The forgotten Sutter

Mike Morreale at NHL.com recently wrote two fine articles about the future of the Carolina Hurricanes. Not surprisingly, there's a lot of emphasis on the Canes 2007 first round Pick Brandon Sutter.

Hurricanes hope help is coming from kids
and
Next generation Sutter aims for NHL

In this second generation of Sutters, Brandon was the third to be drafted into the NHL, but he will be the first to play in the NHL. Barring a really unfortunate series of catastrophic events, he'll be lacing them up in Raleigh this fall and hopefully for a long time to come. For the record, the other two second generation Sutters are:

• Shaun (son of Brian), who was a fourth round pick by the Flames in 1998 and is now playing for the Belfast Giants of the British Elite Ice Hockey League.
  
• Brett (son of Darryl), who was a sixth round selection by the Flames in 2005, and is playing with the AHL's Quad City Flames.

There's no need to link to the credentials of each of the first generation Sutters. Only to point out that they played a collective 4994 games, scored a collective 2934 (1320/1614) points and spent 7224 minutes in the box. That's five days to you and me. Between them, they won six Stanley Cups.

We all know their names as Brian, Darryl, Duane, Rich, Brent, Ron, and Gary.

Wait. That's seven. There's only supposed to be six. Gary??? Who is this Gary character?

He's the oldest of the Sutter brothers, and rumored to have been the most gifted of them all, but he never played in the NHL, or really any level of major organized hockey. He turned down an invitation to a tryout with the Red Deer Rustlers, at which Brian earned a spot. One by one, the brothers worked their way through junior hockey and into the NHL, and Gary had few regrets. He certainly never resented his brothers' success. Although Gary denies it, all of his brothers say that the reason he turned down the tryout was that he was very serious with a girl who he would later marry. And divorce. He says that he felt like he wasn't good enough. Everyone else begged to differ, but that's what he says.

I found a fantastic article about Gary Sutter, which appeared in the 2005 issue of The Crow, which is the University of Regina School of Journalism's yearly publication. I highly recommend the story, written by Dan Kinvig, starting on page 14. (this is a pdf file)

The article tells the story behind the story, but also points out that the story doesn't end when Gary found himself remarried, working in a lumber yard and living in a mobile home. Like so many other blue collar workers across the world, Gary entered a lottery ticket pool at work with a bunch of the guys. They won a $10M jackpot, and Gary's cut was $1.5M.

Unlike many people who find themselves in the same spot, Gary didn't quit his job the next day. He continued to work there, despite his newfound riches. That's the "Sutter work ethic". Gary knows, as the other six brothers know, as the Staal brothers know, the value of hard work. The Sutter brothers grew up in a 800-square foot, two bedroom farmhouse in Viking, Alberta. They had no choice but to work on the farm from a very early age. Their father, who passed away in 2005, instilled in them a strong work ethic, which helped six of them have terrific careers as NHLers. We'll never know how good an NHLer Gary would have been.

Young Brandon never had to get up at four in the morning to drive a tractor. He never had to bail hay until the sun went down. He never had to live in a cramped room with three brothers. No, his life has been much easier in that respect. However, the apple rarely falls far from the tree, and in this case he's falling from the (second) best tree in the lot. By anyone's account, Brandon's dad Brent was the best of the six, but maybe not as good as Gary.

So far as we know, there isn't a fifth Staal brother.

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.

Canes win big game, lose Captain

On Thursday night, the Hurricanes defeated the visiting Penguins by the score of 4-2. Incidentally, I predicted this final tally, and won four shots for my soothsaying awesomeness.

On a much darker note, Carolina may have won the game and reclaimed first place in the Southeast division, but they have lost their Captain. On the first shift of the first period, Rod Brind'Amour sustained an injury to his knee which turned out to be a torn ACL. He's done for the season. By the time this season is done, it's likely that Carolina will have 300 or more man-games lost to injury. I'll get to work on finding an exact number, but I'm guessing that it's somewhere at or above 200 already. Justin Williams, Chad LaRose and now Rod Brind'Amour are done for the season. Matt Cullen has been on the IR for some time and his return is not looking that great right now.

On top of all that, the Hurricanes are dealing with a second bout of the flu. After six or more Hurricanes had the flu back in January, it looks like it's reared its ugly head again. Tim Gleason and newcomer Joe Corvo have contracted the flu and sat out on Thursday.

No matter.

The Hurricanes played with the hand that was dealt them, and they played it well. With no less than four AHL-quality players already in the lineup, they lost Rod Brind'Amour in the game's first minute, but rolled with the punches and emarged with an impressive 4-2 win over a weary Penguins team.

The game was not a part of my season ticket package, but a friend of a friend hooked me up with some corporate box seats with free food and booze. It rocked. So there I sat in a corporate box with two friends of mine who are both Penguins fans and a complete stranger (the one who hooked us up) who is a Sabres fan. I enjoyed.

We got an extremely late start on our drive, but I was very impressed with the Sabre fan's ability to make a one hour drive take about 38 minutes. We missed the first minute of the game, and Brindy's injury.

