Late last week, the Hurricanes held a special function for "VIP's" and during the festivities, John Forslund interviewed Hurricanes Associate Head Coach, Kevin McCarthy. Fortunately, Kate Shefte of the Independent Weekly was there to take notes and write an article about the affair.
McCarthy started off talking about the upcoming rule changes-
When asked about rule changes, McCarthy said that coaches had received a memo saying that they will be looking at blows to the head—checks from behind, elbows, fists, everything that could injure a player from the neck up—even more closely this year...(more)
(I'll believe that when I see it)
Also, some tidbits about Jeff O'Neill were given-
You heard it here, folks: Jeff O’Neill is training as a center instead of his natural left wing. If the whole Brandon Sutter thing doesn’t work out (Carolina expects him to fill its fourth-line center hole, but he can still play with Red Deer, his junior team, for one more season if he doesn’t perform well in training camp) O’Neill could potentially assume his role. There has been much speculation about whether the ’Canes have room for their all-time leading scorer to join the team again, and now we know where he fits in: as a back-up forth line center.
(Things will probably change now with the Williams injury)
And finally, insight about the nickname "Cato"-
McCarthy explained his nickname of 30 years, "Cato," with a funny anecdote. McCarthy was an NHL defensemen for 10 years with the Flyers, Penguins and Canucks. During a road trip, he decided to hide in a closet and scare his roommate, current Flyers GM Paul "Homer" Holmgren, and his teammates named him after the character Cato in the Pink Panther movies.
(I wonder if McCarthy still plays those games, maybe he hides on Laviolette? Figure the odds on that...*L*)
To read the article in it's entirety, check out this link. Kudos to Kate for doing a fine job at the Independent Weekly Sports Blog.
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In other news, John Forslund has been very active on his blog over at WRAL. He has another entry today calling for patience. That's probably not bad advice. (Good thing I'm not a betting man)
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Finally, for all of you Whalers fans out there, (and I know you are out there), Puck Daddy ran a very nice feature yesterday about Whalers nostalgia that is worth a look-see.
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Other than that, it seems to be a quiet news day. Hopefully, the Hurricanes took the day off so that no one else gets injured before training camp begins. (which is tomorrow!!)