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.

Hail the Swedes!

And now that the love for the land of my paternal ancestors is out of the way, on to more important things:

Like the jerseys.

CasonBlog summed it all up pretty well--the Swift(tm) jerseys were pretty nasty. At first I didn't mind the Team Canada ones so much, but now that I've actually seen them in competition? Uhhh....no. They are bad, bad, all damn different KINDS of bad. That wouldn't necessarily preclude me from getting a Czech Republic Swift(tm) jersey with the Serene Master's name on it and framing it, but damned if I'd squeeze something like that over my jutting turrets.

And the Team USA jerseys? The dark ones? Gave me Vietnam flashbacks. I saw them and thought I was back in Da Nang getting shot in the ass by a sniper--oh wait, that was my father. But you get the picture. Give me the old-skool jerseys, like the ones the Swedes wore. Something with a little more to them than a "practice jersey" look. Something distinctive. Something with room to move, yanno?

What's next--the players all wear bodysuits like the speed skaters? That would up the beefcake factor a good bit for some of the more tele/photogenic blokes (which will probably gain more casual viewership from the ladies and the gay community), but the thought of somebody like that numbnut Mo Cheese (For the uninformed: he's the super-sized zhlub with plumber's butt that does a stupid dance in the stands at the Nexus of Evil errr Joe Louis Arena while wearing a Stanley Cup on his head) deciding to wear one of those just scares the piss out of me. There are some things that man was just not meant to know, and that's one of them.

*shudder*

The stars will never be right enough for that, kids. Ever.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Flyers captain Keith Primeau is expected to announce in about an hour that he's done for the season, after his latest concussion (which came to him courtesy of the Montreal Canadiens' Aleksandr Perezhogin way back in October). How many is this for him? Five? Six? Perhaps it'd be better for the guy to retire, for the sake of his health. I mean, at his age even next season is going to be iffy--it'd be better for him to retire, at this point.

And no, Flyers fans, I am not bitter about his holdout or anything--nor do I take any sides in the "who won the Primeau trade" debate. So you're more than welcome to spare me claims of jealousy or bitterness because you have Primeau and the 'Canes don't.

Prayers and best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery go out to Mario Lemieux, who underwent a cather ablation procedure yesterday to alleviate his cardiac arrhythmia.

A question for my Alberta readers: Does the WCLC have a lottery whose proceeds go to help support the Oilers and the Flames? Or am I on crack?

Now that the fiesta is over and the torch is extinguished, it's time to get back to work. Go Canes.