On a lighter note

Well, the Thrash came into town and beat the Canes about the head and shoulders tonight. The funny thing to me was that our best period was the one in which Atlanta scored its opposed goals. I mean, the Canes controlled play in the first, but two plays - a great individual effort by Marian Hossa on the first goal and a defensive gaffe (that's a great word) combined with Mike Commodore not covering the two-on-one well for the second. That was the game in a nutshell.

The second and third were quite miserable and the guys seemed lost, despite Cam nominally keeping the team in the game. Ward was our best player tonight and there was nothing he could have done about either goal scored on him.

A few more thoughts on the game:

• Chad "He Hate Me" LaRose seemed to draw just about every Atlanta penalty. It was bizarre. It's like the entire city of Atlanta has a deep wish to see Chad beaten and bloodied.
• My inside voice took over once during the third period on an Atlanta three-on-two break. I believe what I said was "David Frickin' Tanabe! Cover the trailer, damn it!" He was staring at the guy with the puck and not the Atlanta player crashing the net. Luckily it was broken up anyway.
• The high sticking non-call on Pascal Dupuis - When Brindy took the stick up high, half the crowd was irate. I didn't have the benefit of instant replay, but my initial impression was that it probably shouldn't have been a penalty. It looked to me that Brindy took Dupuis' feet right out from under him and, when he was in mid-air from this, he caught Brindy up high. It could have been both of them called for penalties, so it was just as well that it ended up being neither. Granted I could see a replay later and change my opinion, but like the ref, that was my impression on the spot.
• The passing was weak and lazy tonight. After the first period, the Canes made several half-assed, disinterested passes that were easily intercepted by the Thrashers. It was very disappointing.
• Brat Watson made his first appearance at the RBC since "Divegate". I'm actually mad at myself for even typing that. Anyway, the crowd didn't particularly let him feel their wrath. The crowd energy was a bit underwhelming tonight, not that the Canes did much to help it.
  

Does hockey have potties?

Sorry. That's the question my daughter asked when she had to go during the second period. We didn't actually arrive at the game tonight until 7:30 (2 minutes left in the first period) due to my daughter's 6:30 swim class. We had all four of us tonight and fun was to be had by all. The kids really got into the game and both teams decided to wait until we got there to start scoring. Definitely a win on both counts.

I'm finding it hard to believe that Brad Isbister found a spot on Vancouver's roster. It's a credit to the Canes' depth at forward that this guy couldn't even secure an AHL call-up spot for us and he's playing on another team's regular roster. The guys played very well today - the highlight was definitely the gorgeous cross-ice pass from El Capitan to Rosie the Riveter for a beautiful goal past Luongo.

I won't be at the Buffalo game on Wednesday, so I'll have to catch it on TV.

Discipline

Game 1 of 82, the Hurricanes lost in overtime to the Canadiens. A lot of callers on the Aftermath (call-in radio show, post game) complained about the referees, but I think that's a bit of misplaced frustration. I thought the refs called a pretty solid game. The problem was that our guys kept taking penalties.

Discipline is the word of the day. After taking some undisciplined penalties to start the game, Montreal calmed down. The Canes started off disciplined and then backed off. Even with all of that taken into consideration, the real stars of the game were both goalies. Huet and Ward both had some shining moments and kept their teams in the game. Both sides had some great shots and they came up big time and time again.

Carolina's goals were on the other end of the ice from me, but none of the Habs goals could have been stopped. Anything remotely stoppable, Ward took care of. If he keeps up this level of play, we'll definitely win more than we'll lose this season.

The Penalty Killer player of the game goes to Cam Ward, with honorable mention to Chad LaRose for an all around gritty and pesky effort.

On an unrelated note, I got a chance to hang out with Beth of the Sliding Pokecheck, Camille (Acid Queen), and Dave of Red and Black Hockey fame (Happy Birthday!) for a few minutes tonight during the first intermission. We just chatted this time, but hopefully it will be the first of many gatherings.

