The Hurricane dads are back in town and so is the mojo! Last year Peter Laviolette started a new tradition fathers and sons everywhere can appreciate. Fathers of Hurricane players are invited to join the team for a few days and spend time with their sons to witness first hand the demanding NHL environment. This will be the second year of the tradition and now some other NHL teams have started doing it as well. Many of the fathers were here for the game Wednesday night as the Canes won over the Rangers 2-1. The event officially began Thursday though as the dads joined the boys on a charter flight to Washington DC for the game tonight against the Caps. Last year "Dad's Weekend" was back when the Canes beat the Flyers in the wild 8-6 Friday night game, and when they flew to Pittsburgh and beat the Pens on the following Saturday night. If I was on the Caps I would be concerned as the boys have yet to lose in front of the dads during these events. For more information about this check out Mike Sunheim's blog, Dads on a Plane and Luke DeCock's story in the News and Observer, Canes' Dads Reunite. Among the dads who were able to attend according to Luke and Mike are returnees: Jerry Hedican, Floyd Whitney, Wayne Daniels, Ken Ward, Henry Staal, Wayne Commodore, Dennis Cole, and Ken Adams. New attendees include: Bob Brind'Amour, Ron Grahame, Dave Ladd, Grant LaRose, George Letowski, and Robert Walker. I guess a few brothers also joined in. Watch the game on Fox Sports South tonight because I'm sure that Tripp will be interviewing some of the dads and it should be a hoot. It was last year!
Speaking of the game Wednesday night, the Canes did what they needed to do and pulled out the win over the ex-Canes....I mean Rangers, 2-1. Rod Brind'Amour scored the game winner with 6 minutes left in the 3rd. Craig Adams opened the scoring for the Canes but Jagr tied the score with his 599th career goal. The game wasn't very exciting in my opinion but getting the 2 points was the most important thing and they got the job done.
Yesterday, the NHL opened it's All-Star game balloting and the Canes have 4 nominees, Rod Brind'Amour, Erik Cole, Eric Staal, and Cam Ward! Of course you can always write in a vote. Ray Whitney and Justin Williams both deserve consideration. To vote you can go directly to this link All Star Voting and scroll down to the US link. Also, a creative Caniac has started a blog especially about All-Star voting. Check that out here, All Star Blog. There are also options for voting on your cell phone. I'm going to add both of these links on my blogroll until after the All Star game so you can find them later if you need to. You can vote one time daily, so vote early and often!
After the dads and sons have a fun day of bonding in DC, the boys will have the task of playing the Caps at 7 tonight. Washington has been in a bit of a funk in recent games. Hopefully they won't snap out of it tonight! After the game everyone flies back to Raleigh and prepares for the Stars tomorrow night. It's going to be a busy, busy weekend and will be tough for the fathers to fit in some golf, but I'm sure they'll manage! Let's keep the undefeated streak going on "Dad's Weekend!" Go Canes!
Keith Urban