Notes on the Carolina Game

- Feels great to be wrong.

- Is it just me, or does Dan Kamal kind of give off a Uecker-type vibe? Not that that's a bad thing - I've always felt spoiled with Kamal. I don't think I'd rather have anyone else (other than Rick Jennaret or Mike Lang, maybe). Especially not the guy from Carolina... or the Islanders Guy... or the Detroit guy... or the Sharks guy...

Anyway, back to the subject at hand: Dan needs a colorman. Bad. I think the strain is getting to him. Witness the following from last nights broadcast:

On Enstrom's 1st period minor:
"'How was your trip, sir?'
'Pretty costly, now I'm in the box.'"

On a shot in the 2nd being deflected into the mesh:
"The shot deflects into the mesh... It's a fine mesh you've gotten us into..."

Dan, if you're reading this, I kid because I love. Don't change a thing. I mean it.


- OK guys, let's split up into groups, go door to door, and see if any of the other 29 teams have some PK we can borrow. Seems we're a little low.


- Nice goal by Perrin. I really hope he finds the back of the net some more; the man has MAJOR work ethic, and I always like to see those guys succeed. They're the backbone of the league.


- Boulton. +1A. Scoring machine.


- The third line looks like big, chippy guys with good hands. They'll come on soon enough and provide a little ancillary scoring. A little jobbing in the corner goes a long way.


- Boomer Gordon from XM204 says we're rolling two solid scoring lines - not faint praise from a man who knows hockey.


- Slava Kozlov: I may not agree with Rawhide's call to give Kozzy the 'C', but I don't think you could ask for a better player at this point. Experience, humility, and ability all in the shape of one Russian Professor. Gamer.


- I seem to remember reading Slava said something about this new system being similar to one they ran in Detroit. That's gotta be better than the dump-and-no-chase system from last year (cue rimshot).


- Is Hainsey worth the $4.5 mil? Yup.

Thrashers v Hurricanes

As if there aren't already enough hockey blogs out there, here I go starting another one. With apologies to the Thrashers' official newsletter, I give you the "Blueland Outsider." I could fill this space with the usual stuff about hockey being the greatest sport in the world, the Thrashers being a much maligned team, blah blah blah... point is, I like hockey, I like the Thrashers, I like talking, and I have a job that allows me to waste time by writing blog entries. That's all. Nothing special, really. So, on with it.

Things To Mention For Today

- Re: Brian Burke. Attention ASG, here's your chance to fix a decade-old mistake. History doesn't often allow for this kind of mulligan. Do it.

- Re: The Carolina Hurricanes. They'll be visiting Phillips tonight, and our guests look pissed. They have one win in the last four games, all three losses at the hands of the Thrashers and Caps, two suprisingly ineffective goalies (as of late, anyway) - I'm guessing we drop this one. In spectacular fashion.

Kidding.

So what do we need to do?

- Keep it even-strength. Carolina has scored fewer goals than we have 5 on 5. According to the Falconer, we're starting to cash in on more of our shots taken. Let's hope that trend keeps up.

- Continue the Awakening of Kovy. Ilya Kovalchuk has quietly posted 14 points while we've all been singing the praises of the Kozlov-White-Little line. Eight of those points have come in the last 4 games. This is exciting. Let's hope his point production continues to snowball.

Prediction - Canes take this one 5-4 in OT. Carolina's not big on losing streaks (six streaks of three or more regulation losses in the almost 4 years of the Laviolette era), but I think our boys have enough fight in them to get the pity-point.