BRHC Championship Bracket 2/21

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

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.

NCSU UNC Shootout @ Caps game

A quick note - there will be a shootout during intermission tonight featuring a select few players from NCSU & UNC. Woot! Highlights from a previous one:



Also - Happy Birthday to Big Mike from the Storm Squad - you poor man you!

Go Canes.

ECU Hockey rolls over UVA, ODU

From the ECU Hockey homepage:

ECU Wins Back to Back Wins - Dominates 2 Virginia Teams

10/11/08

GREENVILLE, NC - Friday night as part of the “Think Pink” breast cancer awareness night, the ECU Ice Hockey Club defeated the University of Virginia Cavaliers, 9-1. The Pirate lines looked sharp with exceptional passing, puck control and were disciplined spending very little time in the penalty box.

The team in conjunction with Zeta Tau Alpha raised several hundred dollars for breast cancer research as a part of the teams continued commitment to community involvement.

Saturday afternoon, the Pirates played Old Dominion University. Still wearing pink ribbons as they will for the month of October, the Pirates started the first period slowly, spending an abnormal amount of time in the penalty box. The end of the first period had the Pirates down 1-2. However, during the second period, the Pirates minimized penalties, scored 6 unanswered goals and assumed the lead. ECU never looked back and controlled the game until the end with an 8-5 win."

The Pirate hockey team at least provided some good spirits to counter-balance the suddenly flailing ECU football team as they lost to UVA 35-20 on Saturday.

Quick hitters

Scott Walker didn't want the trainers in the recovery room to get too lonely, so he hit the IR today after hand surgery. Out 6 weeks, but he can still inflict fear upon opposing teams from the press box if necessary.


With Walks out, Dan LaCouture got signed to the club today. Hey - is it just me - or are we seeing a Jon Favreau seperated at birth thing going on here with Danny boy?:

Dear Jimmy Rutherford: Plze 2 not sign Brendan Shanahan. With all due respect to his career, there is no shortage of damaged goods around here already.

From Puck Daddy via Japer's Rink.. proof that God has forsaken the Sabres fans:



ECU hosting UVA this weekend in Greenville and raising money in the name of Hockey Fights Cancer. The game is Friday night at Bladez On Ice followed by Saturday's football game with the Pirates vs. the Cavs.

4 days until Carolina vs. Florida opening night. Tailgating arrangements are already well underway.

08-09 Canes College Night Schedule released

The dates are up at carolinahurricanes.com/college for the coming season's College Nights. If you are a club team player or manager and are interested in scheduling your club for an intermission shootout for any of these games, contact Paul Strand with the Hurricanes: pauls@carolinahurricanes.com

COI Season preview: The Citadel Bulldogs Hockey team

What follows is the first of what I hope to see several more of here, a team interview with the college teams. Other squads have any interweb access and want their own post here? Send some hellos to CarolinaOnIce@gmail.com.

Things should be pretty clear for the BRHC's coming season after the Annual Fall Meeting this coming weekend in Williamsburg, VA. Earlier this summer the Colonial Collegiate Hockey League ponied up with the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference. Essentially, the new BRHC is this frickin' big:

and stretches nearly the entire Southeast which should be a good thing for members of NC and SC's teams (East Carolina who is back after an independent season, ASU, The Citadel, UNC-W, UNC-Charlotte and NCSU's Division III team) as they play in broader areas and more rinks with the chance to bring in futher alumni support. They're gonna need the gas money, folks.

And because every single college kid has a Facebook account apparently, be sure to join the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference Group to keep up to date around the league this coming year.

Here's a few questions with the very clean-shaven men from the Citadel team:

Alex GRIMES

(Title: Captain. Position: Forward. Year: Senior. Company: Golf)

COI: Your biggest game of the season this year will be...

It depends on how the season goes. Most likely it will be a playoff game.

COI: Optimism = good. What does the future hold for Bulldogs hockey?

We have high hopes for the team. Our coach is dedicated to bringing in good quality players, and ensuring that the Citadel becomes one of the best teams in the South. The team has been around since 2001, and I expect it to be around for a lot longer.

Justin MENOR

(Title: Team President. Position: Forward. Year: Junior. Company: Alpha)

I went to the Citadel to become a better person and a better leader/team player. I started playing hockey when I was 10 and wanted to play rather than watching hockey games.

