Red & Black Hockey
Entries with the tag: Albany+River+Rats
Canes keep losing, Rats keep winning
by David Lee on 10/25/09 at 01:08 PM ET
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The Hurricanes four game road trip came to a close on Saturday, and they didn’t have much to show for it. They lost a rollercoaster 5-4 game in Denver on Friday, then lost 3-2 in overtime at Minnesota on Saturday. On the four game trip, the Canes only managed two standings points and have yet to win on the road. For the third time this season, they will now have three days off before their next game. Wednesday night, they’ll be back in the RBC Center against the Blues. While they’ve been lousy on the road, the Canes have grabbed five out of eight standings points at home.
While the Canes are struggling, the Albany River Rats are doing well. They have a record of 5-3-0 and sit atop the Eastern division. More importantly, they beat the Adirondack Phantoms 3-2 on Saturday to grab a two games to none lead in the 12-game season series with the hated rival.
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Tags: Albany+River+Rats, Brandon+Sutter, Carolina+Hurricanes, Ray+Whitney, Tuomo+Ruutu,
Rats looking good
by David Lee on 10/18/09 at 10:51 AM ET
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While the Hurricanes are struggling to find offense and to find themselves, things are looking good down on the farm. On Saturday, the Albany River Rats went up to Glens Falls and defeated the Adirondack Phantoms 2-1 in the first of twelve games between the two teams. Justin Peters stopped 31 of 32 shots and Jerome Samson scored the game-winner 2:21 into overtime. Through five games, the undrafted right wing has tallied nine (4/5) points.
Surprisingly, this game featured only one fight, and it occurred early in the first. So far, I’m wrong with my prediction that this series would see more fighting majors (2) than goals (3).
The Rats find themselves atop the East division of the AHL, and I’ve read some comments by Albany natives comparing this team to the 1995-96 team who won the AHL’s equivalent of the President’s Trophy with a record of 54-19-7.
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Tags: Albany+River+Rats, Jerome+Samson,
Bevy of Canes miss Thursday practice; news from the farm
by David Lee on 10/15/09 at 08:44 PM ET
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A day after making the best save of this young season, Canes goaltender Cam Ward sat out Thursday’s practice. He was joined by Eric Staal, who has not been playing at 100%. Also missing from practice were Matt Cullen and Ray Whitney, who had two goals against the Pens in the 3-2 loss on Wednesday.
There’s no indication of why they say out, but I don’t think it was to attend opening day of the North Carolina State Fair. There’s no indication that any of them will be out of the lineup on Saturday when the Hurricanes begin their two week road trip in New Jersey.
While those four sat out of practice, the Canes were happy to see defenseman Joni Pitkänen back on the ice. At least for practice. Still no word on when he’ll be back in the lineup.
Meanwhile, down on the farm…
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Tags: Albany+River+Rats, Carolina+Hurricanes,
You don’t have to look like a clown…
by David Lee on 09/08/09 at 03:37 AM ET
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Minor league hockey is known for a bunch of things. Line brawls. Bus rides. Community involvement. Good promotions. Bad promotions. Ridiculous one-offs. Carolina’s top affiliate, the Albany River Rats will be participating in one of these ridiculous one-offs this season.
Before I get to that, I should point out one of the coolest things about minor league hockey. The Teddy Bear Toss. Although many teams in many leagues sponsor “Teddy Bear Toss” nights, the Calgary Hitmen probably have the best one going. There’s a video after the jump, which is well worth watching. No description can do it justice. The premise is simple: Fans bring teddy bears to the game and toss them on the ice when the home team scores its first goal. The bears are collected and donated to children’s hospitals and goodwill organizations. They say the record number of bears tossed at a single game was 26,919 by Calgary Hitmen fans in a December 2007 game.
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Tags: Albany+River+Rats,
Canes sign “gritty” forward for Albany
by David Lee on 07/08/09 at 06:29 PM ET
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On Wednesday, the Hurricanes announced that they’re working hard on getting Ruutu re-signed for “two or three years”. Not many details are available about terms, but it’s clear that the team wants to avoid the whole arbitration process. Also, Jim Rutherford added that the Canes were going to sign a free agent or two very soon.
Indeed, the Hurricanes signed a free agent today, but he’ll have little if anything to do with the big club. 25-year old right wing Steven Goertzen was signed to a one-year two-way contract. He’ll make the league minimum of $500k if he plays in Raleigh, but the most likely scenario is that he’ll make $100k to play up in Albany. The 6’2” 216 pound Alberta native has played in 62 NHL contests and has scored four (2/2) points. All points came in a sixteen game stint with the Coyotes in 2008-09.
While some people around here are taking very short, panicked breaths about this, thinking that he’s meant to be a top nine player in Raleigh, the reality is that he will see very little time in the RBC Center. If any.
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Tags: Albany+River+Rats, Carolina+Hurricanes,
What about Albany?
by David Lee on 06/02/09 at 01:54 PM ET
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There’s something that’s gotten lost in the shuffle of all the Hurricanes “big” issues this summer. People have pretty much assumed that Carolina will offer a head coaching contract to Paul Maurice, removing the “interim” from his title. It’s not in stone yet, but it’s a safe bet. There’s some contention about which of the free agents should be re-signed and which should be allowed to walk. I’ll go in depth about each of those at some point before July 1. So far, nobody’s talking about the expired contract with Albany.
Carolina has used the Albany River Rats as its AHL team for the last three seasons. In 2006-07, they shared the team with the Colorado Avalanche. For the last two seasons, it has been all Carolina. That contract expired at the end of the 2008-09 season. I haven’t heard anything about whether they will renew that association or if the Hurricanes will look elsewhere. Say, Iowa…
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Tags: Albany+River+Rats, Carolina+Hurricanes, off-season,
River Rats driver fined
by David Lee on 03/02/09 at 10:06 PM ET
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The substitute driver of the Albany River Rats substitute bus which crashed two weeks ago, hospitalizing four players and ending defenseman Casey Borer’s season has been slapped with a fine. Wait for it.....
$50.
According to the Schenectady Daily Gazette, Stanley Novak, who drove the substitute bus, has been issued a fine for driving too fast for snowy conditions. story
Novak drove the team down a snowy, icy Interstate 90 on February 19 after the Rats lost their game and their normal bus broke down. At around 3:30 in the morning, the bus slammed into a guard rail, flipped over, and spun out onto the highway, scattering hockey gear everywhere. Everyone was injured, and five required hospitalization. Casey Borer has suffered broken vertebrae and will be out for at least the remainder of the season.
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Tags: Albany+River+Rats, bus+crash,
River Rats update 2
by David Lee on 02/19/09 at 03:35 PM ET
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According to Phil Janack, the River Rats and the AHL have announced that the game against Bridgeport scheduled for Friday night will be rescheduled for March 31. Earlier, I mistakenly reported that Sunday’s game against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Baby Penguins has been canceled. In fact, it has not. The AHL has given the Rats the option of postponing the game. They will wait for further assessment of the health of the players and the availability of the equipment before making that decision.
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Tags: Albany+River+Rats,
