Things are starting to heat up...

Canes signed Tuomo Ruutu today to a one year $2.25 mil contract.That number seems a little large in my estimation - to me he's still kind of an unknown in the offensive area (although not in the ability-to-get-stitches area). But, hey, it's only a year - if he doesn't live up to it, at least it's not a long-term contract. But if he can hit and fight and score, then it's money well spent in my book.

Interestingly, the player we traded for Ruutu, Andrew Ladd, signed a two-year deal with the Blackhawks as well today. Hope things continue to go well for him and he scores lots of goals this season (as long as they're not against us!).

Yesterday, Jeff Hamilton and David Tanabe were placed on waivers to be boughtout by the team. Which is sad in Tanabe's case, as he doesn't seem to have recovered from that concussion he suffered at all.

And hiding in that article about the buyouts was this gem:

Additionally, Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said the team has been unable to reach an agreement with forward Darcy Hordichuk, whose free-agent rights the Canes obtained from the Nashville Predators on Thursday. [...]

"The fact that we had tried to get a jump on it and he wasn't interested in what we had to say, it would appear we're not getting him," Rutherford said.

So, the point of that trade was...?

And to cap all of today's news off: Barry Melrose was instated as the Tampa Bay Lightning coach. Which is just sort of weird.

SUGAR RUSH!

Man, I am sooooo hyper right now. Not only did I just get done with my last day of school until 2008 (YaY!) but I also had a pile of chocolate and Pixie Stix. Make me so psyched up for tonight's game against...

...Florida? Scratch that last part.

Actually, add that both Tanabe and LaRose somehow got concussed in the Toronto game, and suddenly the Florida game is impossible to get psyched for. (Frequent games + Injuries/sickness = LAME!)

Although, the team's Florida, and as long as we don't have Brad Watson to call diving penalties, it might not be too bad... (read: Canes win)
Then again, with the way the Canes are playing, who knows how the game will go?

So here's my sugar-induced prediction: Either the Canes or the Panthers will score more goals and win.

Trust me, it's guaranteed to happen.

A Good game and a Bad game

The Canes season ended in back-to-back games at home.

The first game, Friday night, was a pathetic showing by the Canes (two five-on-threes without a goal!) - they lost 4-1 to Atlanta, letting Atlanta win the division. Anson Carter scored his first goal as a Hurricane.

Yep, that game is completely overshadowed in my memory by the Canes come-from-behind victory! over the Florida Panthers last night.

The first two periods were pretty much the Canes that we saw in the Atlanta game - slow, didn't care - and they allowed Florida to be ahead 4-1 after the second period.

Then came the third period, David Tanabe scoring his second goal (!) of the game to open it up. After that, the Canes were pretty much unstoppable, tying the game up with less than five minutes left.

Then, to seal off the victory, Rod Brind'Amour had a breakaway overtime goal to win the game.

Nice note to end the season on, I think.

And... Happy Easter everyone! Hopefully the Easter Bunny brought all sorts of candy and chocolate and marshmallow animals to you!

Erik Cole stats (Saturday): 1 goal
End of season: 29 goals, 32 assists

A Heartbreaker

Canes lost 4-2 to Tampa last night.

*sigh*

Four words: David Tanabe Own Goal.

That just about sums up my disappointment right there.

The game wasn't that badly played by the Canes - they led for good amounts of the first and second. I'm not even sure if you could call the third a "collaspe", because they still played decently - just not good enough to stop Tampa...

Erik Cole was a force to be reckoned with in this game, scoring the first goal of the game, and driving to the net several times.

Losing this game makes the playoffs... an unlikely possibility. My conscious can not let me say that the Canes are out of it until they are mathematically eliminated... but... I don't think we'll be playing past April 7th.

You don't know how much it pains me to type that.

Erik Cole stats: 1 goal
On the season: 28 goals, 30 assists

Canes attempt come back - Key word "attempt"

Well, Canes played okay, but still lost 3-2 against New Jersey last night.

I thought that the Canes played pretty well in the first period, besides letting the Devils score on their first shot of the game. David Tanabe scored later on in the period by crashing the net. Tanabe appears to have been touched by the Amazing-Power-Forward-Spirit recently, having 7 shots on net in his last two games, and he has also been charging the net on a regular basis.

In the second and the beginning of the third, however, the Canes lost some of their luster and went behind by two goals to start off the third. Then, they attempted to come back in the remainder of the third, but couldn't get it done.

Luckily, the Islanders lost last night as well, so the Canes are still tied with them for seventh place.

So, Canes played well, but, in the end, didn't play well for the whole game, so they lost. Sounds like a lot of the games this year.

But, the consolation prize in all this is that Duke lost to Virginia Commonwealth in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Ha!

Stay off the roads...

...cause I got me a driver's permit!

All I can say is: FINALLY! After taking the stupid class in September, waiting until December to get the driving part done, getting the school to verify I have good enough grades to drive, finding all 15 forms that I needed, waiting at the DMV for an hour and 15 minutes - I am so happy to be one step closer to my license.
Plus, the permit is shiny. (No, seriously! The security hologram is of the Wright brothers plane and you can watch it go into the DOT symbol... and out again... in... and out... shiny...)

Anyways... There was something else I wanted to post... hmm... something to do with the Hurricanes, maybe?
Oh. Right.
Canes lost 5-2 to the C[r]apitals last night. Washington's scoring recap: two empty-net goals, two goals by Alexander Semin, and a David Tanabe own-goal.

I think that's all I need to say about the Canes play in that one.

Erik Cole stats: 1 goal
On the season: 21 goals, 24 assists