Last night’s game….wow. Beating the Senators, whose fans for the most part figured that the Brothers of the Sightless Eye would be a pushover—that was….wow.

This game and, oddly enough, the first Leafs game of the season are the best barometer of how much this team has changed since 15 December 2003 (the day that Chairman Mo was relieved of his duties and replaced by Peter Laviolette). Under the Great Helmsman, the ‘Canes would have been wtfpwnt early and often. The other team scoring first usually spelled doom for the ‘Canes—and if the other team got up by two then you may as well go home because the chances of survival were not good.

And if they’d come away with a point?  They’d have said they were happy with it.

Not anymore.

After the Toronto game, Hurricanes’ Warchief Rod Brind’amour said the following:

“All in all, it wasn’t a very good game when you look at it from our perspective.  We’re coming off a long layoff and they’re a pretty good team and we’re playing them in their barn. We got a point, but obviously that’s not what we came here for.”

If you want some quoted evidence of how much the team’s attitude has changed, look there. That would NEVER have been said under the old regime, never. If you want to see some tangible evidence of how much the team’s attitude has changed, look to last night. Down 2-0 at the end of the first period, the team went into the locker room, regrouped, and came out with cannons a-blazing.

And you see the result.

Dear Nashville,

You’re welcome.

Sincerely,
Carolina

I’ve decided to take the plunge and host Carnival of the NHL #12. It’ll be hard to follow up the Instant Classic that is the Jes Gölbez-hosted Carnival #11, but I’ll do my best.

The Carnival will be posted in this very space on 5 November 2005, one week after the day that Carolina Hurricanes center Eric Staal stops having to send Mike Commodore to buy beer for him at the local Stop-n-Rob. I’m looking for posts that wonder what thought processes (or lack of same) went into such things as (for example):

OLN’s TV schedule
Sean Avery and his verbal dysentery
Calgary signing Bryan Marchment
Mats Sundin’s refusal to wear a visor even though he damn near lost an eye

Und so weiter.

You have until 29 October 2005 to send stuff to acidqueen (at) streetneeds.com—that’s 9 days from today, so hop to it!    

Why do I hate the teams that I hate?  Why do I hate the Red Wings, the Blue Jackets, the Capitals, and the Flyers?

I decided to actually sit down and write a nice longish entry about it.

The Detroit Red Wings.

I have never liked this team, ever. 2002 has nothing to do with it, and I am far from jealous of anything that team has ever done (despite what most of the Wings fans would say). I merely disliked the Red Wings until about 1997ish. My mother (who, I am ashamed to say, is a Wings fan—she also likes the Celtics, the Cardinals, and the 49ers, which just goes to show that nobody is perfect) and I would go round and round about them, just because. I mean, I’m a fan of the Lakers, Dodgers, and Redskins—so we’d always be talking some smack to each other at any given point in a year.

And then I met representatives of the rest of the Red Wings fanbase—you know, the ones that hopped on the bandwagon in 1996 and wouldn’t even recognize Alex Delvecchio if he came up to them on the street and clubbed them over the head with a baseball bat. These people are the most assy and classless bunch of chavs on the face of the planet, and I want to see the Red Wings get owned as much and as often as possible just so I can laugh at them as they cry in their beers. They make my blood boil—they’re rude, obnoxious in the extreme, arrogant as fuck, and pretty much like your average English soccer lout (though they don’t cause riots). Of course, not all of them are that way—but enough of them are that if Detroit were burning, I wouldn’t even so much as spit on it to put the fire out.

And don’t EEEEEEEEVEN get me started on some of the players!

Up next,

The Columbus Blue Jackets.

My interactions with Blue Jackets fans have been rather uniformly poor, with few exceptions. I swear, I could go on a Blue Jackets board and say “hello�, and I’d get nothing but nastiness in return just cos I’m from a southern state—and heaven forbid I make my allegiances known, because then I get hailed on with all kinds of shit about how Blue Jackets fans are so much better than the Caniac Nation (est. 1997) because of a North Carolina invention:

The Personal Seat License.

If having to shell out a mess of cash in order to have the right to shell out even more cash to get season tickets makes you a better fan, then the Carolina Panthers (who are three hours down the road in the Kingdom of Charlotte, and who invented the PSL as a way to pay for the construction of their stadium) have the best fans in the NFL even though half of them don’t even show up when the Panthers are sucking on toast.

Whatever—get over yourselves, people. Your expansion team’s marketing genii put GO BLUE on the jumbotron during an Ohio State-Michigan game and the only two things you have going for you are Rick Nash (when he’s healthy) and Jaroslav frickin’ Balastik, so I really don’t think you have any room at all to bash us for anything OK?

