Red & Black Hockey

McBain has huge debut week

by David Lee on 03/21/10 at 12:46 PM ET
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Rookie defenseman Jamie McBain wasn’t expected to play on the Hurricanes this season. The Canes dismantled their blueline, then suffered a second bout of injuries, and this has bumped him not only up to the big team, but to the top pairing. Three games in, he’s doing a brilliant job of adjusting. All he’s done is put up four points in three games, including an assist on the game-winning goal on Thursday, and a buzzer-beating game-winning goal last night.

The 22-year old was the Hurricanes first selection in the 2006 Entry Draft. They didn’t have a first round selection, and took McBain in the second round with the 63rd overall selection. The product of the US National Developmental program spent three seasons with the University of Wisconsin before signing an entry level contract last spring. In the 2008-09 season, he led the Badgers with 37 (7/30) points, was the Western Collegiate Hockey Association player of the year, and was a Hobey Baker finalist.

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Tags: Carolina+Hurricanes, Jamie+McBain,

Fight night in Hershey

by David Lee on 03/19/10 at 11:46 PM ET
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Friday night, the Hershey Bears gave the Albany River Rats an 8-2 beatdown. The scoreboard was ugly, and so was the scoresheet. There were a total of five fights in the game, including four separate fights in the third period. The teams combined for 114 penalty minutes in the third period alone. There should be suspensions to follow, as each team had two players get game misconduct penalties in the melee. The Rats had two additional players pick up misconduct penalties including one for “abuse of officials”.

If and when footage is available, it should be fun to watch.

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Tags: Albany+River+Rats, Hershey+Bears,

2008 draftee Dalpe signs ATC

by David Lee on 03/19/10 at 09:40 PM ET
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On Thursday afternoon, the Hurricanes signed their 2008 second round draft pick Zac Dalpe to a three-year entry-level contract. The 20-year old forward has decided to forgo his final two years at THE Ohio State University after the Buckeyes were eliminated from the CCHA playoffs. Dalpe led the team in goals (21) and points (45) this season and was a first team all-conference selection.
The Paris, Ontario native has been assigned to the Albany River Rats of the American League, where he will play the balance of the season and Calder Cup playoffs on an Amateur Tryout Contract. He will join the Rats on the road at Binghamton on Sunday night and will presumably be added to the team’s final roster.

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Tags: Albany+River+Rats, Calder+Cup+playoffs, Zac+Dalpe,

Canes win big game in OT

by David Lee on 03/18/10 at 10:40 PM ET
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On Thursday night, the Hurricanes hosted the Washington Capitals in a game that had very very little playoff implications. Someone forgot to tell the home team, and they emerged with a 4-3 overtime win.
Former Cane Joe (s)Corvo scored twice for the Caps in the middle stanza while Eric Staal got one for the Canes.
Brett Carson and Chad LaRose scored for the Canes in the third and Eric Fehr forced overtime.
Ray Whitney scored with a shot “from the ladies’ tees” in the final minute of overtime to give Justin Peters another huge win in his young NHL goaltending career.

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Tags: Carolina+Hurricanes, Joe+Corvo, Justin+Peters, Ray+Whitney, Washington+Capitals,

Canes lose critical matchup against Bs

by David Lee on 03/16/10 at 09:29 PM ET
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In order to keep their ridiculously slim playoff hopes alive, the Hurricanes knew that they would have to beat the Bruins in regulation on Tuesday night. Instead, they lost in regulation 5-2 and now find themselves ten points back of the eighth place Bruins. There were four points in the balance, and anything other than a regulation win would be bad. This is not a death blow, but the fat lady is warming up in the wings. With thirteen games left, it’s just too much ground to cover.

The game was over before it even started. Patrice Bergeron scored just 23 seconds in on the first shot of the game. This isn’t the way of a team trying to make the playoffs. This is something else.

Five different Bruins scored one goal and Tukka Rask made 30 saves to get the win. On the other side of the ledger, Erik Cole scored two goals and Manny Legace stopped 32 of 37 shots in loss. There wasn’t much to cheer about for Canes fans and this loss has to deflate the hopes of even the most unrealistically optimistic fan.

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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Carolina+Hurricanes, Erik+Cole, Tukka+Rask,

Ovechkin situation a bit murky

by David Lee on 03/15/10 at 04:18 AM ET
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By now, we’ve all seen the “push” from behind that Alexander Ovechkin delivered upon Brian “Soupy” Campbell on Sunday. Ovechkin received five for boarding, a game misconduct and an automatic ejection. Campbell received a broken clavicle and broken ribs and will miss the remainder of the season. It’s also believed that he has suffered a grade 2 concussion. This is Ovechkin’s third game misconduct of the season and his second for boarding, but contrary to public opinion, it does NOT carry a mandatory suspension. We will, though, get to see what Colin Campbell is made of after playing his “consistency” card last week.

