something about the "Brooks Orpik incident"

Today is an important date for a couple of reasons.

One is that it's my friend Amanda's birthday. I've written about her numerous times in the past. Sadly, we're not close anymore, and I haven't even seen her in more than a year, but I still wish her a happy birthday.

The other thing gives me an opportunity to answer a question that was asked of me a few weeks ago. Today marks the second anniversary of Erik Cole's worst day ever. In a game with the Penguins on March 4, 2006, Cole had two goals in the first two periods. The Canes were holding on to a 6-4 lead in the early stages of the third period when Cole was checked from behind by Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik. After the horrifying head-first collision with the boards and a few moments of laying motionless, Cole left the ice under his own power with what appeared to be a left arm injury. It looked like a left arm injury because he had a fracture of his c-5 vertebra. You can look up all the technical reasons for that, but that kind of injury causes those types of reactions.

Anyway, Cole was out of the game and was out for the balance of the season and the majority of the playoffs. His dramatic return to the Canes in game 6 of the SCF didn't help that night, but he was one of the best players on the ice in game 7.

Orpik was also out for the game and was handed a two game suspension for reckless play.

Canes fans, myself included, were outraged that Orpik didn't visit Cole in the hospital. He didn't call, or even attempt to until months later. He showed little remorse for the end result of his actions. He defended the hit as clean. While he openly said that it was unfortunate that Cole was hurt, that was as far as he went. He became public enemy #1. The two teams didn't meet again that season.

In the 2006-07 season, Orpik was hurt in the first game between the Canes and Penguins. He was lustily booed both times the Penguins visited Raleigh, but nothing ever happened between Orpik and Cole.

This season, there were a couple of near altercations in the second game, but nothing happened. Finally, in the third game, on February 2, Cole and Orpik fought. Orpik wasn't really into it, but the word on the street is that the two talked about it and Orpik agreed that he owed Cole a fight. Cole isn't much of a fighter, but he had to have that one to finally bring something resembling closure to the whole thing. At that point, I think Cole was satisfied. I was satisfied. It was over.

However, when the Penguins returned to Raleigh on Valentine's Day, a lot of fans wouldn't let go. They continued to boo Orpik every time he touched the puck. I said on this blog and in the arena that night that it people needed to move on.

Right after the boarding incident, I was furious. I went on and on for days about how horrible Orpik was. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, I knew that he never intended to hurt Cole like that. He intended to hit him hard. He was reckless, but he didn't want any of that. He could have carried himself a little better in the aftermath, but he's not a monster.

I was one of loudest boobirds in those games last season, but I was actually done with it by the end of that season. And I was definitely done with it when Orpik gave Cole that fight. Erik Cole is done with it. Why shouldn't I be? Why shouldn't the rest of the Caniac nation be?

Canes smash Pens, E Staal shines

I watched tonight's game from the confines of the bar where I work. I went with a friend of mine who is a HUGE Penguins fan, and we raised the ire of a lot of people who wanted to watch the conclusion of the Yankees-Indians game. We only have two teevees, but I saw no reason for both of them to show the baseball game, and I get to do what I want, so that's the way it was. Go to the other end of the bar to watch baseball.

Honestly, I don't like writing about a game that I watched in a bar. There's too many distractions and usually the sound isn't on, so I don't watch the game as closely as I would like. By the end of the second period, I wasn't really giving it as much attention as I wanted to, so I'll have to watch the DVR to get everything right.

The crux of it is that Eric Staal scored the first two goals of the game to give him three for the season. The goal on Wednesday that was given to Staal, then changed to Cole was eventually changed back to Staal. He's now on pace for 123 goals this season. Obviously he won't hit that mark, but he's off to a fantastic start.
At 7:08, he knocked one in from the low slot assisted by Tim Gleason and Jeff Hamilton.

At 13:21, Staal made a very nifty move culminating in a backhand shot from the right circle. The shot fluttered through Fleurry, giving the Canes a 2-0 lead. At first I thought it had ricocheted off Fleurry's right skate, but replays showed that it actually caromed off Brooks (aka "Public Enemy #1) Orpik's skate. Cole and Hamilton assisted.

