This site proudly sponsors Chad LaRose

I've only recently discovered Hockey-Reference.com. It's a wonderful statistics resource. They also have football-reference and baseball-reference and so on, but who really cares about that?

If you need to know any statistical detail at all, this outstanding site can help you. Need to know the trophy winners from any given year? Easy. Final standings from any given year? Kid's stuff. These kinds of things you can find anywhere.

Hockey-reference. com is outstanding because you can find and sort any stats you want , whether it's your favorite player or your favorite team or whatever. You need to know the score of a game on a specific date back in 1943? No problem. You need to see Pavel Bure's seasonal shots on goal per game stats sorted in ascending or descending order? No problem. Ever wanna know the names of every guy who ever played for the Montréal Maroons? No problem.

I've had a lot of fun clicking around.

Anyway, the webmaster has come up with a fun and innovative way to help finance the site. Users are allowed to "sponsor" a player's stats page, or a specific team stat page, or a the stats page of a coach. Most pages can be sponsored and linked to a blog for just $10. Some, however, are a little spendy. Wayne Gretzky went for $200. Many hall of famers, including Ron Francis, are going for $100.

Red and Black Hockey has sponsored the stats page for Chad "Sharpie" LaRose. The Chuck Norris of hockey.

I can think of a lot worse ways to spend $10, and helping to keep this excellent stats reference afloat is a pretty good way. Plus, you get to put your mark on the page, and possibly generate traffic to your blog. I don't expect to see an increase in traffic based on my sponsorship.

Stop by, have fun with the stats, and sponsor a page!

Hurricanes sign Sutter

On Wednesday morning, the Hurricanes signed 2007 first round pick Brandon Sutter to a three year entry-level contract. The contract won't officially begin until next season, and he has been assigned to Albany on a "tryout contract".

The 6'3" 170 pound kid is expected to make the Hurricanes lineup next fall. One of the things they'll work on with him over the summer is weight training and trying to get him to quickly fill out that huge frame.

After the Andrew Ladd experiment in 2004, the Jack Johnson disaster in 2005, and not getting a first round pick in 2006, this is very exciting.

Carolina has been trying for a few weeks to make this happen. Apparently, the stumbling block was the bonus clauses and the signing bonus. This contract has a $262,500 signing bonus. He'll make $787,500 at the NHL level next season.

Sutter had 49 (26/23) points in 59 games this season with the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL.

How Sutter will fit into the lineup next October will be a mystery. If it comes down to a battle for the last roster spot, Sutter is a right handed shot, and that should give him somewhat of an advantage. Carolina is, and has been lacking in right handed shots. Especially at the center position.

Speaking of right hand shots, Patrick Eaves will be undergoing shoulder surgery, and will be out for at least the remainder of the regular season. This means that Chad "Sharpie" LaRose will be rushed back into the lineup. He broke his leg February 5, and only returned to practice this week. He had one full contact practice and is feeling fine.

If anybody is concerned about Chad, they shouldn't be. He's tougher than Chuck Norris. LaRose is a crowd favorite and a sparkplug for the team on the ice and on the bench. It's great to hear that he's back in the lineup.

Canes injury woes continue

Carolina was already pretty banged up when they went to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. When they left, they were a lot worse for the wear. Of course they lost the game, but they lost more than that. Matt Cullen and Andrew Ladd may miss games due to injuries sustained in the game.

Justin Williams was already out with a bad knee. Both the MCL and the ACL are shot. He's done for the season. We already knew that.

Chad LaRose is concussed. He skated in practice today for the first time in over a week, but wore the yellow "no contact" sweater. He won't be back in time for the Boston game.

Craig Adams has finished his two game suspension

Matt Cullen suffered a broken nose. He may or may not be concussed. The lack of news in this department doesn't fall into the "no gnus is good gnus" department. (anybody old enough to remember that?)
Seriously, I assume that Cullen took a baseline test this morning. If he had passed the test, I think we would have heard by now. I read somewhere on a Rangers site that TSN.ca is reporting that he is NOT concussed, but I haven't been able to find any such article. No news is bad news.

Andrew Ladd may or may not have a broken orbital bone after he got clobbered by Sean Avery. I can't find any mention of this other than in blog comment sections, so I'll reserve that with a grain or two of salt.
This suggests that Colin Campbell isn't interested in Orr (not surprised) or Avery. Avery's transgression, however, is bunched in with those that carry a mandatory one game suspension. Nothing further will be levied on him. Meh.

Williams and LaRose are definitely out. Cullen is probably out. If Ladd indeed has a broken orbital bone, he'll be out for a while. Two top six guys and two third line guys. When Williams went down, the rallying cry was "Time for Ladd to step up. Time for LaRose to play an increased role." Now they're both out. It's a fantastic opportunity for Brandon Nolan to stay on the team and prove his worth. We should expect to see Ryan Bayda get the call-up from Albany. Maybe Keith Aucoin too.

Whether it's freak accident (Williams) or the result of marginal play, other teams are definitely taking liberties with Carolina. What makes it worse is that they know they can. Carolina is going through a horrible power play slump, so other teams can rough us up at will with confidence that Carolina won't score on the power play. They also know that Carolina isn't going to send anyone out to "clean matters up". It's a well-known fact that they have a "no fighting" rule, and even if they wanted to fight, Brandon Nolan is the only one who could even remotely strike fear in anyone's heart. This isn't the "new NHL" anymore, where skilled players are protected by the rules. Luke Decock said it best today:

Like it or not, the NHL is once again relying on frontier justice. And the Hurricanes look like the Quakers in the wagon train.

