All Entries in the "Carolina Hurricanes Blog" Category

Carolina Outscores Florida 6-4

In a wild and wooley back and forth game, the Hurricanes were able to find the back of the net a couple more times than the Panthers were able to, and came away with a 6-4 victory Friday night at the RBC. The Canes had six different goal scorers and netted two [...]

Slow start but fast finish in 1st Period- update

Did I say that the Panthers would have trouble scoring? Forget that.
The Cats jumped out to a 2-0 lead and it looked like Cory Stillman and company were going to run the Canes out of the rink. But a powerplay re-direct by Ruutu and an even strength wrister by Whitney tied things up.
Both [...]

Broadcasters Take Center Stage

Hurricanes broadcasters, John Forslund and Chuck Kaiton will both be front and center reporting for local news sources again this year.
Kaiton is the Hockey Hall of Fame voice of the Canes and can be found doing radio play-by-play on 99.9 FM, “The Fan”. But rival, “850 The Buzz” has also enlisted Kaiton’s services for [...]

Canes Country Clash - Southeast Division

This is the final edition of “The Clash” as Cory and I break down the Southeast.
Cory’s picks-

Washington
Carolina
Florida
Tampa Bay
Atlanta

Bubba’s picks-

Carolina
Washington
Florida
Tampa Bay
Atlanta

Cory-
While it pains me to do it, the injury troubles the Hurricanes have already run in to lead me to give the Caps the first spot in the division. Obviously, Alexander Ovechkin is the linchpin to [...]

Beautiful Day

And so it begins…..
Tonight the Hurricanes take on the Panthers, and the season’s long journey will be underway. I am taking time off from the day job for the next few days, so that I can do some serious blogging.
This morning, the plan is to venture to the RBC to watch the morning skate, [...]

Versus Attempts to Step Up Coverage

Versus just opened a brand new season and started right off with some new enhancements for viewers. For instance during the studio analysis portion of the broadcast, they are implementing a new “puck tracking” system. Before you groan, no this is not like the old “glow puck” used by Fox [...]

River Rats Preview Up At HF.com; Other Loose Ends

My latest at Hockey’s Future is posted — it’s a season preview of the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate in Albany. It actually should’ve gone up yesterday, but it had to be tweaked a little because of the Matt Murley situation.
In a way, Murley’s departure will probably be good for someone of the Albany guys. Forwards like [...]

Canes Back To Flying Under The Radar

The expectations are low. Just look around the Web at the major sports sites or read the top publications and you’ll get an idea of how the Hurricanes are perceived heading into the season:
• The Hockey News: 8th in the East
• TSN.ca Preseason Power Ranking — 21st in the NHL
• Sportsnet.ca: 3rd in the Southeast
• [...]

Matt Murley “Pulls a Radulov” - Now AWOL in Russia

During the offseason, the Carolina Hurricanes signed forward Matt Murley to a two-way, one year contract. Murley was originally drafted in the second round in 1999 by Pittsburgh, had 21 goals with 62 points for San Antonio last year, and is an RPI graduate. Fans from Albany were looking forward to watching the [...]

An Update on Nate Hagemo

 
The Naple Daily News posted a really thorough article Tuesday on the progress of former Hurricanes’ second-round pick Nate Hagemo. Hagemo, who was invited to the Canes’ rookie conditioning camp this summer, is trying to earn a spot with Carolina’s ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades. 
 
Hagemo’s drug problems and run-ins with the law are well-documented, and it’s [...]

Rutherford to Change Training Methods in Carolina

Hurricanes General Manager, Jim Rutherford is mandating change regarding the way Carolina players train off the ice. In a recent interview with TSN’s Darren Dreger, Rutherford says that any off-ice testing that increases the heart rate and puts stress on the body will no longer be allowed by the organization.
“Their bodies are screaming out, [...]

Cuts Like a Knife - Roster Set, For Now

My roster prediction from yesterday was pretty much spot on except that Tim Conboy joins Joe Jensen and Trevor Gillies on the bus back to Albany. Twenty five players remain on the roster today, but Justin Williams and Scott Walker will be placed on IR, making the final total twenty three.
Both Paul Branecky [...]

Canes Country Clash - Northeast Division

Cory and I go at it once again with our picks for the Northeast. If you missed our previous divisional picks, check out this link.
Bubba’s Picks-

Montreal
Boston
Ottawa
Buffalo
Toronto

Cory’s picks-

Boston
Montreal
Buffalo
Ottawa
Toronto

Bubba-
It’s time to take a look at the North(l)east Division! My thought process is that this will not be a very tough group, (as a whole) this [...]

