Showing posts tagged “Eric Staal”
Kate Shefte ·
25 Feb 2010, 2:29 AM ·
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Three out of four of the teams containing ‘Canes players are headed to the 2010 Olympic semifinals. Woah.
In case you’re severely behind or can’t stay up late enough to catch all the action from Vancounver, Carolina’s representatives have thrived on the international stage so far. Unless something very strange happens (more than likely involving time travel,) at least one ‘Cane is assured of a medal. Tim Gleason is the only one without a goal but has been as advertised, doing exactly what Team USA called on him to do. He’s been physical, solid and consistent, but rarely flashy. Ruutu seems to have fully recovered from his injury and, I would argue from a totally biased perspective, has been one of Finland’s best players on the ice so far. And yeah, he’s good, but who would have thought Eric Staal would be on Canada’s top line? Staal got his foot into the revolving door of Sidney Crosby’s linemates and might stick there. He has a goal and five assists, tallying one most recently tonight in a 7-3 rout of AO and the Russians. As everyone undoubtedly saw (hurrah for ratings!) Staal had the first goal in one of the most widely-watched and anticipated hockey games of the decade: USA vs. Canada in the prelims. He then lost his cool, decided to get scrappy and earned an almost devastating penalty toward the end of the second period after attempting a flying bear hug. But Canada survived. Staal went crashing into the boards awkwardly tonight and Raleigh held its breath, but he looked to be fine.
Even though it’s several days too late, can we talk about “that” game? Staal’s Canada and Gleason’s USA have surprised for several reasons. Canada was a dream squad, a team only 14-year-olds with a game console and no salary cap could dream up. America, while stacked, seemed more like a list of players who just happened to be American. A lot of the guys on that roster aren’t household names. And yet somehow, the scrappy underdogs beat the high-scoring juggernauts at home and looked good doing it (was that not the most beautiful empty-netter you’ve ever seen?) Could they do it again? I’m not sure. But that game was definitely one to remember.
And then…of course…Pitkanen. Joni Pitkanen isn’t exactly known to be disciplined – he takes needless penalties quite a lot, but Carolina doesn’t seem to hold it against him. But the other night, Pitkanen got mad! He elbowed Sweden’s Patric Hornqvist in the head and incurred an automatic one-game suspension, which is already taken care of. His team did fine without him in dispensing the Czech Republic tonight.
The only thing that’s gone truly wrong with these games so far from a local perspective? Finland hasn’t yet been forced to realize how much better it would be with a certain clutch-scoring, Brodeur-angering shootout specialist on its roster. There’s still time.
Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey Eric Staal, Joni Pitkanen, Olympics, Tim Gleason, Tuomo Ruut, Vancouver 2010
Kate Shefte ·
28 Jan 2010, 10:22 PM ·
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Ward has had to scoop far fewer pucks out of the back of his net lately. File photo by Peggy Boone, IndyWeekBlogs
RBC CENTER/RALEIGH - There’s something fishy going on at the ol’ RBC right now…like, alternate dimension fishy. Carolina won its third in a row and fourth of five, the latter two of which were on back-to-back nights with commute. In addition, Eric Staal and Ray Whitney stretched their points streaks to seven games apiece and Staal reached a nice personal and franchise milestone with his assist on the empty-netter. The ‘Canes have tapped into some long-dormant potential and can’t seem to stop scoring, early and often.
Now, I’m someone who doesn’t mind admitting I’m wrong. It’s a good skill, I think, especially when it’s been known to happen. Chad LaRose is nowhere near the worst thing to happen to hockey since the “glowing puck” fiasco of the mid-90’s. Getting those free agents from Boston didn’t turn out to be quite the boon I thought it would be. And Staal seems quite taken with this whole captaincy thing, even though it initially appeared to be a no-win situation. The ‘Canes don’t seem to mind having him at the helm either. Staal scored the game’s first goal off his own rebound, his eighth in five games since donning the ‘C.’
And he’s not the only one. From the bottom up, Carolina looks better. All of the sudden, when any hope of recovery has all but gone the way of the dodo and players are just about to start being pawned off for draft picks, someone flipped the “on” switch on the back of the ‘Canes’ helmets. Three straight explosive starts, 21 goals in five games, some pretty decent numbers for Ward…maybe Taylor Hall shouldn’t be picking out red-and-black wallpaper just yet.