Andrew Ladd looked really good in getting to a loose puck and beating Fleurry with it. Sloppy notes on this one, but Justin Williams and Dennis Seidenberg assisted.

At 17:35, Jeff Hamilton did exactly what we brought him in to do. He quarterbacked the power play and scored a goal from the point. Rod Brind'Amour and Ray Whitney assisted. On a side note, Ray Whitney was up to his old antics, hamming it up during the pre-game interview with Rod Brind'Amour. Hijacking the spotlight by skating by and mugging for the camera. We didn't see a lot of that last season.

Cam Ward lost his shutout bid at 16:37 of the third when our old friend Mark Recchi notched a power play goal (assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar. Although we'd have preferred the shutout, we still got a convincing win, and you can never complain when the Recchin' Ball does something good.

I'll have to watch the DVR of the game to catch some of the stuff I missed.

The "official" three stars went to Andrew Ladd (third), Eric Staal (second) and Cam Ward (first).
Those are fine, but I don't think there's any way you can discount Jeff Hamilton's great night. I had an easy time selecting my three stars, but a difficult time enumerating them. The RBH three stars go to:
Third Star: Eric Staal, CAR --- 2 goals, GWG
Second Star: Jeff Hamilton, CAR --- 1 goal, 2 assists
First Star: Cam Ward, CAR --- 33 saves, win

In the course of the game, Jordan Staal squared up against Eric in the face-off circle two times. Eric won both faceoffs, and has earned two gatorades.

Make that two Gatorades, Jordan.

On Saturday night, the Penguins came to Raleigh for a game that had quite a lot of buzz. Before the game, there were quite a few little story lines developing. Staal v Staal. Cole v Orpik. Our first look at Malkin. What could have been quite explosive ended up having no drama at all. The Canes ran away with a 6-2 victory, and Jordan Staal now owes his older brother two Gatorades. The first time these two teams played, Eric and Jordan wagered a Gatorade on the outcome of the game. Eric won, and I think it's safe to assume that he offered a "double or nothing" bet.

Because the Pens had played on Friday night, Jocelyn Thibault got the start between the pipes. Carolina, who has already played five sets of back-to-back games, would not offer any sympathy in that department.

While there was never any rough stuff with Orpik, he got a not-so-warm welcome from the Raleigh faithful. The first time he stepped on the ice, and every single time he touched the puck, he was greeted with a thunderous chorus of boos.

At around the 7:00 mark of the first period, a fight erupted that had nothing to do with Orpik. Mike Commodore and Chris Thorburn. Call it a tone-setter, call it a tension breaker, call it "getting that out of the way". Call it whatever you want, but there was no more of that for the rest of the game.

Viva got the game's first goal at 12:51 while Carolina was enjoying a five-on-three sequence. Brind'Amour fired a backhand shot at Jocelyn Thibault that was blocked, but Williams was there to stuff in the rebound. Erik Cole got the secondary assist. That assist was the 100th of Cole's NHL career.

At 17:41, Ray "The Wizard" Whitney made it 2-0. Erik Cole set him up from behind the net for a wrister from the low slot. Cole got one assist ans Commy got the other.

Just 24 seconds into the second frame, the Pens' Sergei Gonchar, who is arguably their best defenseman, and a crucial penalty killer, took a penalty for roughing. This gave the Canes a power play and a fresh sheet of ice. They took advantage when Rod Brind'Amour finished a beautiful play by tipping one past Thibault at 1:29. Eric Staal and Scotty "Remo" Walker had the assists. On that particular play, Pittsburgh looked like a tired team. That play was way too easy. Staal made a nifty pass to Brind'Amour, who was all alone in the low slot for the easy tip-in. It looked like one of those plays you run in practice like a billion times. This is why you run it so much. We had no way of knowing it at the time, but this turned out to be the game winning goal.

Just when we thought it was looking like a romp, it started to get interesting. John Leclair scored one for the Pens at the 3:48 mark, ending Cam Ward's shutout streak at 84 minutes 48 seconds. "Avi" Tanabe was absolutely terrible on that play. It started when he couldn't handle a pass down in the Pens zone, then lost a footrace with LeClair, on whom he had a four stride head start. After the Pens had control of the puck in the Canes zone, Tanabe played some form of matador defence that you would expect to see in a 40 and over rec league. Surprisingly, it was Leclair's first goal of the season. Jarkko Ruutu (whose name I just love to say) got the only assist.

