Tom Barrasso and Ron Francis Helping Out in Albany

The Carolina Hurricanes returned their young guns to Albany this past weekend, right after the season ending loss in Boston.   Jamie McBain, Zach Boychuk,  Drayson Bowman, Bryan Rodney, Jerome Samson, and Jay Harrison all rejoined their former teammates so they could participate in the AHL playoffs.  (Although Harrison was a day or two behind so that he could clear waivers). 

Today, the young guns were joined by a couple of the franchise's top guns as coaches Ron Francis and Tom Barrasso met up with their proteges up north. 

Pete Dougherty from the timesunion.com reported that the ice was a bit crowded at practice, but Albany Head Coach Jeff Daniels welcomed the help.   "You can never have enough eyes up there watching," Daniels said.

This will be the first time that Barrasso will be working with newcomer Justin Pogge, who was obtained from Anaheim in the Aaron Ward trade deadline deal.    

Speaking of playoffs, the Rats won their first game on Wednesday night against the Wilkes-Barre Penguins by a score of 4-3.

Jamie McBain and Jacob Micflikier each had a goal while Nick Dodge scored twice and had the game winner.  Chris Terry had two assists.  The game sheet can be found here.

The two teams meet again in Albany on Friday night starting at 7 p.m.  We will be following the action.

_______

In other news, TSN reported today that Ray Whitney will represent Team Canada in the World Championships in Germany next month.  This announcement might seem a bit surprising considering the veteran turned down a chance to join Los Angeles for action in the NHL playoffs earlier this year.

According to Hockey Reference.com, Whitney has not participated with Team Canada in the WC's since 2001-02 when he had 1 goal and 3 assists in 7 games.

The forward will be looking to earn a new contract with Carolina or some other NHL team this offseason.