Sweet Tea, Barbecue, and Bodychecks

100 points and a playoff spot–go us, go us.

I never thought I’d see the day when the ‘Canes got 100 points in the standings–of course, I never thought I’d see the day when the power play was better than the penalty kill either. I think that’s an indicator of how far this team has come since the days of “play not to lose”.

And hopefully some of the less-intelligent folk in the Caniac Nation (est. 1997) will finally lay off Mark Recchi, now that he’s actually put some points on the board. When I read a post on one message board from a fan who said that “Recchi is turning out to be an awful trade” after Saturday’s travesty agin the Capitals, I about sprayed my Diet Coke all over the monitor. Rex was the only one making any kind of crisp passes or trying at all out there that night–but I guess in the minds of some, if you don’t put points on the board you’re just not any good.

Of course, this is the same fan who said in the same post that Ray Whitney had to show up at each and every single practice and morning skate and skate the whole time, regardless of whether or not it would re-injure his groin–so there you go.

Wednesday, the Brothers of the Sightless Eye get another crack at Washington–and hopefully, this time they’ll actually show up.

Go Canes.

While poking through the threads (and all the Chicken Littling) on scout.com’s Hurricanes board, I found this little gem from the old “15 Years of Whalers Hockey” book (which covers the years 1972-1987):

In this picture are:

New England Whalers co-founder Bill Barnes (the creator of the All-Star Skills Competition, who passed away this week)
Bobby Hull
WHA President Gary Davidson
Whalers owner Howard Baldwin

And the pouty kid in front holding the “New England Whalers” sign? A very young Brett Hull.

Friend of mine IMed me a little bit ago with the following (in reference to a bunch of Chicken Littling on the scout.com message boards):

I think it’s time you pull out the these-are-the-times-that-try-mens’-souls blog entry from a few years ago for use on Fanhome.

Hmmm….

What the hell–this seems like as good a time as any to trot out this old chestnut, which I posted in my personal livejournal back in January of 2003 (feel free to make the appropriate substitutions for folks that are no longer with the Hurricanes’ org–that being Mike Gilsenan and Paul Maurice):

I was hoping I’d be able to get through an entire season without posting a rant. But no, folks on fanhome and other boards just had to set me off by calling themselves fans of the team even while declaring that they’re never getting season tickets again and that the team is a loser and that grass is frickin’ green.

All I have to say to those people is this:

You all knew damn well what you were getting into when you signed on for this gig.

Don’t tell me you didn’t know, because either you’ve been in a Skinner Box your whole life or you’re a bald-faced liar. You knew when you signed on that this is a bipolar team–they win, and they lose. They rock, and they suck. The Carolina Hurricanes are a dichotomy on skates, probably more so than any other team. They always have been that way, and who knows–they might always be that way, especially if Coach-for-Life Paul I keeps coaching them (He’s honking me off too–but that’s another story).

Don’t fraggin’ tell me that you had no clue what you were getting into, people. Don’t sit there and tell me that you’re a fan while you’re booing the team and saying that you’ll never get tickets again and burning your car flags and putting your jersey in a box in the closet to never be seen again. Either you’re on the bus or you’re off the bus–pick a lane and drive in it.

You don’t want to be an STH anymore? You don’t want to come to games anymore? You don’t want to support a “loser” team anymore? Fine! Go. Leave. Don’t let the door hit you. The Red Wings board is down the hall, third door on your left–I’m sure they’d love to have you hop on their bus, just like all the other people that hopped on their bandwagon after 1997, because it’s clear to me that you don’t have the stones to be a ‘Canes fan.

If you don’t want to be a STH anymore just because we’re on a Schneid From Hell, do what others have suggested and turn your damn tickets in–right now, today. Go to the box office, look Mike Gilsenan straight in the eye as you hand him your ticket book, and tell him that you’re abandoning the team because you can’t deal with adversity. Then turn your butt around and leave and don’t ever let me hear you calling yourself a fan of the Carolina Hurricanes again, because as far as I’m concerned you stopped being a fan the moment you decided to quit on the team.

