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Around SBN: Off Tackle Empire interviews Rich Rodriguez

Back to Work - Caps 4, Canes 1

Last night, fans were grumbling as they left the RBC.

Even if several of the players on the ice were different, parts of last night's game looked eerily similar to the worst of last season. Collapses on defense, sloppy passing, and in general, uninspired play was what stood out to many.

The good news is that it's just preseason and the game doesn't count. The bad news is that the highlight of the game was watching a cute, chubby kid dance on the jumbotron. (Hey, he was pretty good!)

To put things in proper perspective, the team has only been practicing together on the ice for the past four days. But unfortunately, they looked it.

On the positive side on the ledger, the powerplay looks like it could be lethal with Corvo and Pitkanen on the points. Matt Cullen seemed to be skating around no worse for the wear. Scott Walker was feisty and was looking for a "dance" partner. None could be found.

On the other side of the ledger, the opposition continues to find ways to get behind the Hurricanes defense. That has to tighten up, somehow. The passing was sloppy and there were too many turnovers.

Coach Laviolette probably has a list of things to work on.

Tim Gleason was hurt and limped off the ice. The nature of his "leg injury" is not suspected to be serious, but no specifics were given.

The four players who needed to make an impression the most, Brandon Sutter, Jeff O'Neill, Dan LaCouture, and Drayson Bowman were kind of quiet, although they each had minor contributions. Bowman showed good speed on a couple of occasions while chasing down loose pucks. Sutter played pretty solid defense, mostly against Michael Nylander.

But it seemed that Dwight Helminen and Matt Murley had a bit more jump.

The Hurricanes meet the Caps again tonight, this time in Washington. I'll have a pre-game hype post up sometime after lunch. Hopefully, I will be a bit more accurate with my projected lines than I was for this game.

-----

In other news, Carolina released some junior players from training camp as well as a couple of free agents. Returning to juniors are Mike Murphy, Chris Terry, Michal Jordan, Samuel Morneau, and Justin McCrae. Free agent tryouts, Robert Slaney and Brett Theberge have also been cut.

Finally, the Hurricanes announced that they will have one practice session on Thursday morning from 10-11:30.

Star-divide

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After reading your 2nd period report, I immediately thought; “Hm. Just like last season – outshooting the other team, but less scoring than the other team.” I pulled back and told myself it was only a pre-season game – no Staal, Brindy, Samsanov… I also didn’t watch the game, so I need to hold back until I actually get to watch. I would love to hear other’s thoughts…

Once again, thanks Bubba and Cory!

by marc on Sep 25, 2008 8:10 AM EDT reply actions  

My bad – Samsanov did play!

by marc on Sep 25, 2008 8:57 AM EDT reply actions  

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Carolina Hurricanes Roster

# Pos. DOB W H
Brett Carson 27 D 11/29/1985 210 6-4
Erik Cole 26 LW 11/6/1978 205 6-2
Joe Corvo 77 D 6/20/1977 204 6-0
Patrick Dwyer 39 RW 6/22/1983 175 5-11
Tim Gleason 6 D 1/29/1983 217 6-0
Jussi Jokinen 36 LW 4/1/1983 198 5-11
Tom Kostopoulos 29 RW 1/24/1979 200 6-0
Chad LaRose 59 LW 3/27/1982 181 5-10
Manny Legace 34 G 2/4/1973 200 5-10
Alexandre Picard 45 D 7/5/1985 215 6-3
Joni Pitkanen 25 D 9/19/1983 210 6-3
Brian Pothier 5 D 4/15/1977 204 6-0
Tuomo Ruutu 15 LW 2/16/1983 200 6-0
Sergei Samsonov 14 LW 10/27/1978 188 5-8
Bobby Sanguinetti 0 D 2/29/1988 190 6-3
Eric Staal 12 C 10/29/1984 205 6-4
Brandon Sutter 16 C 2/14/1989 183 6-3
Cam Ward 30 G 2/29/1984 200 6-1

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