My Picks for the Roster

Since the Carolina Hurricanes just announced that Scott Walker had surgery on his left hand this morning and will miss up to six weeks of action, it looks like another job just opened up for somebody, albeit a temporary one.
Twenty three players can be kept for the opening night roster. Here are my picks-

Eric [...]

Walker Undergoes Surgery

 
The Hurricanes took another injury hit today when Scott Walker was lost for six weeks after having surgery this morning on his left hand, according to a release by the team.
 
Walker presumably hurt his hand during a fight with Philadelphia’s Nate Guenin, who had hit Matt Cullen in the teams’ preseason game Sept. 28. Walker was [...]

Canes Finish Preseason With Win

Ray Whitney scored in his first exhibition game and Cam Ward pitched a 31 save shut-out as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 at the RBC Sunday afternoon. Whitney had been dealing with a groin issue on and off during this preseason but said he felt fine after the [...]

North Carolina Hockey History on Display

The Carolina Hurricanes and the Society of North Carolina Archivists joined forces to put together an exhibit about the history of hockey in the state. The exhibit should be on display in the concourse of the RBC for the next three games, October 5th, 10th, and 13th.

RBC Center Hockey Exhibit — Raleigh, N.C.
The [...]

Canes Win Again

Carolina beat Nashville last night by a score of 4-2. I didn’t watch the game or listen to it, so I won’t attempt to give a review. It seems like Anton Babchuk had a good game though, as two of his blasts from the point ended up in the net. The first [...]

Nashville Notes and Other News

Tonight the Hurricanes are on the road to play another exhibition game, this time in Nashville. There will be a few vets in the lineup trying to fine tune their timing, and there will be a few players in the contest still trying to make the team. CH.com is reporting that the lineup [...]

Carolina Injuries - Bad Training, Bad Skates, or Bad Luck?

Last week, the Carolina Hurricanes treatment room looked like a waiting line at a MASH unit. Ten players were nursing some type of injury. Things are looking better at the moment, but the injury bug is nothing new for the Canes and it’s starting to make fans as well as team management ask [...]

The Next Great Goalie Debate

You knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. The recent success of Michael Leighton along with the preseason struggles of Cam Ward have created a goalie debate of sorts among several Hurricanes fans. If Leighton’s success continues, it’s only going to heat up even more before it goes away.
First of [...]

Jeff O’Neill Decides to Move On

The Carolina Hurricanes and Jeff O’Neill had a meeting of the minds after the Flyers game on Sunday and O’Neill has decided to end his comeback bid with the Hurricanes. The forward’s departure cuts the roster down to 32 players and more or less assures that the other free agent tryout, Dan LaCouture will [...]

Leighton and Canes Hold on to 1-0 Win

The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Philadelphia Flyers at the RBC yesterday by a score of 1-0. The victory was the first for the Canes this preseason and gave them an overall record of 1-3, with two more games to play.
Sergei Samsonov was the number one star of the game.  Not only did he score [...]

Canes Try Again this Afternoon

After another exhibition loss yesterday by a score of 4-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Hurricanes will try once again to earn their first preseason victory, today at 3PM at the RBC. Their opponent will be none other than those same Flyers, as the teams complete the back end of a home and [...]

Canes at Flyers - Pre-game Hype

Today at 1PM, the Carolina Hurricanes will be playing an exhibition game against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Spectrum. For those who might not be aware, the Spectrum is an old hockey arena which opened back in 1967 and is now the home of the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms. The Flyers won the Stanley [...]

And Then There Were 42

The Carolina Hurricanes made a few more cuts today, sending 11 River Rats up to Albany. The affected players are, Mike Angelidis, Nicolas Blanchard, Stefan Chaput, Nick Dodge, Patrick Dwyer, Bobby Hughes, Harrison Reed, Ryan Weston; Ryan McGinnis, Benn Olson; and goaltender David Leggio.
That still leaves 42 players in Raleigh trying to make [...]

Capitals 5, Hurricanes 2

Something came up and I missed the contest last night, but according to all reports the Canes played a much better game than they did on Wednesday. After the “Junior Canes” jumped out to a 2-0 lead, the Washington regulars woke up and took control of the game. Dan LaCouture had one [...]