Erik Cole got the good guys off and running at 3:13 with a tip-in of a right point shot from Ray Whitney. With Jordan Staal in the penalty box for kneeing, Carolina won the faceoff and Whitney's shot was directed in by Cole. Jeff Hamilton got the secondary assist.

Public Enemy #1 Brooks Orpik evened the score at 13:00 of the first. He uncorked a shot from the outside hashmarks of the left circle, and it beat Ward cleanly. Colby Armstrong and Jarku Ruutu got the helpers.

In the second frame, the Penguins took the lead at 2:38 when Evgeni Malkin notched his 33rd goal of the season. His shot from the left circle apparently caromed off Frantisek Kaberle's stick. The goal was unassisted, but I thought Ryan Malone and Sergei Gonchar deserved helpers.

At 10:36, Eric Staal got the equalizer while his little brother was in the box again. Ray Whitney's point shot was tipped by Andrew Ladd and stopped by Dany Sabourin, but Staal picked up the loose change in the low slot and wristed it home. Originally, the helpers went to Whitney and Kaberle, but in the end, Ladd was given the primary assist and Whitney the second.

The third period was all Canes.

Ray Whitney put the home team in the lead at 3:49 of the final stanza when he made a really nifty maneuver through the slot and beat Sabourin for another power play goal. Maxim Talbot (not Jordan Staal) was the party in the box feeling shame this time. Eric Staal and Frantisek Kaberle got the assists.

At 11:39, Ryan Bayda (who is one of many Albany River Rats call-ups) notched his first goal of the season by firing one in off the right post and in from the slot. Scott Walker and Glen Wesley assisted on the even strength goal.

Earlier in the day, I commented to my Penguins fan friend that the Hurricanes power play was listless. I even said to him that they could do whatever they wanted to us and we wouldn't capitalize on our power play chances. Boy was I wrong. Carolina cashed in on three of their six chances.

To start the game, Carolina was already missing three key defensemen and two forwards. Then they lost Brind'Amour for the season. They still put up one of the best outings of the season against an admittedly tired team. Carolina put 46 shots on net, blocked an amazing 22 shots and laid out an eye-popping 32 hits.

The "official" three stars went to Frantisek Kaberle (third), Eric Staal (second) and Ray Whitney (first). I didn't quite see it that way. The RBH three stars:
THIRD STAR Glen Wesley, CAR --- 6 blocked shots, 4 hits
SECOND STAR Ray Whitney, CAR --- GWG, 2 assists, 2 takeaways
FIRST STAR Eric Staal, CAR --- 1 goal, 1 assist, 59% faceoff wins

Eric Staal is going to have to do more of what he did tonight. He took the game on his shoulders. He took the faceoffs that Brindy would have taken, and he won them. He scored a key goal and assisted on the game winner. From this point forward, with the Captain out of the lineup, the team is Staal's.

When the Canes and Penguins met last week, Jordan Staal had one assist and Eric had nothing. This time, Eric had the much better game. Eric's goal came while Jordan was in the box, and Jordan was in the box for one of Carolina's other goals. He finished with an abysmal 24% (4 out of 17) faceoff win percentage.

On a different day, I'll plan to post about how I think Canes fans need to get over the Orpik hatred.

On another different day, I'll plan to updated the Staal v Staal v Staal points race.

On another different day, I'll plan to outline the Hurricanes injury woes.

I'll probably get to those posts in reverse order.

For now, the Canes are happy that they're in first place, but devastated that they've lost their Captain for the remainder of the season.

Staal v Staal again tonight

Tonight the Hurricanes begin a two week, five game road trip in Pittsburgh. Puck drop will be at 7:30. It will be the third meeting this season between Eric and Jordan and it will be the eleventh matchup this season between any pair of Staal brothers.

In five total games against his brothers, Eric has scored 3 goals and 1 assist. The Hurricanes are 3-1-1 in those games.

In seven total games against his brothers, Jordan has not scored any points. The Penguins are 3-3-1 in those games.

In eight total games against his brothers, Marc has recorded three assists. The Rangers are 4-4 in those games.

Including tonight, Eric and Jordan play two more times. Eric and Marc play one more time. Marc and Jordan play three more times.

Here's the head-to-head breakdown plus the schedule of remaining games:

ERIC v MARC (Eric 1/1 - Marc 0/1)

December 3 @ NYR -- CAR 4 - NYR 0. Eric had an assist.

December 26 @ NYR -- NYR 4 - CAR 2. Eric had a goal, Marc had an assist.

January 29 @ CAR -- CAR 3 - NYR 1.

February 28 @ CAR -- TBD

ERIC v JORDAN (Eric 2/0 - Jordan 0/0)

October 5 @ CAR -- CAR 4 - PIT 1. Eric had two goals.

October 19 @ PIT -- PIT 4 - CAR 3 (SO).

