Showing posts tagged “injury”
Kate Shefte ·
18 Mar 2010, 10:35 PM ·
Comment
Whitney won the goal-that-mattered award tonight, though there were several other qualified candidates. File photo by Peggy Boone, IndyWeekBlogs
RBC CENTER/RALEIGH - Joe Corvo’s two-goal effort…Chad LaRose’s late heroics….Ray Whitney’s overtime wrister led his team to a 4-3 win over Thursday night. There we go.
If all the Washington goals had counted, the ‘Canes wouldn’t have even made it to overtime. But thanks to a Whitney tally in overtime, Carolina won just its second game of the year after going into the second period down a goal. Corvo’s pair couldn’t save the league-leading Capitals, who clinched the Southeast Division last week.
There were two noticeable absences on the ice tonight. League points leader Alex Ovechkin was serving the back end of a two-game suspension for another illegal hit. The ‘Canes announced today that Tim Gleason would miss three weeks with a broken bone in his foot, even though he’d already played two games with the injury. Oh, that Gleason.
“Gleason’s probably the leader of our back end,” defenseman Brett Carson said. “He battles night after night. Obviously not having him in meant some other guys had to step up and play some minutes and I thought we did a pretty good job.”
Carolina got an early break when an apparent goal off the hand of Mike Knuble was waved off immediately with a few minutes left into the first period.
Scott Walker and Corvo have both seen dramatically different and ever-shrinking roles with their new club, the Capitals. Walker sat as a healthy scratch for Washinton’s last two games, but due to injury and suspension, he was called upon to suit up tonight. Corvo got things started when he picked up a rebound to make it 1-0 and Walker got the secondary assist. Corvo memorably scored a hat trick the first time he faced the Ottawa Senators after they traded him, and obviously that was the start of a trend of sorts as he wound up close to another tonight.
“[Corvo] played well. It’s kind of a habit for him to score against his old teams, and I read in the paper today that he wasn’t even pissed off at us,” Whitney said. “If he was, we really would have been in trouble.
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Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey Alex Ovechkin, Brett Carson, Chad LaRose, injury, Joe Corvo, overtime, Ray Whitney, Southeast division, suspension, Tim Gleason, Washington Capitals
Kate Shefte ·
21 Dec 2009, 10:11 PM ·
4 Comments
Cam Ward did his fair share in Monday's Battle of the Masked Men, but his 'Canes were held to a mere nine wins on the season. File photo by Peggy Boone, IndyWeekBlogs
The Hurricanes pelted New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist with 33 shots Monday night but only wound up with one second period tally to show for it. The ‘Canes’ three-game home winning streak ended and the Rangers won their third in a row.
The packed pre-Christmas crowd, something that hasn’t been the norm this season, added a level of intensity that hadn’t quite been there through 18 home games. Adding to that was the sea of blue jerseys, as Yankee transplants took the chance to come see their old team in action.
Carolina got golden child Tim Gleason back after he missed a few games following an Alex Ovechkin slap shot to the face, reportedly due to concussion-like symptoms. Gleason said it was like “the first game out of the year.” He quickly ditched his face shield and said he hasn’t played with one at any point in his NHL career and doesn’t plan on changing that any time soon.
“I don’t know how the guys play with it,” Gleason said. “It’s obviously safer, but I wasn’t used to it. I sweat a lot and it was all over the visor. I couldn’t see much.”
Eric Staal had a good scoring chance early when he went in on a two-on-one with Jay Harrison, who wasn’t quite fast enough to get to the rendezvous point. Cam Ward cleaned up behind them each time an odd man rush went the other way.
The ‘Canes had eight shots in the first period but had a lot of trouble getting pucks on net. They picked off passes and found themselves alone with Lundqvist numerous times but couldn’t slow down enough to make it happen.
Both teams came out of the period break ready to crack the scoreless tie. 46 seconds in, Sergei Samsonov scrummed in front of Lundqvist with Brandon Sutter and Samsonov scored on the wrap-around, his second in two games after going three games without a point.
