UPDATE: Jhonas Enroth will be the 1st star on Puck Daddy Friday AM

(pic via MaineToday.com)

Color me the picture of optimism, but with the Hurricanes' luck against never before heard of goalies, you can probably count on it. Damnit.

UPDATE - Lalime's taking the morning skate and plans to start tonight. Oh well. That means that the backup goaltender can sit below the crowd and you section 123ers can serenade him with Weezer's "My Name is Ja-honas".

Guess what? Caniac Nation was right

I'm an easily amused guy. This much is obvious. But I always get a kick out of reading the opinions via comments to sports blogs. Other than PD, the most frequent one I visit is Canes Now.

(side note: Canes Now is a little better than "Lord Stanley's Blog", but is that the best they could have done? It falls in line with the "ACC Now" blog @ the N&O. At least it takes away the irony of naming the beat writer's blog after a 2006 cup run while failing to make the postseason the following two years..I digress)

Frequent commentators have been screaming for he of the worst +/- in the NHL Rod Brind'amour to be benched or other similarly drastic.

Strip him of the captaincy!
Trade him!
Send him to the minors to force retirement!
Sit him!

Whatever ridiculous ideas that were proposed, one swimmingly good idea was to demote him from the top two lines to fourth line duty. While he's been back-and-forth between 3rd/4th, it certainly has been the best we've seen Brind'amour to date this season. It works because he can run his shift w/ Bayda/Jokinen/Sutter/Conboy/etc.. but also jump out for face-off duty. He shares the league lead and has been in front for the most of the season in FO % with a challenge from Radek Bonk of the Preds.

What award can we get for Brindy for face-off performance? The Rod Brind'amour award?It's working. That's all I/you need to know about Brindy. Also, that if/when the Canes make a playoff run you want him on this team, hello.

Look, I love the guy. I have two of his jerseys, one pre-captaincy and one post. I think he's HHOF material big-time. But he's sucked this year. He's too much of a man to admit any injuries, but he'll be clutch when he needs to be. Bank it.


Another thing that the fan base was right about was Timmy Conboy.

Dude's MF crazy, no doubt. He's earned a reputation around the league for being a prick on the ice (rightfully so). But damn if his teammates and Canes fans don't love him. How can you not like this guy being on your team when he stands up to an enforcer nearly 147 times his size in his first NHL shift?:



He doesn't ever err have to win the fights but he's not going to back down from anybody. He's like Chad LaRose minus the offensive skills, plus the PIM team leader and bat-shit craziness. He needs to stay in Raleigh though the team management will have one hell of a decision to make when Walker and Williams return to health. You would think that it is obvious what to do, but management usually won't listen to the fan cries. What happened then? Doh.

More pics from the BRHC finals

ECU Ice Hockey will only lose one player to graduation this year, Donovan Dean, who is headed into the US Marshall's service. In honor of his contributions to the team, he was recognized just before the final game on Sunday. His Grandmother joined him on the ice.


Everybody say "hi" to Ian Falcon...


Face off- ECU and GWU


Nice save...


An emotional win for a team that lost it's coach this season


When celebrating remember....skates are sharp, mmmmmK?


The trophy is all yours, GW, congratulations!

George Washington University, BRHC Champs

Congratulations to the GWU Colonials, who defeated the ECU Pirates 6 to 5 in overtime. More pictures to follow, when my fingers defrost.

Championship Sunday

For the first round this morning we have The Citadel @ Virginia Commonwealth. Its 2-0 VCU at the end of the second period.

Next up at 1:30, we'll have George Washington @ ECU.

Update: Congratulations to Virgina Commonwealth, who defeated The Citadel 2-1.

Lets Go Pirates! or BRHC Saturday Night

End of the first period, ECU and Christopher Newport are all tied up at 2 apiece. The game has been penalty ridden, in typical Pirate fashion, but that's what makes them so fun to watch!


Another ECU goal!


Update: Congratulations Pirates! Final score 7-4. The championship game is tomorrow (2/22) at 1:30pm.

More From Sat. BRHC Semis

The Citadel @ UNCW. Its 4-1, Citadel at the end of the second. The Citadel has manged to chase UNCW's goalie, but its been a good, hard-hitting game, despite the lopsided score.





And pardon me for being a girl for just a second....but UNCW brought the prettiest hockey team in the tournament, so far....Exhibit A:



Update: 4-1 Citadel, final

BRHC Championship Bracket 2/21

Thanks again to Janey for covering the tournament this weekend in G-Vegas!

