Wow a lot has happened since I've been away

Honestly this past month has been chaos for me and I could not get to posting well a post. First was the Albany bus crash that left four players and a broadcaster in the hospital as it crashed into a guardrail. That was truly a sad moment.  In the past week, we have traded Justin Williams for Erik Cole. Unfortunately, the deal also involved the only NHL player ever from North Carolina, Patrick O'Sullivan, to be sent to Edmonton in a 3-way deal. I know we don't need another small, fast player like him but it would be cool to see someone from our own state skate around out there. Since my last post we have gone 9-5 but in our last three games we have won by a combined score of 20-6. 20-6, that's not a number you see everyday. Everybody on the team has really started to make a push for a playoff spot. Staal finally looks as if he deserves his paycheck as he has 12 points in the last 5 games. Brind'Amour is still at a -28, but i can deal with that (maybe). I will try and get some more stories up as the come available.

Our Favorite All Star Game

It is that time of the year again. The NHL is showcasing its  "top" players in a game that may be just a bit over the top. Of course since Montreal is the home city it only makes sense for them to have FOUR (yes, four) starters in the line-up. On Saturday night we begin with the Super-skills competition. The best part of this is watching Oven Chikin take the shootout competition to the next extreme.  I don't know what he will do but it is sure to be interesting. Tomorrow night, the actual game takes place. I don't find much interest in watching a 10-10 game. What's fun about that? Maybe, our only representative, Eric Staal, will win another car!

Canes Country has released some information that we may host the NHL all-star game in 2012. The NHL is sending representatives to scout out the area and see if Raleigh is high enough class to hold it. Due to our previous success hold high-name events here before. (College Basketball tourneys, Stanley Cup, 04 Draft). If we get more high-end buildings, I'd expect an All- Star game in the near future.

Week in Review

I have not been blogging in a while, but let me catch you guys up on what happened this past week. In a 2-1 OT win over Florida, we got back a newly recharged Frank Kaberle. Joe Corvo, one of our best players as of late, had a goal and assist and Rod Brind'Amour notched his 700th career assist. Our power play finally looked as if it is doing some as we scored in the first period off a Justin Williams shot. It was 1-0 until late in the third when ex-cane Cory Stillman intercepted one of Williams's passes and scored on Ward. Joe Corvo pulled one of the coolest moves I have ever seen him do on our 37th shot, and he knocked in the puck backhand. Both Tim Gleason and Brandon Sutter got in fights. Brandon Sutter's fight was his first in the NHL and Tim Gleason pummeled his guy. Seidenberg deserved the 32+ minutes of ice time he got as he blocked 5 shots. 

On Saturday, we lost 4-2 against the best team in the East. They gave us our first loss in 6 games but we put up a fight keeping the game within one goal for a long time. We got our first goal from Joni Pitkanen as he received a nice pass from Rod Brind'Amour. Boston tied it about halfway through the game when Marc Savard did some nice moves and scored. Dennis Seidenberg laid a big hit on Patrice Bergeron and he has a concussion. After, David Krejci and Shawn Thornton added on to the score, Ray Whitney had a nice goal. We tried hard for the extra goal, but they got an empty netter. Ward looked sharp in net except on the Thornton goal. I also noticed Pitkanen played decently the entire game. According to LSB, Dan LaCouture told Jeff Daniels he is staying in Albany. 

In a 3-2 Overtime win vs. Montreal, the Ruutu-Staal-Samsonov line dominated the game with 7 total points. Each had a goal and during their average 19:21 of ice time they all made nice plays. Neither team completely dominated the game, but there was a lot of nice plays and big hits. Roman Hamrlik and Matt D'Agostini each had a goal for Montreal. Chad LaRose got more playing time but we saw less of Brandon Sutter and Patrick Eaves. Who said Maurice is that bad at 4-2-3 since he has gotten here? 

Canes get a sloppy win

We got a sloppy win. When the other team gets 11 penalties, I'd expect a win. It is pretty sad that we had 22 minutes of power play time and we were only leading by one late in the third. Eric Staal had two great goals but was driven head first into the boards in the 2nd period. He was already bobbling his head. Made those bobble heads are like voodoo dolls. Fortunately, he was back on the ice in one or two shifts. Both goalies had a few nice saves and a few easy goals. It was a sloppy win, but a win.