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Tags: Alexander+Ovechkin, Colin+Campbell, suspensions,

Coyotes take a bite out of Canes’ hopes

by David Lee on 03/13/10 at 10:31 PM ET
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On Saturday, the Phoenix Coyotes shut out the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0. In the process, they did great damage to Carolina’s quixotic pursuit of the eighth and final playoff position in the East. Martin Hanzal and Lee Stempniak had two goals apiece while Ilya Bryzgalov shut the door 29 times against Canes shooters. The Hurricanes’ eight game home winning streak comes to a screeching halt and the hill to climb becomes that much steeper. Montréal helped the Canes by beating eighth place Boston 3-2, but none of that matters because the Canes failed to help themselves. The gap between the Canes and eighth place remains eight points.

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Tags: Carolina+Hurricanes, Ilya+Bryzgalov, Lee+Stempniak, Martin+Hanzal, Phoenix+Coyotes,

Samson in for Sutter today

by David Lee on 03/13/10 at 12:10 PM ET
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Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice has announced that Brandon Sutter will not be able to play tonight against the visiting ~~NHL~~ Phoenix Coyotes. Sutter suffered a “lower body injury” Thursday night against the Penguins, and didn’t feel right today in the morning skate. Not that it matters, but depending on whose account you believe, Sutter was injured (1) in a collision with Bill Guerin; (b) after getting legs tangled with Kris Letang; (iii) after being checked by Evgeny Malkin; or (D) when he got a skate in a rut and lost an edge.

Coaches were hopeful that he would return to the lineup for tonight’s home game, but it’s not going to happen. Jerome Samson has been recalled from the Rats to fill the roster spot. In one previous recall, Samson (Sam-SAWN) had one assist and four PIMs in five games. He is, by miles, the stats leader in Albany with 62 (32/30) points in 65 games. The native Quebeccer wears the extremely unusual number 67 for the Canes and 17 for the Rats.

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Tags: Brandon+Sutter, Carolina+Hurricanes, Jerome+Samson, Justin+Peters, Phoenix+Coyotes,

Big but inconsequential win for the Canes

by David Lee on 03/11/10 at 11:42 PM ET
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On Thursday night, the Penguins and their mob of fans invaded Raleigh. They used blitzkrieg tactics to take a 2-0 lead just five and a half minutes into the game, and it looked like they would have their way with the host Hurricanes. However, the Hurricanes fought back and ultimately emerged with a 4-3 overtime win. The sea of powder blue sweater-clad fans, who were boisterous during the game, left in silence while the Hurricanes fans reclaimed their own barn.

Justin Peters, who faced 40 shots in the game, looked shaky at times. In the end, though, he earned his fourth win in five tries thanks to some outstanding work in the third frame.

Brian Pothier, who was part of the return on the Joe Corvo trade, scored his first Hurricanes goal to win the game very early in the overtime period.

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Tags: Brian+Pothier., Carolina+Hurricanes, Eric+Staal, Jordan+Staal, Justin+Peters, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Ray+Whitney, Zach+Boychuk,

Canes lose tough one

by David Lee on 03/10/10 at 10:19 PM ET
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When the day started, Carolina was nine points out of eighth place, desperately clinging onto the hope of making a run to the playoffs. They were about to finish a three game road trip through the Southeast division and they seriously needed a win against the best team in the league. They ended up with a 4-3 overtime loss, which would be a good outcome most nights, but when every game is a “must win”, it’s a little heartbreaking.
I know, as I knew in November, that this team isn’t going to make the playoffs. However, they’ve played very well since the new year and actually made the impossible seem possible.
They also learned early in the morning that Erik Cole was suffering from flu-like symptoms and would be unavailable tonight. In other seasons, that would be devastating news, but to be brutally honest, I’ve actually forgotten that he’s even on the team this season.

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Tags: Brandon+Sutter, Carolina+Hurricanes, Erik+Cole, Oskar+Osala, Washington+Capitals,

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About Red & Black Hockey

David Lee is a restaurant manager with an unused degree in political science. He can be found at Carolina Hurricanes games, Scrabble tournaments and indie-rock shows. Sometimes, all in the same day.

David has contributed to CBC.ca for their Stanley Cup playoff coverage in 2006 and to the New York Times Slapshot blog for theirs in 2008. Red and Black Hockey was founded in July of 2005.