Against All Odds

For curiosity sake, I usually check the betting odds before each Hurricanes game to see how much of a favorite or underdog the team is. When I checked at lunchtime today, the typical lines were not listed for tonight's game. Instead, they listed the odds on each player's chances of being injured! I won't mention any names but the way things are going recently for the Canes, someone is bound to pull up lame just riding the stationary bike! Seriously, I admit that I was a bit ticked off that Erik Cole hurt himself messing around with a soccer ball before Saturday night's game, but I'm over it now. These things happen. "Colsie" could have just as easily hurt himself slipping on some soap in the shower. Coach Peter Laviolette will allow the soccer warm up ritual to continue, as it should be. But if we at Canes Country could just interject a few words of warning to those players who are going to participate in the pre-game soccer shenaginans ....."Let's be careful out there!"

Mike Commodore was his typical funny self when asked about the incident on 99.9 The Fan this morning. When he was first told about Cole's injury Saturday night, he responded "it's just soccer, how bad can it be"? Mike informed the interviewer that he doesn't play soccer himself, so at least we don't have to worry about the big defenseman getting hurt in that way!

As mentioned earlier, Keith Aucoin and Ryan Bayda will both be on the roster tonight for the Canes. So far, Aucoin has picked up right where he left off last year for Albany. He leads the River Rats in scoring with 1 goal and 5 assists in 5 games played. Hopefully he can keep those points coming here in Raleigh! Ryan Bayda of course was the last cut this year in Carolina and actually made the team for a game or two before Jim Rutherford signed David Tanabe. The defenseman took Bayda's spot on the roster and forced the franchise to send Ryan back to his former haunts in the AHL. Both of these players are perfectly capable of contributing when they are on their games. Hopefully, that will be the case this week because the Canes need them. How sweet it would be for one or both of them to score on Roberto Luongo tonight!

Don't forget, Kay Yow will be dropping the puck and there will be a short pre-game ceremony so you might want to arrive tonight a bit early. Go Canes!

Phil Collins