Canes have their own little coaching carousel

On Monday, the Hurricanes announced that they will be making some coaching changes within the organ-eye-zation. Peter Laviolette isn't going anywhere, but there were two significant changes that look to be beneficial for everyone. Long time Hurricanes AHL affiliate head coach Tom Rowe has been called up to be Peter Laviolette's assistant. He will both replace and be replaced by Hurricanes assistant coach Jeff Daniels. That's right. Daniels and Rowe have swapped jobs.

Daniels, who very inconspicuously played parts of six seasons with the Whaler/Canes between 96-97 and 02-03, went immediately from the ice to the bench upon his retirement. The anonymous left winger played 272 games with the Whaler/Canes, which was the bulk of his NHL career. He notched just 20 (8/12) points with the organ-eye-zation, but was always well respected for his ice smarts and his work ethic. For what it's worth, he was always my ex-girlfriend Eleanor's favorite player. She hated Justin Williams from the word go just because he wore Daniels' number 11 sweater.

Tom Rowe also spent part of his playing career with the Whale. Between 79-80 and 81-82, he played 115 games for the blue and green, notching 55 (23/32) points. He spent the majority of his playing career (off and on) with the Capitals. In 1979, he became the only American-born player to register 30 goals in a season when he had 31 in 69 games for the Caps.
Rowe joined the AHL Lowell Lock Monsters as an assistant coach for the 2001-02 season and became head coach in 2004-05. When the Hurricanes switched their AHL affiliate to the Albany River Rats, Rowe went with. In four full seasons as head coach, he's had a 156-130-5-29 record.

Rowe, who has done a good job in Lowell/Albany, knows and has coached many of the players on the Canes roster. He'll be getting an excellent chance to work in the NHL and position himself for a head coaching job somewhere.

In addition to becoming the new head coach of the River Rats, Daniels will also be the GM. Both will be new and exciting experiences for him and an excellent move for him career-wise.

A while back, I heard some speculation that former captain and all-around classy guy Kevin Dineen was being earmarked for a coaching position within the club, but it appears that he's staying put as the skipper of the AHL Portland Pirates. The Pirates, who had been affiliated with the Ducks are scheduled to announce a new NHL affiliation on Tuesday. It will either be a one-year deal with the Stars, or some longer-term thing with Florida.

Rats Eliminated

On Tuesday night, the River Rats were defeated by the Phantoms 2-0. Philly has won the series four games to three and the season is over for the Rats.

This was a phenomenal series for both goaltenders. Scott Munroe got the job done when everything was on the line, but losing goaltender Michael Leighton was probably the best "losing" goaltender any playoff series has ever seen.

Now that the Rats have been, um, exterminated, the Hurricanes organ-eye-zation can make signing Leighton the #1 priority. Johnny Crackers is already gone. There's no way in the world he sniffs an offer sheet from the Hurricanes.

Busy hockey day

Tonight there are three NHL playoff games. That's an unusual number for the second round, but we should be glad to have it. The Detroit-Colorado series took an extra day off, which left yesterday with just the one game.

John Forslund, who has been with the Whaler/Canes organ-eye-zation since the early nineties, and who has been the teevee play-by-play guy since 1995, will be making the call for Versus for games three and four of that Detroit-Colorado series. He's been logging a lot of miles for Versus, and he's been doing a great job. It's weird, I must say, to hear him say "And Colorado is off and running!" or "Budaj says no!" rather than to have "Carolina" and "Cam Ward" plugged into those formulae.

Earlier in the night, of course, the Penguins and Rangers head into MSG for game three of their series. I don't expect the Penguins to sweep the series, but I don't expect the Rangers to win both home games either.

The biggest thing for me, though, will be game seven between the River Rats and the Phantoms in the Wachovia Center tonight.

