Canes lose in OT; Leighton called up

Canes lost 5-4 against the Thrashers in OT last night. My notes:

- Defense was sort of lame.
- Cam Ward was consistent: 1 shot out of three went in.
- Casey Borer looked completely awesome for his first NHL game. Good, crisp passes - few defensive breakdowns (saying something for a Canes defenseman...) - and a little physicality too!

Anyways... big news today! John Grahame was placed on waivers and Michael Leighton was one of a trio called up from the minors today.

Looks like Rutherford is a little fed up with the goalie lameness of late, eh? I think it's a good move - maybe it'll spur Cam into playing a little bit better. Or, heck, maybe Leighton will kick rear in net. Either way, it can't hurt to call him up at this point.

Next game is tomorrow against the Thrashers (again).

Erik Cole stats: 1 goal, 1 assist
On the season: 9 goals, 18 assists

Canes play like crap

Wow, that game was crap.

Canes lost to the Islanders 4-1 yesterday. Here are my notes from the game:

- Refs were absolutely horrible. I swear the Islanders must've paid them off, because all the calls certainly seemed to go in one direction.
- The penalty kill was horrible. Which did not bode well, considering all the penalties the Canes took.
- Ice looked pretty bad in the second, Canes and Islanders slipping everywhere.
- Cullen started the game, but left early because he was "feeling ill".
- Cole needs to drink more coffee or something - it looks like he's missing a little of the jump in his step.
- Grahame didn't look good in goal, but I blame the guys in front of him. A little defense would help your goaltender, guys...
- Seidenberg needs a different hockey stick. I think I counted three sticks broken last night.

Hopefully the Canes got all of their lameness out of their system in 2007...

And in 2008, the first hockey game I watched was the "Winter Classic", which actually sort of lived up to the billing that the NHL gave it. The game was a close game (won in a SO by Sid Crosby) and actually had some offense to it, despite the steady amount of snow falling in Buffalo. I did not envy the players playing in that weather...

First Canes game of '08 is tomorrow against the Thrashers. Hoping for a win in the new year!

Weekend Recaps

Yep, another couple of late recaps... wasn't feeling that great yesterday.

Right now the Canes are leading the Rangers 1-0 in the first at Madison Square Garden.

As for the weekend, the Canes won against the C[r]apitals 4-3 on Friday. The only thing really notable was Chad LaRose's failed penalty shot in the first (and AO's two goals - I really hope the dude separates a shoulder next time he celebrates a goal by slamming into the boards - absolutely unnecessary.)

Canes up 2-0 on a Matt Cullen goal now.

The other game was certainly a forgettable one, an 8-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. The PK sucked, the PP sucked, John Grahame was absolutely horrible... this game was just miserable.

Luckily, the Canes do not appear to be furthering that trend in this Rangers game.

Awesome - and then not awesome

Two games played this weekend - played by two teams.
Well, at least it looked like two different teams out on the ice...

First game, against the Penguins was an awesome 4-1 win that was solidly played. Cam Ward should've definitely had a shutout in that one, the Pens goal coming with only 3:23 left in the game on a 5-on-3.

Canes managed to shut down Crosby completely, and made Marc-Andre Fleury, the goalie, look like absolute crap, with his rebounds flying out everywhere.

And - guess what? - I got to boo Brooks Orpik. I think that alone makes it an awesome game.

Sadly, I can't say the same for the 2-0 loss against Washington. The Canes came out slow (2 shots in the first period) and didn't ever get their legs under them. The only thing that kept them even remotely in the game was John Grahame.

The good game that I did watch on Saturday was the Philadelphia-Edmonton game, thanks to the free preview of the Center Ice package. Really hilarious to see Mike Knuble score an own goal. It's probably good that I don't have the package all the time - I'd be staying up waaay past my bedtime to watch west coast hockey games...

Next Canes game is on Tuesday against the Leafs. Hopefully they'll play more like they did on Friday, and less like they did on Saturday.

Erik Cole stats (Friday): 1 assist
On the season: 1 assist

Worlds news

World Championship news:

USA totally kicked Germany's behind 3-0 on Saturday. Erik Cole had assists on all the goals! YaY Erik!

On Sunday, Eric Staal scored two goals in Canada's win.

And today, sadly, USA lost to Canada 6-3. Cam Ward was in goal for Canada, and John Grahame for the Americans for two periods. Commodore had an assist, and Eric Staal had two assists for the Canadians.

