Game Thread: Canes vs Thrashers 3/12/04 [Archive]

Vrbata19

03-12-2004, 07:35 AM

Lets fire up the ol' discussion. I love playing the Thrashers, maybe just because we've taken 3 out of 4 from them this season ;)

Maybe we'll see somebody wearing the C tonight. I would probably guess its going to be Brindy, KA or O. With the other 2 wearing As. 3 forwards as our leaders.. :roll: *hint hint for next year JR* Hopefully we can step up and get some leadership to rebound from the TB loss, though it wasnt bad, because Radim scored and I guess we're getting closer to Olesz, Barker, Schremp or one of those future stars. I'd like to see Eric and Willy get alot more time on the ice and perhaps together. We should get these young guys on the same page ASAP. I think Willy is just as big of a chunk of our future as Eric is. Willy and Eric on a line with a scoring forward, say Vrbata or Vasicek would be wonderful. Willy can score his share and dish some nice ones, as can Eric. Its just a matter how practice looks if Lavy thinks he wants a sniper (Radim) or a big man in front of the net (Josef). This is the first time I've been really excited about a game in a while :D

I just hope our youth steps up with out Ronnie and O!!!

GOOOOOOOOO CANES

Jeff O Rocks

03-12-2004, 07:36 AM

Just win AT HOME.. somehow..someway... please!! :roll:

Vrbata19

03-12-2004, 07:39 AM

Forgot to add.. does anyone know if its gonna be Weekes or Archie tonight?

Jeff O Rocks

03-12-2004, 07:41 AM

My guess would be Weekesy tonight.. Archie tomorrow night

HockeyFan

03-12-2004, 09:46 AM

Well I would say you are right since Arch started against the Bolts. Weekes will be in net tonight and especially after his last game against the "Trash" I think he will be strong.

I hope we can pull one out at home...I will say the Canes will score no more than 2 goals tonight. someone will win 2-1...but I wont say who! I dont want to jinx anyone. Go CANES!!!

Vrby and Williams tonight!

Jeff O Rocks

03-12-2004, 10:28 AM

Vrby and Williams tonight!

You just gave away who gets the 2...... :p ;)

HockeyFan

03-12-2004, 10:42 AM

You just gave away who gets the 2.....

maybe I did.... ;) I just didnt wanna say it out loud cuz you know how we are on home ice :sick: :roll:

Jeff O Rocks

03-12-2004, 10:45 AM

You just gave away who gets the 2.....

maybe I did.... ;) I just didnt wanna say it out loud cuz you know how we are on home ice :sick: :roll:

As a STH, the answer is yes... but I love em anyway!! Hope you are correct in your "unspoken" prediction.. ;)

murda338

03-12-2004, 04:41 PM

Didn't even see the thread, didn't notice it didnt get stickied, the last game's wasnt either yet Blue Jackets game is, hmmmmm

murda338

03-12-2004, 08:41 PM

*does a sexy dance*

WE WIN!

Everyone musta been at the game

murda338

03-12-2004, 08:58 PM

guys im scared, i'm alone here.....

murda338

03-12-2004, 08:58 PM

*John Wayne Voice talking to a cutout of Keith Primeau*

Thier aint enough room for the both of us soldier, you better be ready to draw.... *BANG*

guinevere

03-12-2004, 09:20 PM

A tumbleweed rolls slowly across the plain......

stewart123

03-12-2004, 09:25 PM

Yep, we were there, great night was had by two newbies. I have my hockey explanation down pat: "If the whistle blows and the players stop, someone did something wrong. If a player goes and sits in the box by himself, he did something really wrong."

They might like to see more next season. Now, how do I explain the CBA?

rons#1fan

03-12-2004, 09:26 PM

What a game! Everyone was stepping up and they kept the pressure on. A few minor passing problems but oh a sweet win! I simply love Justin and Eric Staal together.

I think the Thrashers first goal was a freebie. We were behind the net and it didn't look like it ever crossed the line. The repeat on the jumbo appeared to be that way too but maybe it went over in the corner on it's way back...but it didn't look it to me!

Two important faces are gone for this season and it didn't take long for everyone to step up. Those young players really took control. We've got some chemistry and a team!

VandyCane

03-12-2004, 09:34 PM

You can thank me for this win. Honestly. See we didn't go. I gave the tickets away and we won. Woo-hoo. We have out of town company and we kept flipping between the Canes, State ( :cool: ) and Vandy ( :D :D ). All three of our teams won tonight! The Williams goal was quite a beauty.

IcyRed

03-12-2004, 09:43 PM

...Two important faces are gone for this season and it didn't take long for everyone to step up. Those young players really took control. We've got some chemistry and a team!

Ditto, the team I watched tonight didn't miss 'em a bit, and played some exciting hockey.

