River Rats sign Phil Aucoin

There has been a whirlwind of call-ups and reassignments over the past few weeks between Carolina and its AHL affiliate, Albany River Rats. Both clubs are decimated with illness and injury, so the revolving door sends guys like Brandon Nolan and Keith Aucoin up and down depending on whether Carolina has an off day.

To ease some of this stress, the River Rats have signed two players to Professional Tryout Offers. These offers are usually made to ECHL players as a stop-gap measure for AHL clubs while the parent club uses its players. They are not NHL contracts and are usually temporary. One of the players receiving a PTO was Phil Aucoin, who is the younger brother of Keith Aucoin.

P. Aucoin joined the River Rats for their game last night, and did not register a point. The 5'10" left wing played NCAA Division III hockey at Norwich University, which is where Keith also played.

Make no mistake. These Aucoin brothers aren't the Staals. They aren't the Sutters. They aren't the Millers. They aren't the Howes. They aren't the Bures. The aren't the Primeaus, or even the Brookbanks. They're nowhere even close to any of these. Still, it's kinda neat to have two brothers with ties to the same organ-eye-zation.

Canes fall to Avs

On Saturday, the Hurricanes blew three separate two-goal leads against the Avalanche en route to losing their second straight game. The final tally was 5-4 Colorado. This was their fourth consecutive home loss and the seventh loss in the last ten games.

Because of the unbalanced schedule, the last time the Avs were in Raleigh was five years to the day. That was a 3-2 victory for Colorado with Milan Hejduk getting the winner in overtime.

This game started off well for the home team, but it did not end well.

Erik Cole scored his tenth goal of the season at 8:45 of the first. Sergei Samsonov made a wonderfully creative stretch pass, banking it off the right wing wall to spring Colesy on a breakaway. Cole drove hard to the left goal post, forcing José Théodore to overplay. At the last second, Cole tapped it back towards the right post and it crossed the line easily. It was Samsonov's first point in a Hurricanes sweater. Rod Brind'Amour picked up the secondary assist and reached the 1100 point plateau for his career.

Keith Aucoin, taking advantage of a flu- and injury- plague that has knocked NINE Hurricanes out of the lineup, scored his second goal in as many games at 18:01. His slapshot from the top of the right circle easily beat Captain Propecia. Tim Conboy, playing in his first NHL game, got the lone assist.

Earlier in the first, on Conboy's very first NHL shift, he fought with Scott Parker, who threw Conboy around like a rag doll.

Milan Hejduk, the one-time Rocket Richard winner, got the Avs on the board at 0:50 of the second. Andrew Brunette's wrap chance was foiled, but Hejduk was there to shove the rebound in from the doorstep. Paul Stastny got the secondary assist.

Chad "Sharpie" LaRose got his sixth goal of the season by picking up the loosed change of a Keith Aucoin shot from below the left circle. All he did was touch the loose puck as it was scooting along the goal line, but it looks like a one-timer in the box score. Mike Commodore, who also fought in the first period, picked up the secondary assist.

Carolina had three players well on their way to a Gordie Howe hat trick. In the end, none of them got it. Aucoin didn't have a fight and neither Commodore nor Conboy had a goal.

Carolina had restored their two goal lead, and things were still looking good.

Stastny narrowed the margin again with a goal at 10:02 of the second. He worked really hard to gather the rebound of a Jaro Hlinka shot from the right circle. Cam made a pad save, but sent it straight out in front. It kind of handcuffed Stastny, but he found a way to knock it in. Cody McLeod got the second assist.

Again, though, the Hurricanes were able to restore the two goal lead. Cory Stillman rifled a blast from above the right circle that surprised Théodore. Casey Borer got the primary assist and Cam Ward got the secondary. It came on a last-gasp effort with one second remaining in a power play.

The Stillman goal was an example of urgency. It was the first time in a long time I'd seen the boys displaying anything resembling urgency. I thought that it might be a huge confidence booster and perhaps a fulcrum for the season.

The period ended like that, and the first ten minutes of the final period. It looked like the Canes were going to seal it up and get going on the right foot again. That all came crashing down in a five minute sequence of the third.

Cody McLeod scored a wrap-around goal at 10:23, assisted by Cody McCormick and Jeff Finger. As was the case all night long, the Avalanche had bodies in front of the net and the Hurricanes were letting them do it. Frantisek Kaberle looked terrible on the play. He should have been covering the right post, which is where McCleod snuck in. Instead, he was busy screening Cam Ward. All five Hurricanes were overloading the left side of the ice while there were three white sweaters on the right side. It wasn't entirely Kaberle's fault, but he looked bad.

This time, the Canes were unable to restore the two-goal cushion. Marek Svatos banked a shot from the low slot off the post and in at 13:50. Tyler Arnason and Jordan Leopold assisted.