Saturday's BRHC semis

The first game today: VMI @ Virginia Commonwealth (or as it shall henceforth be known "The celebration of the hockey mullet"). Its 3-1 VCU, 5 minutes into the 2nd period right now, but this picture just couldn't wait for a break in the action. I give you, the hockey mullet.....



I'm standing next to some VMI hockey parents, who make it known, often, "that hair wouldn't fly in Lexington!". Well, shaved heads are great for military cadets, but for true hockey greatness, a mullet is required!

Update: Final score VCU 4 VMI 2

Fridays BRHC photos

These are just a few of the over 300 pictures I took last night. A ton were deleted because the lighting in the rink just isn't very conducive to taking action shots, so they blur (really bad). There are even a few shots from the first period of the Citadel/USCC game, which went to shootout. Hate that I missed that...

Enough with all the talk....here are the pictures, and when the tournament is all said and done, I'll post a link to my photobucket album, so anyone that wants to can look at ALL the pictures.

BRHC Tournament, Friday

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it to the rink in time for the first game, VMI @ Radford. The puck dropped at 2:30pm, and babysitters are hard to come by in the afternoon. I did, however, get a copy of the stat sheet from ECU's General Manager, Brent Falcon. Thanks Brent for being so helpful!

So here's the quick rundown... VMI 6 Radford 1. VMI scored 4 PP goals and Radford was only able to light the lamp (ha ha, since there's no red light here) in the first period with goal by Chip Barnes, assisted by Tom Polkowski. VMI's goals came from Andy Adldoost, assisted by Dave Arthur, Joe Hoerst, unassisted, Drew Miraldi, assisted by Pete Saragnese, Barrett Luxhoj, assisted by Chris Merdillo, Mark Gliebe, assisted by Barrett Luxhoj and Alex Cowdry, and last but not least, Zach Spain, assisted by Joe Hoerst and Dave Arthur.

I did make it to the church on time to catch Richmond @ Loyola. Richmond hung in there and managed to tie the game with 0.9 seconds to spare. Loyola foiled their attempts, though, only 21 seconds into OT. Pictures actually exist, but in my haste to get the hell out of my house, I forgot the cord to download pictures from my camera. So....I'll post them tomorrow.

Quick rundown.... Richmond 4 Loyola 5. Loyola scored the only PP goal in the game, despite 5 attempts. I'll spare folks all the names and details, unless you want them. Drop a hint in the comment box and I'll get to work deciphering the score sheet. I don't think they kept stats on it, but Loyola has some Kamikaze shot blockers! Awesome stuff.

I'm off to get back out rinkside to grab some shots of Salisbury @ Christopher Newport. Its 2-0, Salisbury with 6:50 left in the 2nd, at this exact moment.


Update: CNU put on a clinic shortly after my post and scored 4 unanswered goals.

Final- Salisbury 2 Christopher Newport University 4

The last game of the night was UNCC @ The Citadel. At the end of the first period The Citadel was up 5-2. Not to be a big puss, but I was freakin' cold, so I split. After some coffee in the morning, the promised pictures will be uploaded.

Canes curbstomp Isles

(a windows 95 Paint creation, w/help from G!images)

When they're last in the NHL, ya frickin better.

River Rats' Bus Crash

Our thoughts are with the Albany River Rats, as their bus crashed in bad weather around 3am this morning. Reports are that 3 Rats were injured, but they're not being identified until the family can be notified. Check out Canes Country for the latest updates. Cory and Bubba are staying on top of it.

Update: Per Canes Country "Albany TV station Fox 23 has named the five injured people in the Albany River Rats bus crash. They are: players Nicolas Blanchard, Casey Borer, Joe Jensen and Jonathan Paiement; and broadcaster John Hennessy."

I also read a quote from Coach Daniels that said none of the injuries looked career ending.

Paper Bag Fans

This is how I feel about the Hurricanes' play of recent. As a fan, I feel like I should wear a bag on my head....and maybe huff glue to make it seem like a bad dream.

But to make up for the lack of passion from the Canes, I get to spend the weekend at the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference Tournament in Greenville this weekend. Kick ass! Check out BRHC's and ECU's links on the right of the page and if you get a chance, come on out to Bladez on Ice this weekend to watch some awesome hockey.

I'm going to make it out to as many games as I can this weekend, so check back here for pictures and some posts from the games.

