A Carolina Hurricanes blog with occasional news about the rest of the NHL.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Carolina earns 102nd point, clinches division,

On Friday night, the Hurricanes took care of their own business by defeating the pesky Florida Panthers in the final game of a four game home stand. Carolina now has 102 standings points, and have clinched the Southeast division with nine games to go.

Immediately following the game, t-shirts were on sale. My first inclination was to skip the t-shirt, but I eventually gave in, selecting the shirt pictured at right. There were identical red ones and a different red one that I wasn't crazy about.

Although it wasn't a perfectly played game, the boys looked good for most of it. Most of them did anyway. In the first period, Carolina was awarded many power play chances, and at least two five-on-three situations. They couldn't cash in on the five on three, but they got their first goal, a power play tally, at 19:19 of the first. It came just after one of two penalized players came back on the ice. It was pretty much all Ray Whitney, but Eric Staal picked up an assist on the play, giving him 50 helpers for the year. Added to his 42 goals, he's got 92 points.

At 3:31 of the second, the Recchin' ball made it 2-1 with a redirection of a blue line blast from Frantisek Kaberle. Justin Williams also got an assist on the goal.

After AWard made a big mistake which resulted in a Florida goal, the game was tied at two at the 8:36 mark. Mike Van Ryn was given credit for the goal, but it went in off AWard's stick.

While Sharpie was in the box feeling shame, the Canes were able to notch a shorthanded tally to surge ahead 3-2. Kevyn Adams cleared the puck out of the zone with a three-demensional pass. CrAdams raced in on an attempted breakaway, but Luongo was able to get to the puck first by coming way out of his crease. Unfortunately for Luongo and the Panthers, he whiffed on his clearing attempt, CrAdams picked up the loose puck and fired it into the mainly empty net. The shorthander proved to be the game winner, and it earned first star honors for CrAdams.

Worth noting is that Mikey "Bathrobe" Commodore is playing brilliantly. He was far and away the best defensive player on Friday. His hair looks great too. He's already well on his way to a playoff afro. I can't wait to see his playoff beard in person.

Saturday night, the Canes will be in action on the road against the Thrashers. Puck drop at 7:00.

5 comments:

Stormbringer said...

I highly doubt that you will know this...but, maybe you can prove me wrong:

Any word on if those shirts are going to be sold online?

Your image in this post reminded me to check NHL.com, and they don't have the Division Champs shirts yet. :(

Also, are there other shirts besides the particular design in your image?

d-lee said...

I would imagine that at some point in the near future, these shirts will be available on-line. At this point, no dice.

Like I say, the one I bought was available in both grey and red.

There is another design, available in red only. It has a small NHL shield high on the chest, the words "Carolina Hurricanes" forming an arch and something like "Division Champs" forming a mirror image arch. The whole thing, then has somewhat of a circular design. Somewhere on it, it says "Locker room edition". We are to believe, then, that this is the same shirt that the players are given.

I liked this one better, though.

I wish I could find some pictures of them, or that I had taken a photo of my friend Jenn, who bought the third design.

If the shirts aren't made available on-line, I can pick one up for you at my next game. Just let me know.

Stormbringer said...

If you could pick me up a shirt, that would be FANTASTIC. Having giving it a little thought, I would most prefer the grey design. Though, if you get the chance, could you please post/send a picture of the "Locker Room Edition"? I doubt I'll get it, because I have already gotten plenty of black and red shirts this season. But, the collector in me often likes to get an official locker room shirt too...

BTW, speaking of collecting, did you OR someone you know record last night's game @ Atlanta? I know the Canes lost, but I'm seeking that game OR more specifically, the part where they showed Ronnie in the crowd AND Tripp wouldn't shut up about the pizza he was eating. In all honesty, if someone could get that part in Windows Media or Quicktime format online, that would be cool.

Yes, I'm a diehard like that AND I could just use a good laugh... ;)

d-lee said...

I didn't record the game. I was really pressed for time yesterday, so I didn't set the DVR, but usually I have it all set up.

Actually, I messed myself up really bad back in January. I drove up to DC to watch us lose to the Caps. According to many people we know, we were "prominently featured" during the FSN broadcast. I, however, forgot to set up the DVR that day.

:(

Stormbringer said...

O_O

You're the second person to tell me that they could have recorded it, but forgot or just plain old didn't...

How's that for rotten luck?

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