Clicks and Clippings: It's good to win
by Carolyn Christians on Oct 8, 2010 12:19 AM EDT
in Hurricanes Newsstand
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It wasn't necessarily a beautiful hockey game, but 2 points is 2 points, and the Carolina Hurricanes got it done. Jussi Jokinen said after the game that he hadn't felt that nervous since the playoffs in 2009. Is the monkey ftheir back? You know, that doubt, and maybe fear, that's been lingering since last season's abysmal start put many of us in a state of mourning for hopes shattered before Thanksgiving? Probably not entirely set aside, but it was good to start off with a win all the same. Very good. That last year's surprise gold-star players Jokinen and Brandon Sutter were the centerpiece of the win today makes it that much more re-assuring. Only one game, but an important one from which to build.
After the jump, a few recaps and post game thoughts, another collection of videos, as well as other developments across the hockey blogosphere today.
ReCaps
First a quick link to the Event Summary and Game Summary before reading the narratives.
From our newfound traveling buddy at NHL.com, Dan Rosen, Hurricanes at Wild - 10/07/2010 A three-goal second period by the Hurricanes was enough to hold off the Wild, 4-3, in the NHL Premiere game in Helsinki, Finland. Brandon Sutter scored twice to lead the Canes to victory.
He also had a couple other stories you'll like:
Finnish talent shines as NHL returns to Helsinki "I was pretty nervous there in the third period," Jokinen said. "I don't remember when I was that nervous, probably playoffs."
From today's entry over at Rosen's daily blog: Dwyer may have saved game highlighting this observation from Head Coach Paul Maurice: "At the end of camp [Dwyer]'s one of those guys that always does the little things, and now he plays with Sutter and after the first game you say they look like they've got chemistry."
And here is the team's own Paul Branecky with his recap for Hurricanes.com On a team featuring four rookies, it was last season’s breakout stars that made the difference on opening night.
I found one story from a Finnish blog Jokinen NHL bright spot in the evening
On Friday, the teams meet in the same place at the same time again, and the home team will be the Carolina Hurricanes.
"What happens on Friday?", was asked of Joni Pitkänen.
"Take two points more," he smiled.
For a perfectly acceptable game synopsis in 140-characters or less, we turn to tennis pro and Greensboro native John Isner who is in China for a TPA tennis tournament this week. Isner, who also happens to be 6'-9" tall, tweeted:
Just woke up in Beijing to a canes victory over the wild in Finland. HUGE. Great start. Brandon sutter is a beast. Back to sleep now.
Video Video and more video.
Your game highlights from NHL.com:
Then postgame with rookie Zac Dalpe, who notched an assist in his NHL debut:
Brandon Sutter who earned 1st star honors in that ratty old Rexall T:
Even more post-game video with Tuomo Ruutu [here] and Eric Staal [here]. For Jussi Jokinen [here] and Paul Maurice [here], we have audio only. Is it me or does Maurice really sound as much like a dad talking about how to keep his sons feeling good and confident about themselves than he cares about defensive systems and fore-checking?
Phoblographer LTD has been uploading all night, and you can take a look at her Flickr collection for the game still in progress. Another winner from the set below. My hunch is that these are the faces of those setting the screen when Anton Babchuk takes a backswing at the blueline:
Finally, from the Wild's SBN blog, Hockey Wilderness, it sounds like after one game (and one loss) they just might need to step away from the ledge. For starters,
I'm all for holding on to tired cliches such as "It's only one game," but the old patterns are still there. Old habits have not been broken, and it certainly appears as though Todd Richards has lost control of this team, if he ever had it.
Pregame features you may have missed
Raleigh's own News & Observer cranked out a number of great pieces on the Hurricanes to kick off the season:
Young talent highlights Canes new season The Carolina Hurricanes' season begins today in Helsinki, Finland, in the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere. The Canes face the Minnesota Wild at Hartwall Arena and play the Wild again Friday in their first "home" game of the year.
Hurricanes enjoy Finland Tuomo Ruutu suggested seeing Suomenlinna Sea Fortress but insisted on taking in a sauna.
Decock: Will Maurice's usual 90 points be enough? Ninety points. Mark it down. Plus or minus a few points, that's where the Carolina Hurricanes will sit when the season ends. Will that be good enough to make the playoffs? It wasn't in 2008-09 but it was in 2009-10.
Canes Now - It's Game Day in Helsinki Maurice's message: don't worry about mistakes, just go out and have fun. "They can do a lot of great things in this league, can win five Stanley Cups and win awards and play 25 years, but they only get one first game in the NHL," Maurice said.