To remedy that, Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford is indicating that he's shopping around for an enforcer. The holiday roster freeze will thaw out at midnight tonight, and Carolina will look for free agents who might fall under the umbrella of "enforcer with skill". Good luck with that. Rachel Carter of the N&O has the story on that, which can be summed up with JR's quote:

“So, we continue to look at things. I think the one area, and we've talked about this the first half of the season, but it becomes more obvious now — is maybe an enforcer.
It seems like every week one of our guys is getting hit pretty hard and getting hurt, so we may try to look a little harder at that....
There's been guys come available that are tough guys, but probably not at the level we're looking for, so we're still going to look for one of those top guys.”

This will have to come on the free agency market. Carolina doesn't have any healthy players to use for trade bait.

The Canes will be home on Friday against the Bruins. I can only count ten healthy forwards. Brind'Amour, Whitney, Cole, Staal, Stillman, Hamilton, Walker, Adams, Nolan, Letowski. There are seven healthy defensemen, but that leaves them one player shy of a full roster.
Someone has to get called up.
At midnight.

Don't expect the "enforcer" move to come on Friday, but definitely expect Ryan Bayda to be wearing #18 against the Bs.

There is continued rumbling about making a move for a puck-moving defenseman. That will have to come via trade, which means we have to wait for people to get healthy.
Any ideas?

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.

A tale of two cities

While Carolina is unbeatable in Montréal, they can't buy a win in Detroit. Add that to the difficulties of a 19-hour turnaround from the end of Saturday's game to the start of Sunday's.

Entering last night's game, Carolina had eight consecutive wins at the Bell/Molson Centre, dating back to the lockout. The 5-1 win stretched that streak to nine, including postseason. Detroit is a different tale altogether. Carolina won game one of the 2002 Stanley Cup Final at the Joe, but aside from that, Carolina/Hartford hasn't won a game there since 1989. Unless I have it wrong, that's a run of 0-10-0-2. Throw in the 2002 Stanley Cup, and it's 1-12-0-2. That's a terrible record.

Thanks in large part to that 2002 Stanley Cup disaster, the Hurricanes count Detroit as one of their rivals. They don't fool themselves into thinking that the feeling is reciprocated, but it's always a big game against the Wings. Carolina has done a little better against the Winged Wheel at the RBC Center, but not at the Joe.

Ray Whitney will be playing there for the first time since they bought out his contract coming out of the lockout. He's not looking at it as a sort of homecoming. He doesn't say so, but I think it has to be a red letter game, going against a team that essentially threw him away.

Chad LaRose, who is from nearby Fraser, Michigan is viewing this as a homecoming. He's snatched up about 60 tickets for relatives and friends. He's played in the Joe before, but not as a professional. As a seven year old, his team played a game there. According to Lord Stanley's Blog, he has a painful memory of that game

“I had a penalty shot and I missed,” LaRose said. “I cried all the way home.”

Defenseman Tim Gleason is also from the Detroit area. His hometown of Clawson is just 20 miles north of the Motor City. The paper doesn't mention it, but I'm sure he's got dozens of friends and family there as well.

In order for Fox Sports South to air "The best damn archery shots" or "the best damn arm wrestling bouts" or some other such dreck, they won't show this game. Their excuse is that there's a college basketball game scheduled to air at 7:30. One that doesn't feature any of the teams from the FSS viewing area. You can still catch the game on Center Ice. Fox Sports Detroit is also scheduled to show a college basketball game at 7:30, but they're going to air the Red Wings game in its entirety, sacrificing the first seven minutes of the basketball game, joining it in progress.
I wonder why FSS didn't consider the option of running the hockey game in its entirety, picking up the basketball game on a (roughly) seven minute tape delay, then catching up to live time during halftime. Seems like that would work.
Anyway, it doesn't matter. I'll pick up the FSN Detroit broadcast.

The Red Wings have been off since Friday, and are a red hot team. They're leading the league in goals per game at 3.36. Carolina is third with 3.2. Also, they're third in the league in goals allowed per game at 2.21 while Carolina is 23rd at 2.93.

Chris Osgood, who has a league best 1.79 Goals Against Average, will thankfully have the night off. Dominik Hasek, though, is no slouch. His numbers this season are way less scary than they used to be, but he's still "The Dominator".

Carolina will be very tired. They played in Montréal last night while the Wings were sleeping. However, they skated seven defensemen and really only rolled three lines last night. Since there was one healthy scratch (Jeff Hamilton) and two guys (Craig Adams, Trevor Letowski) who played sparingly on the fourth line, they'll be asked to contribute a lot tonight. Chad LaRose is all geeked up, so there won't be any problem getting effort from him, but it's going to be hard for the other guys.

The second period will be the deal. That's when fatigue will most likely be the biggest factor working against the Canes. Maybe, just maybe, they'll get lucky and catch the Wings napping. I wouldn't bank on it though.

Around the Wings blogosphere:

Abel to Yzerman

Behind the Jersey

On the Wings

Thrashers 3- Canes 0. There's something about Johan.

The highest-scoring team in the NHL has just gone two games with a grand total of ONE goal scored. On Friday night, the visiting Thrashers blanked the home team, and the Hurricanes are on their first losing streak of the season.