In other AHL news, former Hurricane and female fan favorite Bates Battaglia scored a dramatic goal with less than a minute to play to give the Toronto Marlies (Maple Leafs) a series victory over the San Antonio Rampage (Coyotes). I'm not a fan of Battaglia on a personal level, but it's good to see him doing well.

Go Pens!
Go Rats!

Rats force game seven, Leighton continues to smolder.

On Saturday afternoon, the River Rats and Phantoms again needed overtime to settle their playoff game. On Thursday, they set a new AHL record for longest game at 142:58. Today, they needed "just" 70:38. Fortunately, the Rats were on the right end of this one, forcing a game seven on Monday night.

Kirk MacDonald's game winning goal at 10:38 of the overtime period ended a ridiculously long shutout streak by Phantoms netminder Scott Munroe. Kiel McLeod gave the Rats a 2-1 lead way way back at 17:14 of the second period of game five. Counting the rest of that game (105:46) and this game (70:38), Munroe went 176:24 without allowing a goal. That's almost three games.

Michael Leighton, who stopped 98 of 101 shots on Thursday, stopped all 40 shots he faced on Saturday. He's faced a total of 284 shots during this playoff series. He has given up just eight goals and has two shutout wins. His GAA is 1.06 and his save percentage is an unbelievable .972.

It really is a shame that these games aren't televised and that nobody gives a crap about them. There's been some sensational goaltending on both sides.

After the winning goal was scored, Phantoms captain Boyd Kane was given a major penalty for cross-checking and a mandatory game misconduct penalty in accordance with rule 59.5. I assume that he will be unavailable for Monday's game seven.

Go Rats!

Leighton makes 98 saves; River Rats lose epic game five

On Thursday night, the River Rats fell 3-2 in a marathon 5-overtime game to the Phantoms. The Phantoms now have a 3-2 series lead with two chances to wrap up the series on their home ice.

Rats goaltender Michael Leighton made 98 saves. This is not a misprint. I don't know how in the world a guy makes 98 saves and loses the game.

I'm not sure what the record books have for the AHL, but the winning goal came 2:58 into the fifth overtime period. This game lasted an eye-popping 142:58. The Phantoms had a total of 101 shots, while the Rats "only" had 67.

Check the scorecard here.

Sadly, this may be lights out for the Rats. No matter what, though, Michael Leighton has had a hell of a series. He deserves every bit of credit. He deserves any and all accolades he gets. He deserves a contract in Raleigh next season.

Rats fall in game 4

On Tuesday night, the River Rats fell 2-1 to the visiting Phantoms in game two of their first round Calder Cup playoff series. The series is now knotted at two. The pivotal game five will be Thursday in Albany followed by two games in Philly.

Just two minutes into the game, right wing Jakub Petruzalek scored his second goal of the series. Brandon Sutter picked up his first playoffs assist. 20 seconds later, the Phantoms tied it. 5:20 into the second, Phantoms left wing Kyle Greentree scored the game winner. He also assisted the first goal, and was named the game's first star.

Rats netminder Michael Leighton made 24 saves, but Phantoms goalie Scott Munroe stopped 30 of the 31 shots he saw.

Rats take game 3

On Sunday afternoon, the River Rats defeated the Phantoms 4-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the first round of Calder Cup playoffs. The series will continue with games four and five in Albany on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

Rookie defenseman Bryan Rodney (who is not property of the Hurricanes) potted two goals. He now has five (3/2) points in three games, and is third in the league in playoff scoring. Brett Carson and Joe Jensen also scored for the Rats.

Michael Leighton made 38 saves and was the game's first star. He has faced 117 shots in these playoffs and has allowed just three goals. His save percentage is a sparkling .974. If UFA-to-be Johnny Crackers hasn't already packed his bags, he should probably start doing so. Rats season ticket holders should enjoy watching Leighton while they can. He won't be there this fall.

Meanwhile, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton "Baby" Penguins (Penguins) are all over the Hershey Bears (Capitals) 3-0 in that series. They will be the next opponent for whoever wins the Rats-Phantoms series.

