We Have Some Personal News: Canes Country Staff Arrivals and Departures

It’s kind of become a trope of sportswriting in 2018 that when you go onto Twitter and announce that you have some Personal News, that’s going to be followed by a link to a “Why I’m joining The Athletic” story and, lo and behold, a 40% discount code that’s good for TODAY ONLY!

Well, we have Personal News to share: no, we aren’t joining The Athletic, but we are indeed offering 40% off because, well, we already cost nothing and you can discount nothing as much as you’d like and it doesn’t change a darned thing.

Heading into the draft and what should be a very active offseason, we’re reshuffling things a bit on ye olde CC masthead, with two new additions, a re-addition, and a couple of stepping backs to let you know about.

I want to start with the stepbacks, because they are difficult for me to write about and given what they’ve meant to the site they deserve to get top billing. Two of our senior writers, Kyle Morton and Peter Dewar, are stepping back from regular contributions to the site.

Kyle last month accepted a job with (the award-winning!) HighSchoolOT at WRAL, and in just his first month on the job I think he’s covered at least five NCHSAA state championship games in no fewer than three different sports. I can tell you firsthand, from my experience calling high school football and basketball, that the HSOT crew is second to none in the volume and frequency of coverage they give high school sports, and Kyle is going to have his plate mighty full during the school year. He’s going to do a fantastic job, and our loss is absolutely WRAL’s gain, so if you want to keep up with his new role follow him at @KyleMortonHSOT.

Peter, meanwhile, spent last season as the communications intern for the AHL Rockford IceHogs, and when their season ended in the conference final so did his internship. He’s looking around right now for his next career stop, and there’s no telling where he could end up - but, to say the least, he’ll do a great job wherever it is. Whenever he gets a new home for next season, we’ll be sure to let you know.

Peter and Kyle will certainly never be personae non gratae (see, I do remember high school Latin after all) around here. The door is always open for them to contribute whenever their schedule allows, so while they won’t be regulars on our site anymore, they will still make appearances from time to time. I know that the staff joins me in congratulating them on taking the next steps in their careers, and they have our profound thanks for everything they’ve done at CC the past few seasons.

Which brings us to the new faces that you’ll be seeing around here in the near future.

First up, with the strong Finnish flavor of the Hurricanes, the team has a strong following in Finland, including a good bit of coverage of the likes of Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen in the Finnish media. The problem is that the Finnish media tends to write (shock!) in Finnish, which is one of the, um, more tricky languages to translate.

Fortunately, we are adding someone who can bridge that gap. You may know Katariina Rasku as @KatariinaKaTrii on Twitter, where she regularly translates articles of interest to Canes fans. I’m thrilled that she will be joining us here to do the exact same thing. This is a unique position for us to be in; as far as I know only one other SBN site, Raw Charge, has a translator (Russian, in their case) on retainer. We’re breaking new ground here, and Katariina is going to be at the forefront of it. I’m very excited that she’s agreed to join us and share her expertise with a larger community of Hurricanes fans.

Second, sort of but not really filling the hole left behind by Peter and Kyle will be Andrew Schnittker, who joins us as a senior writer. Andrew is entering his second year as sports editor of Technician, N.C. State’s student newspaper, and has been my PNC press row neighbor for two years running. (That fact, somewhat amazingly, didn’t deter him from wanting to join our staff.) Andrew will be helping us out on game coverage and analysis, as well as contributing semi-regular feature stories. You can follow Andrew on Twitter at @aschnitt53, where you will see plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth about the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs, along with occasional hockey commentary. Andrew is a very gifted writer who will make a great addition to our stable, and I’m glad he’s able to come on board. He will continue in his role at Technician during his senior year at N.C. State.

And finally, a reintroduction is in order. Earlier this year, Jake Crouse took a position reporting for the (Twin Falls, Idaho) Times-News, where he got to cover all things sports in southern Idaho. Shockingly, for a native of South Carolina, he was interested in eventually making his way back to Eastern time, which he did by accepting a job as a multimedia producer for MLB.com in New York. Being back on the east coast makes covering a hockey team in North Carolina much more feasible, so while he never really left, he’s re-joining our staff for the upcoming season - this time, from 500 miles away rather than 2,500. He’s on Twitter at @jake_crouse94, so if you don’t follow him already, now’s your chance.

I know you all will join me in offering Peter and Kyle our very best in their new chapters, and welcoming Katariina, Andrew and Jake (again) to the staff. And I’d also like to thank you, our readers, for your consistent visits. Canes Country, despite covering a team that’s been out of the playoffs for nine years running, has a regular spot in the top half of SBN hockey sites’ traffic statistics, and we’ve been knocking on the door of the top ten for most of the past month-plus. That’s a remarkable tribute to each of you, and we can’t thank you enough for your continued support.

Enjoy your summer!