Don't Ask Me No Questions

by Bob Wage on Oct 9, 2007 11:01 AM EDT

The Carolina Hurricanes are in Toronto and ready to play the Maple Leafs tonight at the ACC. Even though it's very early in the season, the Canes are already battling a revolving door of personnel changes on the ice due to injuries and illness. Who will play tonight and who won't? Not even the coaches know for sure I suspect. There are certainly plenty of questions concerning the game. I'll try my best to answer them right now, but we won't know for sure what the answers will be until tonight at game time!

1. Will Cory Stillman play his first game of the year? Yes, but who knows how effective he will be? (Can I answer one question with another question?)

2. Will Bret Hedican play? Yes, he is reportedly over his illness and ready to play.

3. Will Mike Commodore play? Probably not. He left practice early yesterday and his hip is still bothering him.

4. Will Andrew Ladd play? Probably not. He twisted his ankle and it's reportedly still tender.

5. Will the rest of the Canes show up to play in the 1st perod? Yes, they spent more time than they wanted to watching video of the Caps game, and that's enough punishment to make anyone play harder. I'm sure none of them want to endure that again!

Cam Ward will be in the net for the Canes and I'm thinking that Vesa Toskala will be for the Leafs. Most of you have probably heard about Jason Blake's recent announcement that he has a rare form of leukemia. The type that he has is highly treatable and he's not expected to miss any playing time. Will this news fire up the Leafs? Matts Sundin has a 3 game point streak going.

Keep in mind this game will be on the Versus Network, not on FSN tonight. While the broadcast will be in HD, Time Warner customers will not be able to enjoy that luxury until next week. Future Carolina games which are broadcast by Versus will be in HD. Time Warner has also announced some additional games that will be shown in HD format. All the games are away games. Here is the listing. (this list includes the Versus games)

10/19 Canes at Pittsburgh

10/31 Canes at Florida

12/6 Canes at Tampa Bay

12/29 Canes at Columbus

1/4 Canes at Atlanta

1/5 Canes at St. Louis

2/2 Canes at Pittsburgh

3/19 Canes at Atlanta

3/20 Canes at Florida

3/29 Canes at Tampa Bay

The channel for HD Versus broadcasts is 283. Non Versus broadcasts will be on channel 291 (MOJO). Will this be an extention of the FSN coverage? I don't know, but we'll have to find out! More about this later.

>>>>>UPDATE>>>>> LSB just reported that Time Warner Cable is revising their schedule and will show the game tonight on channel 283 in HD!

This should be a good one tonight. Both teams are 1-1-1. Win or lose, the Hurricanes need a spirited perfomance and I expect that we will see one.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

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Just saw the N&O blog and tonights game will be in HD after all, channel 283, here’s the article:

Tonight’s Canes game at Toronto, carried by Versus, will be available in HD on Time Warner Cable channel 283.

The launch of Versus HD had been scheduled for next week, but a Time Warner spokesperson said the cable provider moved up the launch so tonight’s game would be available in HD.

by kcljar on Oct 9, 2007 2:38 PM EDT reply actions

Thanks for the update! I just updated by blog post as well. Good for Time Warner, to be so pro-active!

by Bubba on Oct 9, 2007 2:46 PM EDT reply actions

So Ek is reporting that the Oilers are interested in Stillman? Whats that all about, and who are we interested in from them? First it was Cole, and now Stiller. Hmmmm….who would we like to get from the oilers? A Young one perhaps?

Sean

by CaniacSean on Oct 9, 2007 4:19 PM EDT reply actions

I tend to ignore Ek’s rumors. He’s had Eric Cole traded 25 times by now..L

But fot the fun of it, Stiller has a no trade clause. If he waives it, hypothetically speaking, I’d like to get someone like Torres back. We need more of a physical presence out there. When teams like the Caps are pushing us all over the rink, it could be cause for concern. The name “Joni Pitkanen” keeps coming up. Who knows?

One thing I will agree with. If the Canes get off to a slow start, Rutherford won’t sit on his hands all year this year before he waits to make a move.

by Bubba on Oct 9, 2007 5:27 PM EDT reply actions