Phantoms knot series at one

After being shut out on Wednesday night, the Phantoms returned the favor against Albany on Friday, shutting out the River Rats 3-0. The series is tied 1-1, and game three will be Sunday afternoon in Philly.

Surprisingly, the bad blood from Wednesday didn't spill over to Friday. I still think there'll be more rough stuff before the series is over.

Conboy suspended eight games

As a result of his actions in a line brawl between the River Rats and Phantoms on Wednesday night, Rats defenseman Tim Conboy has been suspended by the AHL for eight games, starting with Friday's game in Philly. If his suspension is not served in full during this playoff season, the balance will carry over to next regular season.

Here's the graphic video of Conboy destroying some poor kid. Sure it was dirty for the Rats to have two guys pounding on one guy, but I think someone wiser than I once said "All's fair in love and line brawls"


The suspension is ostensibly in accordance with rule 70.6, concerning leaving the bench to participate in an altercation. However, it looks to me like Conboy was on the ice when the whole thing got started. He wasn't the sixth guy. It looks like they were in the midst of a line change, and it's just unfortunate. What he did was wrong, and he deserves to be suspended, but I don't like that they're citing that rule as the reason.

There has been bad blood between these two teams all season long, including another line brawl back in October.

You can bet your bottom dollar that the bad blood will spill over to Friday night. From the AHL's website, you can pay $6 to stream live video of a game. This one might be worth it.

Rats take game one

On Wednesday in Albany, the River Rats destroyed the Phantoms 4-0 in the first game of their best-of-seven playoff series.

Jakub Petruzalek, Jerome Samson, Bryan Rodney and Marc Cavosie all scored for the Rats. Rodney added two assists. Mike Angelidis also had two assists. The full scoresheet is here.

At 19:31 of the third, a huge fight erupted which resulted in 52 minutes of penaties being doled out. Trevor Gillies and Tim Conboy were both given game misconduct penalties. Gillies for being the third man in and Conboy for leaving the bench to partake in the fracas. I'm not sure how this will affect their status for Friday night's game two in Philadelphia.

Michael Leighton stopped 39 shots to earn the shutout and the game's first star. In 80 regular season games, the Phantoms were never shut out.

Go Rats!!!

River Rats season winds down

The Albany River Rats will conclude their regular season tomorrow with a game at the Philadelphia Phantoms. Both teams have qualified for the playoffs. The Rats can neither gain nor lose ground in the Eastern Conference standings, but the Phantoms have a lot on the line. They are three points back of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins with two games to play. They have a chance to take the East Division crown.

In the final week of the season, the playoff seeds are nowhere close to being set, but Albany knows that they will have the #6 seed.

Last night in Albany, the Rats lost to the Baby Penguins 4-3. Dave Gove potted two goals to beat his former team.

In other Rats news, Mike Leighton was recently awarded the Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award, given annually to the best goaltender in the AHL. I don't think there's any doubt that he will be the #2 goaltender in Raleigh next season. Crackers never really got the job done. To his credit, he didn't pout and stomp around when it became clear that his role was never to leave the bench, but he just isn't a serviceable NHL goaltender anymore. Maybe John Tortarella isn't so much of an asshole after all. Nah. He's still an asshole, even if he was right about Grahame.

Anyway, look for the re-signing of Leighton to be a high priority for the Canes this summer. Samsonov is first. Acquiring defense is second. Getting Leighton signed should be right up there.

When the standings/ Calder Cup seedings are settled, I'll get more into that.

Go Rats!

Rats secure spot

With three games still to play, the River Rats have secured a spot in the Calder Cup playoffs of the AHL. They lost to the Admirals on Saturday, but the Sound Tigers also lost. That means Bridgeport was eliminated and Albany's spot is safe.

Ryan Bayda, Keith Aucoin and Tim Conboy are on two-way contracts, but I believe the AHL has a cutoff point for reassigning players, and that time has passed.

