Red & Black Hockey
Whither White?
by David Lee on 02/17/11 at 06:53 PM ET
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There has been some speculation all week long that the Carolina Hurricanes are this close to making a deal that would send defenseman Ian White packing. One of the most popular rumours is that he’s headed to Vancouver, but what comes back this way is a mystery. The Canucks have lost seven of their defensemen to injury and they’re currently holding their blueline together with duct tape and Bondo. Although Vancouver’s front office is vehemently denying any deal with Carolina, this one is getting a hard workout on the rumor treadmill.
In my opinion, Ian White has been one of Carolina’s unsung heroes this season. He doesn’t do anything spectacular, but he does what he does quietly and well. He makes a lot of little plays that don’t show up in the scoresheet, but anyone who appreciates defense appreciates the little things Ian White does. He bails the out-of-position goaltender out. He protects a vulnerable post. He takes away shooting angles. This isn’t sexy stuff, but it’s good solid defense.
The Canucks, riddled with injury, are in need of a solid NHL defenseman, and Carolina may be in a position to sell. But since the Hurricanes are on the inside of the playoff bubble, they’re only going to make a deal if the return is right. Prospects and future considerations aren’t going to be enough. So what do the Nucks have to give?
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Tags: Carolina+Hurricanes, Ian+White, Vancouver+Canucks,
Canes road trip continues with added firepower
by David Lee on 02/13/11 at 10:40 AM ET
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On Sunday afternoon, the Hurricanes will play the fourth of five consecutive road games. Today’s opponent is the Atlanta Thrashers, with whom they are in a three dog fight for the eighth and final playoff spot. These next two games (at Atlanta today and at New Jersey on Wednesday) are pretty much “must win” situations. Today’s game is more than that. They need to win in regulation. If they can engineer the two wins, they will have earned six of ten points on this road trip, and everyone will be happy with that. To be honest, people will accept five of ten, but that’s not going to be good enough for me.
The pessimist will say that Carolina has lost five of their last six games. That certainly is true, but a more positive outlook is that they have earned at least one standings point in three of their last four games. They fought hard on Saturday night to force overtime and steal a point from the Lightning, and they can be proud of that.
For at least today, the Canes have recalled Jerome Samson, who is third in the American Hockey League in goals and fourth in the league in scoring. In very limited NHL ice time last season, he didn’t have very much success, but I think he’ll make a difference this time. He’s slotted in at fourth line left wing along with fellow recall Zac Dalpe, who will center that line.
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Tags: Atlanta+Thrashers, Carolina+Hurricanes, Jerome+Samson,
Canes recall Dalpe, Samson
by David Lee on 02/13/11 at 10:08 AM ET
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On Sunday morning, the Hurricanes announced the recall of Jerome Samson and Zac Dalpe from the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL. Zach Boychuk, who has been up and down all season will be reassigned along with Brett Sutter, who was mysteriously recalled to the big team on Saturday.
Samson (Sam-SOH) is leading the Checkers in every offensive statistical category with 54 (26/28) points through 53 games. He was one of two Checkers to appear in the AHL All-Star game, where he notched a goal and two assists. This will be his first recall of the season. He played in seven games last season, earning two assists. He wore the number 67 last season, and it looks like he’ll wear number 71 today.
Dalpe has 36 (16/20) points in 35 games with the Checkers this season. He began the season on the big team, but has been up and down. This will be his third recall. He has appeared in 14 Hurricanes games, notching three goals and an assist. On New Year’s Day, he had the game-winning goal against the New Jersey Devils.
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Tags: Brett+Sutter, Carolina+Hurricanes, Charlotte+Checkers, Jerome+Samson, Zac+Dalpe, Zach+Boychuk,
How many Sutters does it take….
by David Lee on 02/11/11 at 07:00 PM ET
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On Friday, the Carolina Hurricanes recalled center Brett Sutter from the Charlotte Checkers on an emergency basis. Ryan Carter will be out of the lineup for Saturday’s game at Tampa and Sutter will fill his shoes at fourth line center. This will be Brett Sutter’s Hurricanes debut, and he’ll be wearing the number 42. He has appeared in 18 NHL games over the last three seasons, all with the Calgary Flames. He is the older cousin of Carolina’s alternate captain and third line center Brandon Sutter. He’s the nephew of Flames head coach Brent Sutter, who is Brandon’s dad. He is the son of Darryl Sutter, who is the former GM of the Flames.
This is the first time that two members of the second generation of Sutters have played together on the same NHL team. For that matter, they are the only two in the NHL. As far as the first generation goes, I know that Brent and Duane played together to win two Cups for the Islanders. Brandon and Brett are cousins, not brothers. However, they’re Sutters and it’s pretty dang cool to have two of them together.
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Tags: Brandon+Sutter, Brett+Sutter, Carolina+Hurricanes,
Carolina’s PK success comes to a halt
by David Lee on 02/10/11 at 09:41 PM ET
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On Thursday, the Hurricanes lost 2-1 in Philadelphia. Both Flyers goals were third period power play markers and Carolina’s lone goal was off the stick of Tuomo Ruutu.
Carolina hadn’t given up a power play goal since January 24—six games ago.
Cam Ward didn’t have the best of nights. While Danny Briere’s game-winning goal was a very good one, Jeff Carter’s was a bit soft. Ward actually made the stop, but couldn’t control the puck. It fluttered in off his glove for the first goal of the game 18 seconds into the third frame. Ward only made 23 stops and gave up one bad one.
On the other end, Brian Boucher was really good in making 31 saves, including 15 in the third period.