COI: Has the team ever done anything with the fellow Charleston team the SC Stingrays of the ECHL?

No.

COI: You should try contacting the team management at their home page.


Alexander WINTON

(Title: Assistant Captain. Position: Forward. Year: Sophomore. Company: Papa)

COI: What have been the highest and lowest points in your career as a Bulldog?

Highest: Going to the Naval Academy with 8 players and still gaining a lot of respect. Lowest: Losing 6 games in a row.

COI: Very cool and ouch. What do you think the future holds for Bulldogs hockey?

An ever expanding team and schedule...and the Citadel's greatest all-star of all time (me) pretty much dominating Grimes in life.

Marc EMOND

(Title: Assistant Captain. Position: Goalie. Year: Senior. Company: Palmetto Battery)

I ended up going to the Citadel because I was looking for a military school and it came down to Norwich and the Citadel. The Citadel was 15 minutes from the beach in the city while Norwich was in the middle of the woods with nothing around it. It was an easy choice. I started playing hockey when I was about 3 years old at public skating. My dad would bribe me with pizza to skate from one end of the ice to the other.

COI: Mmmm. Pizzzaaaa (stops to wipe drool for a sec). So VMI is the chief rivalry with both schools being military colleges?

We played them last year and it was a rough couple of games. It was really cool though because even though we both were at each others throats on the ice, after the game we were all pretty chill.

COI: How active are the coaches, staff and current players in recruiting?

Our coach has been awesome in terms of recruiting. We have two things against us, we are playing a northern sport in a southern state and also we are a military school so there are only a certain number of people who would even consider coming here. Our coach has been able to overcome these obstacles and still be able to draw in players.

COI: The team website is quite sharp and is regularly updated. What else do you do / what are you doing for promotion? How do Charleston area residents and Citadel students find out about the games?

We use such things as Facebook and word of mouth.

COI: We're a bit late to the whole Facebook party. A little off-topic here but still of interest…can you explain the Citadel tradition of weddings? (I had an old friend tell me something about the exit of the bride and groom under the crossed swords and the smacking of her behind by the best man with his blade...)

It’s about welcoming her to the Citadel family.

COI: Okay then! Good luck to the Bulldogs on the coming season.

More team features to come, ya'll.

College Hockey is so close you can smell it, really

The first weekend of October is lining up as a great one for college hockey throughout both NC and SC. As August finally frickin' comes to an end, the puck is coming back and many informal training camps and tryouts are underway or in the near future.

In the works is the Carolina On Ice Google Calendar that will be an automatically updated schedule with all the two state's game-times as well as the Hurricanes, Charlotte Checkers and hopefully others.

To get your team's schedule added, contact CarolinaOnIce@gmail.com.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day Weekend. Enjoy and relax if you can.

ECU Hockey schedule released

Wuffie's McLovin Dance continues today as the ECU Ice Hockey page has the release of their schedule for the 2008-2009 season.

Dates to circle on your calendar and plan for the drive to G-Vegas:

The November homestand at Bladez On Ice starting on the 7th against the Division II Duke Blue Devils with the following weekend having VT's Division II team Fri. night the 14th and U of R on the following Saturday the 15th.

That game against the Richmond Spiders will be a re-match of the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference 2006 Championship where the Pirates came up just short of winning their conference in the 1st year of existence.

Unfortunately, the ECU boys don't have App State or NC State on the schedule at this point. ASU is in the other division of the newly re-aligned BRHC but don't rule out the possibility of a Pirates/Wolfpack tilt as they scheduled a game midway through this past season. For all of you who are in the Raleigh area - the closest that ECU will come to us is at the Triangle Sports Plex in Hillsborough vs. Duke on October 25th.

The Bag Skate for Tuesday, June 24th

The Chicago Blackhawks have re-signed former Cane Andrew Ladd to a two year deal. Come on Tuomo Ruutu, look out for us here...

Darcy Hordichuk gives a collective "F you" to the Carolina brass. I join my boy Jimmy in saying "well to hell with you too then".

ESPN will show the Paper, Rock, Scissors championship but still can't show hockey? WTF?

Hockey blogger extraordinaire and friend to COI Greg Wyshynski showcases some Anaheim Duckies leaving a tattoo parlor (or bar?) in some skimpy girlie clothes. Caniac Nation appreciates how normal our players truly are.