Canes at Caps - Pre-game Hype

Tonight the Hurricanes find themselves up the road on I-95 to complete a back to back series with the Washington Capitals. The Canes will be looking to improve upon their lackluster showing last night which resulted in a 4-1 beatdown by the Caps.
According to CH.com, Carolina’s lineup will be as follows-

Sutter-Eaves-Bayda
Helminen-Bowman-LaCouture
Jensen-Chaput-Dwyer
Blanchard-Angelidis-Samson
Melichar-Kaberle
Seidenberg-Flood
Conboy-Rodney

Michael Leighton and [...]

Back to Work - Caps 4, Canes 1

Last night, fans were grumbling as they left the RBC.
Even if several of the players on the ice were different, parts of last night’s game looked eerily similar to the worst of last season. Collapses on defense, sloppy passing, and in general, uninspired play was what stood out to many.
The good news is that [...]

Final Thoughts On Preseason Opener

I can say this for sure — no one in the Canes’ locker room was happy with the results tonight. The mood after the game was sullen at best. Here’s some news and thoughts:
• Coach Peter Laviolette was dumbfounded by the play tonight, saying the team “didn’t execute well at all.” Sloppy passing and a [...]

Preseason Opener: Period One Overview

We’re through one period, and the Caps lead 2-0. In the team’s first preseason game, it’s more important to focus on what’s going on than the scoreboard. Here’s a few things I’ve noticed:
• Brandon Sutter has looked very promising in the defensive zone. He had no trouble sticking with the shifty and skilled Michael Nylander. He [...]

Caps at Canes - Pregame Hype

Preseason games are no big deal, right? Tell that to vets trying to work their way back into the show. Tell that to the youngsters, trying to make their way out of the minors and into the majors. While the highly paid superstars usually don’t get very worked up about these “meaningless” [...]

Every Picture Tells a Story - Canes Out and About

Congratulations to Patrick Eaves and his fiancee, Katie. Apparently, Patrick proposed at (at a lake like) nearby Lake Norman, where this recent photo shoot took place.
Tim Gleason took some time on Tuesday to do a charity gig at the Carolina Ale House. The defenseman was supposed to meet and greet customers, but ended [...]

Vets Shine in Scrimmage

You could tell the players who have been around a bit from the youngsters yesterday, as the experienced skaters pretty much dominated the red/white scrimmage at the RBC on Sunday afternoon. Dan LaCouture earned first star honors with two goals and an assist. His linemate for most of the game, Dwight Helminen was [...]

Red - White Scrimmage “Live Blog”

We will be here at about 2:50 on Sunday afternoon.
Click Here for the “LIVE BLOG”
______
Here are the rosters for each respective team. It looks to me like the red team has a bit of an advantage, but we will see.

RED TEAM

WHITE TEAM

# GOALTENDER
60 Justin Peters
70 Mike Murphy

# GOALTENDER
40 David Leggio
50 Daniel Manzato

# [...]

Training Camp Opens, Busy Weekend Ahead

Training camp officially opened for the Carolina Hurricanes today as players had mandatory physicals and also took part in photo-shoots. Ice sessions begin tomorrow morning, as the players will be divided into three groups. Each group is scheduled for 90 minutes on the ice and will take part in other workouts when not on [...]

Grading The Captains And Predicting The Future

Philadelphia’s Mike Richards and Tampa Bay’s Vincent Lecavalier — two players who were pegged to be captains from the second they were drafted.
For Lecavalier, he was first named the Lightning’s captain in 2000-01 and at the time became the youngest in NHL history (beating out Detroit’s Steve Yzerman). But was stripped of his “C” prior [...]

McCarthyism- Kevin “Cato” McCarthy Speaks

Late last week, the Hurricanes held a special function for “VIP’s” and during the festivities, John Forslund interviewed Hurricanes Associate Head Coach, Kevin McCarthy. Fortunately, Kate Shefte of the Independent Weekly was there to take notes and write an article about the affair.
McCarthy started off talking about the upcoming rule changes-
When asked about [...]

No Easy Path for Rutherford - Mark Parrish on Speed Dial?

You have to feel for Justin Williams. To work so hard, only to have another set back like this one must be devastating. But not only is the winger’s injury tough on the skater himself, it obviously affects the whole organization.
For instance, Peter Laviolette’s job status is probably riding on the team’s success [...]

Justin Williams Injured, Out up to Six Months

No, this isn’t a bad joke.
The Carolina Hurricanes just issued a press release announcing that forward Justin Williams injured himself at a workout this morning.  He will need surgery and will be out for a period of four to six months.
RALEIGH, NC—Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, [...]