And we're back!

Ahhh, first game back after the Olympic break--and a good one, too.

Well, if you ignore the fact that the 'Canes somehow managed to win despite committing a shitload of turnovers in their zone, not connecting on a lot of passes, forgetting that they're not playing under international rules anymore (and therefore don't need to go after a helmet that gets knocked off--Erik Cole, hello), and having too few (yes, too few) men on the ice on three separate occasions.

And the shitty officiating in the first two periods, where there were a lot of missed calls (and blown calls) on both sides. But scoring overcomes bad officiating, and the 'Canes overcame the Bruins 4-3. I'll let Dave Lee handle the full game report, though, and just comment on things I saw at le jeu.

1) The next person that hollers "SHOOT THE PUCK!" when the guy with the puck is behind the net or doesn't have an angle OR a lane on the net is going to have the shit beaten out of him with his (or her) own spinal column by me. It's so aggravating that forty times a game I find myself fighting back the urge to go all "Fargo" on people that do that, seriously.

2) It was nice to see 17,000 fans in the house on a Wednesday night--yes, most of them were EXTREMELY casual (as in, didn't know the names of the players or that Bruins defenceman David Tanabe was drafted by the 'Canes and played for them for the better part of three seasons), but they were there and they were loud. Too bad certain people will harp on that as a sign that the fans here don't care about the team, while Chicago gets a free pass on 9,333 in their barn just because they're an O6 team.

3) Section 328 rocks. If you ever come out to Raleigh for a game, check them out. Section 303 got nothin' on 'em. ;)

4) The RBC Center's announcer is getting better--he's not checking himself and hosing up the names and numbers of the players like fifty times a game anymore--but now he's trying to be like our old PA guy, former WWE ring announcer Tony Gilliam, which is bad. Unless he calls #14 for the Montreal Canadiens "Ray-deck Boink" like Tony did back during the first season in Raleigh (when good ol' Ray-deck played for the Sens), in which case it might actually become amusing.

5) At every home game, the Canesvision crew plays a video covering a legendary player from the NHL's history. The video is narrated by the Hurricanes' radio guy, Chuck Kaiton--and usually the Canesvision guys play a "Legends of the NHL" video featuring a player from the visiting team (assuming the team is more than 20 years old). But last night? The video was about Serge Savard.

Think about that one for a moment--and look Savard up on hockeydb.com if you still don't understand what a wonderfully subtle snipe that was.

6) The new Ric Flair goal celebration video ("That's a stylin' and profilin' Hurricane goal! Wooooo! Wooooo! *spins* Woowoo!") has gotta go. It's just...well, it's missing something. It doesn't flow like the other ones do. I much prefer the old ones--and I don't even like wrestling (well, except for John Cena--that hot little badass can leglock me anytime).

7) Dougie Weight is still trying to find his groove with the team, but he's getting there.

8) I didn't have the drooling idiot sitting behind me that was sitting behind me at the second Pittsburgh game (at the RBC) hollering "WHERE'S JESSE?! WE WANT BOULERICE! HEY, I BET WEIGHT'LL DROP THE GLOVES! THAT'S WHY WE GOT HIM, AIN'T IT?!" Instead, I had a couple clowns that thought they knew everything about hockey cos they're from "up north" talking out their asses and not knowing a cross-check from a glove save.

The only bad thing about the game was not being able to hang out and chat with some of my old "North Side" buddies from the early days of the team's tenure in Raleigh, because I had to go home and get some sleep.

Ahh, the joys of first shift.