The Bag Skate For Monday, December 10th

Sweatin' To The Oldies: On Sunday, Hurricanes played Detroit (the two oldest teams by average age) a 1/2 hour after their previous MTL beatdown, end up losing a game, 5-2, that was more competitive than expected. They will sleep like babies today. (Canes Country)

Erik Cole is back on the scoresheets and he's baaaaaad. (Lord Stanley's Blog)

Must-read: Sherry of Scarlett Ice translates the recently struggling Senators play through the sock-puppet medium. (Scarlett Ice)

East Coast Eagles are now the junior affiliate of the NCSU Wolfpack Hockey team. (ACCHL)

Appalachian State ends a frustrating 2007 with a big win over NC State. (App State Mountaineers)

Charlotte Checkers have an in-house blogger now on their official site, and she ain't half-bad! (Charlotte Checkers)

The SPHL Champion Fayetteville Fireantz (with an intimidating website intro), are .500 at home but undefeated in regulation on the road. (Fayetteville Fireantz)

East Carolina Pirates have their media guide available for download. (ECU Ice Hockey)

The Acid Queen sounds off on her love of Detroit Red Wings fans. (Sweet Tea, Barbecue & Bodychecks)

Stephen A. Smith mouths off on blogs, makes us all stupider for having listened to him. (ThePensBlog)

NHL.com's been following the undrafted rookie Hurricanes prospect, Jerome Samson, up in Albany. (NHL.com)

X-Hurricane Bates Battaglia waved by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Good luck, Bates. See you downtown. (CasonBlog)

Informal Practice @ Camp Brind'amour

I spent my lunch break at the RecZone today watching the informal practices. My, how odd Bates Battaglia looks out there in full Leafs practice gear with the Canes! Apparently, his little brother is out there too. Ward-O, Crackers, and I'm thinking Leighton (was that him? ps - I think he'll be the next nickname contest...) were the 3 goaltenders taking turns in net. I arrived to see them in a 4-on-4 scrimmage type.

Yes, Hedican was skating quickly and looked on top of his game. But these sessions are for the most part non-contact. Fra-gee-lay. (two Christmas Story references in two days!)

Damn was it nice to see Matt Cullen out skating with the team. I plan on coming out as often as possible next week to the Rec to see them do the Camp Brindy sessions before they shift to the RBC for official practices.

The Wuff camera will be going with me next week. Hope to have some decent vids or photos to display.

Hurricanes History: The Molson Miracle

Stumbled upon this YouTubeage of the '02 Playoff Run. Good stuff.

Featuring:

• A young Bates Battaglia doing his thing
• The emergence of Nicky Wallin as "The Secret Weapon"
• Ronnie Franchise assisting, assisting, then assisting some more
  
• Brind'amour kicking ass, as usual
• A pre-roid rage Sean Hill
• Sami Kapanen (one of my favorite ex-Canes, classy guy)

I was a senior in college watching this game and can remember vividly almost jumping through my apartment window when each of these goals were scored. Enjoy!

The Molson Miracle

Hurricanes History: The BBC Line

If you don't know what the BBC line is, I'll let you figure it out.

The Leafs Are Falling

It's got to be tough as a Toronto Maple Leaf fan. That sympathy won't last past 7:30 tonight for Caniac Nation. With MTL, NYI, and Carolina all competing for the final playoff spot, the Leafs once again are on the outside looking in. Our canes are rocking right now, and Cason's skepticism department is losing steam with each game played.

Let's hope Coach Mo, Jeff O'Neill, and Lucky B don't have that '02 come from behind magic in them anymore.



Yes, that's the most recent of their championships.