Proper hazing to welcome Andrew Alberts & Tom Kostopoulos to the Canes

My boy Jimmy has come through with some clutch signings in the month of July with Erik Cole and Chad LaRose both returning. But today I welcome in D-man Andrew Alberts and forward Tom Kostopoulos to Carolina the only way I know how: by making fun of them.

To Tommy the Greek Kostopoulos: First off - you sound great and I vaguely remember you as a Hab. My boys from FHF dig you so that goes a long way. But I'm concerned that living and playing in the South around all these fun bars and nice women's fashion stores may drive you to be an accomplice to more purse thefts. Yes I know that HE didn't steal the purse that night in Tampa Bay, but hey - guilt by association when something as embarrassing as that happens.

So you're a prankster, eh? Is someone going to have to lock you in your hotel room every time the Canes play Lightning in Tampa?

What the hell is going on with your last name? The letter "O" makes an appearance like 8 freaking times. But it is easy to come up with nicknames with a name like that. It happened spontaneously at 850 the Buzz's post about him today. I'm still fond of my Flight of the Conchords reference; "They call me the Hip-Hop-Kostopoulos, my lyrics are bottomless". So uh, yeah welcome aboard. Do good, please.

To Andrew Alberts: It took a minute, but I figured out why I remembered him:

Of course! He's the one that Scott Walker looked up a foot to and still beat his ass. But he's a hitter and someone who's finally a "defensive" defenseman. There hasn't been a d-man acquisition in a long time that was "D" first in Carolina, it seems. What is it like having two first names? At least those two aren't "Harry" and "Dick". Alberts can join in the "dude, I know how that feels" fun whenever someone has another gruesome injury on the Hurricanes this year: (from his Boston days, apparently)
Pretty kickass July. Nice weather, fun weekends and the band is back together with a good fresh beat added in. Well done, Jimmy Boy.

Flyers @ Canes Gameday: They may still suck, but the tailgates don't

God bless Saturdays.

College football (go Pirates!). Sunshine. Cornhole. Brats. Beers. Good friends.

and some (hopefully) some fine hocka-ja-wee-ah.

Go Canes.

Thats what happens when you STILL suck

To borrow the line from our friend Tim Gleason - the Hurricanes are still rather crap-tastic one game into the 2nd Paul Maurice era.

At the Pens game last night - the Canes came out firing but had little success getting quality shots on Danny Sabourin. Sabu is about as solid of a backup that one could ask for. Leighton was looking good to start the year but his last few games have exhibited why he has been traded 47 times over his career. Out of position, not controlling rebounds, etc.. are all quick ways to let the other team pounce - as Pittsburgh did successfully nearly every time the puck was around the Canes' net. Sigh, Cam Ward can't get healthy soon enough.

How bad does this Carolina team look right now? As bad as they've been since the pre-lockout '03-'04 season. Sure they've had some clunkers of games over the past 3 seasons but on a consistent basis they've been real bad for quite some time now.

Melichar and Dwyer went back to Albany today. Melichar because he blows (see post below), Dwyer because Williams is back to being healthy. Good on Pat Dwyer for his time here. He got his 1st NHL goal and was playing his part well on the PK. In comes Tim Conboy and Casey Borer.

I was real impressed with Borer last season and lauded his play earlier this year. Glad to see him get his chance again with the big boys. He looked pretty good in pre-season this year and was one of the final cuts. So far on the season with a struggling Albany squad: 1 goal, 3 assists in 21 games. Keep in mind that he's coming back from a horrible knee injury and surgery.

You have to like Tim Conboy as a Hurricanes fan - the energy, the fights, hell - even his offensive contributions. You have to despise him as a fan of any other team. With the departure of Keith Aucoin to free agency (btw, Tater Aucoin will probably be in the line-up for the Caps on Sunday) - Conboy is the new captain of the River Rats. His first shift with the Hurricanes was last year's home game with the Colorado Avalanche. He drops the gloves with Scott Parker - who appeared to be 5 feet taller than him. He got his ass handed to him - but props for showing no fear and standing up to the other team's goon.
But Conboy may very well be certifiably crazy. Like belongs in Dorthea Dix Mental Hospital crazy. During his days of college hockey, he pulled what's being described as a "Todd Bertuzzi like play". He got suspended for his role in this brawl at the end of AHL season for the Rats in April. He bit Steve Downie on the hand earlier this year. He apparently took a run at some Caps players last year and Japer's Rink now refers to him as "Clownboy".

Either way, his infusion into the Hurricanes line-up can do nothing but help this struggling team right now. If they're gonna suck - they at least need to go down biting fighting. We'll see what happens against Philly & DC sat/sun.

Flyers at Hurricanes live streaming video feed

Let's all hope its worth your time to watch:

Go Canes.

Canes @ Flyers, Flyers @ Canes

First of a home & home today with the farewell game to the Philadelphia Spectrum. Not sure who the Flyers plan on icing for this game, but it probably won't match the number of minor-leaguers that the Canes are playing. You see stuff like this and wonder just how successful of a year Carolina can have when two games in, these are the injured:

Corvo, Wallin, Whitney, Brind’Amour, Williams, Samsonov, Babchuk, Gleason, and Ruutu

a big WTF there. Is it possible for them to fake injuries so that they don't have to play the vets in the pre-season?

Even though Brindy is hurt, I'm wondering if he was invited to participate in any the of Flyers festivities today. He played a butt-load of games at the old Spectrum and it would be a fitting tribute to at least show him on the jumbo-tron waving from the press box. Or maybe instead of a wave, he could do some push-ups.

