Clicks and Clippings: A worthwhile trip

“sneak Tim Gleasonin between your legs” from the finnish pics link! Guess he’s Finnish after all….

That’s hilarious on so many levels.

Canes and Caniacs Rocking in Helsinki

It speaks volumes that approximately 350 Hurricanes fans gathered in Helsinki to cheer the Hurricanes. By contrast, Minnesota which claims to be the State of Hockey had somewhere in the neighborhood of 125 fans attending the game. What was clear from being at Hartwall Areena was that the Caniacs were vastly more numerous and considerably more energized that the Wild contingent. I haven’t had a chance to see if www.NHL.com has the games available in Archives, but I assume they do. I am hoping that the video captures the intensity of the Caniacs’ enthusiasm.

Hartwall Areena is an excellent site for hockey. Our seats were in the first section. There were fans for the Wild on either side of us. I felt the Wild fans were fun people who were a pleasure to be around. All of the Wild fans I encountered where quite down to earth. I imagine both the Wild hockey fans and the Caniacs shared enough of a passion for hockey that we would fly a minimum of 7,000 miles to cheer on our teams.

From what I had been told by Juha Hitela, Finnish hockey fans tend to be somewhat less vocal than the Caniacs. When we arrived at Harwall on Thursday for Game 1, I had no idea what to expect from the Finnish hockey fans. As we entered the arena, making a substantial amount of noise, with a loud and proud contingent of Red and Black, I am fairly certain the Finns didn’t exactly know what to make of us or how to take us. On the jumbotron, Ruutu was giving an explanation of the Caniacs and explained how the Caniacs would wooo wooo after a goal.

The excitement and nervous energy was building as we waited for the Hurricanes to take to the ice. Once the fog hog sounded and the Canes came out, the sound and energy in the Arena went ballistic. Both teams had times where they were clearly nervous; and passes were bouncing off sticks or missing their mark on both sides.
Sutter then stepped up and in all phases of his game, he took over the game. It may not have shown on tv, but watching in person, Sutter simply imposed his will to win over the Wild team. I thought Harrison had a couple of shaky shifts at the start of the game, and I was wondering if a new, younger Aaron Ward was going to emerge to haunt the Canes. To every Caniac’s relief and delight, Harrison settled down and played a strong game. My view is that Harrison needs to follow the Dean Smith philosophy of know your own limitations as a player and stay within those boundaries.

Skinner has been much written about and he is an outstanding young player. He has a special gift that few players possess of being able to see the play before it develops, so he is always ahead of the play. He also has the ability to get to spots on the ice before anybody else. I think Skinner is still trying to sort out what to make of the Caniacs; and their rabid support of the Canes players.

The Finnish fans were very supportive of Ruutu, Jokinen, and Pitkanen; but they seemed to be slightly favoring Mikku Koivu as their favorite among favorite players. Jokinen, Ruutu, and Pitkanen, however, were the impact players among the Finnish players. Jokinen in his quiet way, had an outstanding game. Ruutu seems to be under fairly strict orders to play with a physical edge, but to use at least a small degree of discretion so as to keep himself healthy to the degree feasible. He is a great skater and was a force out on the ice.

I was told and agreed by a couple of non-Hurricane hockey commentators at the game that they felt Pitkanen was the best player on the ice for Game 1. When Pitkanen takes the puck, and goes to full steam, nobody, even Cole or Staal, can catch up to him. Tim Gleason and Corvo played very solid games. At times Corvo tried passes that didn’t make it through, but he didn’t retreat into a shell afterwards; and I thought he played with confidence throughout the game.

Cole is really skating well; and I am very happy he is using creativity on offense. Specifically, I am not seeing him get trapped in the corner and he is taking the puck to the middle of the ice after making move. Staal was skating hard as well; even if he has not yet gotten his first goal. LaRose continues to develop as a leader on and off the ice. You could hear him barking out instructions to the some of the younger players, such as "back, back, back". I suspect that as the season progresses, LaRose will drop back to a third or even fourth line slot; but with heavy responsibilities on the penalty kill. LaRose keeps up with Staal and Cole, and the speed of that line is impressive. Neither Cole nor LaRose would win puck handling skills competitions at the ASG, but they both get to the net with a purpose.

