head coach: Paul Maurice

roster: C - Keith Primeau, Jeff O'Neill, Kent Manderville, Bates Battaglia. RW - Sami Kapanen, Nelson Emerson, Kevin Dineen, Steven Rice, Stephen Leach. LW - Robert Kron, Martin Gelinas, Paul Ranheim, Stu Grimson, Gary Roberts. D - Steve Chaisson, Glen Wesley, Curtis Leschyshyn, Kevin Haller, Adam Burt, Sean Hill G - Trevor Kidd, Kirk McLean.

injuries: Gary Roberts, lw (pulled rib muscle, indefinite).

transactions: 1/15 - sent Bates Battaglia, c, and Mike Fountain, g, to New Haven (AHL); 1/19 - recalled Battaglia from New Haven.

standings:

Eastern Conference - Northeast Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
Pittsburgh   50  26  15   9    61  138  114
Montreal     51  26  18   7    59  153  124
Boston       49  21  19   9    51  122  121
Ottawa       50  20  22   8    48  116  121
Buffalo      48  19  21   8    46  117  122
Carolina     51  19  26   6    44  127  144

game results:

1/12 Pittsburgh     L 4-1
1/14 Chicago        L 4-1
1/21 at Buffalo     L 2-1
1/22 at Ottawa      W 4-2
1/24 at Montreal    W 4-3

team news:

by Brad Kane, Hurricanes Correspondent

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
54 days.

Two home games.

12 road games.

Did someone say "fore"?

Due to the three-week Olympic break and a first half of the season loaded with home games, the Carolina Hurricanes recently began a 54-day run where they will see the inside of the Greensboro Coliseum just twice. Beginning with a six-game road trip that started last Wednesday in Buffalo, the 'Canes will play only Montreal and Tampa Bay, February 1st and 4th respectively, at home between now and March 12. That's 54 days of playing mostly road games, where Carolina's record stood at 4-14-1 before starting this madness. Hate to be a pessimist, but get the clubs ready boys, you may need to use them pretty soon...like, say, mid-April.

Of course, it needs to be pointed out that since starting this six-game road swing against Eastern Conference opponents, Carolina has actually won their last two games. A win Saturday night at Montreal was most impressive as Paul Ranheim scored with one minute to go to cap a comeback from a three-goal deficit to edge the Canadiens. Longtime followers of the franchise should be most impressed that the 'Canes even won at all in Montreal. In their existence as the Hartford Whalers, the team had only won about 12 times or so at the Forum or Le Centre Molson -- ever. (I don't have the numbers in front of me, but trust me, it was pretty bad.) That followed a victory Thursday over a slumping Ottawa Senator club that's in hot water themselves these days. Interestingly, the two wins brought Carolina's record against Canadian-based clubs this year to a rather gaudy 10-3-1.

The Hurricane now head south for the second half of the trip, visiting Florida and Tampa Bay, before heading north to call on the Islanders. There's still 30 or so games left this year, but this week will be extremely important for the 'Canes. All three opponents are below Carolina in the standings, and if the 'Canes are playoff-bound, three wins, or at least two, will be necessary to avoid the golf course until at least May. Stay tuned...

WHATNOT
Well, to be honest, aside from the exodus from Carolina, there's not too much going on in Greensboro lately. Trade rumors are basically non-existent as the team continues to find a new chemistry from the deals made earlier this month. And, with the team on the road so much, there's not much wacky stuff that can happen, anyway. Or at least that gets reported. Too much time sitting in hotels, watching TV. At the very least, here's the highlights of the last two weeks:

-- The All-Star game came and went with nary a notice in Carolina. No Hurricanes were invited to the game. That could be good news, though. Only two Hurricanes (Sami Kapanen and Keith Primeau) are set to play in the Olympics, and none played in Vancouver last Sunday, so the team should be well-rested for the final stretch run.

-- Kevin Dineen played in his 900th NHL game Saturday. Now recovered from a series of injuries that has curtailed his playing time this year, here's to hoping that Kevin 11 can stay healthy to play at least 100 more. If all goes well, he'll hit the 1,000 mark sometime in March next year.

-- While Dineen has returned from injury, the plight of Gary Roberts continues to get worse. The current injury? A pulled rib muscle that will keep Roberts out until the Olympic break. The injury was caused by the broken left foot Roberts had earlier this season. Roberts played through that injury, but tended to favor his right side while the foot was broken. Roberts believes that the tightened muscles that resulted on his right caused the rib muscles injury. What this means is that the 'Canes will be without one of their top players during the most important stretch of the season -- between now and the Olympic break.

-- Head coach Paul Maurice reports that he was mistaken for Devils goalie Martin Brodeur in the 'Canes hotel in Montreal Saturday. To Maurice's credit, at 31, he is the youngest head coach in the NHL. But I'm not totally sure that there's that much of a resemblance there. Just another day in the life of hockey's least respected franchise...

[ issues | web extra | stats | nhl archive | home | chat | mailing list | about us | search | comments ]

1998 © Copyright LCS Hockey All Rights Reserved