Ward says he sees the guys in front of him “making plays and not second guessing themselves.”
Let’s say it all together, folks: “Where has this team been all season?!” It’s not a matter of players coming back or a trade shaking things up. The exact same squad that stunk to high hell a few weeks ago is now looking like its posturing for home ice advantage. Could Staal really have had that much of a difference? Naaaah. (Right?)
Ward certainly thinks so. “He’s picked everyone else up. He’s the leader of this team and he’s playing at the top of his game right now,” he said.
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Uncategorized Cam Ward, captain, Eastern Conference, Eric Staal, hot streak, Jim Rutherford, Jussi Jokinen, Matt Moulson, New York Islanders, Rick DiPietro, standings, streak, trade
Kate Shefte ·
20 Jan 2010, 5:41 PM ·
2 Comments
Don't look so surprised, Eric. Okay...look a little surprised. Photo courtesy of Gregg Forwerck, Carolina Hurricanes
By now, most ‘Canes fans have heard about the mid-season changing of the guard in Carolina. Eric Staal is now the 13th captain in franchise history and fifth since it relocated to Raleigh, replacing Rod Brind’Amour. Brind’Amour, in the twilight of his career, will stay on as an assistant captain and advise.
Maurice had plenty of flattery for the 25-year-old center, whom he first coached as a teenager.
“He’s been bred to be a captain of a hockey team and knows exactly what to do with it. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s ready for this,” Maurice said. “However, you cannot fully know what it is like to be the captain of a team in the National Hockey League until you experience it.”
Apparently, the move had been in the works for months and Brind’Amour was given the final say. (What was he going to do? Throw a temper tantrum? Be the bad guy?) and today, everyone gave up the ghost. No more talk of pulling themselves out of it or making a good run down the stretch to get back into playoff contention. Brind’Amour talked about needing to move in the right direction. Maurice talked about moving in the right direction. Rutherford threw phrases around like “put on a show for the fans” and “honor the integrity of the game” in the remainder of the 2009-2010 season. The giant elephant in the room – that the ‘Canes tanked it early and are not coming back on some miracle run – was chased out with today’s captain switch.
Now, the youth movement that was rooted in Carolina years ago has finally grown branches. When Rutherford plunked down over a quarter million dollars in front of his star center last year, he was buying himself a new captain. The team has a young leader who can communicate with the youngsters, as Rutherford put it, because apparently they speak in completely different tongues. There is about to be a complete overhaul.
It’s a little weird that they didn’t let the captain of five seasons finish out his tenure. What could it honestly hurt? But Brind’Amour brushed it off, calling it the “natural” progression and reminding everyone that this wasn’t out of the blue and it wouldn’t be as big of a deal as people may thing because Staal has been groomed for this responsibility for some time.
“It made sense to go do it now so we don’t have to deal with it next year,” Brind’Amour said.
He reiterated over and over again as though trying to convince his audience that he was really, truly giddy that the young star was finally usurping the grizzled veteran while the latter was still around. Maybe he is actually happy. If not, he did a good job of putting on a show. He also addressed his underwhelming past season and a half with Carolina.
“You’ve got to be out there doing your thing, and hopefully your teammates are going to see that and be motivated by that,” Brind’Amour said. “My role in the last few months hasn’t dictated that. [The switch] needed to be done.”
But why now? Rutherford had his take.
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Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey captain, Eric Staal, franchise, Hartford, Jim Rutherford, Rod Brind'Amour, switch
Kate Shefte ·
16 Jan 2010, 11:47 PM ·
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"I'm not coming out till we're on an 18-game winning streak...or mom calls me in for dinner." Eric Staal hides out in new favorite fort. Photo by Peggy Boone, IndyWeekBlogs (and he didn't actually say that, in case you were wondering.)
RBC CENTER/RALEIGH - Fresh off its first three-game winning streak of the season, followed by a predictable loss in Detroit in which the ‘Canes actually looked pretty decent, the only question surrounding the game was which team would show up at 8 p.m. The match had a late start due to the State-Clemson game earlier today at the RBC Center and whatever was in the air for the last thirty seconds of that game stuck around as the ‘Canes also lost, 5-3, to the Atlanta Thrashers. Carolina managed to erase a two-goal lead but one mental lapse sunk the home team as it lost its 26th of the year.