Olli Jokinen is fat

Bust out your snuggies, there's a snowball's chance in hell tonight (Canes @ Sharks)

Even Bomani Jones knows that the Canes don't stand a chance even if all the Sharks players showed up wasted to the game tonight. But who knows, stranger things have happened. Join in the fun with me over at Canes Country's game thread comments section. The super-cool SBNation comments make it like a live blog so if you're staying up tonight, stop by and join in. Or at least stop by to look at our comments as we constantly curse when Leighton gives up a goal tonight.

ps - By the way, how do people on the west coast stay up so late all the time? I've been exhausted this week! Whew! (joking. I'm sometimes an idiot, but not that bad. At least not today.)

pps - Good to know that the boys @ 850 the Buzz have a Blow-up sex doll Eric Staal bobblehead in the studio with them.

Things you could do while awaiting a west coast puck drop

As the Hurricanes head out on a three game, west coast road trip against Vancouver, San Jose and Phoenix - all of us East coast players are doomed to staying up until at least 12:30 at night just to see the team on TV. With a 10:00 start, you might find yourself getting just a tad anxious for the game. With that being said - be glad that we here at COI are by the people, for the people, of the people and we're here to keep you occupied while you anticipate your Pacific time zone game.

Here's some things that I'll be doing and maybe you should try too:

You could drink a beer or twelve.

You could step on over to the new and improved Canes Country via the ever expanding SB Nation. Congrats to Bubba and Cory who are professionals at this game by now.

You could drink a Smithwick's. Dark, smooth, yet not too heavy.

You could scope out the competition's bloggers, with my personal favorites being Waiting for Stanley on the Canucks end, Five for Howing for all your Coyotes action and Fear the Fin is great for the Sharks. Also including the Sharkies is one of my all time favorite blogs - the Battle of California. Earl Sleek (even though he's a Ducks fan) is one of the most free-thinking, creative and entertaining hockey bloggers out there today. His twisted mind is on par with only a select few in the elite of the blogosphere. Here's a favorite from his series of "Pucktoons" with Sir Sleek:

You could drink a Fat Tire, if you're anywhere in the Nashville area or further West. What a great MF beer. (For the longest time you couldn't get the Colorado brewed beer anywhere East of the Mississippi. If it hits NC and you find out, let me know and the first rounds on me.)

You could congratulate East of Here on the birth of his first born this week! While he's obviously not going to be around here too much in the coming months if at all - enjoy a little collection of the best of East's twisted mind:

The Professional Chotchkes Union Must Be On Strike East breaks down the Eric Staal bobblehead

About those shoddy Hurricanes car flags they tried to skimp on

We're boned, seriously: regarding East's assurance that the return of Paul Maurice meant the inevitable return of dump and chase (as well as being teh Suck).

Congrats again there, bud.

You could drink an Eye of the Hawk beer. Strong at 8% but the copper, amber color with the caramelly (is that a word?) flavor take the edge off. Good stuff. It's kinda fun to start squawking like you're some giant bird of prey while you drink this too.

You could check out the qual that my cohorts have been spewing over at Barry Melrose Rocks, or view only posts written by yours truly if you must. I also highly recommend the author's thread of Kevin Schultz at the NHL Fanhouse for AOL Sports.

With Mardi Gras right around the corner, you could appropriately drink a "Hurricane". Duh.
You could rip some bingers swim like an Olympic champ.

You could check out my favorite new blog, F You, Penguin. An excerpt:

"This jerk refuses to be my friend"

"What the hell, Dog? Like I'm not good enough for you. I have 6,000 friends on Facebook! YOU'RE NOT EVEN ON FACEBOOK BECAUSE YOUR PAWS WOULD MAKE TYPING IMPOSSIBLY AWKWARD. What am I doing wrong here? We hung out that one time, and I thought things were going pretty well. I made some jokes, you ate your own poop, WE HAD A NICE DAY TOGETHER."

You could go and drink dozens of different beers at any of the Carolina Ale House locations, with the Cary location on Walnut St. hosting a Cool Bars with the Storm Squad there on Saturday night for the Phoenix game.

You could also head on up to Hillsborough to check out the UNC vs. Duke hockey game on Saturday. It starts at 4:15. Guarantee you that one will be a chippy affair. Let's just hope that you staying up so late is warranted by a Hurricanes team worth watching. That is - they don't ride west only to crap the bed in a different time zone.

ECU Hockey wins BRHC regular season, rolls over VT

ECU club hockey team continues to roll this season, as they now sit at 10-2 in conference play, 17-5-1 overall. The highlight of their year so far was beating VT in Blacksburg in front of approx 6,000 people

the Pirates are hosting the BRHC Championship at Bladez On Ice in Greenville starting Feb. 2oth.