28 seconds after that, Marian Gaborik scored his league-leading 25th goal after catching Ward way out of position.
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Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey 3-1, face shield, Henrik Lundqvist, injury, New York Rangers, Sergei Samsonov, Tim Gleason
Kate Shefte ·
27 Nov 2009, 10:44 PM ·
1 Comment
Manny Legace sat in the deserted weight room as his teammates scurried to pack their things for a late night trip to Buffalo, staring past his still-padded legs and down at the floor, looking utterly shell shocked.
After Friday’s 6-4 loss to the Thrashers, surely the 14,463 fans in attendance can relate, if not sympathize.
Freshly home after successfully managing to escape into December without a win on the road, the ‘Canes dropped another humiliating game to the Atlanta Thrashers after sitting pretty on a 4-1 lead in the third period. Allowing a three-goal comeback in only a 2:39-minute span sunk the ‘Canes after they put together a solid two periods and an impressive lead.
Legace faced the team that cut him in training camp for the first time and had a good showing…for the first 46 minutes, that is. It seemed improbable that the ‘Canes could have such a dramatic meltdown, even without Legace at the top of his game. They were quick, executed well and had all the momentum going into the latter stages of the game.
But after handing Atlanta a five-goal third period, that was the reality. A cold start has now given way to a frigid middle stanza, and this loss could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It goes without saying that if the ‘Canes continue to play like this, they will not be able to pick themselves up out of the Eastern Conference basement.
According to Matt Cullen, this is as bad as it gets.
“I can’t think of anything tougher than this one,” Cullen said.
It didn’t start that way, though. Cole deflected a shot past Ondrej Pavelec to get things rolling midway through the first period. Eric Staal was awarded the secondary, giving him assists in consecutive since his activation from injured reserve.
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Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey 6-4, Atlanta Thrashers, Buffalo sabres, comeback, Erik Cole, injury, Joni Pitkanen, Manny Legace, Matt Cullen, Maxim Afinogenov, third period
Kate Shefte ·
12 Nov 2009, 1:59 AM ·
Comment
RBC CENTER/ RALEIGH—Those who thought the acquisition of Manny Legacé would spur Carolina victory were greatly disappointed Wednesday night. Another mental collapse after the upstart Los Angeles Kings pulled ahead again spoiled a two-goal night from Tuomo Ruutu and the ‘Canes went winless in their thirteenth straight game.
Paul Maurice was booed during pregame introductions, while Legacé received a loud ovation. The fans are clearly no longer impressed with Maurice’s snazzy ties and have started to turn on the ‘Canes’ fearless bench boss – how long now until he gets the can? Firing him won’t fix all the ills on this team, but some bloodletting would not go amiss. What’s Laviolette doing these days? (He’s a television personality now, in case you don’t pick up Canadian channels.)
Los Angeles outshot the ‘Canes 13-2 in the first and somehow wound up with only a goal. Chad LaRose made a diving save while Legacé was behind the net retrieving a puck to keep the Carolina newbie’s “innocence” intact.
One thing fans in attendance noticed about the ‘Canes’ new puck stopper – he likes to wander. Legacé ventured out of the net to nearly disastrous effect numerous times. Does somebody need a leash?
However, it took less than four minutes for Legacé to receive his official Carolina initiation – being scored on in an embarrassingly pathetic manner. Seven seconds into a Matt Cullen boarding penalty, the ‘Canes left Ryan Smyth stand in the crease completely undisturbed and waiting for the rebound. He pecked it past Legacé through the open back door.
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Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey 13, fire, injury, Los Angeles Kings, losing streak, Manny Legace, Paul Maurice, Scott Walker
Kate Shefte ·
2 Nov 2009, 3:41 PM ·
Comment
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
Kate Shefte ·
7 Oct 2009, 3:59 AM ·
2 Comments
RBC CENTER/RALEIGH—Jussi Jokinen scored in regulation and the ‘Canes got further than they ever should have against the Tampa Bay Lightning Tuesday night, but Sergei Samsonov and Tuomo Ruutu sealed a last-minute win in the shootout to give Carolina its first win on the year, 2-1.