After Wednesday night's clunker, I didn't think it could get worse. I thought they'd come out with all cylinders firing. I though wrong.

It wasn't so much that Carolina stunk. They certainly did, but Atlanta showed up and played 60:00 of hockey. They played better offensively, defensively, in transition, and in every way imaginable. Although they are the league's worst team in terms of penalty killing, they killed all four Carolina power plays. At times, they shut down the power play so effectively that it looked like Carolina was the shorthanded team.

In fact, that's how the whole game can be summarized. Carolina looked like they were shorthanded all night.

Maid Marian Hossa got the game winning goal at 5:41 of the first on a mini-breakaway. From the left side half-wall, Todd White hit Hossa with a pass in the slot. Hossa took the pass on his backhand side, and slowly dragged it to his forehand and easily beat Cam Ward. Ilya Kovalchuk got the secondary assist.

At 14:59 of the first, Maid Marian struck again on a pretty give-and-go with Todd White. The whole thing was started with a bad turnover by Bret Hediguchi just inside the Atlanta zone. Hedican's turnover was far and away the worst play of the game, and he earned the "Tevvy" for it.

John CusackIlya Kovalchuk potted an insignificant empty net goal at 19:01 of the third, assisted by Maid Marian. I think Hossa could have gone for the hat-trick, but unselfishly gave it up to the NHL's leading goal scorer.

The stat sheet says that Carolina outshot Atlanta 31-24, but Carolina's chances weren't very good, and they seldomly challenged the 34-year old Johan Hedberg. Hedberg became not only the second consecutive Swede, but the second consecutive Johan to beat the Canes. The winner at Tampa on Wednesday was Johan Holmqvist.

There was one good thing about Carolina's play. Chad LaRose was the hardest working player in red, and he drew all four of Atlanta's penalties. Unfortunately, the Canes couldn't capitalize on any of them, but he worked hard to put his team in a good position.

Carolina won't have much time to reflect on their loss, or mope about it. They'll stay home tomorrow for another SE division matchup. It'll be the Panthers for already the fourth time this season. After losing 4-2 in Sunrise on Halloween night, the Hurricanes have won the last two against the Panthers. Most recently on Monday night, when they won 4-3 but lost Erik Cole to a neck injury.

Fortunately for the Canes, neither Tomas Vokoun nor Craig Anderson is named "Johan" and neither is from Sweden. This will give the Hurricanes the decided edge. I've already looked into it, and Florida doesn't have any Swedish goaltenders in their system.

Speaking of Swedes, defenseman Nic Wallin is expected to return to the lineup tomorrow night against the Kitties. He's missed nine of the last ten games including the last seven in a row with a groin issue. This should help matters a lot, as it will get "Avi" Tanabe back in the press box.

The Kitties will almost certainly be facing Johnny Crackers between the pipes. The last time they saw Grahame was on November 3 in Raleigh when the Canes won 4-2. Last season, the Kitties were 1-2-3 in games versus Grahame.

Tomas Vokoun is the clearcut starter in Florida, and the Canes are 2-1-0 against him this season. Prior to this season, the last time the Canes saw Vokoun was in The Year of the Cup. After Frantisek Kaberle scored on a penalty shot in overtime against the Preds, Vokoun launched his goalie stick into the protective netting above the endboards, earning him an insignificant game misconduct penalty.

Carolina's goaltending, then, earns them an edge. Florida's forwards are looking better than Carolina's right now. The return of Nic Wallin would give Carolina an edge in the "defense" department.

Carolina should win the game on better goaltending. We'll see.

Neither Carolina nor Florida will be televising the game, so it'll be Chuckandtheletterk for me.

Oh yeah. Three stars. The three stars for Friday's game are:
THIRD STAR Ilya Kovalchuk, ATL --- 1 goal, 2 assists
SECOND STAR Todd White, ATL --- 2 assists
FIRST STAR Marian Hossa, ATL --- 2 goals, 1 assist

Hurricanes beat up, but still know comedy

After sustaining a slew of injuries on a three game road trip, the Canes flew home for a four game homestand starting with a back-to-back this weekend. On Friday they'll host the Thrashers, and on Saturday the Panthers will be in town.

On Monday, Erik Cole suffered a neck injury after colliding with Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun. He left the game with 7:32 remaining in the third and was at the Cleveland Clinic when Cory Stillman scored the game-winner with a little more than a minute remaining. Initial CT scans were negative, Cole was cleared to fly, and all reports were that he was "okay". Upon returning home, team doctors took a look at him, and have ruled him out for 7-10 days. They want to make sure that he has a full range of motion and that the stiffness and swelling in his neck go away. Given that he is only about 20 months removed from his C-5 compression fracture, this is to be expected. Frankly, I'm surprised that he got off that easily. The collision with Vokoun looked pretty bad, and we're all breathing a sigh of relief that he didn't sustain a serious injury.

On Wednesday night, Bret Hedican took a puck to the jaw, which left him woozy and with a puffy face. Later, Craig Adams got pummeled in a fight with Doug Janik and he probably had to get stitched up. Hedi and Adams both practiced on Thursday and are said to be no worse for the wear.

Good news is that Andrew Ladd has been participating in full practice, and is likely a "go" for Friday. Nic Wallin is getting close, but will be out for a little while longer. Scott Walker has been skating, but is not cleared for contact. Although not immediate, this signals an eventual return. All good news.

Now for the comedy.

