full season ticket prices for upper corners went from $20 to $22 each game. Club corners went from $55 [...]
Get Back - Team USA Gets Knocked Out of Tournament
Team Finland beat Team USA in the quarterfinals of the World Championships last night, 3-2, sending the Americans back home a bit sooner than they had hoped. Tuomo Ruutu scored the first goal of the contest and has 4 so far in the tournament.
USA was down by two goals in the 3rd period, but [...]
Carolina Blues - Ticket Prices To Go Up
The cost of watching hockey at the RBC Center next year will be like everything else in the local economy, rising…..
The season ticket packages are being sent today and at first glance, I can tell you that the pricing is higher than last year. Without sitting down and doing the math, it appears like [...]
Product Review - Snapple Antioxidant Water
A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by a representative of Snapple and was asked if I would be interested in trying out some of their antioxidant water. They also asked if I would be kind enough to review their product in a posting on the Canes Country blog.
The first thing that came [...]
Fast and Loose - A Quick Look Around
Taking a quick gander around the hockey newsworld…..
San Jose coach, Ron Wilson was fired yesterday. Wilson had one of the best regular season records in the NHL for the past 3 years and made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs each of those years.
Eventually though, that just wasn’t good enough.
There are a [...]
Dance The Night Away - No Retirement For Hedican
Ever since the Carolina Hurricanes disappointing season came to an abrupt ending, defenseman Bret Hedican has been busy supporting his wife, Kristi Yamaguchi as she competes in the “Dancing With The Stars” television show. Hedican has also done a bit of dancing himself whenever asked about his plans for next season.
Will he play again [...]
Fairweather Johnson - Golisano to Sell Sabres?
It’s been confirmed that rich “wannabe NHL owner” Jim Balsillie gave Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano a call, (or two or three), and inquired about the availability of the Buffalo franchise. According to Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News, managing partner Larry Quinn issued a (reassuring) statement which said that inquiries [...]
Bad Moon Rising - Finland Beats USA With Bad Goal
Many hockey fans have said that NHL officiating is the worst of any league or any sport. Unfortunately for Team USA, those fans were proven wrong earlier Sunday night. The Americans were winning a tough game with Finland by the score of 2-0 when the Finns apparently scored a huge goal [...]
Say You, Say Me - Laviolette Still in Limbo
The News and Observer published a story this morning informing the masses that the long awaited trial of Carolina Head Coach Peter Laviolette, begins next week. The prosecuting attorney will be Jim Rutherford while Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos will acting as the judge, jury, and possible executioner.
Peter Laviolette will be defending himself.
Seriously, what the [...]
Back For More - The Forwards
This is the final segment of our end of year “Back For More” feature. We have already analyzed the defense and goaltending, next we will take a look at the forward position.
The Carolina Hurricanes are in the enviable position of having 10 or 11 forwards (either signed or RFA status), with top nine skill. [...]
Toronto Fires Paul Maurice
In a move that probably didn’t surprise anyone, the Toronto Maple Leafs dismissed Head Coach Paul Maurice this morning. Maurice was about to start the final year of his 3 year contract.
Assistant Randy Ladouceur was also let go.
We always liked Maurice, he’s one of the good guys. Best of luck in the [...]
Canada Takes USA 5-4
Team Canada beat a tough American team by a score of 5-4 on Tuesday afternoon in Halifax. After falling behind 3-0, Team USA fought back and tied the score 4-4, but Dany Heatley ended up winning it for Canada with less than a minute left in the contest. Cam Ward earned the win [...]
Say Goodbye to Hollywood - Blog Box Creator Resigns
Chris Botta, the VP of Public Relations for the New York Islanders and creator of the controversial “Blog Box” resigned from his position with the team yesterday. Botta had worked on the Island for 20 years but apparently felt that it was time to move on.
Reactions from the Islanders bloggers vary, but this [...]
Gimme Three Steps - Round 3 Round-up
The NHL Conference finals took shape late last night after a marathon game was completed, as Dallas outlasted San Jose in a contest which went into 4 overtimes. I stayed up to watch that one and I’m glad I did as it was one of the better games that I have seen in [...]
USA, Canada, and Russia Win Again
Team USA beat Slovenia on Sunday by a score of 5-1 as Phil Kessel had a hat-trick. David Booth and Patrick Kane scored the other goals for the Americans as Tim Thomas allowed his first goal of the tournament to Los Angeles Kings superstar Anze Kopitar.
In the meantime, Team Canada slaughtered Team Latvia [...]
The Battle Rages On - Why MSM Hates Blogs
Main stream media, (MSM), has always held contempt for blogs. The disdain took a very public turn during this past week as well known sportscaster Bob Costas hosted a special feature about the new media on his most recent “Costas NOW” series on HBO.
The 90 minute show was comprised of several related [...]
USA, Russia, and Canada Win Openers
Team Canada opened their tournament with a 5-1 win over Slovenia as Dany Heatley had a hat-trick. Cam Ward only allowed one goal and that was while the opposition had a 5 on 3 advantage. Next up for the home team is Latvia on Sunday. For more info check out [...]
The Mule - Johan Franzen, Superstar
Who the heck is Johan Franzen and where did he come from? Affectionately nicknamed “The Mule”, Franzen is a Swedish born player who was drafted by Detroit in the 3rd round of the 2004 NHL draft. The center has literally come out of nowhere to be a leading candidate for the Conn Smythe [...]
Wild World - IIHF Hockey Championships Start Today
Team Canada and Team USA begin their quest for gold as the IIHF Hockey World Championships start this afternoon. Canada’s first contest will be against Slovenia starting at 3:15 PM. Team USA will play against Team Latvia beginning at 7. For a complete schedule, check out this link.
Carolina netminder, Cam Ward will [...]
Trading Huet Comes Back to Bite Gainey
Do you get the feeling that perhaps Montreal General Manager Bob Gainey traded away his team’s best chance at winning the Stanley Cup for a measly 2nd round draft pick? That is what probably happened when he decided to trade away ex-Canadiens goalie Cristobal Huet to Washington for a 2nd round pick.
One can [...]