When the true fans–the people that stick by this team through thick and thin and refuse to quit on the team even though the team might quit on them–finally get on the karma train as it stops at our station, we’ll all smile and blow you kisses and hold up signs saying “Having a great time, too bad you’re not here.”

Or at least I’ll be doing it. Just because I’m irritating like that.

Do you people (posters and lurkers alike) that are quitting on the team think that the rest of us LIKE it when the ‘Canes lose? Do you think we LIKE it when the Canes act like they don’t give a rat’s arse? If you do, then I’ve got a bridge and some swampland to sell you–and if you act now, I’ll toss in a large copper-plated sculpture and a nice obelisk too. Of course we don’t like it! Of course we don’t like seeing the team get into train wreck after train wreck! Of course we don’t like reading excuses in the paper and feeling frustrated and reaching for the TUMS every night! DUH, we’re fans! We want the best for our team! We want them to come out belching hellfire and brimstone and lay the smack down upon the opponents’ candy a$$es every night, because we’re fans.

These are the times that try fans’ souls, folks. This is the time where the wheat is separated from the chaff, and the true mettle of a fan is determined–and I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but I’d really like to think that our fans are the kind of people that will stay true to their team no matter what.

It takes a very special kind of person to cheer for a struggling team, and I mean that in a very good way–you can’t buy the sense of loyalty and devotion that fans of hard-luck teams have. I’d much rather have a Cubs fan or a Tigers fan at my side in a fight than a Yankees fan. I’d much rather have a Vikings fan or a Buccaneers fan at my side than a Packers fan. It’s time to take a look at how you really feel about this team and decide whether or not you have what it takes to be a fan of the Carolina Hurricanes.

The team needs us, friends and neighbors. Now, more than ever, they need us. They may give up after the first goal, they may play like they’re asleep, they may not know which friggin’ end is up–but they need every last one of us fans, and by Thunder we should damn well be there for them.

Go ‘Canes, to the bloody bitter end!

Wow. It’s so strange that, even though the Hurricanes are doing so well now, this rant is still applicable in some ways.

According to a story in this morning’s N&O, Josef Vasicek is skating hard in practice and working to get the rust off in preparation for a return to the ice after missing almost the entire season with a blown ACL.

It’ll be interesting to see how Joe, Lord of Evil will fit into the Hurricanes’ lineup when he’s ready to return to the ice. I’ve a feeling that he’ll wind up being a spare part in the Hurricanes’ playoff run, but is that really so bad? I can see him pulling fourth-line minutes with occasional duty on the third line, unless he really clicks with somebody.

In other injury news, Andrew Hutchinson is almost ready to start practicing again, after surgery back in December to repair torn tendons in his left wrist. Aaron Ward is questionable for tonight’s game after a hit from Travis Green in Saturday’s tilt v. Boston that apparently did more than just ring his bell–Nicky Wallin is expected to take his spot in the lineup if Wardo’s unable to play.

Puck drops in Hogtown at 7:30 tonight. Go Canes.

But (of ALL things) the Redskins fan in me demands it because Dallas is involved.

There’s a headline in the sports section of the DaMN (Dallas Morning News, for those of you who never worked at Nortel–and therefore got to read nortel.talk before TPTB shut it down) talking about Detroit’s “patsy of a schedule“–as if there’s some sort of conspiracy to get the Red Wings the President’s Trophy. One of the gems is this line:

If the Stars pass Detroit, they will have also overturned the handiwork of the NHL’s Board of Governors.

When the league returned to an unbalanced schedule this season, it gave Detroit a ridiculously easy path. It is difficult to judge how good the Red Wings are, because they have had a season full of cupcakes.