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Tags: Buffalo+Sabres, Carolina+Hurricanes, Philadelphia+Flyers,
Despite loss, Jeff Skinner owns the Devils
by David Lee on 02/08/11 at 11:59 PM ET
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Carolina’s rookie Jeff Skinner scored two goals against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night in a 3-2 overtime loss. It’s the second time this season that Skinner has struck twice against the Devils, and if he had his drothers, he’d play against the Devils every single night. Twice he’s played against them, and twice he’s scored two goals.
Eric Staal has played 26 regular season games against the Devils and he has only scored four times against them. Skinner needed only two games to reach that mark.
He’ll only get to see them two more times this season including once next Wednesday at the Rock.
While Carolina emerged with one standings point to start their five game road trip, this is a disappointment. This was a game that the Hurricanes wanted to and should have won. They were hoping for six points on this trip, and that was assuming that two would be taken on Tuesday.
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Tags: Carolina+Hurricanes, Jeff+Skinner, New+Jersey+Devils,
Sutter and the Canes climb into eighth
by David Lee on 02/06/11 at 11:07 AM ET
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On Saturday night with an opportunity to climb into the playoff picture, the Hurricanes seized the moment. Sort of. While any win at all would do the trick, they would have preferred to have won in regulation against the Thrashers. It marked the third time this season that the teams have played each other, and each game has gone into extra time. Carolina has earned the extra point each time, but it has also allowed Atlanta to get the consolation point. This could come into play at the end of the season.
Both Cam Ward and Ondrej Pavelec were outstanding in nets. Both goalies faced 37 shots. Both made spectacular saves. Both played well enough to win.
Erik Cole’s coast-to-coast play was capped by a wrister from the right circle to win the game for the Canes at 2:48 of overtime. It was Cole who also scored an overtime winner the last time the teams met, and the final score was the same—4-3. Brandon Sutter had a huge goal and a really good night in the faceoff circle. After the jump, I’ll detail the reasons that I had him as my first star. Jiri Tlusty also had a big goal and the Captain scored his 26th of the season to start things off for the Canes.
With the Circus in town, the Hurricanes will now embark on a five game road trip that begins and ends in New Jersey. They’ll hope for six out of ten points on the trip, but will settle for five.
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Tags: Atlanta+Thrashers, Brandon+Sutter, Cam+Ward, Carolina+Hurricanes, Erik+Cole, Ondrej+Pavelec,
Huge game for Canes playoff hopes tonight
by David Lee on 02/05/11 at 04:04 PM ET
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Tonight, the Thrashers come to Raleigh for one of those “four point” games. The winner will be in the playoff picture, the loser out. If Carolina can manage a regulation win, they will be one point ahead of the Thrash. An overtime or shootout Canes win would leave the teams tied on points, but Carolina holds tiebreakers and would move into the eighth spot. Any loss, whether in regulation or overtime, would be unacceptable.
After Thursday’s horrible performance against Toronto, coach Paul Maurice canceled practice to give the boys some time to think about things. Rookie Jeff Skinner didn’t accept this and asked for a net to be brought out. He held his own practice. This might not have been much more than skating and shooting, but it speaks volumes about his character. It’s easy for an 18-year old kid to take the day off and play video games or whatever, but he’s more than just some 18-year old kid. He will, some day, wear a letter on the front of his sweater.
As ugly as Thursday’s shutout loss to the Leafs was, Canes fans should expect a much better performance tonight. The Hurricanes should be angry, hungry and something else that ends in -gry.
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Tags: Atlanta+Thrashers, Carolina+Hurricanes, Jeff+Skinner,
Thomas, Chara beat Canes
by David Lee on 02/01/11 at 11:59 PM ET
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The Hurricanes had a good month in January, then the city of Raleigh shined during the All-Star weekend. Things were looking good for the team as they headed into a very tough month of February. First up on Tuesday night was the Northeast-leading Bruins, who had won the last two games between the teams.
It was a hard-fought game in front of an excellent weeknight crowd of 18,000. Unfortunately, Carolina was unable to earn even a consolation point. The Bruins skated out of there with a 3-2 regulation win. Meanwhile, the Thrashers were beaten by the Islanders, which left the back door open. They’ll have to wait until Thursday night for another chance to creep inside the playoff picture. The Thrashers will be at home against Calgary while the Hurricanes are in Toronto. Following that, Atlanta and Carolina meet up for a “four point game” in Raleigh on Saturday.
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Tags: Boston+Bruins, Carolina+Hurricanes, Joe+Corvo, Tim+Thomas, Zdeno+Chara,
ASG a big hit in Raleigh
by David Lee on 01/30/11 at 02:41 PM ET
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As a hockey fan, I’ve been really privileged. In the last ten years alone, I got to attend the 2004 NHL Entry draft in Raleigh, I’ve been to six Stanley Cup final games in Raleigh. I’ve touched the Cup on two occasions. I’ve been in a room by myself with the Cup. I’ve been to three Eastern Conference finals here in Raleigh. And now the All-Star game here in Raleigh. Other fans in other cities don’t get this lucky, and I’m trying not to take any of it for granted. I made the mistake, though, of opting out on the actual game, but I went to the Superskills Competition last night and had an absolute blast.
My fellow Caniacs have been having a great time, and that’s a given. What’s been really great is the response from the fans who traveled to this event. I’ve always made a point to talk to travelers in the parking lot while tailgating, and I heard nothing but raves from the visitors. I didn’t make it out to the Friday night festivities, but everything that I heard was that it was amazing. It’s easy for Canes fans and Raleighites to say good things about the RBC Center or the city of Raleigh, and it’s great to hear it from outsiders.
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Tags: All-Star+game,
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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.