Dalpe is going to be a special player for the Hurricanes, I think. He looks as if he has grown another inch and a half in height since training camp started. Dalpe has an inner calm; and continues to gain confidence. I like him as the third line center; but I would really like to see both Skinner and Dalpe get some shifts with Sutter and under the right circumstances with Staal. Dalpe played a very solid two games, I thought. He is a threat to score every time he gets his hands on the puck.
    O’Sullivan showed show excellent poise, puck handling, and passing. He is still in an adjustment process of learning how to play Hurricanes hockey. He had flashes where he was all over the ice gathering pucks and disrupting the Wild’s flow of the game. At other times, he was less noticeable on the ice. Kostopoulos is his usual warrior self. He plays within his game with remarkable consistency. Particularly, in the second game against the Wild, he played a strong game.

Babchuk is a much, much improved skater; and in game two he took the puck through traffic quite well. I prefer to see Babchuk paired with someone other than Harrison due to Harrison’s lack of pure foot speed; but Babchuk can make a huge difference for the Hurricanes. McBain continued to play with confidence and poise, even if at times he tried some passes that didn’t connect. I think that some of the players are having to adjust their own positional play to take into account the fact that McBain can put pucks on their sticks from seemingly impossible angles – so they have to assume if they are open, the pass is coming.
In Game 2, Cam Ward stole the game for the Hurricanes. That game answers the question, does an NHL team need an elite goalie or not? When Ward gets into that zone he can steal 3 to 5 games a season. In my view, when Ward is on his A game, the Hurricanes are a playoff team. I do give the defense credit in Game 2. They played soundly in terms of sealing the crease; but allowing 41 shots is the opposite of ideal. Skinner’s shootout goal was one of the most thrilling moments I’ve seen in Hurricanes hockey. How many 18 year olds have the talent, poise, and focus to travel overseas for their first NHL games, get the call to shoot first in the shootout, and then bury the shot with a sick, sick move?

After game 2, the Hurricanes team skated out and as a group gave a hockey stick salute to the Caniacs at Hartwall. Moments like that seal the dedication of the Caniacs to the team, and to the organization. There was a lunch with the Hurricanes team on Wednesday, October 6th, and among the speakers was Peter Karmanos. Karmanos’ tone was one of genuine appreciation for the fans, and specifically the Caniacs who came to Helsinki. I sat at the table with Tom Rowe and he too spoke of the fact that players across the NHL would love to play for the Hurricanes due to the way they are treated by the fans, the coaches, their teammates, and the organization. Rowe is not only an encyclopedia of hockey, he still carries with him a youth enthusiasm about hockey in general and the Hurricanes team in particular.
I also really enjoyed getting to know better some of the Caniacs who were at games. After the games, we had Finnish spectators shouting in support of the Canes: "Let’s Go Canes." We also had some young teenage Finnish fans waiting at our bus to give us high 5s after game 2. I really hope the Hurricanes will have another travel set of games to start next season. I think they and the Caniacs present great faces for what is best about NHL hockey and the NHL’s players and fans.

Game 1 and Game 2 will not go down in the hockey books as the finest, more artful games ever played in the NHL; but the team got the job down. The experience in Helsinki was remarkable for all the Caniacs fortunate enough to attend the games.

Just sitting down to watch and read the game recaps, OMG that Skinner interview is hilarious!

I don’t think these are a repeat. More spectacular photos here.

The Canes were back on the ice today. Practice was closed to the public and it wasn’t a full normal practice, mainly more the guys just getting their legs back under them and getting back to the ice conditions here versus Helsinki. Ch.com posted an audio link to Maurice’s post-practice comments here.

Decisions forthcoming regarding Sergei Samsonov and his status to make the trip.

Chip’s pretty bullish on Sk8erboi sticking with the team after chatting with JR today. Here’s his report on Canes Now.

Chip also tweeted that it’s likely Jiri Tlusty will be sent to Charlotte for a conditioning stint, especially likely if Sergei is ready to get back into the lineup.

No practice scheduled for tomorrow, normal practices resumes Tuesday and Wednesday at 11 am at the RBC Center.

Great collection here HM. Being without computer access for the past few days stressed me out, but I shouldn’t have worried-you’ve got it covered!

I really loved Sutter (who is 21 by the way) calling Skinner a kid. Yeah Brandon because you’re such a geezer. I don’t think I could be happier for Skinner-that was a pretty big stage to make a debut on and he did it beautifully.

Hey all – If anyone tuned into the podcast expecting to hear pearls of humor and wisdom from PuckDaddy – turns out Greg’s wife had a charity event that required his presence this evening so he had to postpone till next week. Sorry to disappoint. Personally I was quite relieved.

Argh I hate that we have to wait until Thursday for the next game!