NHR: My Brother the Fish Wrangler

You've gotta love when you get an e-mail the first day back to work after a holiday weekend, like this one from my brother, Bryson today:

"I caught this big ol catfish Sunday night in the Wateree River off a shrimp. He weighed in at 41 lbs, 2oz."

With a fish that big, do you really need to add the "2oz." at the end? Anyhow, well done bro. Nice shorts.

A/V Delight: Drayson Bowman is the goodness

The million dollar question about this kid is when will he skate in a Canes uniform.

DB blows up the spot with a hat trick and SO Winner earlier this year:

Bowman's first goal of this Memorial Cup run:

November 2007: Drayson gets his 2nd straight game with a hat trick:

Luke's been having to answer that question a lot lately. His Spokane Chiefs that he has carried through the season, WHL Championship and now the Memorial Cup bout today at 4:30 on the NHL Network. Nice to hear about the Carolina brass finding a young stud for the stable.

Stanley Cup Finals can't start soon enough

I will certainly make the most of seeing the final 4 to 7 games that are left of the NHL season, as it has been brutal going almost a week without any hockey to watch.

It seems throughout every round of the playoffs, most bloggers offered up their picks on who would win each series. I didn't bother with any of these, because if I use my previous history in picking things like the NCAA Tournament bracket, I'd just embarrass myself.

I have read quite a few good reviews and predictions though.

My favorite so far for the Pens / Wings series that begins Saturday was Dave Lozo's of Why Don't We Get Drunk & Blog, which included the obligatory Sudden Death clip with Iceburgh the Pens mascot.




Talk about your mid-90's flashback!

But I'll happily pull for the Pens in this one. Go Jordan Staal. (and hello to the stalker fan who has searched this blog over 600 times for "Jordan Staal", here you go. At least you're loyally consistent.)

Just why am I watching Dancing With The Stars?

As the wife and I were chatting over dinner and DWTS last night, I noticed a close up on Mr. Bret Yamaguchi Hedican.

Mrs. Wuffie: "You only watch this show because they show him on it."
Wuffie: "Nuh-uh. OK, well maybe it has something to do with it. He's the only Canes player I've been able to see live on TV in what seems like forever over a month. And the guy that dances with Kristi sorta looks like the Latin American version of Chad LaRose."

So what if Hedican is probably not coming back. He has been an integral part of the Hurricanes for a good chunk of his career and is to be wished well in his future and health. But is it just me or is anyone else shocked how bald Bret really is? Maybe its the studio lights on ABC, but his head really seems to shine as I'm used to seeing his helmet cover up. Do you think he told the NY Times editors to crop the family picture so that it wouldn't be so obvious in this photo?

Aside: Farewell to Johnny Grahame, who signed with the coolest sounding Russian team today - Omsk Avangard. Just say it, "Omsk". That may be close to the sound I made while putting my hands-in-face watching him play goalie for the Canes. If anything, you've been fun to witness and ridicule during your time in Carolina. But good luck to you and stuff. Don't let any of the Russian coaches Tortarella you.

Because hockey people are good people

Back in September, the wife and I had arguably the worst week of our lives. Nothing turns your life upside down like an unexpected tragedy. As the late great Phil Hartman would say during his SNL Frankenstein , "FIRE BAAAAD!!!".

Well as I returned from hiatus, I titled a post "I might have to buy a new jersey after all". My Roddy Brind'amour "A" jersey that I'd had since 2003 and worn (without washing) all through the 2005-2006 Cup run year was in the same condition as all of my other clothes: covered in a nasty yellow soot stain.

I had been tinkering around on the Canes Country Forum and made some e-friends, but had yet to meet any of them. We had been discussing joining up for a tailgate party before a Canes game.

It ended up being one of the 40 games we had against the Florida Panthers last season.

So there we were, having a grand 'ol time enjoying the pre-game festivities. My new friends and I were getting along like we had all known each other for years.

With about an hour or so before the 7:00 puck drop, people starting telling everyone to gather around me. Someone went to their truck to get something. He came out with a white bag from "The Eye" (the Hurricanes merch shop). Sure enough, they had bought me a shiny white new Rod Brind'amour jersey.

I was speechless. I still am. How could these people do something so nice for someone that they had never even met? With a poo-eating grin on my face, I happily accepted it and immediately threw it over my body. Fit like a glove.

So Thank you to Bob, Janey, Brian & East for what you did for me. I won't forget it.

LOL Hedican - I lika do da Cha Cha

Bret Hedican has reverted to Mr. Yamaguchi

Cha Cha Cha Cha Chaaaaaaaaa

A Wooooo for two newbs

The Nature Boy and I would like to introduce two new faces to the Caniac blogosphere and COI blogroll.