Two minutes later, at 15:57, Svatos notched the game winning goal. after a remarkably poor job by Eric Staal of holding the puck in the Colorado end and an even worse job of backchecking going the other way, the Avs entered the Carolina zone with a 3-on-2 rush. A shot came from the left circle, and Svatos was there to tip in the rebound. Arnason and Wojtek Wolski got the assists.

The Avalanche had scored three unanswered goals to take all of the wind out of Carolina's sails.

The "official" three stars went to Keith Aucoin (third), Paul Stastny (second) and Marek Svatos (first). I had it a little differently. The RBH three stars:
THIRD STAR Tyler Arnason, COL --- 2 assists, 2 takeaways
SECOND STAR Keith Aucoin, CAR --- 1 goal, 1 assist, +3
FIRST STAR Marek Svatos, COL --- 2 goals, GWG

Carolina has a couple of days off before they begin another Canadian road trip. They will visit the Leafs on Tuesday and the mighty Senators on Thursday before returning home for a date with the Oilers on Friday.

The last time the Canes had a streak of Canadian opponents on the road, they flourished. Unfortunately, there are no more visits to Montréal this season.

Hurricanes lose game, Williiams

Carolina went to the swamps on Thursday to play one of those "four point games" against second place Florida. With a chance to expand their lead to seven points, the Hurricanes fell short. Instead, they blew an early two goal lead and left with a 5-4 loss. Instead of a seven point standings lead, they now have a narrow three point lead. Added to that, they lost Justin "Viva" Williams to a knee injury.

Carolina entered the game in kind of rough shape. They only had 11 forwards available. Craig Adams is suspended and Chad LaRose is concussed. Williams, who has been in a terrible slump, might be out of the lineup for a long time. Late in the first period, he suffered an injury to his left knee which left him writhing in pain on the ice for several minutes. This is the same knee that he injured in the 2002-03 season while still with the Flyers. He missed 36 games with a torn ACL.

I hate to speculate, but it didn't look good at all, and Luke Decock from the N&O wrote the following:

Tangled with Richard Zednik in front of the Florida net, Williams’ legs flew out from under him and Rostislav Olesz slammed into Williams’ extended left leg.

“Not good,” Williams said as he limped out of the building.

Williams missed 36 games with a torn ACL in that knee in 2002-03, so he has a frame of reference for knee injuries. He needed assistance on both sides to get off the ice. I suspect Williams won’t be as lucky as Stillman.

“He’s got to see a doctor, but obviously he couldn’t come back tonight,” Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. “The preliminary (report) is that it’s his knee. It doesn’t look good. …

“Even if it is something that is going to be longer, I don’t think there’s anything you can do for it immediately. The swelling is going to have to settle down.”

full story

I'm not excited about this. Down to 10 available forwards, Carolina will have no choice but to make a call-up to the depleted River Rats. I wrote the other day that they had 13 guys out of the lineup with injury or flu. THIRTEEN! They made emergency callups to the ECHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Ryan Bayda would be the logical first choice for a call-up, but he is out with a concussion. I guess that means we'll see Keith Aucoin again. I still wouldn't mind getting a look at Brandon Nolan or Jerome Samson, but I suppose we'll have to wait a while before we see them.

I wouldn't be surprised to see both Aucoin and Dave Gove called up.

Carolina will be in Tampa on Saturday, then will be off until Boxing Day, when they face the Rangers at MSG.

Godspeed, Justin!

Canes host Nucks, call up AHL help

Tonight when the Carolina Hurricanes play host to the Vancouver Canucks, expect to see some new but familiar faces donning the red and black. On Sunday, Carolina called up Ryan Bayda and Keith Aucoin from Albany to ease the pain of missing forwards Andrew Ladd, Erik Cole and Scott Walker. All are expected to miss at least one more week.
As of this morning, Carolina had lost 19 man-games to injury. Ladd, Walker, Cole and defenseman Dennis Seidenberg are all expected to sit out again, which will bring the total to 23 man-games lost through the first nine games.

The only relief that Carolina will have is that they will be rested while the Canucks will not. Vancouver played in Columbus Sunday night, and won 4-1. They will arrive sometime early Monday, will probably have a light practice and an optional soccer kick-around.

Through seven games, Vancouver is 3-4-0. They've scored 20 goals and have surrendered 25. They are 2-0-0 on the road so far, and are 0-1-0 against the East. This will be their first of five road games against Southeast Division teams this season.

This will be Carolina's first Western foe of the season, and only their third home game.

Ryan Kesler is riding a three game point streak for the Canucks, while Viva and Rod Brind'Amour are both riding five game point streaks for the Hurricanes.

This will be the first time Canes fans have seen the Sedinbots and Markus Naslund in the RBC Center since before the lockout.

For a Canucks perspective of the game, including some good liveblogging, please visit Canucks and Beyond and Canucks Hockey Blog. Alanah and JJ are good folks. And don't forget Jes Golbez. He's good people too.

Expect to see Cam Ward back between the pipes.

Don't forget that the Hurricanes will be donating a portion of all walk-up ticket sales to local cancer research agencies as part of the ongoing Hockey Fights Cancer program.

