head coach: Paul Maurice

roster: C - Jeff O'Neill, Keith Primeau, Robert Kron, Kent Manderville. RW - Sami Kapanen, Nelson Emerson, Kevin Dineen, Stephen Leach, Chris Murray. LW - Gary Roberts, Steven Rice, Geoff Sanderson, Stu Grimson, Paul Ranheim. D - Jeff Brown, Steve Chaisson, Glen Wesley, Curtis Leschyshyn, Kevin Haller, Adam Burt, Enrico Ciccone. G - Trevor Kidd, Sean Burke.

injuries: Chris Murray, rw (knee, one to two weeks); Enrico Ciccone, d (groin, two to three weeks).

transactions: Recalled Steve Halko, d, from New Haven (AHL); returned Halko to New Haven.

standings:

Eastern Conference - Northeast Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
Boston       15   9   5   1    19   41   35
Ottawa       15   8   4   3    19   47   36
Montreal     14   8   4   2    18   44   30
Pittsburgh   16   8   6   2    18   47   44
Buffalo      14   5   7   2    12   35   45
Carolina     15   4   8   3    11   38   47

game results:

10/20 at NY Rangers      L 4-2
10/22 St. Louis          W 4-3
10/24 at Colorado        T 3-3
10/26 at Chicago         W 3-2
10/31 Buffalo            L 3-2 OT

team news:

by Brad Kane, Hurricanes Correspondent

Now this is more like it. Just like the folks in Hartford can attest to -- win one, lose one, win one, lose one, and occasionally tie one. Rebounding from the depths of a 1-6-2 start, the Carolina Hurricanes turned out a modest mark of 2-2-1 the last two weeks, including a win over a hot St. Louis Blues team and a road tie with the always imposing Colorado Avalanche. Yes, five points in five games is indeed modest, but this is almost cause for celebration; finally, some good news from the Carolinas. To top it off, the Hurricanes' last game, against Buffalo, marked the beginning of a five-game homestand. But, then again, this is the franchise formerly known as the Hartford Whalers, and with the good must come some bad.

MEET MR. STUPID, PART 1
The average ticket price for a seat at a Hurricanes home game is $38. Yes, that's right, $38 for the privilage to sit in a seat at the Greensboro Coliseum and root for a team that's 3-8-3. While that figure is pricey, it's par for the course when compared to other NHL teams. But, for the folks in Greensboro, $38 is a bit much. That's obvious when taking a look at attendance figures. After all, Greensboro has played host to ECHL and AHL teams in the past, where quality seats could be had for less than $10. So it comes as no surprise that Greensboro residents are staying away from games and Raleigh residents are making the three-hour round trip to attend games. Research done by the Hurricanes shows that 85 percent of the 3,089 season tickets sold this year have been purchased by Raleigh residents. And Greensboro residents? A mere five percent.

The perception is that Greensboro residents are not supporting the team because the Hurricanes will set up shop in Raleigh in two years, once the new arena is built. Naturally, Greensboro residents have asked the team, repeatedly, to discount some tickets and drop prices altogether. "After all, if it's not going to be ours in two years, why should we support it now....?" Makes sense, right? Offer discounts to get people in the door, since empty seats don't make money. Well, Hurricanes management doesn't see it that way. Owner Peter Karmanos seems to equate lowering ticket prices with various types of torture -- he just doesn't like it. In a recent interview with the Greensboro News and Record, Karmanos said that "a 10 to 20 percent cut won't bring one person into the building" and "I'm never going to discount season tickets because I've grown up in a market that has never discounted tickets." And where was that, Peter, the School of Bad Business? Being the warm and fuzzy type that he appears to be, Karmanos went on to all-out flatter Whaler fans. Remarks included: "If we had started in Hartford with the kind of record we strated with in Greensboro, we'd have been lucky to get anybody in the building" and "Even when there are 6,000 people in Greensboro they make more noise than they ever did in Hartford." Yeah, well, echoes will do that.

But now, some heavy hitters in the Greensboro area are beginning to ask questions. Among them is the Director of the Greensboro Area Chamber of Commerce, Peter Reichard. Reichard has taken the Hurricanes to task in the local media for not discounting tickets for a team that won't be around in two years. "The point I made to them is at this point you are taking a financial bath with nobody in the arena," Reichard said. "Why not take a financial bath with a full-house (through discounts)?"