Moving right along.

Your Nation’s Crapitals.

Now see, here’s a team whose fans I get along famously with—probably because (for the most part) we have the Redskins in common. The team, however….

CHEAPER THAN A 40-OUNCE KING COBRA AND DIRTIER THAN THE SUPERDOME, KIDS.

I swear to Malik, if I see Brendan Witt or any other Capital take a cheap shot at one of the ‘Canes again, I am going to be waiting for them out in back of the RBC with a blackjack and a huge-ass chip on my shoulder. At least Jason Doig doesn’t play for them anymore.

And finally we have….

The Philadelphia Flyers.

Two words: Derian Hatcher (the reason why I loathed the Stars for so many years).

Two more words: Turner bloody Stevenson (who I will never ever forgive for his antics during Game 3 in 2001).

Add to that a GM who’s trying to recreate the team that cheapshotted its way to two titles (three, if you count the Summit Series) in the 70s, and you have a recipe for hatin’. If you’re a Euro, Clarke hates you. If you’re not big, Clarke hates you (unless you’re Sami Kapanen, in which case you play like you’re big). And Ken Hitchcock is as cheap as they come—dirty play is a hallmark of a Ken Hitchcock-coached team. Though I hate the team passionately (except for Dennis Seidenberg and the aforementioned Sami Kapanen), this is another team whose fans I get along with for the most part, because the really annoying ones are easy enough to ignore (kinda like the more annoying of the Devils fans).
And there you have it.

Goddamn, Alexander Ovechkin is amazing. I hate the Washington Capitals almost as much as I hate the Detroit Red Wings (and that is a lot of hate there, kids)—but I’ll gladly give this kid his due. He’s got amazing hands, plays a more physical game than you would expect a Russian to play, and….wow. Just wow. If the Capitals ever get their shit together I’ll actually be afraid of them.

I’m finding myself watching last night’s Hurricanes-Capitals game over and over again, because of two things:

1. Alexander Ovechkin
2. The Hurricanes actually scoring power play goals.

Well that and Nicky Wallin’s Steve Smith moment—surely, it is a sign of Laviolette’s “all for one� philosophy that the team rallied from that goal and to a man busted their asses to erase their teammate’s mistake. That, to me, is one of the biggest signs that the team has changed from the Maurice era.

Do I declare the Hurricanes’ power-play woes solved?  Of course not, that would be foolish. The power play is still anemic, when you look at the expanding picture of this season, and it still needs work. But they did look a LOT better last night than they did the first three games of the season, so I hold out hope that this can continue over the course of the season.

I open with this: Darren McCarty will never not be hot to me. Even when he decides to shave his head again, I will still turn into a melting puddle of hormone-laden goo whenever I see him. Even if he puts on a stinkin’ Red Wings jersey again, I will still drool mindlessly at the sight of the man and his eleventy billion tattoos.

Why? Because I think he’s smokin’ hot. I don’t care whom he plays for, I don’t care what he does for a living. Even when he played for the Red Wings, I didn’t care that he played for them (and that is saying something, because I have always despised the Red Wings with the fire of a million white-hot suns). He could dig ditches or deliver beer for Long Beverage, Incorporated and I wouldn’t give a damn. I just think the man is hotter than Death Valley in the middle of July.

Does this make me a puckbunny?

To some, it does. Others would see me as a puckbunny if I ever said that I “loved� a particular player. To still others, the mere fact that I have ovaries and a Joni (spot the reference and consider yourself well-read—or clever, take your pick) makes me a puckbunny despite the fact that I know more about hockey than half of western Canada.

Fuck y’all haters.

I know my sport, and know it damn well. I love my sport, passionately. I love my team, fiercely, passionately, and wholly. But all too often, the last line of defense for some simpleton who gets into an argument with me (or any other female fan, for that matter) on a message board or in a sports bar is to drop the “puckbunnyâ€� smack–as if that somehow makes the simpleton the automatic winner of the argument. It’s as if being a female fan means that you have to not like the menfolk.

To hell with that, kids.

I love me a nice side of beef—hello, I do sit on that side of the fence. But come on—when valuing a player’s worth, I rate his skills as a player far more highly than whether or not he sets my ovaries alight. As a friend of mine once said, “I refuse to be thought of as less of a fan because I like to comment on Bruno St. Jacques’ game and, occasionally, his butt.â€�

Why is this so hard for some people to comprehend? It never ceases being a wonderment to me.