You gotta be kidding me–Gerry Fraley (the dumbass who spewed that garbage) clearly needs his dosage upped, if he seriously believes what he wrote. Otherwise, he just needs a good swift kick in the ass.

The Central Division may be the weakest in the NHL (the three worst teams in the League not named Pittsburgh are there), but I’m sorry–aren’t you supposed to try to beat your division rivals? I must have missed a memo somewhere, because last I checked those division games were supposed to be ones that you wanted to….oh, I don’t know, try to win if you wanted to get a decent playoff seed (or make the playoffs, period). Wow, what a shocker.

I can honestly tell you, as somebody who loathes Detroit and every single stinkin’ team in it, that there is no Vast Red Wing Conspiracy. Nothing of the sort. Nada. ничего. The schedule is pretty much randomly generated, with game dates set to take into account arena scheduling and special requests from individual teams (The Hurricanes going on a road trip during the NC State Fair and the ACC Tournament, the Maple Leafs asking the NHL to push back the start time of a road game to accomodate Sportsnet East’s telecast of a NASCAR race in the GTMA, etc.) How the teams do is entirely up to them, really. I mean, how many people predicted that the Blues would free-fall like they did? For that matter, how many people predicted that the Hurricanes would be at or near the top of the standings….or that Dallas would fatten themselves up on the shootout?

Yeah.

The Hurricanes snapped their three-game losing streak in grand fashion this evening with a 5-3 smacking of the Rangers (who outshot them almost 2:1!)

Very nice game, with a few exceptions:

1) ATTN: Mike Commodore
Plz to not crosscheck guy in front of a ref, k and thx.

2) ATTN: Hurricanes
Plz to do better job trying to clear puck from zone, k and thx.

3) ATTN: Anton Babchuk
Two words, kiddo: Shooter Tutor.

I was so happy to see Doug Weight moved back to his natural position tonight (Center)–it’s where he’s most comfortable, and tonight it reaped huge dividends (2g, 2a, First Star) for him. I was also very impressed with Mark Recchi–he was hitting everything with a white jersey on, and had some very nice chances too.

And then there were the durnken asshats sitting behind me in 332 Row D, who were still being served beer even though they were clearly intoxicated, and who should (in my opinion) have been tossed by the RBC securebots (who were posted at each end of the section) when all of us in Row A plus all the people sitting around them complained to the ushers AND to security about them after second period–especially when they were both spotted heading back to their seats from yet another beer stand with a beer in each hand. The game would have been wicked enjoyable were it not for those two morons, who roont a lot of the night for me and everyone else with their drunken jackassery. Bad show by the RBC staff in not being a little more proactive in that matter.

In my travels through the message boards of the Caniac Nation (est. 1997), I always find rather large knots of idiocy populated by people that piss and whine when the Hurricanes aren’t in the running for the President’s Trophy.

My question is always: Why?

Why care so much about the President’s Trophy? It’s not the Cup. Don’t you people care about the Stanley Cup? Who cares if they win the President’s Trophy? It means nothing at all if you get bounced in the playoffs–just ask the 1986 Oilers, the 2001 Blues, or the 2003 Senators. I would much rather the Hurricanes focus on themselves and what they’re doing, and work on getting somewhere once the postseason arrives. Who cares about what happens out West? That will attend to itself, and there is nothing the Hurricanes or their fans can do to change it.

If the Hurricanes win the President’s Trophy, so be it. If not, then who gives a damn? Are you people really so stupid and shallow that you’ll be lighting yourselves on fire and flinging yourselves off the top of the RBC Center if the Hurricanes are second overall in the NHL come April?

Go stand over there in the corner with all the State fans that want Herb Sendek’s head on a pike because the Wolfpack lost in the ACC Tournament and the Carolina fans that piss and whine when the Heels lose to Duke in the regular season–Gods only know you’re about as smart as they are.