Icy

CaniacKikiBB13

03-12-2004, 09:56 PM

Overall the canes played great tonight. BTW the crowd was awesome as well...all the chants and screaming made me long for the playoff days :roll:

murda338

03-12-2004, 10:11 PM

the puck went in it hit netting so it was defintly behind the line

talkingcanes

03-12-2004, 10:13 PM

They might like to see more next season. Now, how do I explain the CBA?

greedy side one (owners) and greedy side two (players) need to put some effort into learning to play well with others so the poor sods who really foot the bill for the NHL don't get so pissed off they never come back :mad: :roll:

Esbee

03-12-2004, 10:18 PM

That had to be one of the best team efforts of the season. New song selection suggestion: "The Kids Are Alright." Like many others, I wasn't too happy reading the paper this morning...but I just saw these comments from Justin Williams following tonight's game, and I feel much better:

"This is my fourth year and it's time for myself, as well as a few other guys, to start making a name for yourself and show you're a leader and show you want to be out there.''

Oh, memo to Luke and Ned at the N&O:

"We don't know how the teams are going to end up. We don't know who's going to win which games,'' Williams said. ``We don't know how the games are going to turn out. But we can definitely predict how we're going to play.'' :smoke:

SouthernHockeyChick

03-12-2004, 10:18 PM

talkingcanes

03-12-2004, 10:19 PM

Very nice to get a win at home :spin:

Really nice goal by Hedican and I really like Justin Williams.

I would so love to see Staal put on about 25 pounds of muscle over the summer. Poor thing, he just gets pushed off the puck. He was better tonight though, but some bulk to go along with that skill would be helpful!

I think the questionable goal was a goal. When they showed the replay in the arena, the netting bulged and that doesn't happen if you hit the post. BUT, if the official waved it off, I don't see how that view could have been conclusive. There may have been other views that were seen on TV and that the officials had access to though.

It's good to see the team step up. Add some offense, get O'Neill well and let's see what happens next season.

Now, go beat the hideous Lightning tomorrow ;)

SouthernHockeyChick

03-12-2004, 10:22 PM

I would so love to see Staal put on about 25 pounds of muscle over the summer. Poor thing, he just gets pushed off the puck. He was better tonight though, but some bulk to go along with that skill would be helpful!

LOL. Our seat neighbors tonight said that Staal needs to put on about 25 pounds of ass. I'd have to agree.

rons#1fan

03-12-2004, 10:25 PM

SouthernHockeyChick

03-12-2004, 10:28 PM

Ronnie who?

Nice to see a good game when it seems like everyone is bailing on this team. If the babies can play this well, I think I'll live. Let's hope they take that game plus some to Tampa tomorrow night.

Jeffy Who?

Excuse me? WTF is that all about? :crazy:

BTW, anyone know what happened to Joe? I don't believe I saw him on the ice in the third. Is he hurt? Anyone hear or see anything?

talkingcanes

03-12-2004, 10:28 PM

Oh, and that "fight" Jesse had, I told my brother that it was a shame to have to take a 5 minute penalty for that ;) Should have just patted them on the heads, said nice try and sent them on their way to the bench :beatup:

apolinar

03-12-2004, 10:48 PM

Whoa! Don't make fun of the fight. Did you see the first punch Jesse laid on the guy? The guy went to grab for Jesse and at the same time Jesse motioned that he was gonna grab... and all of a sudden the left hand becomes a fist and lays right on the guy's jaw!!!! The fight didn't last long but if you missed that Ninja blackbelt technique you would think the fight stunk. The thrasher got thrashed in one punch and had every right to throw jesse down to protect himself.

BTW, I'm gonna jump in here and say I am starting to see the improved flow to the game, the complete turnaround of the power play flow, and the much improved play of our young uns since Ronnie left. Once again flame me at will and all those die hard Ronnie fans step up and defend him, but we are seeing just the beginning of what this team could have done all year had everyone just played their game. Vrbata with points in the last two games. All of a sudden the blueliners can score. And everyone is taking their responsibility in adding grit to this team. Oh, I just saw a monkey jump off the team's back when the responsiblity for helping Ronnie get a 50 goal season left the building too. The boys look much looser. I guess miracles happen when you move out the two guys with the worst plus minus on the team (ronnie and O) instead of waiting for them to get their game back.

And final Kudos to section 328 for their strong cheering (led by the storm squad at times) and really bringing back the feeling of being a caniac. And thank you for not doing that droning noise. :)

PhilEsposito

03-12-2004, 11:02 PM

Note to Apolinar: The improvement in flow has been a gradual affair over about two months. There have been a few clunkers where there was no flow. The most glaring example of which was the Sat. noon game in Devilland. What HAS happened since Ronnie has left is that the two guys who came on the roster, Bayda and Ziggy, are skating like the blazes. Jesse, who IMO, posesses some offensive skills, has benefited by being paired with these two. He's getting some shots off and he's looking pretty good. What you are seeing is flow from the fourth line.