Tampa, which was blown out by perennial cellar-dweller Atlanta in its first go-around of the season, didn’t play above average – the ‘Canes just weren’t sharp. Horrible passing and untimely penalties were the name of the game, not to mention a startling lack of offense that has produced three goals in three games. This team could be good; it just needs to quit being so cutesy and make sure it has the puck before it starts rolling out the tricky moves, and before too many points in the standings are needlessly hemorrhaged away.
At the start of the game, Conboy went at it with Zenon Konopka, a long, dizzy fight with no advantage. Tuesday night’s sparse – but loud, have to give them credit – crowd liked it.
Jokinen walked in alone and put some moves on goaltender Mike Smith but the puck barely skittered past the goal line before it was swept away. Brind’Amour took a more direct approach and crashed the net and knocked it off its moorings, knocking the puck back in the process, causing referees to review the play. The goal was allowed and awarded to Jokinen, giving the ‘Canes their first lead of the young season.
His countryman, Joni Pitkanen, earned the primary assist in his first game back from injury. Cam Ward was given the other assist.
“I don’t know how that happened,” Ward joked. “I must be one of the leading scorers in the league.”
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Carolina Hurricanes, Hockey first win, injury, Joni Pitkanen, Jussi Jokinen, Mike Smith, Sergei Samsonov, shootout, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tuomo Ruutu
Adam Sobsey ·
30 Aug 2009, 6:00 AM ·
5 Comments
DBAP/ DURHAM—You’ve probably heard of the Infinite Monkey Theorem, which “states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.”
If you apply the Infinite Monkey Theorem to baseball, you’ll get something like the Durham Bulls’ 10-9, 14-inning win over Gwinnett last night. It’s unlikely that a monkey will type Hamlet, but it’s also inevitable, in infinite time. And it’s also unlikely that last night’s game should ever happen, but last night’s game did happen. You could look it up.
“No, I’ve never seen anything like it,” was the first sentence out of Charlie Montoyo’s mouth afterward, before anyone had even asked him a question.
It would take me an infinite number of words to describe everything noteworthy about the doings at the DBAP on Saturday night (and, in fact, a bit of Sunday morning; the five-hour game ended at about ten past midnight). Although I don’t mind claiming that I am not a sportswriter who would ever, ever succumb to fatigue—I am a veritable dog with a bone, or better yet a monkey with an infinite number of bananas (and if you read that last clause carefully, you found the syntactical giveaway: I’m not a sportswriter)—as I say, although I don’t mind claiming indefatigability, which is an eight-syllable word, the Bulls have another game fairly soon, and at some point between now and then I have to sleep, eat, exercise, and, uh, type. Like a monkey.
And in case you need more monkey stuff, consider that last night’s ballgame featured mascot antics from something called Reggy the Purple Party Dude (he looks like a Sesame Street character who has somehow started growing french fries out of the top of his head). He monkeyed around in the first inning with a fake first-base coach, later with the umpire and Wool E. Bull, and then with “his inflatable nine-foot monkey,” which was both exactly what it sounds like and also inhabited somewhere in its recesses by a person. During one mid-inning caper, a banana figured heavily, along with spray cans of that fake shaving cream stuff that is actually string; and although I know that this is a family Web site, the fact is that the whole Reggy act, including the “his inflatable monkey” scenes and (especially) the fake-first-base-coach antics, played uncomfortably like the preparatory scenes of very, very, very specialized pornography targeted at an extremely specific fetish market I would prefer not to know anything about.
And also, the game was full of monkey wrenches.