(I don’t even believe I just used a college ball reference)

I want the Cup. Period. I don’t give a damn about magazine covers, power rankings (though Scott Cullen is STILL a toolbag–and a patronizing one at that), newspaper coverage, a stupid-looking martini glass, or even Hairy freaking Gelrose.

I. Want. The. Cup. That is all I care about, and if you’re too gods-damned stupid to figure out what’s more important then I don’t know what more to say.

ATTN: Jack Johnson, University of Michigan defenseman
FROM: The Acid Queen, Hockey blogger

SUBJ: Spring Fever

Greetings from your future NHL home! I see that you’re having a great time in the NCAA playoffs for UMich, and that you’re planning to stay another three years.

My advice:

Follow through with those plans.

Y’see, Jack, a few souls in the ‘Canes fanbase are salivating at the idea of you joining the Hurricanes after the Wolverines’ season is done. Some of these people are actively campaigning on message boards and in other locales (see comments) for you to be signed the instant you’re done with the NCAA season, and to hell with how it may harm your development, whether or not you’re actually ready for the NHL yet, or whether or not you actually want to sign with the ‘Canes after you’re done with this year at UMich.

Please stay at UMich, young man. I would much rather see you come to the Hurricanes after four years of careful development under the watchful eye of Red Berenson and actually be ready to go (not to mention having a college education), than see you be rushed and not be as great as people had hoped. The people that are screaming the loudest for you to be signed by the ‘Canes are blind homers that just want to see you chucking flying elbows at random people in the playoffs, and frankly they aren’t worth listening to in the first place. These are the same people that drive up to Martinsville or down to Charlotte or Talladega only to come home pissed off when there isn’t a wreck, so really you’re better off just ignoring them.

(Gods, I don’t even believe I used a NASCAR reference)

Think of all the good things that college has to offer–an education, first and foremost among them. Stay in school and get that edjamacation before you hie off to the green fields of the NHL, and fuhgeddabout what a scattered handful of fools want. Do what’s best for you so that when the time comes you can do what’s best for the Hurricanes.

Sincerely,

The Acid Queen

Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion was called up to the Eternal Game early this morning after a brief battle with stomach cancer.

Thoughts and prayers go out to his family, who are in Montreal tonight for Boom Boom’s number-retirement ceremony. No obituary I write could do justice to a man who was a member of one of the greatest teams ever (the Canadiens team that won 5 Cups between 1956 and 1960), so I’ll let TSN’s article do the talking for me.

Rest easy, Boom Boom.

So I’m sitting in a training session about the North Carolina Education Lottery all day. I come home to see the following headline:

‘CANES ACQUIRE MARK RECCHI IN DEADLINE DEAL WITH PENS

Bloody hell.

Some days, I really hate my yob–this is one of those days, if only because I missed the breaking of this one because I was sitting in an hotel ballroom learning how to use a spiffy lotto terminal from Andy Delmore (or at least, some dude from Nebraska that looks like him).

I mean, damn.

But anyway. The Hurricanes give up the following:

Niklas Nordgren: Nice guy, worked his ass off, but he was really having a lot of trouble here and only recently seemed to be finding a groove to fit in. I’ll miss him, but not overmuch.

Krys Kolanos: The fans in Lowell thought of him as the second coming of Krispy Kreme Brendl, only without the production that Krispy would turn out when trying to get called up from the minors so he could slack off for NHL pay for a while. No great loss.

Second rounder in ‘07: This is the second ‘07 pick that the Hurricanes have given up this season. Meh. I find myself not getting overly upset about it….right now, anyway. After this season I’ll probably be fit to be tied.

And in return, they get a little less evil on the Jes Golbez Evil Scale, and they get Mark Recchi–which brings me back to Wagergate.

I don’t regret the “WTF”ing I did when the whole story first broke, because really, the NHL is not exactly in the position where it can afford to think “any pub is good pub”. I mean, it’s just not that “big” in terms of the four major sports (well OK, three major sports plus NASCAR), so until the League gets its head out of its collective ass and starts actually doing something to broaden its appeal (note: the Instigator Rule is NOT that “something”) it’s going to have issues whenever something like Operation Slapshot comes along, no matter how big or small it is.

