Cryin'

The crying still hasn't stopped in southern Florida. The streets in Sunrise are starting to flood in tears and the "classy" quotes just keep on coming. "It's embarrassing how they play the game", "They don't play hockey the way the game should be played", "They don't play hard, take the easy way out, and take dives to get the cheesy call". All this from hack Bryan Allen, the Vancouver throw away who has played against the Hurricanes all of one year. I guess that makes him an expert? Of course Olli Jokinen made his "promise" that he and the Panthers would keep the Canes out of the playoffs this year. Coach Jacques Martin said that he has to teach his players how to dive. Finally, the man of the hour Eddie Belfour had this to say, "I don't know what this game is coming to, but it's embarrassing". You know what's embarrassing? Flopping your arms around like an idiot and earning a stupid penalty with the game on the line. It seems to me that would be on top of the "embarrassment" list. The Carolina Hurricanes are Stanley Cup Champions. They certainly know how to "play the game" the right way! The Canes are winners, the little kitties are losers and all the whining and crying in the world will never change that. We'll see what happens when the Canes play the jealous little cry-babies again on Saturday night. One thing I know for sure, if the Canes do lose they won't be whining after the game like babies who need a pacifier.

Okay, enough of that subject and on to the important game tonight against the Lightning. It's another pressure packed "must win" for Carolina. As I mentioned yesterday, the Canes will be short-handed. On the defensive side of the rink, Wesley, Hedican, and Gleason are all out. It was reported by John Forslund on 850 The Buzz that both Babchuk and Hutchinson were taking turns working with Kaberle in practice so it's anyone's guess who will get the nod although it looks like it will be Anton. It would be nice to see how Babchuk responds in what would be his first game after his send down and recall from Albany. It's also been reported that Scott Walker and Andrew Ladd both missed practice because they were suffering from flu-like symptoms. Both have required IV fluids. Walker already missed the Florida game, so hopefully he's on the mend. Right now the status for both of them is questionable, although they both will probably suit up and make it a game time decision. For those of you wondering if John Grahame will be in net against his old team, Forslund said no. It looks like Cam Ward will be between the pipes again tonight. Tampa Bay will certainly be a tough match up, but hopefully the Canes can get some breaks tonight.

In other hockey news, Devil's head coach Claude Julien was fired by "Lucky" Lou Lamoriello after leading the team to 2nd place in the conference with 102 points! This was kind of bizarre in my opinion, but maybe Lou wanted the thrill of coaching in the playoffs again? So much for gratitude though.

Finally, a fellow Hurricanes fan who calls himself "Whaler" has a page where he keeps all the team statistics. It's a great resource and definitely worth a look-see. It's called Carolina Hurricanes Hockey Report and you can find it in my links section under "Canes related sites".  Have a great Tuesday and good luck Canes!

Aerosmith