Of course, just how much of a bath Karmanos is taking remains to be seen. He's not telling. Maybe he's not as dumb as he seems.

THE ARTICLE
When the Hurricanes relocated from Carolina, the local media in Connecticut acted as if life itself had ceased to be. Special editions of the Hartford Courant. TV specials. Radio talk-show free-for-alls on how if you looked at him just right, Peter Karmanos bore an uncanny resemblance to the devil himself. And so on. But, the national media stood by and noted little, save for ESPN's Barry Melrose defending Karmanos' right to move the team (and sounding like an idiot doing it).

Well, Sports Illustrated is here to save the day! In its October 27 issue, SI ran a two-page article on the Hurricanes attendance troubles. The story, titled "Natural Disaster" caught the eye of Robert Von Esmarch, the general manager of the Greensboro Hilton. Never mind the fact that the article was somewhat tame. But, a disgusted Esmarch hosted a gathering at the Hilton last Friday, calling the community to "action". Sporting a button that said "Shred SI, Not The 'Canes", Esmarch jumped up and down on a copy of the magazine. For the record, Larry Bird graced the cover of that week's issue, and this writer hopes that Esmarch stomped all over Bird's face. Esmarch asked fans to bring a copy of the issue to Maggie O'Malley's, the hotel bar, this Friday to run them through a real, live shredder. Esmarch promised discounts on alcohol for those bringing a copy. Karmanos, are you listening?

MEET MR. STUPID, PART 2
As reported here last issue, head coach Paul Maurice has recieved a vote of confidence from Peter Karmanos. Karmanos noted recently that he has not even thought once of removing Maurice from behind the bench. In fact, Karmanos said that he feels better about the team now when compared with the same point last season. "I felt better at 1-7-2 than I did (early) last year," he said. Last year, the Whalers started out red-hot, at one point sporting a mark of 14-7-6. Hmm, doesn't want people to come to the games, doesn't want team to win.....why, yes, YOU'RE AN IDIOT!

WHATNOT
During the Hurricanes trip to New York to take on the Rangers, a scratched Jeff O'Neill announced on the Rangers telecast that he'd "had enough", and was beginning to think of "moving on." Both Paul Maurice and General Manager Jim Rutherford pooh-poohed the situation, refusing to be held up to a demand from a third-year player who has yet to prove himself. O'Neill set out to do just that two games later when he scored a goal against Colorado, his first in 25 games dating back to last year.

Hurricane fans (8,185 for the St. Louis game, 7,555 for the Buffalo game) were exposed recently to the Greensboro Coliseum's new scoreboard. Unveiled at the St. Louis game, it's a 28,500-pound monster with eight sides and four Sony Jumbo-Tron screens. Like the Hurricanes themselves, the Jumbo-Tron screens are hand-me-downs, purchased from Madison Square Garden when the folks in Rangerland decided to install a new scoreboard this year. Said Coliseum managing director Matt Brown: "This really adds to the value of a $30 seat." That's $38 to you, pal.

A Denver-area blizard snowed the Hurricanes in after their game at Colorado. Unable to fly to Chicago the day after a 3-3 tie with the Avalanche, the Hurricanes spent an extra night in Denver, waiting for safe passage to the Windy City. Carolina finally arrived in Chicago on game day itself, but still went on the beat the Blackhawks for the first road win of the year. Stuck in the team's hotel in Denver with nowhere to go and nothing to do, many of the players slept. Steve Chiasson, however, reports that he watched "Slap Shot".

Usually, the flu bug waits a few months into the season to strike NHL teams. Apparently, the warmer weather in the Carolinas speeds these things up. The bug hit the team recently, claiming Keith Primeau, Sean Burke, and Kent Manderville. To the Hurricanes' credit, not an injury man-game was lost.

For the Buffalo game, Coliseum concessionaires switched from plastic cups to paper cups to discourage fans from throwing the cups on the ice after Hurricane victories. It's become a "tradition" the franchise can do without. The public address announcer also issued a sterner than usual warning. Of course, this all became moot when Jason Dawe beat Burke top-shelf in overtime to give the Sabres the win.

Glen Wesley continued a proud franchise tradition, however, when he recently donated a luxury box at the Coliseum to the Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center for the rest of the season. The suite seats 12 and costs $40,000 a year. While in Hartford, the team often gave back to the community. Acknowledged as the most community-oriented franchise in the NHL, the Whalers once were honored as the most civic minded team of any sport, let alone hockey.

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