All-American Hockey Girl & Up To The Rafters

Howdy folks! Welcome to the fray.

You stay classy, Olli Jokinen

Read this morning that FLA Panthers captain and Finnish wonder boy Olli Jokinen took a cheapshot on Canes defenseman Tim Gleason in the Worlds yesterday. He has received a one game suspension and Tihmaaaa did not return to the game after the illegal hit from behind.

Olli, you're a joke.

Enjoy the Worlds, because thats obviously as close to a playoff series that you'll ever get.

Chest bump - Bubba @ Canes Country

Staal lowers the boom on Deutschland

Just how sick might a forward line with Martin St. Louis & Eric Staal be?

4 goals, 6 assists between the two. One game.

TSN HIGHLIGHTS - CANADA 10, GERMANY 1

(AP / Dmitry Lovetsky)
No mention of Herr Seidenburg, but check out Staalsy's 2nd and 4th goals. B-yootie-full.

Wuffy golfs

Just getting into this, but man, I'm having a blast.



This is Crooked Creek in Fuquay. Apparently, it's also a favorite of some Hurricanes players. Good times wooooooooo.

Use Canada to catch your hockey World championship highlights

For example, you read on Red & Black Hockey, "Tuomo Ruutu had the game winner for Finland last night." You say to yourself, "Damn, wish I could have seen that one."

Thanks to TSN and a broadband connection, you can.

Here ya'll go.

You can catch most any Canadian highlights as well up there.

Use the 3rd jersey to make the playoffs, or something

I can remember working in a sub shop in college. Working as the part-time night manager, we always got the job done but if we knew that the store owner would be coming by, everyone would make sure the place was running good. Nobody wants to deal with an aggravated owner on their case.

So naturally, it's good to hear that Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos is coming down to keep a closer eye on his investment (eye, ha! you see what I did there?). Turns out business owners don't like it too much when they are losing money.

A third jersey has been rumored to be produced for Carolina for years, but according to multiple unofficial sources - it's finally going to happen this summer. I'll admit that its pretty slick and I'd probably buy one.

If every Caniac that already shells out a fraction of their household salary to support the team through season tickets buys one of the new jerseys - might that allow Pete to approach making a profit next year? Oh wait, they tried that this season with a league wide jersey re-design. (More about that in a future post on how I got a new-old jersey last year.)

Why doesn't the NHL adopt a "throwback game" at least once a year where ALL teams can wear their old school digs? Those powder blue Penguins jerseys with Malkin & Crosby have to be some of the best selling pieces of hockey merch. They cover the stands in the Mellon from what I've seen on media coverage of the Pens playoffs. (Playoffs. Pete, just make that the priority buddy... don't care what colors the team has to wear - just do it in Raleigh.)

Chris at 850 the Buzz is right, wouldn't it be neato to see the Canes skating around in the W for one night against an Atlanta Flames team?

This kid ^ looks like my brother's childhood pics, seriously.

Make it an old school night. Everyone goes retro.

Leave it to BoJangles baby & Summer update

Great news out of the OHL draft as Enloe High School student Matt Gellatly was drafted by the Saginaw Spirit. My favorite part of this nice little interview? His pre-game meal is "BoJangles fried chicken". Same here, even though my "pre-game" meal normally isn't preceeding a physically gruelling athletic event. It also tends to be my "morning after" meal when I need a little grease in the tank. Paint me the picture of good health.

Good luck, Matt.

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Was back in the friendly confines of the RBC Center last night, unfortunately not to see the Canes in a May game -- but nonetheless it was still nice to be in there. The geriatric Van Halen boys rocked the house as much as possible. This thing that flies around before they take the stage is awesome. But the sound is so bad in there acoustic-wise, it's hard to hear anything at all.

The scoreboard was retracted up into the rafters. I was hoping that it had been taken down completely for the inevitable upgrade, but it is certainly not in the budget for the upcoming season (so I hear).

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One thing that the RBC Center staff was paying attention to were my cries for an updated RBCCenter.com and they delivered. w00t!

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I'll be posting as often as possible with any kind of updates this summer, whether it be hockey related, concerts, etc... keep yourselves entertained with my Mom's wonderful blog, All Things Quilty.

Ward & his Blackbeard mask vs. Andrew Raycroft

Head over to the NHL Tournament of Logos and vote for Cam's badass Blackbeard inspired goalie mask which is in the 2nd round against Toronto's Andrew Raycroft. Pretty close as of today.

Raycroft vs. Ward

Update 5/6 - and he wins, to move on to the 3rd round.

Too bad this mask ate it when it was cracked towards the end of season.