February 2 @ PIT -- TBD

February 14 @ CAR -- TBD

JORDAN v MARC (Marc 0/2 - Jordan 0/0)

October 23 @ PIT -- PIT 1 - NYR 0.

November 11 @ NYR -- NYR 4 - PIT 2.

November 17 @ PIT -- NYR 4 - PIT 3 (OT). Marc had an assist.

December 18 @ NYR -- NYR 4 - PIT 0. Marc had an assist.

January 14 @ PIT -- PIT 4 - NYR 1.

March 18 @ NYR -- TBD

March 30 @ PIT -- TBD

March 31 @ NYR -- TBD

Canes top Bolts 4-1

Going into Saturday night's game at Tampa, the Hurricanes held a narrow three point lead in the Southeast Division over Florida. After having lost the game and 30-point scorer Justin Williams on Thursday, the Canes were a little beat up physically and emotionally. They bounced back nicely with a beautiful 4-1 win over Tampa, while Florida lost in overtime to the Leafs. Going into the holiday, Carolina has a four point lead.

The game got off to a quick start on the wrong foot. Martin St. Louis made a shot from below the right circle which Cam Ward blockered aside. Unfortunately, it caromed off defenseman Glen Wesley and into the net. This came just 0:23 into the game. St. Louis' 13th goal of the season was assisted by Brad Richards and Shane O'Brien.

A few moments later, Wesley had a chance to redeem himself with a rebound chance into an empty net, but he had to lift the shot to get over a defenseman's stick, and his attempt clanged off the right post.

Andrew Ladd, who has really stepped up his game since returning from his "conditioning stint", scored his second goal in as many games to level the score at one. He outworked to Bolts skaters behind Karri Ramo's net, then worked the puck around to Matt Cullen on the right side. His shot was blocked by Ramo, but Ladd was there on the doorstep to pounce on the rebound and shove it in the net. Time of the goal was 18:04 of the first. Initially, the lone assist went to Matt Cullen. During the first intermission, there was a scoring change, giving a secondary assist to Brandon Nolan.

Nolan looked comfortable and confident out there, and just missed on a golden scoring opportunity in the second frame. I give him high marks for tallying an assist in his first NHL game, ending with a +1.

There were no penalties for either team in the first.

In a span of two and a half minutes in the second period, four penalties were called. Two per side. Tampa had one minute of five-on-three, which was killed off nicely by the Canes. At the tail end of the ensuing power play, a Bolts penalty nullified the man advantage. Carolina couldn't do anything on their end of the power play.

With about a minute left in the second, the Bolts thought they had taken the lead on a Mathieu Darche goal. After some review, the goal was disallowed because it went in off a skate after a distinct kicking motion propelled it in.

The second period ended 1-1. Both goaltenders were seeing plenty of action, and both were playing well.

Ray Whitney gave the Canes the lead at 9:31 of the third with a delayed penalty in hand. Whitney came off the bench to be the sixth attacker, accepted a gorgeous pass in the left circle and wristed it high on the Finnish rookie. Cory Stillman and Frantisek Kaberle assisted on what would prove to be the game-winning goal.

The Wizard notched his second goal of the night and his 18th of the season at 19:00 of the third with an empty net. Scott Walker made a steal at center ice and chucked it ahead to Whitney for the easy goal.

Remembering what they were able to do on Tuesday against the Leafs, the Canes knew that the game was far from over. They had to fight to the final bell.

The Bolts were able to get some chances, but nothing serious. In the closing seconds, Ray Whitney had an opportunity for the natural hat trick. He had the puck at the right point, but instead of trying the shot from there, he passed it ahead to Eric Staal for the sure thing, which he tucked in at 19:56. Whitney and Bret Hedican got the assists.

Carolina played very well as a team. Their forechecking was good, their backpressure was excellent, the third line did a spectacular job. Cam Ward knocked the rust off and had a spectacular game after watching Johnny Crackers get three consecutive starts.

The "official" three stars went to the midgetMarty St. Louis (third), Cam Ward (second) and Ray Whitney (first). The FSN South crew gave the third star to Karri Ramo. I see it a little differently. Certainly, Karri Ramo was good, with 33 saves. St. Louis was good, with his freak goal. Brandon Nolan played a very good game, albeit just 7:57 ice time, getting an assist in his NHL debut. They all deserve special mention.
The RBH three stars:
THIRD STAR Andrew Ladd, CAR -- 1 goal, 8 hits
SECOND STAR Cam Ward, CAR -- 29 saves, win
FIRST STAR Ray Whitney, CAR -- 2 goals, 1 assist, GWG

Carolina will be off until Boxing Day, when they'll play the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Marc Staal will probably catch a ride on the Hurricanes charter, because he and the rest of the Staal family are spending Christmas at Eric's house in Cary.

Staal brothers having some fun

Over on the Nike/Bauer site, they've got some good videos and whatnots on the Staal brothers, including this hilarious one of the four of them demolishing various garden gnomes, tin cans, light bulbs, watermelons and anything else they could round up in their dad's barn.


It gets better every time I watch it.