I’ll give you all I’ve got if you click Continue reading »
Baseball, Durham Bulls, Tampa Bay Rays Akinori Iwamura, Andy Sonnanstine, Aristotle, Barbaro Canizares, Brandon Jones, Charlie Montoyo, Chris Richard, Desmond Jennings, Deunte Heath, Diory Hernandez, Douglas Adams, duct tape, Elliot johnson, extraneous innings, F.O.B., Fernando Perez, Gwinnett Braves, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Infinite Improbability Drive, Infinite Monkey Theorem, Inflatable Monkey, injury, Joe Bateman, Joe Nelson, Jon Weber, Julio DePaula, Michel Hernandez, monkey, Olympic Rings, Ray Olmedo, Reggy the Purple Party Dude, Reid Brignac, Wade Davis, walks, Wes Timmons
Adam Sobsey ·
24 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
1 Comment
The Bulls’ Joe Bateman hit consecutive batters in the ninth inning last night in Syracuse, but it was the Bulls who felt the pain. The Chiefs’ Norris Hopper hit a two-out, game-
winning single to score one of the plunkees, handing the Bulls a 3-2 loss.
So it wasn’t walks that did the Bulls in, but a sort of fast-track walk, the hit batter. And where the Bulls’ clutch hitting tends to abet control problems in losses, last night the lineup didn’t even mount enough threats to set up clutch situations. The Bulls scored twice in the second inning (with help from a pair of, ahem, walks); after that, they had only four baserunners, and just one of those advanced to second base.
Wade Davis did a fine job on the mound for the Bulls, but a Reid Brignac error helped an unearned run score, and Davis gave up a solo homer to (I told you to watch out for) Brad Eldred. Davis’s counterpart, the Chiefs’ Marco Estrada—the same guy who opposed him a couple of weeks ago at the DBAP—was again excellent. He stifled the Bulls on August 8, allowing just a pair of unearned runs on two hits in seven innings; last night, he allowed two runs in six innings, overcoming his second-inning control problems and matching Davis’s results. Charlie Montoyo was reluctant to credit Estrada in the August 8 ballgame, choosing instead to blame his hitters’ approach at the plate. But after Estrada shut Durham down again last night, one has to concede that Estrada himself may have been the reason for his success.
Some curious bullpen management by Montoyo last night: Dale Thayer replaced Davis in the seventh and tossed a pair of scoreless innings, leaving he ninth for Bateman. Usually, it would be Thayer handling the late shift, with Bateman setting him up. There’s definitely a reason for the switch, perhaps Tampa-related, and Bateman has closed out games for Montoyo before; still, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher.
In the Bulls’ official game report, you’ll happen upon a typo: “The Bulls are 1.5 games behind Syracuse in the wild card race and four games in front of Toledo and Norfolk.” The Bulls are actually 1.5 games ahead of the Chiefs, but the mistake reflects some growing pessimism, even inside the organization, about the Bulls’ state of affairs. Although the team is still lined up for a playoff spot, lately they haven’t looked like they’re headed for the post-season. Good games are followed by bad ones, the club’s overall energy rises and falls, and their record over the last three weeks is just 10-12. The Bulls look middling, inconsistent, beatable.
Meanwhile, Gwinnett keeps on winning and now has a four-game lead over Durham in the International League South Division. And the wild-card race is thickening—in the quotation nestled in the paragraph above, careful readers will have spotted Toledo now entering the rear-view mirror (this is not a NASCAR post!), thanks to the Mud Hens’ eight-game winning streak. Make no mistake: if the Bulls coast all the way into Labor Day at a .500 pace, one of the three teams on their tail will overtake them. The law of averages virtually assures it.
A quick note about the roster. Chris Richard had a cortisone shot in his wrist (maybe he and Carlos Hernandez, who also had one recently, can compare notes), and he’s expected back perhaps as early as Monday. In the interest of giving Joe Dillon most of a night off on Sunday, Charlie Montoyo started Henry Mateo at first base, which is something I can’t even picture. Dillon entered the game late when Mateo moved to second to replace Akinori Iwamura, who played a scheduled seven innings. Elliot Johnson (strained quadriceps) is eligible to come off the disabled list, and he has been running and taking batting practice. Look for him to return to action very soon. He’ll give the team a boost. It needs one.