At 16:42, our old pal The Recchin' Ball scored another one for the Pens to make it really interesting. Avi Tanabe was in the box as the play was being set up, but the penalty expired before the goal. Technically, it's an even strength goal, but Tanabe wasn't back in the play yet, and his stupid lazy holding penalty gave the Pens the power play opportunity. Nils Ekman and Dominic Moore got the assists. Recchi got a really nice ovation, as everyone in the barn was glad to see him.

Early in the third, there was a lot of drama, but nothing to do with Cole/Orpik. The Penguins were applying a lot of pressure down in Carolina's end, and in a mad scramble, it looked like they had scored a goal. The red light never went on, and the referee was emphatically waving it off, but from my POV, directly behind the net, it looked like it might have been in. The game wasn't on teevee here, and I can't find a replay of it, but it looked to the naked eye like Ward made a stop from behind the line, then pulled it back over the line. I dunno. Anyway, play continued until a Penguins penalty was committed about a minute later. By NHL rule this is the way it has to be done. They can't review the goal situation until the next stoppage of play. We were all wondering what would have happened if they called it a goal. Would they re-set the clock and cancel the penalty? What if Carolina had scored before a play stoppage? After a looooooong review, during which Rod Brind'Amour didn't look happy, they let the on-ice call stand: no goal.

Eric Belanger, who has been a very hard working guy lately got a goal at 8:00 of the third to give us some breathing room. From a very sharp angle at the bottom of the left circle, he threw it at the net, and it kind of surprised Thibault. I thought at first that it must have glanced in off a defenseman's skate or something, but it was just that Thibault was looking for a pass and was horribly beaten. I think it actually went behind him on the short side, but he was looking at Anton Babchuk, who was streaking down the right side as part of a 3-on-2 break.

At 16:42, Eric Staal interfered with a Penguins player, and was sent to the box. In a strange way, this helped the Canes. Michel Therrien decided to go the unorthodox route and pull his goaltender for a six-on-four power play with 2:30 still to play. As soon as Thibault went to the bench, the Pens turned the puck over in neutral ice and Kevyn Adams hit the bulls eye from the top of the right circle for the shorthanded marker. Two seasons ago, K-Ads was third in the league with five shorties. This was his first so far this season.

As if this was a game I was playing on NHL '04, the Canes scored another shorty on the same penalty. Chad "Sharpie" LaRose, who is one of my favorite players because of his hard work, got one past Thibault at 18:28. Maybe the Pens had given up hope, but they turned it over in the Canes zone, and Carolina was off on a two-on-one shorthanded break. Trevor "The Dude" Letowski fed Sharpie for a one-timer from the top of the left circle. The only Penguins skater back on the play was Orpik, who had a really rough night. Anton Babchuk got the secondary assist

Mike Commodore, who doesn't get nearly enough love, did a sensational job neutralizing the big Malkin. Malkin was only able to get two shots off, and neither of them was of the "quality" variety. He spent most of his night fighting off Commodore. Mad props to Commy on that. Added to that, Commodore had two assists.

Sid the Kid had some great chances, but Ward rose to the occasion every time.

Despite having a piecemeal defensive corps in front of him, Ward really hasn't had to work that hard in the past few games. They're minimizing quality chances, which makes life easier. For the third straight game, Wardo has faced exactly 20 shots. That sounds like a pretty good day at the office if you ask me.

The "official" three stars went to Cole (3rd), Brindy (2nd) and Whitney (1st). I don't get that.

With six different goal scorers, and 13 different players with at least one point, it's a little more difficult than most nights. The RBH stars of the game:
Third Star Rod Brind'Amour, CAR. 1 goal, 1 assist, GWG
Second Star Mike Commodore, CAR. 2 assists, stellar defense, +3
First Star Erik Cole, CAR. 2 assists, 6 hits

The Tevvy, which hasn't really been given out at all this season, definitely goes to "Avi" Tanabe, who finished with a -2.