NHL news:

Rangers lost their series with Buffalo. The only series yet to be decided is the Detroit/San Jose series, Detroit leading 3-2.

That's it for now.

*EDIT 6:32 PM* Gah! Not the best power forward evah! From the Canes website:

Erik Cole also had a rough time, as he had to leave the game with an apparent lower-body injury after an unusual play in the second period. With Canada's Jamal Mayers bent down to pick up his dropped stick, Cole inadvertently skated into him, causing Cole to crumple and immediately be helped off the ice.

And I thought the offseason was miserable before...

Boring.

Canada beat Slovakia yesterday. No special Canes news on that front.

USA then beat Slovakia today. Hutchinson got a goal, and John Grahame got the win.

Anaheim can knock Vancouver out of the playoffs today.

Yeah... Sorry for the skeleton posts, but I am officially in the "I'm bored" stage of the off-season. Maybe if things get interesting I'll post some commentary.

But that's an if.

Canes scoring at Worlds

The World Championships are in full swing:

On Friday, Erik Cole had a goal and an assist in USA's victory over Austria. Andrew Hutchinson also got an assist, and John Grahame got the win.

On Saturday, Eric Staal had a goal in Canada's win over Germany.

And today, Chad LaRose had a goal in USA's 5-1 victory over Belarus.

Anyways... I just got done watching the Rangers 2OT win over Buffalo. Good game to watch.

A rather blunt post...

The Canes who will be playing in the World Championships are: Mike Commodore, Eric Staal, Cam Ward, Justin Williams (for team Canada) and Chad LaRose, Andrew Hutchinson, John Grahame and the best power forward evah!

A rather blunt way to begin the post, but there's nothing else to really begin with...

Ottawa won last night, thereby winning in the Pittsburgh series 4-1.
Anaheim won last night, thereby winning in the Minnesota series 4-1.
Calgary won last night, tying their series with Detroit 2-2!
And, Dallas won in overtime, bringing that series to only a 3-2 Vancouver lead.

Tonight, Buffalo and San Jose could win, and either New Jersey or Tampa will take the lead in that series. Me hopes my foster team wins.

Stuff in General

Hockey news today:

Canes signed their goaltending coach, Greg Stefan, to a contract and upgraded his status to Assistant Coach.

USA hockey named the first 18 players to it's World Championship roster. Erik Cole, Chad LaRose, and John Grahame made the team! YaY America!
Anyways... besides my 1st round predictions being viciously torn apart, there's not much else in sports-news-world...

My foster team plays tonight... although, if I end up watching a game, it'll be the Buffalo-Islanders one, because that's the one on the Quondam-OLN.

Speaking of which, I saw the Pittsburgh-Ottawa game last night. Pittsburgh just melted after the first period.

And, for those of you who care, my Atlanta trip recap is coming... it's halfway typed, but I have to finish my Chemistry homework first.

Canes play streaking Panthers tonight

Canes play Florida tonight.

Florida has been on a hot streak recently, going 7-1-2 in their last ten games. They are currently in 13th place in the East, but only 5 points out of a playoff spot.
And this is after they traded away Gary Roberts and Todd Bertuzzi.

As for the Canes, Cam Ward is expected to be out with the laceration for at least a week. John Grahame will take up the slack while he's gone, with Craig Kowalski being called up from the ECHL to be Grahame's backup.

Meanwhile... In Pittsburgh, the Penguins have reached a deal on a new arena, enabling them to stay in Pittsburgh.

Curse you Matt Cullen!

Canes lost 2-1 in a shootout against the Rangers today.

I will attribute the shootout woes this season to Matt Cullen leaving the Hurricanes. Coincidentally, Matt Cullen was the player who scored the winning shootout goal for the Rangers.

The Canes have not won any games that went into shootouts this entire year.

The game was well played, I thought. I thought the Canes had a bit of an edge in the second - the other periods seemed even.

Cam Ward left the game in the second period with a laceration above his left knee. He got 11 stitches according to the NBC guys. (I actually liked NBC's broadcast of the game... it didn't seem like they were favoring one team over the other for once.) John Grahame came in and played pretty good for having no warmup whatsoever. He made a few mistakes at the beginning - but none that turned into goals for New York, thankfully.

Justin Williams got the only goal for the Canes.

The next game is at home against the Florida Panthers.

And... for all of those who follow college basketball: the UNC Tar Heels won the ACC Tournament over NC State today. Go Heels!