Schedule for the Canes - Highlights and Lowlights

by Bob Wage on Jul 16, 2009 12:18 AM EDT

The Carolina Hurricanes regular season schedule came out today and just like every year, there are some positives and negatives. Things start out with a bang at home on Friday, October 2nd against a formidable opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers. The very next night they face the Bruins in Boston.

This season marks the return of the Olympics, so the NHL will take a two week hiatus in February. Henceforth, the schedule needed to tighten up a bit. You will not see the four and five day breaks during the season like you might have in the past. The Canes will have 16 back to back games, two more than they had last season, but one less than they had the year before.

Last season, the team had six consecutive Sunday afternoon home games in a row. This season they will have a total of five Sunday games, but they are spread out a bit. (two in November, two in January, one in March).

(more highlights from last season)

The team will have a total of 21 homes games on weekend dates this season. (Six on Friday night, ten on Saturday, and five on Sunday). Again, this is an improvement over the seven Saturday night home games last year. Obviously, the additional Saturday night games will help with attendance numbers.

The longest road trip will be just for a total of four games, but they have three of those road trips to work through. (October, December, and February). The longest home stand will also be four days.

Here are some games that you might want to highlight on your calendar.

October 2 - (Flyers) Opening night is always a sell out. This year against Chris Pronger and crew will be no different.
October 14 - (Penguins) Leave early for this match up against the Stanley Cup Champs. ~~The opening of the State Fair is the same date~~. (update- game was originally scheduled for 10/15, moved to 10/14)
November 6 - (Maple Leafs) Coach Mo faces old "friends". Didn't he say he hoped they never won another game?
November 11 - (Kings) Justin Williams returns home for the first time since being traded.
November 30 - (Capitals) Always a huge game against the division champs.
December 26 - (Flyers) Philadelphia comes back for a rematch the day after Christmas.
December 31 - (Rangers) Traditional New Year's Eve game this time against Sean Avery and blue shirts.
January 24 - (Bruins) Rematch of playoff foe will be a tough one.
January 30 - (Blackhawks) Young and talented boys from Chicago come to Raleigh with ex-Cane Andrew Ladd.
February 11 - (Sabres) Rivals come to town
February 13 - (Devils) Last game before the Olympic break.
March 11 - (Penguins) Another "brother versus brother" ordeal.
March 13 - (Coyotes) Will this team still be based in Phoenix in March?
March 25 - (Capitals) Last home match up against A.O.
April 8 - (Canadiens) Final regular season home game and it could be a big one.

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Comments

Kind of interesting. I think the East has improved vastly over last with trades/drafts. I think last year the West had the edge in potential asskicker teams. This year I think it’s the East. Detroit and Chicago still look awsome, but Philly, Boston, and the Pens are evry bit as dangerous. If we keep Ruutu and Rod’s back we have an interesting team, the craps look better. I think injury will play a big part in the East this year. I also think this the type of situation Mo is good at. You only have to be better than the opponent on the night you play them until the PO’s. Bummer about Seids, I think he needs a new agent. I was shocked Babs was brought back, so I’m gonna wait until he’s signed or stays. I think he earned a raise as did Seids. I like Alberts, maybe we can get Gleason to get evil now that we have somebody big enough to do whatever he wants.

All very interesting, should be another great year for hockey. This years over seas games released and I missed them?

May Bettman enjoy lice, dysentary, gout, anal seepage and or any array of nasty things!!

by Paladin6 on Jul 16, 2009 3:02 AM EDT reply actions

i wasso exxcited last year to see what TB could do with their exciting new roster,
but it was a bust
i find my self similarly excited about montreal this year, but i think i have to learn my lesson and understand that things just dont happen that way.

by chrisj on Jul 16, 2009 7:50 AM EDT reply actions

Bubba – don’t forget mye count down clock. I think we’re at 78 days and 11 hours and 5 mins…….

Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!

by Carolyn Christians on Jul 16, 2009 7:55 AM EDT reply actions

Maybe something big and splashy like this?

Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!

by Carolyn Christians on Jul 16, 2009 9:37 AM EDT up reply actions

Sorry, I forgot about the countdown. I will work on that tonight.

GM of CanesCountry.com

by Bob Wage on Jul 16, 2009 10:07 AM EDT reply actions

no hurry – a lot going on the last couple days. (I think I had 20 tweets from the Canes.com and CC yesterday. a regular songbird going off all day on my cell – and still no Ruutu news!)

I’m realy interested to hear what you see and learn at prospect camp. It got some decent coverage from the N&O.

Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!

by Carolyn Christians on Jul 16, 2009 10:14 AM EDT up reply actions

As you say, it has been very busy and the camp news will have to wait for now. Cory and I will be double teaming them again this afternoon and we should have some good stuff up in a day or two.

They are a good group of kids. Mike Maniscalco was teasing them about going out last night and Matt Kennedy said he would be in bed by 8:30. They had to be up ready for breakfast at 6:30 this morning. :-)

GM of CanesCountry.com

by Bob Wage on Jul 16, 2009 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions

Sounds good. (Ignoring MP’s comment, please)

Is Kennedy the tough-guy bruiser that he seemd to be in the collection of fight videos you linked us to a few days ago?

Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!

by Carolyn Christians on Jul 16, 2009 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions

yes, he checked someone fairly hard, which can be a little unusual in the drills they were running. Is a very well spoken kid though and he did his homework. Not to give away too much, but during my interview with him he said how proud he was to be selected by the number one franchise in the NHL.

GM of CanesCountry.com

by Bob Wage on Jul 16, 2009 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Canes Vision does a pretty nice series of video and interviews of the kids and the trainers on Day 1 here

And I wonder how long it will take till one of you more “adolescent-minded” posters ;) comment on an unfortunate juxtaposition in the locker room with Pete Friesen’s segments. I guess it’s better to get those mistakes out of the way now than with Eric Staal in some regular season post-game interview.

Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!

by Carolyn Christians on Jul 16, 2009 3:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Wow...

Mike Murphy is a lot better-looking than I was aware of. Too bad he’ll have to be in a mask.

Remember, kids...don't ever let facts get in the way of your argument.

by MichaelProcton on Jul 17, 2009 9:14 AM EDT up reply actions

ya'think?

Actually, I’m sticking with Paradis as best-looking of the class. But maybe it’s just the accent. He’ll make a great NHL14 coverboy.

I agree that Murphy was impressive for his demeanor though – he seemed to have that confidence/humility blend that reminds me of Wardo. Chip A. did a very complimentary write-up on him in the N&O this morning. He’s so young – I can’t see him ready to step in behind Wardo when Leighton’s contract is up next year. I guess a year in Albany will tell us a lot more.

Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!

by Carolyn Christians on Jul 17, 2009 9:41 AM EDT up reply actions

Hey, you wrote it, not me.

Remember, kids...don't ever let facts get in the way of your argument.

by MichaelProcton on Jul 16, 2009 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Oct 23 @ Colorado Avalanche

Great to have them back out here for the first time since 2006. Been too long since I have fed my jones in person…

I can most likely get a good deal on tickets through my work’s connection at the pepsi can. Hit me up at beninftcollins on the yahoo network if you’re interested.

by BenLo on Jul 16, 2009 11:57 AM EDT reply actions