But anyway:

People bet on other sports, but not the NHL. Fine–I can dig it. Let Tocchet get his ass handed to him for getting involved with the whole money laundering thing, and we’ll move on.

Mooooooving right along:

I can’t be the only one who fell down laughing at Jeff Friesen getting traded back to the Ducks, the team that he bashed left right and center when he got traded there from the Sharks in 2002 (and then bashed some more on his way to New Jersey). That was just funny, right there. Feel free to join me in the pointing and laughing.

Sandis Ozolinsh to the Rangers? Wow, I didn’t see that one coming. I’ve always liked Sandis, and I was very happy to see him doing well in the Olympic games for Latvia. I think he’ll be a good match in New York, especially since the Rangers don’t really have any defensemen that I’d consider very offensively-minded (except maybe Fedor Tyutin).

Vancouver’s finally got their Cloutier replacement, and it’s Buffalo’s Miikka Noronen. Wow, let’s just parade that Cup down Robson now. Just kidding, Canucks fans. Noronen’s not a bad little goalie, but he’s not been tested in the playoffs (but then, neither have either of the Hurricanes’ goalies). I look forward to seeing how he’ll hold up to the pressure in Vancouver.

TO: Kevin Lowe
FROM: The Acid Queen
RE: Sergei Samsonov from Boston for Marty Reasoner, Yan Stastny, and a second-round pick, Dwayne Roloson from Minnesota for a first-round pick and a conditional pick

Kevin,

I was wondering if you have any more of whatever weed they’re growing up in Alberta these days. If so, please bag some up for me and I’ll collect it from you at the Draft this June.

Love,

AQ

p.s. I used to have such a crush on you–but damn you’ve let yourself go over the last couple years. What the Hel, man?!

Washington Capitals’ malcontent ex-captain Brendan Witt was dealt to Nashville for Kris Beech and a first-rounder. Beech goes back to the team that got him in the first Jagr trade (the one that landed him in the District), and the Preds get the mindless toughness that David Poile drafted back in 1993 when he was the Capitals’ GM. You have no idea how many times I typed “Crapitals” and had to edit, people. Seriously.

Wow, Olli Jokinen decided to re-up with Florida after all? Keenan must have pictures or something.

And finally, I don’t think that Pierre Lacroix is as crack-addled as some are claiming he is. Theodore’s gotta pull his head out of his ass sometime, and he needed to leave Montreal anyway. Do I think he’ll help the Avs soon? Pry not. Do I think he’ll become Patrick Roy v2.0? Gods I hope not–only one of that choking-in-elimination-games-motherfucker is enough. But Theo was in dire need of a change of scenery, and really Colorado is not a bad location to relocate to–just ask my sister. He’ll turn it around in time.

Just my 1/50 of a Loonie.

I suppose I’m going to have to take that “Heavy Metal” quote out of my post about Erik Cole and his fractured vertebra now, because freaking nobody got that it was not wholly serious–which, I guess, is what I get for assuming that some of my readers are either smart or well-read enough to not need a Grade 1 primer for everything I post here.

I’m not bloody screaming for anyone’s head–trust me, if I were I wouldn’t be quoting Hanover Fiste (if you’re that movie-impaired, go rent “Heavy Metal”) AND I’d be a lot more persistent in posting about it. But I stand by my anger, and I stand by my Billy The Rapist comment, because a lot of the Pens fans that have defended the hit or said that Cole “got what he deserved” are the same people that defended the Pens’ signing Billy Tibbets right out of prison.