Drayson Bowman, one half of Carolina’s hope for the future (with fellow call-up Zach Boychuk) was swapped for Jerome Samson before the game and ended up on the starting line-up with Tom Kostopoulos and Rod Brind’Amour. He said Brind’Amour had words of encouragement before the game.
“He said Samson got a point on his first shift, so no pressure,” Bowman laughed.
Joni Pitkanen took Carolina’s first penalty just seven seconds into the game. They couldn’t convert during the penalty but Niclas Wallin screened Cam Ward on a Zach Bogosian shot from the point after it expired. The puck bounced past him to make it 1-0 Thrashers. Matt Cullen almost got it back but couldn’t quite get there in time to collect his own rebound.
Carolina was thoroughly outplayed in the first period but somehow walked out tied. The Thrashers outshot the ‘Canes 14-10 (it seemed like a lot more) in the first period, generating near-constant traffic around the opposing net. They almost made it 2-0 several times with the best chance coming when a Thrasher picked up a rebound, found a seam and beat Ward, only to have it ring off the post.
With Finnish Olympic captain Teemu Selanne sidelined with a broken jaw and veteran Saku Koivu recently sidelined as well, every game is an audition tape for Jussi Jokinen. He added to his highlight reel on the power play with 1:06 remaining in the first period. Pitkanen sprung Jokinen, who ducked his cover at the top of the faceoff circles and went in alone, wrapping the puck around Ondrej Pavelec’s right leg. Will opposing teams finally learn how to stop Carolina’s new go-to play? If so, the team will be more screwed than it already is.
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Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey Atlanta Thrashers, Eric Staal, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jussi Jokinen, penalty shot, Rich Peverley, Zach Boychuk
Kate Shefte ·
11 Jan 2010, 4:49 AM ·
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The captain has put together a pretty decent point streak. File photo by Peggy Boone, IndyWeekBlogs
RBC CENTER/RALEIGH - Two struggling stars and a pair of role players tallied in Carolina’s 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators Sunday afternoon. The ‘Canes had to grind it out for the win in front of hundreds of fans with ties to the armed forces on Military Appreciation Night.
The theme was even more appropriate because the game also served as the battle of the M*A*S*H units. If there was ever an NHL team with a vague knowledge of what the ‘Canes are going through, it’s the Senators. Though they currently sit in the top seven and could easily see a postseason, they have been absolutely slammed with injuries to top scorers. Chris Kelly was the only one who found a way around the zen Cam Ward tonight, but not for a lack of trying.
Andrew Alberts had an ugly giveaway a few minutes in right in front of his own net as his stick snapped when he tried to clear the zone. Ward had to flash out his glove in order to deny it.
All Aaron Ward seems to relied upon for these days is taking undisciplined penalties at inopportune times. He took one with a half minute left in the first and gave Ottawa a decent stretch of five-on-three, which they somehow couldn’t use.
The Sens did strike first, however, seven minutes into the second period. Chris Kelly didn’t have a good angle on Cam Ward but he somehow found a seam and roofed it to give Ottawa a 1-0 lead.
After a TV time-out, Brandon Sutter turned around and set up Tom Kostopoulos with a beauty off a two-on-one. Sutter maneuvered around his defender and put it right ahead of Kostopoulos, who tapped his fifth of the season easily past Pascal Leclair and went barreling into the boards.
Rod Brind’Amour followed up with a goal of his own, a one-timed blast from the blue line, with just under two minutes remaining in the middle period. The captain, who has had a lackluster 2009 campaign so far, has doubled his goal scoring in the first three games of the second half and is on a three-game scoring streak. Patrick Dwyer put the puck on his stick and he fired it through traffic past Leclair, who was screened by a moving Niclas Wallin.
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Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey Brett Carson, Cam Ward, Chris Kelly, Eric Staal, Ottawa Senators, Pascal Leclair, Ray Whitney, Rod Brind'Amour, sister in law
Kate Shefte ·
30 Dec 2009, 6:49 PM ·
1 Comment
Tuomo Ruutu is part of the two-thirds of Carolina's Finnish contingent headed to Vancouver in a few weeks. File photo by Peggy Boone, IndyWeekBlogs
Team Canada executive director Steve Yzerman had one of the luckiest and yet least enviable jobs this year in picking a hockey team from Canada’s bottomless pool of talent for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Every analyst on the web had his or her take, and it wasn’t looking good for Carolina star center Eric Staal, who was edged off of most lists. An early, lengthy injury the year of the Olympics is often the kiss of death for anyone but the top ten players in the NHL – it certainly didn’t help Cam Ward, though the term “long shot” doesn’t begin to cover it – but Staal received that coveted phone call this morning telling him he would be representing the host country in Vancouver this February.