In my in-box today was "a special message from Chad LaRose". A video promoting the "player figurine" giveaway that will be done on November 28 against the Flyers. The first in a series of four, the Rod Brind'Amour figurine looks nothing like the actual Rod, and the way "mini-Rod" is hoisting the Cup is nothing like what the real Rod did when he hoisted it. Us Canes bloggers are in agreement that these figurines look like crap.

The Sliding Pokecheck has posted the video message, which has made me laugh about a million times. You should definitely check it out. It looks like this video was dreamed up, scripted and filmed in a span of about nine minutes. Chad clearly has the script in his hand, and did nothing to prepare other than throw a ballcap on. He's doing all he can to not burst into laughter as he mockingly holds the figure and says "I picked mine up the other day, I put it on the shelf in my bedroom, and I look at it every single day".
I laughed. I cried. It's just a wee bit cooler by the inclusion of "Praise You" by Fatboy Slim as the background music.

Canes host Habs

On Friday, Les Habitants will visit the RBC Center for the second time this season. Carolina hopes that it can avoid a repeat performance of opening night, when the Canadiens won 3-2 in overtime.

Unfortunately, Erik "Hab Killa" Cole won't be dressed tonight. After suffering a soccer injury, his return is tentatively scheduled for Saturday night against the Islanders.

Cole and Andrew Ladd (ankle) are both in the "returning soon" department. Scott Walker (torso) remains out indefinitely. Dennis Seidenberg (knee) should return to the lineup tonight. However, we can add Nic Wallin (groin) to the walking wounded. Including tonight's injury scratches, Carolina will have lost 31 man-games to injury through 11 games.

Including tonight, the list (with currently injured players in bold) looks like this:
ERIK COLE 4 games -- foot
ANDREW LADD 8 games -- ankle
SCOTT WALKER 4 games -- torso
CORY STILLMAN 3 games -- torso
DENNIS SEIDENBERG 5 games -- knee
MIKE COMMODORE 4 games -- leg
BRET HEDICAN 2 games -- flu
NIC WALLIN 1 game -- groin

The other day, in reference to the injury plight, Peter Laviolette said "Good teams will ignore it".

One thing that cannot be ignored is the play of Cam Ward. After losing 20 pounds in the off-season, Ward came back a much different player. He's more explosive, he's more durable, he's "more" and "better at" everything than he was last season.

Also, Chad "Sharpie" LaRose has been given an increased role with the team. For two seasons, he was strictly a fourth line player, and he saw limited ice time. With the injuries to key forwards, LaRose has got to spend some time on the Brind'Amour/Williams line, and he's looked good. He's also killing penalties and seeing a tiny bit of poweer play time. He's averiging 15:00 TOI per game, and relishing every second of it. Lorenzo Perez from the N&O wrote

"Every day I wake up, I'm so excited," said LaRose, who scored the winning goal in Carolina's 3-1 victory over Vancouver on Monday. "I'm having trouble sleeping at night because I'm so excited for every day, whether it's practice or not, to come to the rink and be in the room with these guys and this team."

Also, Jeff Hamilton is having a great season. So far, he's proving to be the ultimate steal of free agency. With 8 points (3/5) through the first ten games, "Green Eggs and Hamilton" is on pace for a career best 66 points. He'll do this at the low low price of $800k.

Over in Buffalo, Thomas Vanek has scored 5(2/3) points through eight games. He's also on pace for a career best of 51 points. The problem is that Buffalo is paying Vanek $10M this season, for what will be worth much much less than that. The Rangers are paying Chris Drury the same money for what is on pace to be a 55 point season. This is General Managers Gone Wild. I know Darcy Regier had his hand pressed on the Vanek issue, but it's still insanity.

Puck drop is 7:00 tonight. I'm playing in a Scrabble tournament all weekend, so I won't be able to watch tonight. I won't be able to recap, and I won't be able to write anything about Saturday's game with the Islanders.

Canes beat weary Canucks 3-1

On Monday night, the Vancouver Canuncks came to town for the first time in almost four years. Carolina had to (literally) fight harder than they would have liked, but the end result was a 3-1 win for the guys in red.

The first period was dominated by the Hurricanes. It was clear that the visitors had tired legs as the Canes kept the puck in the Vancouver zone for most of the period and dominated the SOG category 16-6. There was no scoring, but Carolina was by far and away the better team in the first frame.

Cory Stillman got the Canes on the board at 5:07 of the second with a one-timer from the top of the right circle. Ray Whitney and Matt Cullen assisted on the power play goal. Of course, Carolina was employing the five forward PP unit. This came just moments after an apparent goal had been nullified at 2:16 of the second. I suppose the ruling was the variety of "goaltender interference" where the goal is disallowed, but no penalty is called.

The power play was the result of an extra roughing penalty assessed to the Canucks after Craig Adams and Kevin Bieksa went toe-to-toe. For the record, Craig got clobbered in the fight. It only took 28 seconds of the man advantage to get the lamp lit.

At 17:44, Rick Rypien (cousin of former Washington Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien) took offence to Mike Commodore's rough treatment of Byron Ritchie. Those two gentlemen had a long fight right beside the penalty benches, with neither combatant getting the upper hand.

Five minutes into the third frame, there was a third fight. Brad Isbister had run Cam Ward and got away with it, but Tim Gleason forced him to pay the consequences by abusing Isbister in a heavyweight bout at center ice.

