Canes lose LaRose

Canes lost a close one against Nashville last night 1-0.

I only saw the second period, so I didn't see Chad LaRose lose an edge, crash into the boards, and break his leg in the first period.

Poor guy. And just what we needed, another person out with injury - especially LaRose who always has a jump in his step.

So the second period was one with a lot of chances for both teams, but no capitalization. (That doesn't sound right... oh well...)

Anyways, that's really all I can tell you about that game.

Tangentially related, I got Tim Gleason's autograph today. Yeah, I went to the Carolina Ale House and bought one of their magnet hearts, and he was there to autograph it.

While he was signing it I asked him if he rooted for UNC or Duke. (NOT a wierd question, as the game is on tonight. Stupid 9:00 start, though. I'm going to be so dead in the morning tomorrow. Why must the game be on so late? I wouldn't think there's a significant enough West Coast viewing share, so why not start it at 7:00?
...Back to hockey, now.) And he said that he didn't really watch it much, but he would choose (and he "thought" about it for a while) UNC. And I smiled and pointed at my shirt and said "Good choice". He laughed (because I guess he didn't know I was wearing it) and then said that he'd tell the lady behind me who was wearing a Duke shirt that he went for Duke.

It's really cool that the NHL players all seem to have a good humor while signing autographs. (At least the ones I've asked to sign my stuff... although somehow I don't think Sean Avery would come across as a nice guy...)

*EDIT 8:26PM* I added super-cool picture! I love my new scanner!

Canes lose to Florida. Boo!

Canes lost last night 5-4 to Florida.

I saw only the third period, as I was doing some Christmas shopping last night. Apparently the Canes were up 3-1 at the end of the first, but let Florida tie it up in the second.

In the part I watched, Florida scored a goal right in front, then Whitney scored off of a nice Erik Cole pass from the boards 29 seconds later. The Canes seemed like they were playing well, but then Florida got another goal, and that was the one that won the game.

The bad news for this one is twofold. The Canes now only lead Florida in the division standings by 3 points. And Justin Williams went out in the first period with a knee injury. From the N&O:

"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."

Well, at least my prediction was right!

Meanwhile, in the "surprising news that I learned from SportsCenter this morning" category there are two items.

One: Duke lost to Pittsburgh!
Two: Sid Crosby had a Gordie Howe hat trick last night against Boston. Which is weird, because he certainly didn't seem like a fighter to me. But he did a pretty good number on the Boston dude.

Next Canes game is against the Lightning on Saturday.

Erik Cole stats: 1 goal, 1 assist
On the season: 8 goals, 17 assists