Staal is an obvious choice, but he wasn’t exactly a given. He was selected over perennial Olympians Shane Doan, Ryan Smyth and Brad Richards. Doan has had a better statistical season as captain of the Phoenix Coyotes (in more games) and both he and Smyth have helped their teams surge forward into the standings after a long postseason drought. Neither have recent playoff experience and Staal’s performance in Carolina’s recent playoff runs probably showed Yzerman and Co. that he has the ability to play under pressure. Not that the others don’t. Agh – like I said, the last few weeks must have been tough for Yzerman.
Young guns Patrick Sharp, Vincent Lecavalier and Jeff Carter were also left off the list after amassing more points than Staal through the first half of the season.
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Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey 2010, Eric Staal, Finland, Hockey, Jussi Jokinen, Olympics, Team Canada, USA, Vancouver, Yzerman
Kate Shefte ·
16 Dec 2009, 10:35 PM ·
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Tuomo Ruutu, seen here earlier this season in Carolina's thirds, starred in the 'Canes' effort against the Stars. File photo by Peggy Boone, IndyWeekBlogs
RBC CENTER/RALEIGH - No dejected one-liners, no sorry statistics. The ‘Canes got almost a complete effort night and downed the Dallas Stars, 5-3, Wednesday for their eighth win of the season. Carolina put on a show for its home crowd again and got its second consecutive hat trick on home ice (the last was Erik Cole’s against Vancouver last Saturday) thanks to Tuomo Ruutu’s first career hatter and a three-goal night from the power play.
White rally towels were given out to fans before the game so it looked more like a towel trick than a hatter, but Ruutu will take it.
“The hat trick feels good,” Ruutu said. “I’ve never scored one before and at the same time, I thought we played a great game. We won and now we’re playing some music in the locker room, and that’s fun.”
Jussi Jokinen got the ‘Canes on the board in the waning seconds of a power play. Bryan Rodney sprung him with a long pass and Jokinen took off, unleashing a shot from the left circle that Marty Turco got a chunk of. It skittered past him into the net.
Tuomo Ruutu took his countryman’s lead 1:44 later and followed it up with a stunning goal. He took a cross ice Eric Staal pass and spun around to dodge his defender, then deflected a shot past Turco.
Staal, whose scoring slump has started to gather some attention, took a feed in the crease for his fifth goal of the season. He looked like the franchise player of old with three points on the night. Jokinen got the primary assist on Staal’s goal and Rodney added to his total after being called up from Albany yesterday.
Jussi Jokinen felt so giving – with it almost being Christmas and all – that he decided to set up Dallas’ goal as well. 15 seconds into his hooking penalty, Steve Ott had a wide-open net and cut the lead to two.
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Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey 2010, Cam Ward, Dallas Stars, Eric Staal, Europe, Fall, Finland, Finnish, hat trick, Joni Pitkanen, Jussi Jokinen, power play, slump, Tuomo Ruutu
Kate Shefte ·
2 Nov 2009, 3:41 PM ·
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The News and Observer has the 411 about Eric Staal’s “upper body injury” sustained during the second period of the team’s 5-1 slaughter at the hands of the San Jose Sharks. Staal never returned after the period break. His 349-game iron man streak, which stretches back to his rookie year when he sat out one game with a torso injury, will likely come to an end this Wednesday at Florida. Staal has been rumored to have been playing through injury through the ‘Canes’ first 13 games, so maybe this break will get him back to full health.
As for who will take his place centering the top line, how about the only one who is finding the net?
Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey 349, Brandon Sutter, consecutive games, Eric Staal, Florida Panthers, injury, iron man, San Jose Sharks, second intermission, streak, upper body
Kate Shefte ·
1 Nov 2009, 6:13 PM ·
1 Comment
Happier times in Carolina. Photo by Peggy Boone, IndyWeekBlogs
RBC CENTER/ RALEIGH—Last season, a shootout victory over San Jose started the Carolina Hurricanes on the path to turning their season around. This year, it was just more of the same.
