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Category: Carolina-Hurricanes

Are The Canes Tough Enough

by Paul on 09/19/07 at 08:45 PM ET
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from WRAL,

Are the Hurricanes tough enough ? Do they need to add an enforcer type to their roster?

There seems to be a movement back to this among many teams. The Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins come to mind as three teams that have addressed the issue and have gone in that direction over the the last few months. When the NHL opened for business after the lockout in 2005, it looked like some of these players would fall by the wayside. Would the warrior who had protected the skilled player for so many years become extinct?

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, Carolina Hurricanes, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: carolina+hurricanes, fighting

Ron Francis Helping Canes With Power Play

by Paul on 09/18/07 at 11:08 AM ET
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from the News & Observer,

Watching practice Monday morning, Ron Francis sat in the stands at the RBC Center and sketched and doodled on a pad in his lap, diagramming plays.

Francis is searching for an answer to the same question that so plagued the Hurricanes a year ago: What went wrong with the power play?

“Everybody sort of understands what we’re trying to accomplish,” Francis said. “With the talent we have and the skills we have up front, we just need to give them the freedom to read and react and make plays.”

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, Carolina Hurricanes, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: carolina+hurricanes, ron+francis

Canes Defense Needs To Stay Healthy

by Paul on 09/16/07 at 11:24 AM ET
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from the News & Observer,

...But the Canes have only seven NHL defensemen under contract, leaving the margin for error wafer-thin. On a team most assess as a Stanley Cup contender, this is the acknowledged weak spot.

“If our defense can stay healthy, there shouldn’t be any doubt of what we’re capable of doing or how well we’re capable of playing,” Canes forward Erik Cole said.

There’s a little depth in the system—only one defenseman, Wade Brookbank, has played in an NHL game—and no money left in the budget for reinforcements, so the Canes need their five healthy defensemen to stay stay that way and need Kaberle and Bret Hedican to be ready on opening night.

more

Filed in: NHL Teams, Carolina Hurricanes, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: carolina+hurricanes, defense

Canes Anxious To Start

by Paul on 09/11/07 at 07:36 PM ET
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from the AP via USA TODAY,

Those rowdy Caniacs couldn’t wait for last season to begin because they hoped the momentum of the Cup run would spill over. But the players say they’re more eager to get back on the ice this season, mainly because they’ve had five long months to rest, heal and stew over their shortcomings.

From the season-opening shootout loss to Buffalo to the too-little-too-late overtime win over Florida that ended the year - and the 80 other games in between - Carolina was only briefly fully healthy and as a result never seemed able to rediscover the magic of the previous season.

Now they’ve had plenty of time to heal their lingering injuries and are hoping for a fast start.

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, Carolina Hurricanes, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Not Much Expected From The Southeast

by Paul on 09/10/07 at 11:06 AM ET
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from Wes Goldstein at CBS Sportsline,

Remember when one of the big jokes in the NHL was a division referred to as the “Southleast?”

Well those days are gone, as much because two of the last three Stanley Cup winners have come from the Southeast Division as the concentration of electrifying talents like Alexander Ovechkin, Vincent Lecavalier and Marian Hossa who reside in the neighborhood.

But heading into the new season, there really is not one team here with more than an outside shot at adding something to the division’s trophy case.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Atlanta Thrashers, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Good Stock & Good Fortune

by Paul on 09/07/07 at 11:36 PM ET
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from Allan Maki of the Globe and Mail,

The farmyard rink is pretty much gone now. The chain-link fencing that kept stray pucks in play and the wooden poles that held the outdoor lights have been taken down. Only a few rotten boards remain on the rich northwestern Ontario soil that lies near the slope of Candy Mountain.

“There’s really nothing there,” Linda Staal says of the rink her husband built. Besides, she has a couple of sick boys at home. Sore throats. “Let’s go somewhere else for a coffee,” she suggests.

And with that, Henry and Linda Staal, parents to a Stanley Cup champion, two world champions, a two-time world junior champion and a promising forward in the Ontario Hockey League, sit down with a reporter in a setting so suited to their lifestyle it could be put to canvas and entitled Canadian Gothic.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: staal+brothers

Barrasso Joins Carolina Organization

by Paul on 09/07/07 at 01:42 PM ET
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from the Carolina Hurricanes,

Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has hired former Hurricanes netminder Tom Barrasso as its Director of Goaltender Development. In his new role, Barrasso will work with all of the goaltenders in the team’s system who are not currently in the NHL, including players with Albany (American Hockey League), Florida (ECHL) and various junior hockey clubs.
“Tom brings instant credibility to his new position, and is somebody that the goaltenders in our system will be able to respect and learn from,” said Rutherford. “He has re-located his family to Raleigh and we are happy that he has chosen to continue his life in hockey with our organization.”

read on

thanks to a KK reader for the pointer…

Filed in: NHL Teams, Carolina Hurricanes, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Lesson Learned For Eric Staal

by Paul on 09/05/07 at 03:49 PM ET
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from the News & Observer,

Eric Staal knew his arrest would make the newspapers eventually. He never expected the kind of ink it garnered.
To wit: The full-page, front-page headline in the tabloid Toronto Sun reading “NHL Stars Gone Wild!” next to his mugshot and his younger brother Jordan’s.
“That was frightening,” the Carolina Hurricanes center said today in his first comments about his July 21 arrest. “I knew it would probably appear somewhere, sometime. I didn’t think it would be blown up into that big of a deal.
“I don’t know. I guess our name has been around a little bit the last couple years in hockey, so it turned into that.”

continued

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The “New” Cam Ward

by Paul on 08/30/07 at 10:37 AM ET
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from the News & Observer,

The 23-year-old goalie has shed more than 20 pounds and is eager to erase the memories of last season. Ward’s physical transformation drew double-takes from teammates as they trickled back into town for informal group workouts, and it has fueled his confidence in a bounce-back performance.
“I feel a lot more quicker, and it’s funny, because you joke around when you see guys working out with 20-pound vests,” Ward said. “Basically, I just took one of those 20-pound vests off my body.”

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, Carolina Hurricanes, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Cole Comes Through With Donation

by Paul on 08/29/07 at 10:59 PM ET
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from the Palladium Times,

During the 2005/2006 National Hockey League (NHL) season, Carolina Hurricane and Oswego Native Erik Cole, along with Cole’s wife, Emily, made a pledge to the Oswego Public Library Capital Campaign to donate $1,000 for every point Cole scored during the season.
When the season was complete, Cole had tallied 59 points, which in turn amounted to $59,000 towards the Oswego Public Library expansion and renovation project.
Cole fulfilled his donation recently at the second annual Erik Cole “Score for Oswego” Golf Tournament by presenting a check to the Oswego Public Library board of trustees, staff members, the donors that matched Erik’s challenge and various golf participants.
“Erik Cole has been a supporter of this project from the beginning,” said Mary Shanley, Oswego Public Library board of trustees president. “He has served as honorary campaign chairperson, made this generous pledge of $1,000 per (point), and took the lead last year with the first ‘Score for Oswego’ Golf Tournament. We appreciate his generosity to our project and his ability to score goals on the ice as well.”

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Carolina Hurricanes, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

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