I’m not posting Orpik’s address, I’m not saying he should be kicked out of the League, I’m not even demanding that he be given a career-ending hit in retaliation–which are all things that certain individuals in message-board land have done or called for (and actions that I’ve decried–but I guess since I didn’t do it here, it didn’t really happen). But I have the right to be angry about the hit, a right to be angry about the lame-ass “justifications” for it, and I damn sure have a right to be angry about the paltry suspension. Had Colesy been playing for one of the Favored Teams, I guarandamntee that suspension would have been a lot longer.

You want to tag me with an unoriginal title like “Canidiot”? Go ahead. You want to bring up Jesse Boulerice as if that somehow makes me unqualified to render any sort of opinion whatsoever? It’s all you. But you can also take that tar brush that you feel the need to swing at me because of a few mouthbreathing idiots that think that being angry qualifies them to be even dumber than they already are, light it on fire, and shove it where the goal light doesn’t shine.

Get the Hel over yourselves, people.

Joe Tasca of Off-Wing Opinion decided to take a little potshot at me when posting about Brooks Orpik’s hit on Erik Cole.

POSTSCRIPT: With all due respect to the Acid Queen, I don’t recall her screaming bloody murder when the Hurricanes had Jesse Boulerice on their roster. Boulerice, if you’ll recall, was charged with and convicted of assault after clubbing Guelph Storm forward Andrew Long in the head with his stick during an OHL playoff game in 1998. Long went into convulsions on the ice and suffered a severe concussion and facial injuries.

Boulerice was banned from the OHL. But he was upstanding enough to play in Carolina.

“Respect”. Yeah, right.

For those who don’t feel like following a linky, I’ll just C&P the comment I left there:

A long time ago, long before he came to Carolina, I made peace with Jesse Boulerice.

I mean, let’s look at this–Boulerice has never tried to justify what he did. He’s never tried to defend it, he’s never tried to make himself look like the wronged party, and he’s had no repeat incidents. Plenty of fans have tried to justify that horrifying incident, but every time Jesse’s been asked about it he’s been pretty consistent in saying that it was stupid of him to do it and that he wishes he could have that moment back so he could make a better decision and NOT swing that stick.

But hey, don’t let me keep you from swinging the tar brush at me.

For that matter, Joe, don’t let that keep you from swinging the tar brush at the ‘Canes…again.

Saturday night, 23 guys wearing the Sightless Eye took the ice against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Two and a half hours later, 22 of them left with everything intact.

The same can’t be said for Erik Cole, who was pile-driven head first into the boards by Pens defenseman Brooks Orpik and suffered a compression fracture in one of his vertebrae and will miss the rest of the season.

If I said I’m not angry at what happened, I’d be lying. If I said that I didn’t want to beat the ever-living crap out of the low-lifes that cheered that hit and said that Cole “had it coming”, I’d be Richard freaking Nixon. How anyone can call that hit clean is just beyond me–and yet, that’s what some Pens fans (and others, including Brooks Orpik) are doing.

Of course, these are the same people that defended Billy The Rapist when the Pens signed him right out of the joint, so really I can’t say I’m surprised.

The guy left his feet when delivering the hit and took a lot more than three steps to get there–if that’s not charging (on top of boarding), I don’t know what is. It was completely unnecessary, completely unconscionable, and to be quite honest it’s completely in character for Michel Therrien to send a goony player after the other team’s leading scorer–especially if it’s Erik Cole, who pretty much humiliated the guy in the 2002 playoffs by scoring the tying goal in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

To quote the sage philosopher Hanover Fiste (rent “Heavy Metal” sometime if you don’t know who he is):

HANGIN’S TOO GOOD FOR HIM! BURNIN’S TOO GOOD FOR HIM! HE SHOULD BE CHOPPED INTO ITSY BITSY PIECES AND BURIED ALIVE!

And a hefty suspension and fine would be nice too, but somehow I don’t think it’ll happen.

I’m all ate up with the burnination over this, seriously. This isn’t an arguably “clean” hit like the kind that a certain retired part-Slovak defenseman used to dish out. It was just low down, dirty, and shameful.