Chad "Sharpie" LaRose was rewarded for his extraordinary work ethic with a breakaway goal at 7:01. Like Tom Brady-to-Randy Moss against the Dolphins on Sunday afternoon, Rod Brind'Amour saw Chad LaRose at center ice, just behind four white shirts. Brindy threaded the needle and hit LaRose with a perfect pass from deep in the Carolina zone to center ice. LaRose streaked into the Vancouver zone all alone and buried it top shelf against Roberto Luongo.

Vancouver finally started to get their game together about midway through the final stanza. They kept Carolina out of Luongo's house, played very aggressively, and eventually got one past Cam Ward. Brad Isbister had a very nice wrap-around chance, which was denied by Ward. However, at 13:19, Brendan Morrison tucked in the rebound to make it interesting.

In the final minute, after the Canucks had pulled Luongo for an extra attacker, they were caught for having too many men. Loungo had come back on the ice, but nobody came off. Seconds later, Luongo was pulled again, and Ray Whitney put one into the empty cage to make it 3-1.

Chad LaRose had the game-winning goal and was named the game's first star because of it. I'm glad for the guy, but I just didn't see him as the best player on the ice. The "official" three stars were Mike Commodore(third), Ray Whitney (second) and Chad LaRose (first). I saw it completely differently. Really, any number of players could have been any of the three stars, but I finally settled on a completely different set. The RBH three stars:
THIRD STAR Tim Gleason, CAR --- 5 hits, 7 PIM
SECOND STAR Cam Ward, CAR --- 19 saves, win
FIRST STAR Rod Brind'Amour, CAR --- 2 assists

It should be pointed out that five of Gleason's seven PIM are the "good" variety. He stuck up for his teammates, took down his opponent. We'll gladly take the five for fighting in the name of "team toughness". It wasn't fighting for the sake of fighting or common goonery. It was purposeful. He has been a very dependable defenseman lately, taking away passing lanes, laying down to block shots, and doing all sorts of other inglorious things that good defensemen do.

It should also be pointed out that Cam Ward never had to stand on his head, and he only faced 20 shots. Still, he made it look easy,

Brindy's pass that sprung LaRose was a thing of absolute beauty. How in the world he found LaRose among those four Canucks is beyond me. At the end of the game, he forced a turnover deep in the Vancouver end, and instead of firing it at the empty net from a tough angle, he unselfishly dished it to Whitney for the easy goal.

I was impressed by Craig Adams, who played very good two-way hockey tonight.

Chad LaRose also played very good two-way hockey. He racked up 18 minutes of ice time tonight, and looked very comfortable with his increased role. He got the game-winner on a very pretty goal, and I really wish I could name him one of the RBH stars, but there were too many others.

Buffalo comes to town on Wednesday, and it's probably safe to assume that it'll be another fight-filled game. These two teams do not like each other, and the tempers usually flare.

The three game home stand will conclude Friday against Les Habitants. I'll be in Raleigh that night (and all weekend long), but not at the game.

Canes outlast Habs 3-1.

Last Wednesday, the Canadiens spoiled Carolina's home opener. On Saturday night, Carolina returned the favor with a 3-1 win. Carolina is now 3-1-0 on the six game road trip. They will have the next five days off before playing Friday in Pittsburgh and Saturday in Philly.

Christopher Higgins got the Habs off and running just 1:12 into the game. After a failed attempt by Carolina to clear the defensive zone, Montréal had a great chance and they cashed in on it. Saku Koivu had the lone assist.

At 15:52, Demolition Derby Stillman tied the score at the tail end of a five-on-three power play. He was on the doorstep and easily tucked in a rebound of a Rod Brind'Amour shot. Eric Staal got the secondary assist.

During the period, Carolina's penalty kill looked really good, and they even had a few quality shorthanded chances. Better, though, was Cristobal Huet. He very calmly and adeptly handled all but one of the shots fired his way.

The second period was more of the same. Carolina had the majority of the scoring chances, and Huet was incredible. At roughly 13:00 of the second, he made a remarkable save on Eric Staal, who had a beautiful give-and-go scoring chance on the front porch.

Carolina chinked Huet's armor at 19:26 at the end of a power play. While utilizing the five-forward system, Erik Cole found Matt Cullen all alone in the slot for a quick shot that made it to the back of the net. It was Carolina's second power play goal of the night, and their seventh in the last three games.

In the third period, the home team came to life and they had the majority of the scoring chances. After mustering just four shots in each of the first two periods, the Canadiens fired 16 shots on Cam Ward in the third stanza. Meanwhile, they cracked down defensively, and only allowed the Canes 8 SOG in the third after allowing 13 in the first and 17 in the second.

At around 15:00 of the third, Huet took a sure goal away from Scott Walker, keeping the Habs in the game.

On the other end, Ward made dazzling save after dazzling save while Frantisek Kaberle, Bret Hedican and Nic Wallin "manned up" in front of him. Hedican was especially good, blocking a ton of shots. There is a marked difference in Ward's mobility this season, and one has to assume that it comes from his 20-pound weight loss and his attention to diet and training over the summer.

At 19:44, Chad "Sharpie" LaRose finally got a goal. Sure, it was an empty net goal, but they all look like highlight reel goals in the boxscore. He has worked exceptionally hard this season, and has been denied by posts and crossbars, and impossible saves. It's about time he got rewarded for his effort with an easy goal.