I end with a sad, but true story:

The News and Observer sent a female reporter out to a ‘Canes game once to talk to my hockey buddy Lisa (who is all about little Sami Kapanen) and me for a story about female fans. The reporter asked me why I am such an ardent fan of Marek Malik—this was back during the days when I would get into fights (both virtual and real) with motards who thought a 6’5� defenseman should do nothing but smack people into the next county—and my answer actually had to do with hockey, and I said nothing about whether or not I have the hots for him (for the record, I don’t—my love for the Serene Master is maternal). Same with Lisa. She went on and on about Sami’s skills as a player and his tenacity on the ice—when the reporter asked her “But do you think he’s hot?� Lisa’s response was “Who cares?�

The article got turfed and never saw print.

I was reading a Hurricanes board yesterday, and saw this little gem:

Let me share a story. Back in the summer during the wild free agency and all, I was checking Eklund’s site as often as anyone. I was led to believe that he knew what he was talking about. Until one day back in August that I did something to see how fast it spread and to see where it got. I started a rumor. You may have heard it, I do not know. But it was on Sportsnet Forums (Where I started it) HF Boards, Eklund and Hockey Trade Rumors.com

The Rumor I started was Tampa Bay forward Brad Richards to Montreal for Ryder, Hainsey and a 2nd round draft pick.

Guess where my rumor got to? Say no more than… the famous “Eklund” he had it rated at (E3) as he calls it. The number beside the (E) is always the number of strong sources he has to support the rumor.

As I went on Eklund, to my surprise (Because I thought this guy was for real) Had MY very own made up as fake as fake could be rumor on his front page with a (E3). He went on to say that he had 3 strong sources confirm this trade could and was very well in the works.

I sat there and laughed. Because I knew I made that rumor up, and it was absolutly impossible for him to say “his sources” confirmed it.

From that day on, I have taken every word from Eklund as a grain of salt.

There’s my story.

So I PMed the poster (who goes by the handle Staal12) and asked him if he had links to the threads in question, and here’s what he replied:

(I do not normally post private messages, but I have a feeling he won’t mind)

I can try and find them for you, I’ll look them up now for the ones I can find. The only thing is, is that the Sportsnet Mods deleated my initial post on their forum, I questioned them about it and they said did it by accident. But I can give you the links to where it got to.

Here are some of the links.

http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=167053

http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=166884

As you will see in this link, it says is was posted on Sportsnet Forums and that is where this person got it. This was my actual very first and only thread I made about this rumor. This person obviously copied and pasted it before the Sportsnet Mods deleted it.

http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=166756

From hockeytraderumors.com

http://www.hockeytraderumors.com/article5541.html

From Montreal Canadiens official fan forum:

http://forum.canadiens.com/forum/eng/viewtopic.php?t=3002&highlight=rumours

Here is the main thread from The Montreal Canadiens official forum. Just scroll down, and you’ll see where it begins.

http://forum.canadiens.com/forum/eng/viewtopic.php?t=2596&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=180

Here are a few from the Sportsnet Forums:

http://forums.sportsnet.ca/thread.jspa?threadID=34120&tstart=960

http://forums.sportsnet.ca/thread.jspa?threadID=34115&tstart=975

http://forums.sportsnet.ca/thread.jspa?threadID=34084&tstart=390

Pretty damning, no? And yet Eklund gave that rumor an “E3″ rating and had it up on his website until 28 August, when he posted:

I have removed the Richards trade rumor from the blog after much speculation to its validity. I was very slow to post this at all yesterday even thought many, many folks emailed me with the rumor throughout the day..I did not believe the rumor at all at first. It wasn’t until I got home from Atlantic City last night that I talked to two sources who verified there was something to it. They verified the fact that Tampa and Montreal had had discussions regarding Richards…However did not know the names. I am now going to spend a lot of time today seeing if the names are similar to the rumor that is out there..According to a source regarding this rumor, “This rumour got started on Hockeytraderumors.com, claiming CBC Radio 640 AM in Bonavista was reporting Michael Ryder’s brother was claiming this trade was about to go down. Two problems with this. First, CBC employees have been locked out by management across Canada for over two weeks now, leading to little news coverage, let alone sports news coverage. Second, CBC Radio isn’t heard on 640 AM in Bonavista, but 750 AM.”

This is an interesting case where someone may have invented a rumor from thin air, and stumbled on a player, Richards, and a team, Montreal, that is indeed being thrown around..I will get to the bottom of it…

What’s really funny is that if you do a blogspot search of his blog specifically for Richards trade, you WILL find a link to the removed post (it’s the second link)–but of course you can’t get to the post because Eklund the Fraud deleted it (as he states above–probably one of the only true things he’s ever posted in that blog).