Further takes on it from CasonBlog and Red and Black Hockey

Get better soon, Colesy. The prayers of the Caniac Nation are with you.

Some of you are waiting for my take on Brooks Orpik’s hit on Erik Cole the other night.

You’ll be waiting a few more hours–I’ll post when I get home from work in the AM.

Ahhh, first game back after the Olympic break–and a good one, too.

Well, if you ignore the fact that the ‘Canes somehow managed to win despite committing a shitload of turnovers in their zone, not connecting on a lot of passes, forgetting that they’re not playing under international rules anymore (and therefore don’t need to go after a helmet that gets knocked off–Erik Cole, hello), and having too few (yes, too few) men on the ice on three separate occasions.

And the shitty officiating in the first two periods, where there were a lot of missed calls (and blown calls) on both sides. But scoring overcomes bad officiating, and the ‘Canes overcame the Bruins 4-3. I’ll let Dave Lee handle the full game report, though, and just comment on things I saw at le jeu.

1) The next person that hollers “SHOOT THE PUCK!” when the guy with the puck is behind the net or doesn’t have an angle OR a lane on the net is going to have the shit beaten out of him with his (or her) own spinal column by me. It’s so aggravating that forty times a game I find myself fighting back the urge to go all “Fargo” on people that do that, seriously.

2) It was nice to see 17,000 fans in the house on a Wednesday night–yes, most of them were EXTREMELY casual (as in, didn’t know the names of the players or that Bruins defenceman David Tanabe was drafted by the ‘Canes and played for them for the better part of three seasons), but they were there and they were loud. Too bad certain people will harp on that as a sign that the fans here don’t care about the team, while Chicago gets a free pass on 9,333 in their barn just because they’re an O6 team.

3) Section 328 rocks. If you ever come out to Raleigh for a game, check them out. Section 303 got nothin’ on ‘em.

4) The RBC Center’s announcer is getting better–he’s not checking himself and hosing up the names and numbers of the players like fifty times a game anymore–but now he’s trying to be like our old PA guy, former WWE ring announcer Tony Gilliam, which is bad. Unless he calls #14 for the Montreal Canadiens “Ray-deck Boink” like Tony did back during the first season in Raleigh (when good ol’ Ray-deck played for the Sens), in which case it might actually become amusing.

5) At every home game, the Canesvision crew plays a video covering a legendary player from the NHL’s history. The video is narrated by the Hurricanes’ radio guy, Chuck Kaiton–and usually the Canesvision guys play a “Legends of the NHL” video featuring a player from the visiting team (assuming the team is more than 20 years old). But last night? The video was about Serge Savard.

Think about that one for a moment–and look Savard up on hockeydb.com if you still don’t understand what a wonderfully subtle snipe that was.

6) The new Ric Flair goal celebration video (”That’s a stylin’ and profilin’ Hurricane goal! Wooooo! Wooooo! *spins* Woowoo!”) has gotta go. It’s just…well, it’s missing something. It doesn’t flow like the other ones do. I much prefer the old ones–and I don’t even like wrestling (well, except for John Cena–that hot little badass can leglock me anytime).

7) Dougie Weight is still trying to find his groove with the team, but he’s getting there.
I didn’t have the drooling idiot sitting behind me that was sitting behind me at the second Pittsburgh game (at the RBC) hollering “WHERE’S JESSE?! WE WANT BOULERICE! HEY, I BET WEIGHT’LL DROP THE GLOVES! THAT’S WHY WE GOT HIM, AIN’T IT?!” Instead, I had a couple clowns that thought they knew everything about hockey cos they’re from “up north” talking out their asses and not knowing a cross-check from a glove save.

The only bad thing about the game was not being able to hang out and chat with some of my old “North Side” buddies from the early days of the team’s tenure in Raleigh, because I had to go home and get some sleep.

Ahh, the joys of first shift.