Training camp update

OK, I went to the Group C practice with two guys from work.

GROUP C (noon Friday)
Mike Angelidis, Keith Aucoin, Noah Babin, Ryan Bayda, Nicolas Blanchard, Wade Brookbank, Mike Commodore, Matt Cullen, Patrick Dwyer, Bret Hedican, Bobby Hughes, Andrew Ladd, Kirk MacDonald, Joey Mormina, Justin Peters, Harrison Reed, Jerome Samson, Scott Walker, Cam Ward

This is what I saw:
Red: Erik Cole (#26), Eric Staal (#12), Cory Stillman (#61)
Yellow: Jerome Samson (#67), Mike Angelidis (#52), Kirk MacDonald (#31)
White: Bobby Hughes (#44), Harrison Reed (#41), Nicolas Blanchard (#72)
Black (Defense): Bret Hedican (#6), Mike Commodore (#22), Noah Babin (#43), two other defensemen whose numbers I didn't get before I left. Mormina and Brookbank maybe?
Goal: Cam Ward, Justin Peters

Hedican looked healthy and fit, showing no problems whatsoever in his skating. Cole looked ready to go and Babin looked nice as well. None of the young kids really stood out in a good or bad way. Both Ward and Peters looked very solid in net.

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Some injury updates (via Luke DeCock of the N&O):

• Chad LaRose - sprained knee during practice - out 3-6 weeks
• Andrew Ladd - sore back - unknown
• Frank Kaberle - knee surgery - unknown, but doing light skating
• Jeff Hamilton - hip - unknown
• Stefan Chaput - infection - not attending camp

A pulse

Going into the third period tonight, the Canes were on their last leg. Down 3-1 with no chance of anything. A short handed goal by Brind'Amour followed by the game-tying goal by Rosie gave the team a burst of life they exploited in overtime with a rare 5-on-3 power-play. Unlike every other power play this team has squandered in the past few games, Whitney came up big and got the all-important two points. To make things even nicer, the Rangers smoked Toronto tonight.

3. Atlanta (93 pts, 3 GR) - FLA, TOR, BOS, WAS, CAR, TB
6. NY Rangers (91 pts, 3 GR) - NYI, MON, PHI, TOR, NYI, MON, PIT
7. Tampa Bay (90 pts, 3 GR) - FLA, CAR, WAS, CAR, FLA, ATL
8. Montreal (88pts, 3 GR) - NYR, OTT, BUF, BOS, NYR, TOR
9. Toronto (87pts, 3 GR) - CAR, ATL, PIT, NYR, PHI, NYI, MON
10. Carolina (86pts, 3 GR) - TOR, PHI, TB, FLA, TB, ATL, FLA
11. NY Islanders (84pts, 4 GR) - NYR, NJ, BUF, OTT, NYR, TOR, PHI, NJ

Wha?

I thought the Canes played pretty well the other night against New Jersey, even in a loss. It was basically two defensive lapses that the Devils capitalized on. It's only halfway through the game today, Brodeur is on the way out, and the Canes have a 4-0 lead. I can only hope that they now have things moving in the right direction and they make a solid run towards the post season. Everyone else we needed to lose last week did so, so our loss didn't even knock us out of the picture. We need to make the best of every opportunity we have - even Marty Brodeur having an off game.

On a personal note, my rec team has won three in a row since we got our new jerseys. I have a four game point streak (4G,5A,6PIM,1GWG) and am tied for the team lead in goals (8) and points (15). Oof, New Jersey just scored. 4-1. Anyway, the Ice Hawks are playing really well right now. Our last game was a 5-1 victory over the Bonefish, who had only lost 1 game in regulation this season (against the top team, who is undefeated). We're getting hot at the right time, with only three games left before the playoffs start.

OK, it's 7-2, LaRose has two goals, and Cam Janssen should probably have his kneecaps broken so he doesn't have the chance to injure people.