FSN South gave the three stars to Matt Cullen (third), Cristobal Huet (second) and Cam Ward (first). The "official" three stars went to Bret Hedican (third), Matt Cullen (second) and Cristobal Huet (first). I see it a little differently. The RBH three stars:

THIRD STAR Bret Hedican, CAR --- 6 blocked shots
SECOND STAR Cristobal Huet, MTL --- 35 saves
FIRST STAR Cam Ward, CAR --- 23 saves (16 in the 3rd), win

Without the Frenchman, this game would have been a runaway for Carolina. Huet deserves high marks for his heroic effort.

With help from his friends, Ward was able to win his fourth straight game, and now has a GAA of 1.80 and a save percentage of .943. With four wins, he stands behind only Martin Gerber in that category. And oh yeah, he beat Gerber on Thursday night.

Carolina has now won eight straight games in the Molson Bell Centre, dating back to the 03-04 season.

Tampa and Washington both lost tonight, which means that Carolina has increased their Southeast Division lead to three points. Obviously, it's WAY too early to think about playoff pictures, but the boys are off to a very good start.

Canes deal Sens first loss

On Thursday night, the Hurricanes visited Ottawa and became the first team to defeat the Senators this year. The scoreboard said 5-3, but it really wasn't that close at all. Carolina has got to be thrilled with how things went.

After a bunch of nothing early in the first, Erik Cole scored his first goal of the season at 17:23 to give the Canes a 1-0 lead. The Canes were on a power play and were crashing the net hard. Gerber made a great save on Eric Staal, but he completely lost sight of the rebound. After making the save on Staal, Gerber drifted off to his right, following Staal and Justin Williams. The puck, however, was way off to his left. Cole jumped on the rebound and fired it into a completely empty net. Staal and Hamilton had the helpers. Again, Carolina came through on the power play while using the aggressive five-forward system.

1:10 into the second, Matt Cullen gave the Canes an two goal cushion. Chad "Sharpie" LaRose led a charge from the left wing and made a run at the goal. Gerber stopped his shot, but the rebound went in the air and right out front. Matt Cullen was Johnny on the spot, batting it out of the air for the goal. After a brief review to look for a high stick, the goal was allowed to stand.

Dany Heatley got the home team on the board at 4:15 with a nice goal after a beautiful assist by Jason Spezza. Spez now has assists in every game. Wade Redden got the secondary assist on the even strength goal.

At 6:24, Sharpie's hard work led to another Carolina goal. He charged in from the right wing, went hard to the net, and fired a shot. Gerber easily made the save, but his rebound went right out front to the low slot. From there, Rod Brind'Amour shoved it in. Viva got the secondary assist.

The second period was truncated slightly due to a broken glass panel with less than a minute remaining. After the intermission, the period was finished, then they switched sides and started the third.

Erik Cole scored his second goal of the game at 6:42 of the third. Once again, it was Sharpie leading the way. He came down the right side and dropped a pass to the trailing Cole at the right faceoff dot. From there, Cole wristed it in to make it 4-1. Eric Staal had the secondary assist on the even strength goal.

The Sens were not ready to roll over and die, though. At 16:16, Mike Fisher scored, assisted by Antoine Vernette and Patrick Eaves.

Less than two minutes later, the home team made things really interesting. Joe Corvo fired a shot from the high slot through heavy traffic. It found its way in the net, and it was suddenly a one goal game. Spezza, who now has 10 assists on the year, and Heatley assisted.

With "Baby Food" Gerber pulled for an extra attacker, the Canes sealed the deal at 19:02. Eric Staal tucked the puck into the empty net, assisted by Cory Stillman.

After Tuesdays shellacking of the Leafs, it was good to see that the offensive outburst wasn't an anomaly. Seven goals on Tuesday and five on Thursday. That's good stuff. Like Tuesday, the wealth was really spread. Nine different players registered at least one point.

They continued with the aggressive style of crashing the net. Sure, it's a tired cliche, but good things happen when you crash the net. They also continued with the occasional employ of a five-forward power play. On the lone power play goal, the skaters were Cullen, Viva, Staal, Cole, and Hamilton. It's a risky maneuver, but the reward outweighs the risk.

The FSN South three stars were Staal (third), Cole (second) and LaRose (first). The "official" three stars were Mike Fisher (third), Cole (second) and LaRose (first). Mine were exactly like FSN. The RBH three stars:

THIRD STAR: Eric Staal, CAR --- 1 goal, 2 assists
SECOND STAR: Erik Cole, CAR --- 2 goals, including GWG
FIRST STAR: Chad LaRose, CAR --- 3 assists

Carolina will play in Montréal on Saturday. Then they'll return home for a five day break, and the roadtrip continues in Pittsburgh next Friday and Philly on Saturday.

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?

Carolina's affiliates doing well in post-season

After winning the Stanley Cup last summer, the Hurricanes failed to qualify for the playoffs this season, joining an ignominious group of teams who have gone from Champs to chumps.
Down on the farm, the Albany River Rats of the AHL made the playoffs, but were eliminated in the first round. Nothing to cheer about there.
Further down the organizational ladder, things look much better.

Tonight, Carolina's ECHL squad, the Florida Everblades square off against the Dayton Bombers in game seven of the American Conference Finals of the Kelly Cup playoffs. The winner will face the Idaho Steelheads for the ECHL Championship.