Plus their own photo gallery introducing you to all the players.
Here was a front page story from Helsinki's leading newspaper focusing on the city's native son, Tuomo Ruutu: Helsingin Sanomat For Tuomo Ruutu of the Carolina Hurricanes, playing NHL ice hockey in Helsinki Finland is a special experience.
Other worthy news
Direct, though restrained, comments from NHL Deputy Commissioner Bil Daly today in Helsinki, regarding the future of the NHL's European Premiere plans. Good news for Helsinki - sounds like they'll be seeing NHL teams next October. However, after watching what unfolded with SKA St Petersburg Monday, he seems to say they're going to look long and hard before trying that little experiment again. Daly addresses future KHL exhibitions, Premiere
"We certainly don't want to create an environment where there is a higher risk of injury for our players. If we make a determination that there is a higher risk of injury for our players in the game we probably won't play them again."
Here are Paul Maurice's well-chosen words following the game in Russia Monday, when he was asked to define how good Skinner was and what his potential would be, clipped by The Hockey News for their "Say What?" memorable quote list this week:
"I'd buy tickets to see him play, and he's just 18." - Carolina Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice on rookie center Jeff Skinner.
Couldn't overlook another review of Skinner in 15 words or less from the Minnesota Wilds' beat reporter, the Star-Tribune's Michael Russo, who tweeted about halfway through the game today:
Seen all I need to see from Jeff Skinner. He'll be a star.
Facts and figures
You may know the Blackhawks fan and hockey blogger known as Hockey Broad, who was tweeting so much from the Hartford Whalers reunion and rally weeks ago (Ron Francis is her favorite). Today she was first to breakdown the opening day rosters for all 30 teams and sort through oldest, youngest, biggest, etc. What do you want to know? Well, check out the Hurricanes as second youngest team in the league (remember we were by far the oldest a year ago). Also, rookie Jeff Skinner (born May 16, 1992) is nearly the youngest in the league overall (only the Isles' Nino Niederreiter is younger). Carolina shows up at about average in height, but they are apparently the lightweights of the league, averaging barely 198 pounds. I say we blame Sutter. The whole series of lists is laid out clearly here.
Because it was just so unexpected to spot the Hurricanes names here, considering the source, you'll want to confirm you saw this for yourself. Three Clubs That Could Surprise This Season - Versus
Charlotte Checkers updates
The AHL's Eastern Division is the dominant group again this year, according to The Hockey News: Around The AHL: Pre-season rankings The second best league in the world gets set for puck drop Friday night and we prepare you with a ranking of the teams from 1-30.
Meet the Checkers: Jon Matsumoto | Checkers Chatter Yesterday it was Brad Herauf, and today Matsumoto is in the spotlight as the Checkers introduce Charlotte to their new team. (home opener a week from today!)
The Closer
Finally, for me, seeing the familiar from a very different vantage point is part of the reason this past week observing the Canes travel through Europe has been so fascinating. Another example here. YouTube - Carolina Hurricanes practise [sic] from a Finnish hockey lover who attended the Hurricanes practice Tuesday in Helsinki, Finland.
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I couldn't sleep right a way
so i thought I’d stop in…and was blown away by the effort HM2…thank you…Yawnnn now it’s time for bed…
Everytime you write off the Hurricanes,
They make You Look Bad!!
Some Observations from Hartwall Areena (as spelled in Finland)
It was an amazing experience to watch the Hurricanes in Hartwall Areena. The 350 or so Caniacs who traveled over 7,000 miles to watch the game were trying to be as energized and loud as the RBC. I don’t know if the tv broadcast caught it, but after one score LaRose skated by the section where we were to lift his hockey stick acknowledging us. Sutter was even better in person at the rink than probably showed on tv. He is even more explosive this year and confident on his skates.
With Skinner every time he touches the puck, the energy level in the Areena noticeably ratcheted up. Skinner is always ahead of the puck and is proceeding information at an astonishingly fast rate. Also, inherent in his personality is a formidable will to get the puck. At some point during this season, I think Skinner will be put with Staal if only to help Staal develop that sense of acceleration to the puck. Staal was working very, very and didn’t let up on plays.