EDIT: I have been given permission by my source to divulge his identity (or at least his carolinahurricanes.com board name), so I’ve edited my post accordingly.

I swear to Malik, if I hear anything more about how people in North Carolina only like college frickin’ basketball and Neckcar, I am going to KILL SOMEBODY.

ATTN PEOPLE:

I HAVE LIVED IN NORTH CAROLINA FOR TEN YEARS–AND I HATE COLLEGE BASKETBALL AND DESPISE STOCK-CAR RACING.

In a lot of ways, my childhood in North Dakota prepared me for living down here. I was one of four hockey fans in a town of about 1500, and it was a big pain in my ass not being able to follow my team except in boxscores and late Sunday nights on the George Michael Sports Machine (back then, I barracked for the Edmonton Oilers–sue me, they were the first team I ever saw play back in 1980). The big things were basketball and racin’, and I loathed them back then, too.

The loathing only deepens every time some know-nothing from north of the Mason-Dixon line (or, more commonly, north of the 49th Parallel) shoots off his ign’ant mouth and paints us all as a bunch of terbacky-chawin’ sibling-boffin’ moonshinin’ rednecks that don’t know from anything other than Neckcar or basketball. It just makes me so angry, because those blanket statements are borne of nothing other than ignorance and laziness–and those who know me know that those are two things that really drive me up the wall. That’s like saying that (for example) all Canucks fans are knuckle-dragging low-IQ thugs because of a handful of (usually drunk) neanderthals that riot whenever the Canucks lose in the playoffs, when anyone with half a clue and the desire to do even the tiniest bit of work can look and plainly see that such is not the case.

Laziness in reporting just pisses me off. No, not everybody is that way–I realize that–but unfortunately there are enough of “the right people” (Bristol, random Toronto/Montreal/Winnipeg/Detroit/wherever mediots, etc.) that are engaged in that kind of laziness that the perception has become the reality. I’m sick of it. I’m tired of it. I’m not going to put up with it.

In other news:

Poor Andy was claimed off waivers by the Columbus Blue Jackets today. From one team I hate to another–that poor sod, he just can’t catch a break can he?

Bruno St. Jacques (the Hurricanes’ #10 guy on their depth chart) was traded to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for Craig Adams today, and of course we’ve got people crying in their beers about it on various message boards.

Spare me the drama, children.

Look–Bruno was #10 on the depth chart behind Danny Richmond. He had a horrible training camp and was not fitting in at all well with Lavy’s system. It’s far better for him to have a change of scenery and try his luck with a different team than to be dropping further and further down the Hurricanes’ depth chart.

As for CAdams? He’s a Lowell man. That’s where he’s going, that’s where he’s more than likely going to stay barring injuries to our top 9 and the guys immediately behind them on the depth chart–in the grand scheme of things, it was a minor-leaguer for a minor-leaguer. Why didn’t we sign CAdams instead of (as one individual put it) “[giving] Bruno the boot to get [him] back”?

Because Adams wanted a one-way contract and more money than the Hurricanes could justify paying him, that’s why. It amazes me that people don’t fucking pay attention to these things or bother to spend even the tiniest bit of effort trying to find this stuff out on their own before opening their damn yaps. Sheesh, even I learned to do that after a while.

In other news:

‘Canes GM Jimmy Rutherford said today at a roundtable luncheon that Radim Vrbata was being kept on a very short leash for the first two months of the season, since he was having so much trouble in training camp.

OK, now this is indicative of Rutherford’s big failing as a GM–he holds on to a guy when his stock is down to pennies on the dollar, and then trades him for what amounts to nickel slugs. If Verb is having so much trouble and if he’s not fitting into the current system, then bloody trade him already! Trade him NOW, and try to get some value for him! Mind you, I don’t expect the world for a 7th-round draft pick, but come on–at least get SOMETHING decent for him.

And the Detroit Red Wings have, so I’m told, waived Andy Delmore (Poor Bastards List entry #403). Those of you who know me know that I tend to adopt the hard-luck cases (like Poor Andy) because I have a soft spot for those kind of guys. If you had a team of all my favorite players, they’d be like at the bottom of the League every season–but at least they’d have one fan.

(and I harbor a secret desire to see us nab the guy off waivers and give him a shot–then he won’t have to face the Nashville boo-birds 8 times a season. Love Nashville, love the people, like the Preds–but damn y’all are a rough crowd.)