Even further down, things are looking up. The Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League are in the Finals of that League. Tonight marks the beginning of a four team round robin for the MasterCard Memorial Cup. The other three teams are the Vancouver Giants, the Medicine Hat Tigers and the Lewiston MAINEiacs

I'm not sure how many of the Everblades players are even property of the Hurricanes, but netminder Craig Kowalski had a "cup of coffee" in Raleigh while Cam Ward was hurt.

The affiliation Carolina has with Plymouth is pretty loose. The team is part of the Compuware Hockey group, which is owned by Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos. Chad "Sharpie" LaRose played in Plymouth and was undrafted in the NHL. The Hurricanes, knowing the player, signed him as a free agent two summers ago. Many of the players there aren't old enough to be NHL draft eligible and may take several years to develop.

Meanwhile, in the NHL, Anaheim won game four last night to even their series with Detroit at two games apiece. Even without Chrissy Pronger.

USA cruises to 5-1 win, assures good seeding

On Sunday, the United States crushed Belarus 5-1 in IIHF play. They remain unbeaten, and have assured themselves a good spot in the elimination round. On Tuesday, they will meet Czech Republic -- who is also undefeated -- in the final game of round robin play.

Chad "Sharpie" LaRose (Fraser, MI), who barely missed scoring a goal on Friday, scored one. Defenseman Jack "I hate Carolina" Johnson (Indianapolis, IN) from the Kings scored the first goal of the game. St. Louis Blues winger Lee Stempniak (West Seneca, NY) scored two -- including the game-winner, and leads Americans with 3 goals in the tournament.

John "Crackers" Grahame (Denver, CO) was in pipes for the USA, and picked up his second win. So far, he hasn't really been tested. Certainly he will be on Tuesday.

The top three teams from each pool advance to the elimination round, and the US is guaranteed to finish no lower than second.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates from the IIHF World Championships.

Team USA off to good start in IIHF World Championship

The IIHF World Championship tournament started on Friday with a round of preliminary games. In Group B play, the USA drubbed Austria 6-2. This means that they will have three standings points in pool play and will be able to control their own destiny with respect to advancing to the elimination round.

Johnny Crackers was in net for the Americans. He stopped 14 of the 16 shots he saw, and picked up the easy win. Erik Cole had a goal and an assist. Andrew "Hot Dog with Cheese" Hutchinson had an assist. Chad "Sharpie" LaRose had nothing. Jack Johnson had nothing.

Also in Group B, the Czech Republic crushed Belarus 8-2.

In Group D, Finland destroyed Ukraine 5-0 and Russia smoked Denmark 9-1.

Pools A and C will kick off tomorrow, with Canada the clear favorite in group C and Sweden the favorite in group A.

On Sunday afternoon, the US will take on Belarus. Then they will finish round robin play against the Czechs on Tuesday.

Canes take a few days off after beating Brodeur

On Saturday, the Canes did what few teams have been able to do this season. They solved Marty Brodeur. In fact, they chased him from the game, scoring four goals on their first 12 shots. With the score 4-0 midway through the second, Brodeur left. The Canes went on to rout the Devils 7-2 to split the home-and-home.

Just two days prior, the same two teams met in the RBC Center with the Devils emerging with a 3-2 victory. I didn't have time to write about it, or the back end of that home-and-home due to a very hectic work schedule.

During the first second intermission of the home game, my friend Bill and I argued the usefulness of Chad LaRose. I said that I like him, that I've always liked him, and he should be given the ice time that he gets. Bill doesn't think he deserves to play while a more skilled Anson Carter rides the pine. I agree that Carter is more talented, but I don't think the fourth line is the right place for Carter. On Saturday, that problem was solved when Trevor Letowski was scratched, Carter played on the third line and LaRose played center on the fourth line. After the shift from wing to center, LaRose had the best game of his NHL career, notching two goals. The first was an absolutely gorgeous pump fake followed by the slapper from the left dot that beat Brodeur on the short side. The pump fake was so good that I actually thought it was a long rebound.

His second goal was almost the same, but on the right dot and to Clemmensen's short side.

He earned first star props for his two-goal effort.

In that game, Carolina shut down the Devils' power play, and now they've allowed just one pp goal over the last nine games. On their own end, they managed to score two power play goals. Hopefully, this will kickstart that special teams unit while the PK keeps on keepin' on.

Carolina will have its second four-day vacation this week. They won't play again until Thursday night at home against the lowly Capitals. In the meantime, some of the teams with games in hand will be playing those out.

After the Caps, the Canes will be entertaining the Sharks, who haven't been to Raleigh since the 2003-04 season. That will be the culmination of a very long superfunday. My second in as many weeks. More on that later.

Carolina's playoff hopes buoyed

On Tuesday night, Carolina got a boost when they defeated the visiting Panthers 3-1. The special teams were great, they actually converted a power play chance, and they got terrific goaltending from Johnny Crackers.
Coupled with the loss by the Rangers, the win put Carolina back in the eighth playoff spot. At least temporarily. Starting Thursday at the RBC Center, they have a home-and-home with the formidable Devils.

Cory Stillman scored an even strength goal at 15:24 of the first. Eric Staal made a really nice effort, bringing the puck deep in the zone and drawing the attention of the Florida defense. He dished to Erik Cole, who fired a wrist shot from the top of the right circle, which Eddie Belfour stopped with a sprawling save. The rebound was a short one, but Stillman was there to pounce on it and tuck it from the left side of the goal. Officially at 15:24 with assists from Cole and Staal.