At any rate, we're all wishing the best for the Rats.

The standings are pretty tight, and everybody has at least three games to play, but if the playoffs started today, the Rats would be playing the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton "Baby" Penguins.

Oh, and by the way, the AHL has already started doing something that we all hope the NHL never does. They have corporate sponsor logos on the sweaters now. For the time being, it's subtle logos on the right breast. It's barely noticeable. I just hope that it never becomes the mess that European hockey sweaters are. For the record, Albany's sponsor is the agricultural giant Cargill.

Sutter scores game winner

On Friday, while the big team crapped the bed, the Albany River Rats continued to play good hockey. They beat the Norfolk Admirals 5-2, and Brandon Sutter notched the game winner in just his third AHL game. In three games, the 2007 Hurricanes top pick has one goal and one assist.

With four games remaining on the schedule, the Rats have all but locked up a Calder Cup playoff spot. They need just one standings point, or for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to lose just one of their remaining six games.

Rookie sensation Jerome Samson, who may vie for a spot on the Hurricanes, scored his 21st of the season.

Michael Leighton, who leads the AHL in all goaltending categories, picked up his 28th win of the season. Look for him to join the big team next season.

The same two teams will square off tonight, and again on Wednesday.

canes, river rats on tv tonight

Tonight the Hurricanes will play the Rangers in the fifth game of a six-game homestand.

While the Hurricanes attempt to extend their hot streak, their top minor league affiliate Albany River Rats will be playing a game against the Rochester Amerks. That game will be part of the NHL Network's AHL coverage.

I won't be able to watch either game, but I'll have the dvr working overtime.

As expected, Tim Gleason will not play tonight. The good news is that defenseman Dennis Seidenberg (ankle) has a good chance of playing.

The other good news is that Tuomo Ruutu (henceforth referred to as "Rudy" or "Rooty" or "Ruuty") will be back in the lineup. Our friend The Sliding Pokecheck has a great post about the amount of character this guy is already displaying. There's also a great picture of him at a press conference yesterday. Looking like Frankenstein's monster, but with a huge grin on his face like he couldn't be happier.

He'll play with a cage mask tonight. At least he'll attempt to play.

Eventually, I'll have a NHR post about the completely ridiculous display of asshattery last night in a college basketball game. In brief: In the Duke/Georgia Tech game, a GaTech player took a charge and hit his head against the floor very hard. He was clearly, clearly concussed. Instead of being taken to the room, he sat on the bench with his eyes rolling around in his head. He sat there for a while, then was SENT BACK INTO THE GAME by their idiot coach. On the floor, he looked worse than he did on the bench. His eyes were rolling and fluttering. He was shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, trying to remove the cobwebs and regain his focus. It was a completely asinine move by the coach, putting the boy's health in very serious jeopardy. His mother was in the stands, and I hope she went to kick the coach's ass after the game.

Anyway, both the Canes game and the River Rats game begin at 7:00. The Rats are on a bit of a streak of their own, and it should be a treat to watch.

As far as the Canes game is concerned, it will be another Staal/Staal matchup and a chance for Canes fans to lustily boo Sean Avery.

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.

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!

CrAdams banned for two games; Larose and Tanabe concussed; Albany has the flu

The Carolina Hurricanes have been called a lot of things by a lot of people. "Dirty" has never been one of them. Prior to this season, the last time a Hurricanes player was handed an NHL suspension was in the 2002 playoffs. Suddenly, in the last four games, two Hurricanes have been suspended.

Scott Walker was given a one game suspension for headbutting the Senators' Mike Fisher.

Against the Leafs last night, Craig Adams was penalized for high-sticking Alex Steen late in the third period before the Leafs' monumental collapse. As I watched the game, I wondered why the call was "high sticking" rather than "cross checking". It was a high hit, and it was to the head. The league is doing its part to make sure hits to the head are kept to a minimum. Today, the league handed Craiggers a two game suspension.
However, Luke Decock wants to know (and so do I) why that player was singled out. In the first period of that game, Nik Antropov clipped Erik Cole in the face, opening a cut. No penalty. Occasionally, the refs miss stuff, but even the Leafs announcers wondered where the call was.