The Charlotte Checkers release their players "protected list".

The UNC-Wilmington club hockey squad has their own little AV Delight showcasing last year's season on Youtube.

The Fayetteville FireAntz have re-signed their puck-moving defenseman, Lawne Snyder.

The Wolfpack hockey squad needs some positions filled for next season.

YouTubery goodness: The Ron Francis Hartford Whalers days:

App State Hockey checks in with COI

I received an e-mail from the new publicity dude for the App State hockey team last week informing me that my link to their site took you to their old one. So without further ado,

The New & Improved ASU Hockey Homepage

There you will find their schedule for the upcoming season up and available. Their link to the side has been updated as well. Way to be on the ball Mountaineers!

They have also put up a preliminary page for this Fall's upcoming Charlotte Shootout, in which they are co-hosts with UNC-Charlotte.

2008 Charlotte Shootout

The teams are looking for sponsorship for the CLT Shootout and any profits from the event will be going to charity.

The Bag Skate For Monday, March 24th

Keep your mouse pointed here. Will be anxiously watching to see if Ottawa slips into that 6th place spot. (Yahoo Playoff Matchups)

Luke DeCock has some reasons why Atlanta is so horrible this year. (News & Observer)

Fear the Merlin Hat & The Malik Effect. (Acid Queen)

A great look at the Hurricanes' up and comers. (Hockeys Future)

Speaking of which, follow the treads of Jamie McBain with Wisconsin, Kyle Lawson with Notre Dame and Nick Dodge with Clarkson U on their respective quests for the NCAA Frozen Four Championship and wish them luck.

Real deal jerseys for a little cheaper, get them a lot quicker. (Triple Threat Sports)

Watch out if these guys make it back in time for the playoffs. Who sits from this current lineup? Tough call to make. Williams, LaRose take part in practice (News & Observer)

The RBC Center's website is really up to date. "NHL hockey featuring the stars of the Carolina Hurricanes and other NHL favorites such as Jaromir Jagr, Mario Lemieux, and Eric Lindros"
Whoaa cool! (RBC Center Events)

The newest Fanhouse contributor is starting to like the Eastern Conference. (Fanhouse: Ovechkin Mancrush)

Every single Sports Illustrated article ever. Crazy cool stuff to find. (Sports Illustrated Vault h/t Fanhouse)

Random YouTube moment: Something just doesn't seem right watching Ron Francis throw punches...

College Hockey: What will it take?

Not any time soon, but one these years college hockey in the Carolinas will come to the forefront. While various schools have recently founded teams, some have had them for decades.
Think of the possibilities. This is last year's winning goal in Minnesota's game vs. N. Dakota.

Could we see a big time tournament in a renovated Dorton Arena featuring NCSU, Duke, UNC, ECU, App, UNCW? Who thinks that wouldn't be outstanding entertainment?


Bubba interviewed David Glenn on the subject and suggests that we won't be seeing Division I hockey in our area in anytime soon. Heres your money quote:

With the exception of Boston College, I think hockey in the ACC has
along, long way to go before it’s close to being sponsored on the Division I
level. The current climate of college sports is that most schools are more likely
to drop a varsity sport than to add a new one, so I’ll be very surprised if you
see a hockey explosion in the ACC. It’s great that so many people are having fun
with ice hockey atthe club level, but I think that’s where it will stay for
the foreseeable future. There are just too many complications with budgets and
facilities right now. - David Glenn of 850 the Buzz, as told to Canes Country

Who knows when/if the NCAA and sports fans in NC/SC will embrace the spirit and passion that these guys display. If nothing else, I hope that people are becoming educated about the game in general via the Hurricanes but also are noticing that their area colleges' club hockey teams are growing in popularity.

Blue Ridge Hockey Conference gets a massive makeover

Major announcement out of the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference as they merged with the Colonial Collegiate Hockey Conference today. Three different divisions are formed now based on how each team has developed over the last few seasons. Alignment is now such:

and they're looking for a few more apparently. Everything you'll need to know about these happenings: BRHC/CCHC Announce Expansion Plan.

In other news, sadly, the coach of the Georgia Tech hockey team passed away yesterday in Atlanta. Full details via their site.