Brindy is obviously feeling better and playing hard and Cole has found his game. These two events have been gradually coming on over the past several weeks

Kads is now paired with Verbata which makes the Verb better. He was not as good tonite as he was against TB, but he was visible tonite.

Hedican has learned to skate the puck out of the zone and into the offensive zone, and instead of looking like David Tanabe (OMG, i've crossed the blue line. What do I do now?), he knows now what to do with it. Ward has had a thourough make over by Lav.

You are seeing some results from the coaching change, and now, insertion of a couple of youngsters who are auditioning for next year. I like it.

apolinar

03-12-2004, 11:15 PM

Oh, and BTW what about that awesome move by Svoboda at the net??? Where did that come from? He did everything to deke the defense and get the puck to the net. Nurminen just happened to be in the right place. His puck handling has all of a sudden become beautiful. I hate to say it but I can't wait for next year.

And Philesposito... I agree with every one of your points. But the flow we had over the last two months just couldn't win any games at home nor get any goals in the net. The players are passing and shooting with just so much confidence that wasn't there in the last two months. And you can't convince me that the physicality has stepped up prior to the last two games. I don't think I've said "oof!" as many times as I have over the last two games. But overall I agree, a few chips have fallen in place. But now we can really see some of these improvements work without some of the vets on the ice. The breakaways are becoming more frequent and the ice is opening up. (When was the last time you saw Ronnie on a breakaway?)

rons#1fan

03-12-2004, 11:24 PM

I agree with you PhilEsp - a nice non-bias look into what you see as a success for tonights win. Coach LAV said when he first got here, he was not going to overwhelm the team by forcing his entire system on them at once. He was going to spoon feed a little at a time. LAV was getting frustrated because there was little or no effort and other times they were clicking. Tonight is one of those nights they were clicking and it doesn't matter what players were or were not there. Let's hope Coach Lav has a successful system and the team continues to execute it for future success.

It is just coincidence that Ron and O happen to be gone (for whatever reason). We can not put the success or failure of a team on two people. It's a team effort which has been said all along and we saw a great team effort tonight. Period.

goalie33

03-12-2004, 11:27 PM

And final Kudos to section 328 for their strong cheering (led by the storm squad at times) and really bringing back the feeling of being a caniac. And thank you for not doing that droning noise. :)

The Storm Squad only led us once. Flanman took hold and the Squad guy just sat back and enjoyed the experience, as evidenced by the fact that Flan cut everyone off to do the goalie chant, then resumed normal activities. As far as the droning goes, there's some link to ending it and getting scored on, so I don't know about its future. At the same time, however, I don't really see the problem. 2,600 people (the number of student tickets for each NC State home game) can't be wrong.

I'm loving the lines over the last couple of games. Jaro is hitting, and proving that he doesn't want to be a scratch. Both the Svoboda-KAdams-Vrbata and Bayda-Zigo-Jesse lines look great. I don't really like Joe with Willy and Staal, but he wouldn't do much better with the CAB line so it doesn't matter. After watching effort like this, it gets crazy to think about what we can do with the offensive force that Brendl can be on top of it. Despite the two goals, Weekes was sharp sharp sharp, as was Nurminen, although I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see the kid, Kari Lehtonen. He's 20, he's amazing, he's got a butterfly as wide as Texas, and he'll win the Calder and the Vezina one day. You heard it here first.

Stormbringer

03-12-2004, 11:46 PM

Ronnie who?

Nice to see a good game when it seems like everyone is bailing on this team. If the babies can play this well, I think I'll live. Let's hope they take that game plus some to Tampa tomorrow night.

Jeffy Who? He wasn't there either. Injury no injury, bail no bail, they were both gone and everyone stepped up. Why does it always get down to pointing fingers. For whatever reason, the team did well and let's all celebrate that fact. Just my opinion...

It is just coincidence that Ron and O happen to be gone (for whatever reason). We can not put the success or failure of a team on two people. It's a team effort which has been said all along and we saw a great team effort tonight. Period.

Precisely. Both Ronnie and O's absences are doing the one thing I hoped they would, make the team step up and play. And play they certainly can...the coaching is also a great help. I doubt this team would be so fiery under Mo. Again, the only thing in the way of the Canes, if they keep up playing like they did tonight and Wednesday night, is the CBA. Not to mention how they were playing at Columbus...oops, I guess that doesn't count because Ronnie played (and got an assist). With that said, Ronnie's trade AND O's being out have definitely upped the fire within the team, but one could argue that fire was sparked by what was a great game in Columbus...

SouthernHockeyChick

03-13-2004, 01:21 AM

Ronnie who?

