February 15th, 2006 - Canes vs. Rangers: Random Musings and Observations

- I don't know who I have a bone to pick with more...the Canes, or their production crew at FSN South.

- I guess I'll start with FSN South, since the very first thing I see is their pre-game show alias Hurricanes Live(!)...

I don't think I need Captain Obvious (a.k.a. the new partner they got for Jerome Jurenovich as of last night) to basically repeat what the interviewed players and Laviolette already said. I also don't care if Captain Obvious has got nine-ten years of NHL playing experience under his belt. All of that experience sure did not help him overcome the fact that he came across to be as stiff as the Michelin Tire Man last night.

Also, do we *really* need to interview Peter Laviolette before EVERY game AND its second period?! It's not Lavy I have a beef with...it's interviewing him all the freakin' time. You'd think after a season and a half of that, FSN South would finally try to mix things up a bit. We finally got a tiny hint of mixing up last night, when Jeff Daniels, NOT Kevin McCarthy, was interviewed before the third period. Not a bad start. But if you *really* want to start impressing moi, FSN South, instead of Peter Laviolette, interview other front office guys/staffers when and if they're available...like Jim Rutherford, Jason Karmanos, Peter Karmanos (if he's in town), Chris Huffine, Sheldon Ferguson (if he's in town), Ron Francis (if he's in town), Wally Tatomir, Skip Cunningham, Pete Friesen, etcetera. Not to mention former Whalers/Canes players and wives/family of current and former players, among other people. There *really* is so much you can do with that Pre-Game Interview, FSN South!! And hey, if Lavy has a fit about not doing that Pre-Game Interview, then kindly let him keep his pre-Second Period interview. IM(not-so)HO, the Pre-Game Interviews are where the freshness in the interviewees is most important.

- I don't think the Canes heard John Forslund stating that "there is(now was) a playoff atmosphere" in Raleigh yesterday evening. Certainly didn't play like it, anyway.

- With the injuries piling up, in addition to the overall roster on the major AND minor league levels, the 2006-07 Canes are looking an awful lot like the 2002-03 Canes. The only big difference being the win/loss record, which has a few more wins AND a lot less ties.

- I don't think I could ever thank the Los Angeles Kings enough for shipping Sean "Ooooh...I almost fought Ronnie Francis!!*" Avery to the New York Rangers. God, I hate how that guy is now running amuck in the Eastern Conference...

- Hedican and Williams are now out? The hits just keep coming for the Canes and what little of their playoff hopes remain... *sighs*

Current Music: "Wild Wild Life" by the Talking Heads

* - For those who have completely blocked out the 2002-03 season...during a game against the Kings in the latter third of the said season, Avery tried to entice Francis to put up his dukes, yo. Not surprisingly, Ron pushed Sean away in such a manner that made the (now former) King look more-so the idiot he already was AND still is.

To this day, I *still* say that if fisticuffs had occurred between Ron and Sean, the former would have emerged quite victorious. And after seeing this a couple of months ago, there's now more than biasness backing up that statement. ;)

Ruff Stuff

I didn't watch the NHL All-Star Game last night (surprise, surprise), but I was somehow not shocked by reading the following over in Lord Stanley's Blog, brought to you by the Raleigh News and Observer, this morning...

"No one ever accused Lindy Ruff of being unable to hold a grudge. The Buffalo coach and Eastern Conference boss for the All-Star Game stuck Carolina's two representatives, Eric Staal and Justin Williams, on the fourth line Wednesday with Jason Blake."

And THAT, my dear readers, is why I groaned upon reading the news that Lindy-Boy was going to be the head coach for the Easterners. Silly me, I thought after all that trash talk getting him and his then Goatheads* no champagne or Stanley Cup, he would have learned his lesson. Instead, his apparent wittle grudge against the Canes may have very well cost the Eastbounders an All-Star Game win. Especially as well as Eric Staal and Justin Williams played, earning three points (Two goals and one assist) between the two of them, which was just as good, if not better than everybody else around them. Heck, they must have been doing something right, since Sidney Crosby didn't even get a point, and Alexander Ovechkin landed only one goal. *gasps* Weren't those two projected to completely blow the stars out of Dallas? Further proof of why I tend to not give a hoot about the All-Star Game/Event...

Oh, and just one more thing...





This so screams "Caption Time!!!".

Eric Staal: "Well, the way they make shows is, they make one show. That show's called a pilot. Then they show that show to the people who make shows, and on the strength of that one show they decide if they're going to make more shows. Some pilots get picked and become television programs. Some don't, become nothing..."
________________________________________

Alexander Ovechkin: "And you know what they call a... a... a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?"