In the third, Alex Ponikarovsky (who would later become the goat) checked Chad "Sharpie" LaRose from behind into the end wall, giving him a concussion. No penalty there either, but the ref was right on top of it and let it go.

At some point in the first period, "Avi" Tanabe suffered a concussion, but nobody knows how or when. I assume he concussed himself when he considered actually hitting someone.

Both Tanabe and LaRose failed baseline tests and did not travel with the team. This is not good news. The Albany River Rats have the flu. Got that? The whole team. Has the flu. They won't be of any help. Just yesterday, they themselves called up seven players from the ECHL Elmira (NY) Jackals. The Jackals are somehow affiliated with the Columbus Blue Jackets, but ECHL affiliations are loose at best.
The River Rats can ill afford to be without any of their players -- they already have THIRTEEN players out with flu or injury -- but Carolina will be missing two forwards and possibly will continue to miss Rod Brind'Amour with the flu. No moves yet, but I'm itching to get a look at RW Jerome Samson who has 18 (11/7) points in Albany or LW Brandon Nolan (son of Ted), who has 21 (10/11). Neither have made their NHL debut, but both are playing better than Keith Aucoin and Dave Gove.

The suspension isn't that much of a surprise, but the news of two concussions was unwelcome. Carolina does not have enough healthy extras to fill those voids. Someone is gonna get a call from somewhere.

Hurricanes to have their own AHL team. Plus, musical chairs

This is something that hasn't been talked about very much, and it is sort of a big deal, so here goes...

Next season, the American Hockey League will expand from 27 teams to 29. Every NHL team has at the very least, a joint affiliation with one or more AHL squads. For the last four seasons, Carolina has split an AHL team with another NHL squad. Now they will be back to having an exclusive affiliation.

For the 2003-04 season and also during the lockout, Carolina split the Lowell Lock Monsters with Calgary. This is how the Canes became familiar with, and how they ultimately courted Mike Commodore.
For the 2005-06 season, Carolina split Lowell with Colorado.
Last season, Carolina split the Albany River Rats with Colorado.

For next season, Colorado will be affiliated with the "expansion" Lake Erie Monsters. They technically aren't an expansion team because they're just the rebirth of the dormant Utah Grizzlies franchise. Now that the Avs are gone, Carolina will have Albany all to themselves. It's always been the case that the AHL team bore the Carolina logo somewhere on their sweater, and Carolina was always the "primary" interest, but now it will be all theirs. No more figuring out if the Rats players are ours or theirs.

The other "new" team will be the Rockford (Illinois) Ice Hogs. They are a rebirth of the dormant Cincinnati Mighty Ducks franchise. They will be the sole property of the Blackhawks.

Annnnnnnd..... there's a game of musical chairs.

Chicago had previously used the Norfolk Admirals as their AHL Affiliate. The Admirals will now be affiliated with the Lightning.

Tampa had previously used the Springfield (Massachusetts) Falcons as their affiliate. The Falcons will now be associated with Edmonton.

Last season, Edmonton had their hands in five different AHL teams. Two seasons ago, they forced the Edmonton Road Runners out of business, and the scrambled to share AHL affiliates for the 06 and 07 seasons.

So far as I can tell, the Panthers will still latch on to the Rochester Americans. who are primarily operated by the Sabres.

And speaking of the River Rats, the Hurricanes have signed 22-year old centerman Jakub Petruzalek to a two-year two-way contract which will pay the Czech $475K at the NHL level or $55K at the AHL level. After being acquired via trade with the Rangers last autumn, Petruzalek amassed 28 (10/18) points in 54 games with Albany. He also added four points (2/2) in five playoff games for the River Rats.