I noticed Dalpe quite a bit. Dalpe said in his interview he doesn’t get nervous; and he seemed as poised on the ice as any ten year veterans. I also don’t know if it showed on tv, but Dalpe is a fantastic skater. I am not going to say for certain Dalpe will work his way this year to the first line; but I will say, if I were in charge, when games got to the point I would try him with Staal and Cole or Staal and Ruutu, I would do so. I am hoping this year we see Dalpe, Skinner, Sutter on a line together.
McBain is also quite poised. I like the fact that McBain doesn’t try to make up for mistakes by pressing the next time he gets the puck. He made his share of mistakes, but he didn’t withdraw into his shell afterwards. Babchuk is a much, much better skater now than when he left. He, too, had some face palm moments, but he is going to be very good for the Hurricanes. I thought Harrison had a strong game; and overcame what seemed to me at least to be a couple of shaky shifts early on in the game.
O’Sullivan made some key plays that didn’t result in goals; and Dwyer probably saved the game with a defensive play that was mature beyond his years. Cole is skating as hard and as consistently as I have seen him skate in years. Maybe he was pressing just a bit and had some scoring opportunities that he didn’t convert.
Jokinen and Ruutu were fantastic. Pitkanen was the best player on the ice, I thought. Not that he plays cautiously or error free; but he is such a strong, brilliant skater, nobody can catch him and most don’t try.
weird, I thought Pitkanen played terribly, noticed more than once him being way out of position in the D-zone, almost following the puck wherever it went rather than position himself and/or take a man. Also, Jaffe mentioned it a couple times, his outlet passes were telegraphed and delayed giving the player on the receiving end no space to catch the pass and create anything. His passes in the O-zone on the PP werent any better. He seems to have games like this every once in awhile.
I agree, I thought Pits was below average in both ends of the ice.
It appears JR has gone out and added a POS for Staal's LW!
by PackPride17 on Oct 8, 2010 9:42 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Some non-game observations.
The lighting at Hartwall is not as bright as the RBC Center but it seems to have a crispness to it; don’t know if it’s the blue tones versus red but the players really look vibrant on the ice, if that makes sense.
Got to see the goal light a lot, it’s green versus our red.
Don’t know if you could hear it on the broadcast but the “Jussi” and “Red” during our anthem came across very loudly in the areena. Finns sing along with their anthem as well, proudly and lustily. After the anthem is over, they seem to have a tradition of shouting “Let’s Play Hockey” to kick off the game.
Our goal horn >>>>> Hartwall’s buzzer.
Last night the Wild was designated as the home team and wore their home colors, but the areena played our music and lots of Canesvision videos and Brian Hoyle was the announcer. Tonight the Wild’s announcer will do the in-areena broadcast and presumably we’ll hear more of the Wild’s game audio and video.
They did a lot of Canesvision-type player features. I remember two sequences where they had players trying to say phrases in Finnish: “Where’s the bathroom” and “This is a beautiful country”. The looks on the Finnish players’ faces were priceless. They also had several interviews just with the Finnish players. I hope Canesvision can rebroadcast some of them on the ch.com website. Even in Finnish they’re fun to watch.
Finnish law requires that all alcohol be consumed in bars, so you can’t take beer to your seats. Because of that the concourse is very crowded with folks trying to down their drinks before they get back to their seats. Concessions lines were very slow.
I crashed last night before I could get through the first period photo-wise. I’ll try to get a few photos up after tonight’s game as well, but it’s going to be well into next week before I will have anything of substance. But Hartwall gave the AAA group a lot of latitude for bringing in our cameras.
Phoblographer and Finn Aficionado
SISU
They did not show any of the anthems on VS (literally first thing was the face off). The “Let’s Play Hockey” is something The Wild do before each game starts (like our Siren Sounder I believe), so I presume that’s related to them…but who knows, maybe Finns do it to?
In this case, the video lead-in to the “Let’s Play Hockey” chant was in Finnish, and everyone in the areena chanted it, which is what led me to presume it is a Hartwall tradition and not something special to this event.
Phoblographer and Finn Aficionado
SISU
by Jamie Kellner on Oct 8, 2010 9:25 AM EDT up reply actions
I heard a lot of the Canevision stuff come through the TV audio. It looked like a lot of the Finns enjoyed the KissCam. Maybe its just me, however, it seems like the our Finns and team a getting a lot more press than the Wild.
by hotchipsnsalsa on Oct 8, 2010 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions
Great Writeup!
Between watching the game on Versus (get rid of the Color Guy and let Mr. Sideburns do the job himself!) and reading these articles, I feel as though I were there in Finland.
A new twist on keeping Skinner – check out the Oilers blog – it sounds like teenagers can now be sent to the AHL, if I read it correctly.