Sidney Crosby: "They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?"

Eric Staal: "No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn't know what the hell a Quarter Pounder is."

Sid: "Then what do they call it?"

Eric: "They call it a Royale with cheese."

Alex: "A Royale with cheese. What do they call a Big Mac?"

Eric: "Well, a Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it le Big-Mac."

Alex: "Le Big-Mac. Ha ha ha ha. What do they call a Whopper?"

Eric: "I dunno, I didn't go into Burger King."


Believe it or not, I was never much of a fan of that movie...just had those quotes embedded in my brain from constant playing on WRDU 106.1 a few years ago.

Current Music: "Fight the Good Fight" by Triumph

* - My term for the Sabres' old red and silver logo...which was coined by a couple of LiveJournal Hockey-ers, who happen to be Sword fans. So can't get on me about that one Buffaloers... ;P

Not Another New Uniform Movie!

Yes, another update about Reebok's new defangled unis. And a very good one at that...

First off, ESPECIALLY after my post about someone's cockamanie idea for the Canes' new duds, the Raleigh News and Observer and Jim Rutherford state that such will not be the case...

"Some clubs are looking at it as an opportunity for a redesign or identity change," Jennings said. "The Original Six teams have an identity and a tradition, and we don't want to tinker with that."
The Hurricanes aren't one of them, general manager Jim Rutherford said. They objected strongly to the original, tucked-in concept because it would have taken away the hurricane-flag motif along the bottom of their jersey, but think their look will transition easily to the new style.

"Our jerseys may look a little different because they're more streamlined," Rutherford said. "But for the most part they won't change that much."

But the launch of the new uniforms will delay the introduction of a third, alternate Carolina jersey -- black, with the secondary flag logo replacing the swirling-storm logo. The Canes were hoping to unveil those this fall, but Rutherford said they'll be pushed back to fall 2008 at the earliest.

While they still leave up in the air how the Canes' new clothes will look, such comments from J.R. *do* make me feel better.

As for the third jersey being delayed, I always could give or take the Canes' having a third. I'm completely fine with just the red and white jerseys.

Also worth mentioning is that fact that the new look has its own website, like just about everything and everyone else these days...

http://www.rbkedgeuniform.com/

Check out the 360 view of Sid the Kid...it further demonstrates what I was saying about this new look being possibly nothing more than a high-tech version of what the NHLers are already wearing.

Current Music: "Days Go By" by Dirty Vegas

Edit as of 3:40 PM: Here are two more demonstrating the new threads...

Justin Williams:




And Zdeno Chara:

Current Music as of the edit: "The Boy In the Bubble" by Paul Simon

January 13th, 2007 - Canes vs. Thrashers: Random Musings and Observations

Better late than never, right?

- Like quite a few people, what stood out to me the most about this affair was Erik Cole's attitude and idiotic decision making in the last five minutes of regulation. Such crap reminds me of a quote I read from the one, the only Ron Francis in one of many articles I've scanned about the man.

"(Terry Crisp, former Soo Greyhounds coach) told me to keep my eyes and ears open in Hartford, and my mouth shut."

Ronnie went on to say that Crisp's advice was some of the best, if not THE best, he ever received in his playing career.

It *is* good advice. So good, that I think most, if not all NHLers could benefit from it. Especially this year's Carolina Hurricanes, AND ESPECIALLY Colesey. If anyone could and should benefit by the bolded part of Ronnie's quote/Crisp's advice, it would be Cole. His tendency to shoot off his mouth is why I say that while I respect Erik for all he has done and still does, he will never quite be the favorite for me that he is for others.

Just think, if Erik had kept his eyes and ears open, he could have kept his mouth shut, AND been able to hopefully help out with the shootout...

- ...That said, I would have hoped that if Erik did participate, his attempt would have been better than his "penalty shot" a week or two ago. Ugh.

- Come to think of it, I'm not sure Colesey would have been able to help out with the shootout. Forget offense, forget defense...the shootout is where the Canes are ROYALLY struggling. I am glad, as all get out, that the NHL All-Stars were not determined by shootout performance...though, I think Eric Staal and Justin Williams were pretty danged lucky to get in like they did. Erik Cole, attitude and all, and Rod Brind'Amour should have definitely gotten in over those two.