After sleepwalking through the month of October, the ‘Canes didn’t ring in the new month with any sort of inspired showing and fell prey to the same sort of simple mistakes in losing to the visiting San Jose Sharks, 5-1. Reinserting Erik Cole (back from injury) and Tuomo Ruutu (who finished his three-game suspension yesterday) did nothing to help the ‘Canes, who dropped their ninth straight game. Carolina hasn’t gone in a skid quite this bad since it went winless in its final 11 games of the 2002-2003 season.
And to be fair, the ‘Canes haven’t just lost – they’ve face planted. After today’s matinee and yesterday’s 6-1 loss to Philadelphia on the road, the team has allowed 16 goals in three games, often in bunches, and hasn’t scored to make up the difference. The team’s stars seem to be in stunned silence and the veterans still think they’re on summer vacation. When Brandon Sutter and Jay Harrison seem to be the only ones awake and Scott Walker is giving you your best scoring chances, something is very, very wrong.
Meanwhile, San Jose added their weekly highlight reel contributions, displaying their considerable depth and ability to score from all over the depth chart and at any angle. Evgeni Nabokov was incredible, stopping 25 of 26 shots in acrobatic fashion. Well, maybe it wasn’t so acrobatic after all – it just looked very impressive compared to the flailing antics at the other end.
Ray Whitney, who was honored before the game for his 1000th NHL appearance in front of the team that drafted him and the team with which he will likely finish his career, had his chance with the first period half gone, slipping past two Sharks defenders and walking in alone. Though Nabokov easily turned his shot away, it got the crowd excited, at least temporarily.
After the game, Whitney was the first to bluntly address his current team’s shortcomings.
“Obviously, I want to get our asses out of this,” Whitney said. “We can’t afford to be running around like this much longer, with the standings the way they are.”
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Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey 1000, 5-1, Eric Staal, Evgeni Nabokov, injury, losing streak, Ray Whitney, Rod Brind'Amour, San Jose Sharks, upper body
Mike Potter ·
14 Oct 2009, 10:54 PM ·
1 Comment
RBC CENTER/RALEIGH Back in the saddle.
If you’re keeping score this is my first Carolina Hurricanes game for Triangle Offense, pinch-hitting for talented young regular beat writer Kate Shefte who was unable to be at tonight’s game. Don’t worry, she’ll be back soon.
Until May I had been the Hurricanes beat writer for the Incredible Shrinking Durham Herald-Sun ever since this building opened in 1999 (and probably still have written about more total wins, losses and ties in this building than anyone else.) Until the day after Game 7 of Carolina’s storied upset of the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, that is, when the Paxton Media suits in Kentucky decided they would replace me with so much air and pocket the big salary.
Anyway, Carolina’s home games in the Eastern Finals against the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Penguins were the first Hurricanes playoff games in the state I did not witness in person.
Pittsburgh, of course, summarily dismissed the Hurricanes in four games, so Carolina should have a bit of a chip on the shoulder coming into tonight’s contest.
Pittsburgh comes in with a 5-1 record, tied with the New York Rangers for the league lead in points, and is perfect in four road games so far. The 2-3 Hurricanes are wearing their black “third jerseys.”
And the Hurricanes recover from a 2-0 deficit after two periods on a pair of Ray Whitney (pictured) goals to tie the score before Chris Kunitz beats Cam Ward five-hole in the third sudden-death round of shootout attempts for a 3-2 Pittsburgh win.
There are always a lot of side stories with this game. Eric Staal and his brother Jordan, who plays for the Penguins, were both at Canada’s most recent Olympic training camp - along with brother Marc who is a defenseman for the Rangers. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is of course on that roster as are both goalies, the Hurricanes’ Ward and the Penguins’ Marc-André Fleury. In an aside, Fleury was the No. 1 pick in the league’s 2003 draft in Nashville while Eric Staal was No. 2. Continue reading »
Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey Alex Goligoski, Cam Ward, Chris Kunitz, Craig Adams, Dan Bylsma, Eric Staal, Evgeni Malkin, Joe Corvo, Joni Pitkanen, Jordan Staal, Jussi Jokinen, Marc Andre Fleury, Marc Staal, Matt Cullen, Michael Rupp, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Pascual Dupuis, Paul Maurice, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ray Whitney, Sidney Crosby, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tim Gleason, Tom Kostopoulos, Tuomo Ruutu