Josef Stumpel tied the game at 11:21 of the second on a bizarro goal. Josef Vasicek was trying to clear the zone by backhanding one against the wall along the blue line. Unfortunately, it hit the lineseman and stayed in the zone. Stumpel made some fancy moves to work through traffic, then backhanded one in off the left post. Unassisted at 11:21.

At 19:44 of the second, the Canes actually converted a power play! Frantisek Kaberle took a shot from the left circle that found its way through traffic. Belfour made a stop and Andrew Ladd took a couple of whacks at it. Belfour stopped those too, but the puck somehow trickled under him and was loose in the crease. Scott Walker found it first and shoved it across the line. Ladd and Kaberle got the assists.

14:42 was the time when Rod Brind'Amour got a shorthanded goal to seal the deal. The hard-working Chad "Sharpie" LaRose was there, as he always seems to be on the shorties. Glenn Wesley made a steal deep in the Carolina zone and dished to Sharpie, who found Brind'Amour streaking down the center and into the slot area. The pass wasn't quite tape-to-tape, but it was good enough. Brindy just tipped it in. Brind'Amour from LaRose and Wesley shorthandedly at 14:42.

Just seconds later, Chad LaRose had a brilliant scoring chance on the same shorthanded sequence, but Belfour answered.

Due to time restraints, I can't give stars right now, but Sharpie, Grahame and Walker were great.

Next up -- Thursday night date with the Devils

RBH glossary in the works!

Due to a number of confused looks, and a number of requests for clarification on my nicknames, I'm in the midst of working on a Red And Black Hockey glossary of terms and nicknames.

Jes Golbez has one. Battle of Alberta has one from last season and an updated one for this season. I think there are a few others out there as well.

This is something I've thought about doing for a while, and now that the demand is high, I need to get started. Unfortunately, having two jobs leaves less free time than I've ever had, and I just got a hand injury which makes typing a little more difficult than usual, but I'll get started on some of the nicknames that I use.

It turns out I've never explained it thoroughly in this forum, so here are some of the strange nicknames explained:

Justin Williams -- "Viva"

This dates back to the beginning of the 2005-06 season. During every home Canes game, the jumbotron people throw together some clips that are meant for the fans to get to know the players a little better. They're all asked the same series of questions such as "what's you favorite ice cream" and "do you prefer comedies or dramas" and "who's the biggest goofball in the locker room". Once per game, we get to see all the players answer the same question. Early last season, the question was "Other than Raleigh, what's your favorite city?" Most players said New York, Eric Staal said Cary, and Justin Williams gave a very strange answer. I swear that he said "France". Which is funny because France isn't so much a city as it is a country. A few other people heard the same thing. Turns out we were wrong. He said "Phoenix", but my mis-hearing it led to a great nickname.
I decided with the couple next to me that we needed to have some fun with our boy having "France" as a favorite city. For the rest of that game, every time Williams came with the puck on our end of the arena, we all yelled out "Vive la France", French for "Long live France". It would be a few weeks before we realized that we were wrong, or that the Canes PR folks had covered up. You can see the jumbotron clip here. I still suspect that they cut and spliced his "Phoenix" after the fact.

Anyway, our yelling out "Vive la France" was a bit cumbersome, so we decided just to call him Viva for short. It's a bastardization of the original, an improper spelling, and a bit of an improper pronunciation if we wanted to be true to the original French. However, "Viva" looks better in print and flows off the tongue better than "Vive".

There you have that one. See why I didn't explain that in the comments section?

Anton Babchuk -- "Yentl"

Most hockey players get a nickname that is a variation on their first or last name. For example, Eric Staal is "Staalsy". Erik Cole is "Colesy". Craig Adams is "Craiggers" or "CrAdams". Those are pretty cut and dry. When it came time for me to assign a nickname to Anton Babchuk, the first thing that came naturally was "Babs". Barbara Streisand is also called "Babs". She wrote, produced, directed and starred in a film called Yentl. Most of us have seen that movie, but few will admit to it. That movie is set in Poland, and Anton Babchuk hails from Kiev, Ukraine (about 250 miles from the Polish border). That geographical proximity from one "Babs" to a fictional character played by the other "Babs" led me to the decision to assign that nickname to him. The facts that the movie character was a cross-dressing woman and Anton Babchuk has long luxurious flowing locks of curly gold (read: "girly hair") make the analogy work even more.

Barbara="Babs"=Yentl :: Babchuk="Babs"="Yentl".

I know. It doesn't make sense, but it doesn't have to.

Chad LaRose -- "Sharpie"

At a season ticket holder's event last season, some friends of mine were standing in line to get their sweaters autographed by all the players. Obviously, some of the players had longer lines, while others had none at all. When they got to Chad LaRose, he was thrilled just to have them asking him at all. He was also excited that they asked him to sign on the previously untainted black part of the team crest. Most folks ask for autographs on the white or red sections of the logo. When they asked him to use the silver sharpie to sign there, he said "Really?!?! I get to use the silver Sharpie?!?!". His enthusiasm was genuine, unlike some former Canes players whose initials are Bates Battaglia and Sean Burke. My friends were as amused as Chad was tickled. They decided then and there that his new nickname should be "Sharpie".

To my knowledge, very few other people use these nicknames, and I don't even use "Yentl" that much myself. Of the three, I realize that the only one that has ANY chance of catching on is Viva. I also realize that the chance is very very slim.

If BOA can have their "Orbs of Power", then I can have my "Viva".

More nicknames and some other common use terms will be added to the glossary in the very near future.