First, though, the introduction of a new feature at red and black hockey...
The couple who sit beside me and I have decided that while the media gets to appoint the three stars of the game, we three will award a Tevvy every time. The Tevvy, though, is not an award of distinction. The Tevvy is given to the Canes player who makes the most (or the most costly) mistakes. Even in a winning effort, there's usually one player who screws up a bunch.
Tonight's Tevvy goes to: Ray Whitney. Ray took two penalties in the course of the game, made some bad passes, committed two giveaways, and had a couple of other ugly plays.
Good job buddy!
I'm sure every fan in the RBC Center (which does NOT, contrary to the dreams of NC State basketball fans, stand for Raleigh Basketball Court) is under the impression that something that they are doing is causing the Canes to continue in their winning ways. As sports fans, we're given to rituals and superstition. Don't pretend for even a second that you don't have any superstitions regarding how you dress, sit, eat or drink duing a game. Some of us think that we have to wear the exact same underwear, socks, shoes, undershirt and player's sweater to every game. I was terrified that my normal game-night boxer shorts were dirty and by not wearing them, I would cause us to lose. We didn't. Maybe it's the t-shirt.
Aside from that silliness, some serious things were different about tonight's game than most of our previous games.
Although we came out slow for the billionth time in a row and outscored our opponent in the third period, we did not have to come from behind to win this one. It's a good feeling. In fact, we shut them out, which is an even better feeling.
Eric Staal continued his scoring streak, assisting on one of our goals, but was not able to continue the multi-point game streak. Yeah, it's sad that he "only" tallied one point, but getting the win in regulation against a division opponent is the important thing.
For the first time in a few games, I didn't have any desire to boo or otherwise heckle any of the visiting players. They've got three guys who are not only former Canes, but among the fan favorites when they were here. Gary Roberts might be questionable, but I respect him a lot. Hilly was absolutely a fan favorite for his great brand of defense, and his uncanny ability to score right off the face-off. Gelinas will always be loved around here for his heroism during the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs. That and his somewhat demonic blood-red playoff beard. Aside from that, it's impossible to dislike Roberto Luongo. He's had a less-than-stellar season for fantasy hockey team owners, but I am in awe of his game. He made some unbelievable stops tonight, which kept the game uncomfortably close. Maybe I could find a way to dislike Olli Jokinen, but not enough to aggressively boo him.
Even though we had the same referee tandem from the other night (Fraser and Peel), Erik Cole managed to avoid the diving call tonight. I will admit that Cole has a tendency to overact, embellish, or otherwise exaggerate a fall, I am also of the opinion that Kerry "Captain Hair-spray" Fraser has a vendetta against Cole.
For the first time ever, I didn't take a single picture at the game. Sorry.
A-Hutch was a healthy scratch again. He still has zero points.
I still have to pinch myself to prove that I'm not dreaming about this fantastic start we're off to. Who knows how long it'll last, but we've got to enjoy it while it lasts.
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1 comment:
I took a picture at the game just after the first goal went in (out of focus, blurry, hands waving -- not much hockey there, I am afraid), and another just as the shot for the second goal was taken (haven't reviewed it on the laptop, but it looked pretty good on the 2-inch camera screen). If either turns out decent I'll post em at my blog & you can feel free to borrow.
Kind of an odd game last night. I was struck by how ugly the Panthers uniforms looked, like a mid-70's era minor league color scheme, all orange and black and yellow, and utterly inappropriate for hockey (in contrast to the Leafs away whites, which just might be the best-looking scheme in the league). Luongo is a great goalie, but there's little else on that team to get excited about. They never mounted a threat in the offensive zone, and it felt like the outcome was pretty much pre-determined, if a bit late to develop.
Oh... as great as Eric Staal is (and he is absolutely great), he still frequently loafs on defense and could easily receive a Tevvy in the same game in which he scores two goals.
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