The game will not be televised by FSS, so you'll have to catch it on Center Ice or, better yet, at the RBC Center.

Canes enter camp banged up

Camp officially opened today, and already the Hurricanes are banged up.

Andrew Ladd is still nursing some undisclosed injury and did not skate today.

Newcomer Jeff Hamilton is also out with an undisclosed injury. What is this? The playoffs? What's this "undisclosed injury" thing? Forslund suspects that it's a groin problem. Nothing is known about when or if he'll be ready.

Frantisek Kaberle is working his way back to shape after having some knee surgery this summer. He's almost there.

Add Sharpie to the list. He caught a rut and threw his knee all out of whack. They're tentatively putting a window of 3-6 weeks on his return.

Opening night is still more than two weeks away, but with Ladd, Hamilton and LaRose all out, the Hurricanes need some answers. Trevor Letowski just got a free pass out of the press box and onto the fourth line. Suddenly, the idea of Brendon Sutter being offered a 10-day trial doesn't seem so far-fetched.

As a commenter rightfully pointed out, Sutter is too young to legally play in the AHL, so Albany isn't even an option. If you're under 20, that's the way it works. It's either the NHL, or back to your junior club. In his case, it would be the Red Deer Rebels. The team will still be owned by his dad, but obviously, Brent will be too busy coaching the New Jersey Devils to continue coaching the Rebels.

Word on the street is that Sutter was having a hard time with the drills and that Harrison Reed looked way better than he did. Obviously, Keith Aucoin and Dave Gove are good choices for call-ups. They both shuttled between Raleigh and Albany last season, with Aucoin being the more impressive of the two. Aucoin put up a very impressive 99 (27/72) points in just 65 games with the River Rats and added a lone assist in eight appearances with the Canes last season.

So the season will start with Sharpie on the shelf. It doesn't sound like Ladd and Hamilton have serious injuries, so they should be there. On the blue line, Hedican's status is still mysterious and Kaberle is on the mend. Snuggles Tanabe opted to attend the Blues camp instead of the Canes.

To fill LaRose's void, my money is on Aucoin. They're almost identical anyway. Both are tiny guys, standing five nine and weighing in at about 185 pounds. Both are very hard working guys with a surprising level of physical, scrappy play.

Still, though, the fans will be very interested in the way Sutter develops during camp.

I'm really looking forward to the first preseason game. Who wants to meet for beers?

the Letowski injury

During the first period of play on Saturday night, Trevor Letowski was knocked out of the game by a blind-side hit from Colby Armstrong. After making a cross ice pass to a teammate just inside the Penguins' zone, Letowski was looking in the direction of his pass. Although the puck had been gone for two beats or more, Colby Armstrong delivered a big hit on the unsuspecting Letowski, making shoulder-to-chin contact from the blind side, knocking him face-first onto the ice. He lay motionless and limp in a pool of blood for several minutes before being removed from the ice on a stretcher and rushed to a Pittsburgh hospital.

For just about everyone on the Canes bench, this immediately brought to mind the horror that took place there on March 4. Although this was the second time in as many visits to the Mellon Arena that a Canes player has had to be rushed to the hospital, this one was quite a bit different. In this case, it really does look like the hit was just one of those unfortunate things. I haven't examined the tape with a microscope, but it looked like Armstrong made an attempt to ease up on the hit, and I have no doubt in my mind that there was absolutely no intent to injure. The League may, however, investigate the hit. They have been making a concerted effort to crack down on hits delivered above the shoulder. This definitely was above the shoulder. I won't be calling for any disciplinary action, but I wouldn't be surprised if the League hands down a light suspension/fine.

In stark contrast to the still controversial Brooks Orpik hit on Erik Cole, Armstrong immediately showed an interest in the well-being of the injured player. The look on his face, his eyes, showed that. Instead of vehemently defending his actions or blaming the injured player, Armstrong told reporters that he felt "awful" and "sick to (his) stomach" and that he had a hard time focusing on the game. In post game interviews, he apparently made serious efforts to get an update on Letowski's status.

The "good" news is that after undergoing a battery of tests, Letowski was diagnosed with a concussion and was released. He'll probably have to miss some games, but for now, that sounds like good news. With the way he went down, and the blood and the motionlessness, and all that, things looked very bad.

At the end of it all, I think this will simply have to be categorized as "an unfortunate thing that happened". I don't want to make a villain out of Colby Armstrong.

Hopefully, "the Dude" will be able to recover fully. Sometimes, as in the case of Tim Connolly, a concussion can cause a player to miss an entire season. Time will tell, and we're all hoping for the best.

In the meantime, Carolina will have to recall at least one, and most likely two players from Albany. My guess is that Keith Aucoin gets the call, and that we may even see defenseman Derrick Walser, who played alongside Erik Cole with the Berlin Polar Bears of the German Elite League during the lockout.

Details on Letowski as they develop.