UNC Wilmington falls one goal short of conference championship

Got an e-mail from the busy Team President / Goalie / BRHC Tourney coordinator / graduating Senior, Pete Schwarz of the Seahawks tonight as his squad lost to Old Dominion in the championship game on Sunday. From all respects, the Wilmington club hockey team has taken tremendous strides this year between hosting the conference tournament to having a 9-1-0-1 record in their final 11 games or tripling the amount of fans in the rink.

ODU Monarchs 8, UNC Wilmington Seahawks 7

You want class? Class is having this on your website after losing a heart breaker to their rival:

The Seahawks congratulate ODU and wish the team best of luck at Nationals

Congratulations on a successful season and many more to come.

Seniors graduating: Blake Cute, Tim Haggerty, Ian Aldrich, Colin Rossi, Todd Nixon

Playoffs?!? You wanna talk about playoffs?!? Playoffs?!?

Let me preface this by saying that I had an elaborate, in-depth post about the college playoffs in draft mode that the blogger gnomes must have really liked, because it disappeared into thin air. Awesome. Not.

Fortunately, el Presidente Pete Schwarz of the UNC-Wilmington Hockey squad is on top his game as his Seahawks are hosting the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference tournament this weekend.

Congrats to him on being named the BRHC goalie of the year and to the team who is undefeated since their new coach arrived.

Head over there for full details.

UNC-W Hosts BRHC Championship Tournament

Wolfpack out for revenge on Pirates

(Becka)

Friday, February 1st, at the RecZone will pit the NCSU Wolfpack in a rematch against the East Carolina Pirates. ECU beat the pack in a tough matchup back in October, 6-4. NC State coach Steve Glick provides his thoughts on the game:

It's always great to have a game where so many players from each side grew up together. It adds a personal touch. You aren't just playing to win the game, your playing for bragging rights. Many of ECU's fans and family live in the Triangle and you can be sure that there will be a lot of purple in the stands on February 1st.

ECU plays at Bladez on Ice in Greenville, which was not designed for hockey, thus it is not "regulation size".

I don't consider ECU's rink to be an advantage for either team. Both teams have to play on it and it is the responsibility of the coaching staff to make sure their respective teams are ready for any conditions. With that said, I'm not sure games should be played on a rink that small whenever possible because it takes away from the creativity and speed that make hockey great. One of amazing things about college hockey is how talented so many of these kids are. You don't get the fighting and dirty play that plagues many leagues and the ACHA should do everything it can to ensure our level of play stays that way.

Coach Glick insists that his squad will have their game faces on:

ECU is a very talented team and a lot of teams are fooled by the fact that they play division III. They could be extremely competitive in the ACCHL. I personally take responsibility for the outcome in October. I did not have my team ready to play and it showed early on in that game. When you play from behind, you have to take more chances and end up in the box more often. We won't make that mistake again.

Game starts at 9:00, be there.

VT Hokies take the Triangle tour

Catch the UNC Tarheels matching up against the Virginia Tech club team Friday night in Hillsborough at the Triangle Sportsplex, 10:15PM start. The Hokies will travel to Raleigh to take on the DII Wolfpack at the RecZone Saturday night @ 8:00. I will be there. Bring it.

Isles, Dubie smoke the Canes

and their favorite movie is "Get Shorty". So many things to be upset about after a game like that. Despite out shooting the Islanders 47-31, someone forgot to tell the point players that they're supposed to, you know, protect against shorthanded breakaways.

Wade Dubielewicz = NY Isles backup goalie, 5' 10", maybe 140 lbs. soaking wet. He didn't have to be fantastic tonight, but he plays like a confident 2nd string goaltender. Hey, the Canes could use one of them!

This team is fortunate to have so few games end in shootouts recently. Ward-O doesn't do one-on-ones. Could we get the fat Cam back? My CanesCast (more on that later) compadres asked me the other night what my thoughts were on Carolina's goalie situation. I responded by saying it wouldn't much matter who is in goal right now because of this NHL worst team defense. Shaky at best tonight.

Speaking of bad D, Frankie K? If I had to nominate someone to receive the Arturs Irbe treatment, myself and several peers outside section 208 are behind me in sending you to lovely Florida.

Plenty of spare time to let this one sting. Oi vay.

__________________________________

Congrats to the ECU Hockey team in their 3-2 shootout win over NC State last night on College Night. Awesomeness.

(Becka)