Nice to see a good game when it seems like everyone is bailing on this team. If the babies can play this well, I think I'll live. Let's hope they take that game plus some to Tampa tomorrow night.

Jeffy Who? He wasn't there either. Injury no injury, bail no bail, they were both gone and everyone stepped up. Why does it always get down to pointing fingers. For whatever reason, the team did well and let's all celebrate that fact. Just my opinion...

I'd like to point out that this post was edited AFTER I responded asking for clarification. The original post included no explanation....simply a "Jeffy who?" which probably explains my confused reaction.

I was not in any way pointing any fingers at anyone by saying "Ronnie who?" I said "Danny who?" after Williams' first good game after the Markov trade and he was a favorite of mine. It's my sense of humor and my way of dealing with losing a player I loved. As my post clearly explained, if this team can play that well without the captain then I think I can live with his decision to leave. Some of you are too damn defensive about the whole Ronnie thing and need to get a grip. Just my opinion.

Caniac2417

03-13-2004, 01:22 AM

Great game and win tonight. Brind'Amour came so close to having two goals tonight.

Jeff O Rocks

03-13-2004, 01:23 AM

Brindy did play really well. He almost scored right at the end of the second period.. the guys looked good..skated well and the defense was awesome.. and that first goal Atlanta scored was total bullshi*... that puck NEVER crossed the goal line... grrrrrrrr :mad:

Now on to more road wins!! :spin:

rons#1fan

03-13-2004, 01:42 AM

Ronnie who?

Nice to see a good game when it seems like everyone is bailing on this team. If the babies can play this well, I think I'll live. Let's hope they take that game plus some to Tampa tomorrow night.

Jeffy Who? He wasn't there either. Injury no injury, bail no bail, they were both gone and everyone stepped up. Why does it always get down to pointing fingers. For whatever reason, the team did well and let's all celebrate that fact. Just my opinion...

I'd like to point out that this post was edited AFTER I responded asking for clarification. The original post included no explanation....simply a "Jeffy who?" which probably explains my confused reaction.

Some of you are too damn defensive about the whole Ronnie thing and need to get a grip. Just my opinion.

You crack me up! Talk about defensive. I can pull a lot of posts from you when people have gotten down on Jeff - so get your own grip :D (that's just my sense of humor) and if anyone put a location like yours regarding Jeff I think you would lose some of your SENSE OF HUMOR- or whatever you call it.

SouthernHockeyChick

03-13-2004, 01:44 AM

You crack me up! Talk about defensive. I can pull a lot of posts from you when people have gotten down on Jeff - so get your own grip :D (that's just my sense of humor) and if anyone put a location like yours regarding Jeff I think you would lose some of your SENSE OF HUMOR- or whatever you call it.

My location IS referring to Jeff O'Neill.

And grow up. Ronnie doesn't need me to like what he did and I don't need you to like what I say and how I feel about it. As far as your opinion on ME PERSONALLY.....here's a quarter.....

rons#1fan

03-13-2004, 01:46 AM

Whoooo - my apologies honestly. Someone pm'd me regarding it so I wasn't the only one who thought it was towards Ronnie - really, really sorry honest. Guess all the negative stuff in the forums towards Ronnie has gotten me "testy" and I should know better. Where's the red, embarrassed face emoticon.

SouthernHockeyChick

03-13-2004, 01:53 AM

Perhaps the edited version (added the "Nobody wants me" part) will help clarify things to those that are "testy." I never thought Ronnie whined so I'd think that would have been clear but I guess not.

talkingcanes

03-13-2004, 08:24 AM

Rodgloveswitcher

03-13-2004, 09:27 AM

BTW, anyone know what happened to Joe? I don't believe I saw him on the ice in the third. Is he hurt? Anyone hear or see anything?

I don't know what happened with Joe. There's no mention of an injury in the game write up except for St. Jacques aggravating that abdominal strain.

I don't know what happened to Vasicek either but it sure was nice to see Svoboda getting so much ice time and playing well to boot.

stewart123

03-13-2004, 11:03 AM

I thought Jaro skated well, but my opinion was tainted by the impression that he was ducking contact. Atlanta isn't exactly the closest checking team in the league, and yet my memory is of him going towards the net on a few occasions but fading towards the sides when someone confronted him. He only had one shot on goal in 14+ minutes, but admittedly shots were at a premium. I'll try to watch for him against someone else and see if my general impression carries over, or if I just wasn't paying close enough attention.

Rodgloveswitcher

03-13-2004, 12:29 PM

Perhaps I should be watching a little closer myself. I thought he had a couple of steals and noticed several times when he was parked in front of the net waiting for a pass. Didn't notice him ducking contact but it wouldn't surprise me.

puckin_A

03-13-2004, 05:11 PM