Howdy folks,
Long time, no see but that was my own doing.
I have a question to ask, I’m at work today and I’d like to see the VS. broadcast or whatever is carrying the Canes today.
Where can I go on the web?
Thanks
All "Real Men" have one name in common: "Daddy"
Howdy lgc
There were those who found a link at gametime yesterday (there were a couple I think). You can either scout through the gamethread from yesterday or wait till the one goes up at 11:30 today and someone will likely be able to get that for you.
Twitter @HMof2
by Carolyn Christians on Oct 8, 2010 9:00 AM EDT up reply actions
I found mine atdhe.net.
"What Carolina really has going for them is Brandon Sutter. When that kid first showed up, he looked like a skinny little thing that wouldn’t last two weeks. But he’s turned into a real star."
Err… I found mine AT atdhe.net
"What Carolina really has going for them is Brandon Sutter. When that kid first showed up, he looked like a skinny little thing that wouldn’t last two weeks. But he’s turned into a real star."
Games at work
So I can watch almost 1/2 a period at home at lunch but listening to Chuck and Tripp on the 99.9 the fan feed was just as good at work.
I think Tripp is actually pretty good on the radio.
The best thing about yesterday is it seemed we got a win with Staal and Ruutu pretty much invisible. Get them going today and I think we are looking at very successful trip to Finland.
I really like what I saw out Dalpe and Bowman yesterday! Bowman was everywhere and making things happen and Dalpe plain out does not look like a guy who has never played an NHL game before. I think I may be having Dalpe jersey somewhere down the road!
Yeah, well, you know, that's just like, uh, your opinion, man.
Yea, I like Bowman’s presnece and I agree about Dalpe. I think after a few games he is going to be force to be reckoned with consistantly.
by hotchipsnsalsa on Oct 8, 2010 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions
I don’t think either was invisible, just not on the score card. Sometimes your second line can get hot, because your first line drawing the defensive pressure. Once your second line establishes itself as being a factor, your opponent will either stick to it’s game plan and continue show your second line it soft little belly on D, or they will start to compensate for the O coming out of the second line and giving the first line a little more space. This will more often than not lead to your first line catching fire. Yesterday, Minny stayed the course.
This is the reason Depth on both O and D are so important in hockey. You wanna have guys who can take advantage of that second pairing, and you in turn want to have a second pairing who can handle teams with offensive depth.
True
I agree they weren’t ‘invisible’ – that was probably a bad choice of words for them. Just good to see that even when they aren’t putting up the numbers we are getting secondary scoring and not just one-line team.
Yeah, well, you know, that's just like, uh, your opinion, man.
I thought Pitkinen wasn’t bad but his stretch passes were forced.
Dalpe will be a major player on this team. He looks good now but I think once he’s had a month or so he’ll really hit his stride. He really could be played confidently in any situation.
I can’t see Skinner ever playing in the OHL again, unless he really tails off. The young man- heck I’ll take the young out because he is playing like a man- is hell bent to make something happen every time he is on the ice. Offensive instincts galore. Like Dalpe, given a month or so to acclimate to the NHL game he’ll be a solid contributor.
Cole was working very hard, maybe squeezing the stick a little too tight.
Face-offs. Good to see they won a few in the end when it was crucial, but overall that aspect has got to get better. I had suggested trying Dalpe at 3rd line center and moving Jussi up with Staal so he can take face-offs. Dwyer can take over the 4th line center position.
Good win and a great start to the season.
Our faceoffs are bad, but do take into consideration that Minnesota has 3 very good faceoff centers and 1 guy that isn’t horrible. Koivu was 8th in the NHL last season @ 56.9%, Madden was 20th @ 53%, Cullen was 37th @ 51%, and Brodziak was 62nd @ 48.4%. The Canes 3 centers with stats from last season are Jussi @ 51.3%, Sutter @ 49%, and Staal @ 41%. We are not good, but we were going up against what should be one of the better faceoff teams in the NHL.
Please Mo, take those POS's off Staal's line and put the more skilled POS with Staal!
That’s my take on this data point, too. Cullen was always hovering right around Brind’Amour’s pace for faceoff wins, hitting 80 percent some games. Madden’s a machine and a tough one-on-one competitor in the faceoff circle. Koivu’s 8th in the league ranking speaks for itself.
I’m not expecting any overnight miracles on this front and against this team. Just need to hustle after the draw and “compete for the puck”.
Here we are now...entertain us.
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