Anyways, losing Matt Cullen to the Ranjerks is looking more and more dumb with each shootout the Canes get themselves into. *sighs*

- Where was SportSouth last year? This feed and its broadcasting crew are WAY BETTER than the Turner South dribble Center Icers had to put up with during certain games last season. Thanks to SportSouth, all of the Southeast opponent feeds are now at least tolerable or better when the John and Tripp Show is not available.

- It never fails...I do a post about Sir Bob of Hartley and my concerns over how he gets his boys revved up, and practically nothing happens in that regard.

But, something did happen...that post got acknowledged by somebody over at The NHL Arena.

That mentioned, I hope the Thrash afficionados got a jolly good laugh...I'd like to think that unlike Monty Python's colonel, they can enjoy such a thing.

Current Music: "Clues" by Robert Palmer

November 6th, 2006 - Canes @ Oilers: Random Musings and Observations

(Skipped last night's game 'cause to quoteth William Shakespeare...all the world is indeed a stage, AND THE CANES PLAYED LIKE CRAP!!

And, I was practically a zombie due to having get up really, REALLY early because of renovation work being done on my family and I's house.)

- I'm cutting to the chase on one thing made VERY BLATANT throughout this game...Mick McGeough ROYALLY SUCKS as a ref. Forget Mike Hasenfratz, I got a new numero uno most hated ref.

Unfortunately, I am not surprised that Magoo called things the way he did tonight...highly considering how he did not want to anger up the Oil faithful's blood more than he already did in a certain incident earlier this season. But geez Louise...was trying to make nice with the Oil more important than blowing a VERY OBVIOUS high sticking call (which should have been four minute of PP time for the Canes...as indicated by a very bloody Mike Commodore)? Then again, what the heck am I saying? We are talking about a ref who is so dramatic when he is criticized that he might as well don a Cowardly Lion costume or something similar, and belt out that horrible "King of the Forest" song.

- At first, I was highly enthralled to get The John and Tripp Show tonight, especially after having to put up with ESPeeN Full Court/Radio for about thirty-forty minutes into the game. But then, the thrill started going when John and Tripp constantly sang the praises of the Oilers. It can never be said enough: John and Tripp, I do admire how, unlike a certain Buffalo announcer with his team, you two try not to be complete Canes homers in your coverage. BUT, when the 60-70% bias starts leaning more in favor of the team playing other than the Canes, that's where I start to get a little annoyed.

Of course, I guess I'll give John and Tripp a free pass tonight, considering how it was/still is hard to overly compliment the Canes right now.

- Speaking of that, I couldn't help but be easily amused by how the "Bold Move of the Game" (fancy term du jour for the best highlight of the game, for those of you not in Canesland one way or another) was a move by Justin Williams that resulted in an Oil goal. While I think the "Bold Move" should have been Craig Adams' goal...usually, team broadcasts try to put on a positive spin one way or another...at the same time, I think Willy's "bold move" beautifully sums up tonight's affair in a concise manner.

- As if tonight wasn't already horrid enough, Rod Brind'Amour did not even play in the third period. To quote J. Forslund: "Rod did not report to Coach Laviolette."...and later, it was revealed that a lower body injury is what's keeping #17 hampered. More will be revealed here tomorrow or in a couple of days...

- Speaking of El Capitan, just when I thought a certain Canes commercial had finally been pulled...Gizmo's cries of "Brindy! Brindy! Brindy!" came back with a vengeance in the remaining five minutes of the "game", resulting in yours truly making a noise similar to this.

Current Music: "I Believe In Father Christmas" by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

December 2nd, 2006 - Canes vs. Bruins: Random Musings and Observations

- I may dislike Nickelback with the passion of ten suns, but hey, if they give Cam Ward the luck and confidence to win games via his helmet/mask, then I certainly cannot complain about that much.

- Perhaps Eric Staal reads this here place...I make one crack about him (seemingly) having more penalty minutes than points as of the game vs. Montreal, and he goes and gets two goals tonight. That's much more like it Staalsy...see what happens when you keep your a** out of the box? ;)

- The NESN guys set themselves up for Justin Williams' shorthanded goal...it was quite easy to see coming, as much as they kept flashing the graphic about AND mentioning the top shorthanded scoring teams in the NHL.

- Speaking of NESN, who were not at all bad or annoying tonight, much to my delight...I cannot help but be jealous of the fact that they do fun TV programs with both present and past Bruin players. I think the Canes could take a cue or two from that...and while I'm at it, they need to bring back that Saturday/Sunday morning show that ran through the 2001-02 season. But obviously, it would feature Peter Laviolette instead of Paul Maurice...

Current Music: "Run Run Rudolph" by Bryan Adams (Live)