Canes Fall On "Walk Around The RBC With Your Figurine Box" Night

OK look, the Hurricanes didn't get embarrassed tonight. They played alright but it was just one of those nights that the puck hits the net -- just not the one with goalposts around it (the big one that blocks your view and saves your dome-piece).

The 1st goal should have been blown dead before it got behind Ward-O.

The 2nd goal was completely Cam's fault. He thought he had it but he pooped out a rebound and got caught trying to play it while a Flyer had an open net on the other side.

3rd goal was a top-shelf beauty and a collective groan from the home crowd (which was a large one).

1/2 way through the 3rd, the Canes finally had a crisp-passing possession and Stiller capitalized with a goal that made it somewhat interesting, but to no avail.

-------

During the 1st intermission, to coincide with "College Night", the Duke and East Carolina club hockey teams faced off in a shootout. This made my effin night. ECU won 2-1 on 4 shots.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! E.C.! You look so good to me! Hey! Hey! Hey! E.C. You look so good to me!"

Hurricanes History: 14 Combined Goals Against Flyers

Ah, how sweet Memory Lane can be.

Canes Will Try To Smoke Those Turkeys

Happy Thanksgiving Caniacs! Peace & Hair Grease - catch up with you all on Sunday (maybe)

Q&A With J-Willie

Justin Williams made an appearance Monday at the MacGregor Draft House for 99.9 The Fan's "Canes Corner". In what was maybe a 1/2 hour interview, he discussed being among the league leaders in points/assists and aspirations for the current season. Towards the end of the conversation, the DJs opened up the floor for questions from people at the bar. Being the go-getter that I am, I jumped right up with a on-the-spot query for Justin.

(ala The Chris Farley Show)

WP: "Hey Justin, how's it going"
JW: "Pretty good."
WP: "That's awesome. Dude, YOU ARE THE MAN!"
JW: "Thanks for the support."
WP: "So, you remember when Staal passed you the puck, you skated down and put it in the empty net against the Oilers and then you won the Stanley Cup?"
JW: "Yeah, I remember."
WP: "That was awesome."
JW: "Yeah, thanks."
WP: "Damnit! That was such a bad question."
JW: "No, you're doing fine, really."
WP: "Do you remember, you remember when Jimmy Boy traded to the Flyers for you?"
JW: "Sure do."
WP: "That was awesome!"
JW: "Yeah."

In reality, I did get to ask him one decent question, "Who do you and Brindy prefer to be paired with?" To which he wouldn't give a direct answer but basically said whoever has the hot hand and is playing well. However, when he mentioned that Chad LaRose had stepped up nicely this season, I replied, "CHAD LAROSE!!!!!!!"

Gratuitous Rosey Highlight:

Old Friend Jesse "The Bull" Boulerice Up To Old Tricks In Philly

And apparently - he likes to rip the new Reebok Edge jerseys during fights.

Coming Soon!: Watch Hockey From The Commode!

With news released this weekend that the Flyers are converting the goal judge's seats into private luxury suites at the Wachovia Center - teams are getting creative and doing all sorts of innovative and experimental things with their seating. Next thing you know, you'll start seeing this kind of BS:

For only $225,000/per season - you can have your own private luxury suite encased in tinted glass. Best of all, you can overlook the ice while sitting on the crapper! That's right - it may be a little expensive but isn't it priceless to be able to do your business while you watch the sport you love?

Who's Ready For The Season To Start?

One thing before I'm out for the weekend. Here's a preview of what is to come now that Cully is back in the fold:



Kickass.

Justin Williams: The Steal Of The Century

With free agency this summer offering contract pay-offs equal to a drug czar's bankroll, now is the time to savor the fact that Jimmy Rutherford was able to sign his superstars to long-term contracts before inflation took hold.

Just based off of Bubba's Salary Chart, you can see that we have a strong group of forwards lined up for at least 2 more years at a bargain of a price. Especially, after you see the deals that Briere and the other free agents signed this summer.

Just picking one out - look at Justin Williams who is signed through 2010-2011 at $3.5 mil per.



What do you think Justin would draw were he on the free agent market this summer?

Canes Get A Jedi & My Niece Is Walking

The Philadelphia Flyers & New York Rangers made the two biggest splashes today in the free agency pool. NYR snagged up both Drury & Scotty Gomez while the Flyers added Daniel Briere to an already bolstered lineup featuring recently acquired Kimmo Timonen & Scottie Hartnell. I'd hate to see what the average salary rate is now after the day's hefty checkbooks have been busted out. Inflation is a bitch!

Carolina announced the signing of the very affordable winger Jeff Hamilton with a 2-year deal at $800K per. Sure, you may have never heard of him before today either:

But if he can win shootouts in a Canes jersey:



He's already worth his weight to me seeing as the boys laid the goose egg last season in shootout wins. It's exciting in any measure to have new blood around here. Jeff Hamilton is a fresh face that will hopefully ignite the team and make the contributions that a Trevor Letowski could not quite accomplish last season.

Upon first looking at Jeff and his head gear, all I could immediately think of was The Empire Strikes Back:

In your too cute moment of the week, reports from SC are that my niece is now taking her first steps. She'll be ready for skates in no time.

Who's Ready To Tee Off ?

With their chance to defend Lord Stanley on the line and five games left before the playoffs start; apparently the boys are.

Flyers 5, Canes 1


This is where the ECU Pirate in me says "AARRRRRGHHH" in frustration.


Oh well, at least Mike Commodore will be able to show up at everyone's Cup party this summer.