Andy Sonnanstine pitches for the Bulls on Monday night. If the Chiefs’ rotation is still in the same order, his opponent will be Ross Detwiler. Those two faced each other at the DBAP on August 9, and the Bulls shredded Detwiler on their way to giving Sonnanstine an easy 11-5 win.
Baseball, Durham Bulls Brad Eldred, Chris Richard, Dale Thayer, Elliot johnson, injury, Joe Bateman, Marco Estrada, Reid Brignac, Syracuse Chiefs, Wade Davis, wild card
Adam Sobsey ·
23 Aug 2009, 5:00 AM ·
Comment
Nice to see the Bulls get off to a resoundingly positive start on a crucial seven-game road trip to Syracuse and Norfolk, the two teams trailing them in the International League wild-card race. That isn’t to say that the South Division title is out of reach—the Bulls trail Gwinnett by three games with 16 left to play—but if they concentrate on putting some distance between themselves and their pursuers, they’ll have plenty of momentum coming into their four-game showdown with the Braves at the DBAP when they return (buy your tickets now!).
Desmond Jennings (pictured) was one hit short of the cycle for the second time in his last three starts, this time substituting a homer for the triple, and the Bulls took a quick 5-0 lead after three innings, extended it to 7-0 after five, and rode out a 9-2 win at Syracuse. Every Bull in the starting lineup had at least one hit, including Shawn Riggans, whose fifth-inning double snapped an 0/18 spell since his return from the disabled list. Jason Cromer pitched well enough, if inefficiently, and earned his sixth win. Calvin Medlock, Joe Nelson and Winston Abreu finished up. Nelson allowed singles to the first two men he faced, so his BA-against and OBP-against are still very scary, but perhaps we’re seeing a gradual return to good form for him.
A very good thing has happened to the Chiefs’ Mike Morse: he was recalled to Washington a few days ago. That’s also very good thing for the Bulls, because Morse pounded Durham pitching when the Chiefs came to town earlier this month: he went 6/14 with two homers, a double, three walks and seven RBIs. Syracuse did, however, regain the services of 6-foot-5, 290-pound (!) righty slugger Brad Eldred. Eldred went hitless in five trips to the plate last night, with a walk and a strikeout. The Chiefs pulled a Durham, going 2/12 with RISP and stranding 12 men on base—a little balancing of the Bulls’ recent ledger.
Chris Richard sat out a third straight game with what Charlie Montoyo told us was a wrist problem. With Elliot Johnson on the disabled list—he’s eligible to come off Sunday, although there’s no word if he will—Richard’s absence means that Joe Dillon is the everyday first baseman and Ray Olmedo is inked in at third. Olmedo has now played nine straight games, which is many more than any Bull should be logging right now. He’s 8/35 in that stretch. All eight of his hits have been singles (one of them a bunt), he’s drawn only one walk, and he has hit into three double plays. He has also committed four errors. It’s one of those oddities of minor-league baseball that a guy with a .614 OPS, who leads the team in errors, and who walks about once every 20 times at bat, can wind up with the third-most games played on the roster. The Olmedos of the world tend to be utility players because they aren’t good enough to hold down a position. Their utility makes them, unfortunately, indispensable; they’re the duct tape of ballclubs, which tend to want for nails (the good hardware is used for major-league jobs). And I think I’ve hammered that point into the floor (ha ha ha, sorry).
Wade Davis, coming off a superb outing in which he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, is on the mound for the Bulls on Sunday. On August 8 at the DBAP, he came within a batter of blanking Syracuse for seven innings. Gametime is 5:00 p.m.
Baseball, Durham Bulls Brad Eldred, Chris Richard, Desmond Jennings, Gwinnett Braves, injury, Jason Cromer, Joe Nelson, Mike Morse, Ray Olmedo, Syracuse Chiefs, utility player, wild card
