No, not the one you're thinking of. Hurricanes, as in The Carolina. You know, the Stanley Cup Champions? C'mon, didn't you guys all watch Versus' wall-to-wall coverage? Oh, never mind.
Anyway, Bush greeted the 'Canes to Pennsylvania Avenue and spent a whopping 14 minutes with them, if you read the speech on Whitehouse.gov. There were some very darkly ironic and truly humorous statements the leader of the free world made while talking to the Whaler-Canes:
"At the start of this season, this team was ranked 28th out of 30 teams. I like to be around people that keep expectations low."
"I appreciate the Coach. Peter, you've done a heck of a good job."
and the truly hilarious...
"Mr. Commissioner, thank you for coming. I'm proud that you're here."
Otherwise, it was a nice speech that mentioned the various charity ventures the players took the Stanley Cup on. Apparently, many of the players have liked President Bush personally. Martin Brodeur says in his new book that he found Bill Clinton (in 1995) to be introverted and Governor Bush (in 2000 and 2003) to be outgoing and friendly. I guess you gotta' be good at something.
Don Cherry's "Coach's Corner" has made itself a nice little site at CBC.ca/coach. I have to respectfully disagree with Grapes on his contention that Sidney Crosby wasn't butt-ended. If you look at the video, it's painfully clear that Maxim Lapierre had the butt-end of the stick into Sid the Kid on Thursday. But this should raise awareness among every NHL player that they have to learn to keep their watch of players on faceoffs. It's possibly just as dangerous as hits from behind.
I've been looking over the teams in the NHL who could use a rental player to take them over the top. A good idea might be, and stick with me here, Pittsburgh. The guy is Olli Jokinen. If Mike Therien isn't going to play Crosby and Malkin on a line, then Crosby needs a running mate to pass to.
Imagine how many points he would have if he had Jokinen to dish it to. It could be an equivalent of a Dwayne Roloson to Edmonton. Not that I think Pittsburgh is anywhere near as good as last year's Oilers, but Crosby and Malkin might be good enough to take on anyone. Or just take anyone from Columbus or St. Louis, they'll do just as well.
The best move of the entire year looks to be Craig Conroy back to Calgary. Darryl Sutter should win executive of the year for this. They finally realized that neither Jarome Iginla, nor Alex Tanguay could do it alone, or even with each other. Conroy appears to have stirred the drink in Alberta, and the Flames are now a contender to make a run in the chase for the Cup.
If I'm the Philadelphia Flyers, I re-sign Peter Forsberg and throw whatever money or players are left at Nashville's Chris Mason. Could he be the answer to Philly's goaltending problem? He's got the best save percentage in the NHL. Either he or Evgeni Nabokov seems a fair trade or free agent signing for Philly. They need a goaltender, they always have, but now more than ever to at least keep them in 1 or 2 of these games.
The New Jersey Devils' new arena in the safe few blocks in Newark is going up at a fervent pace, and they keep adding pieces to make the place a viable source of entertainment. Not only will the Devils house their home games and all of their practices on "The Rock's" two ice surfaces (Like Columbus, they'll have a sheet 24 hours for practice), but the WWE has decided to take their business to Newark, as well as the Big East's Seton Hall Pirates. Add concerts, and circuses, and a production of Disney's "Toy Story" that you could pay 99 cents for in the bargain bin at Wal-Mart for, and they are trying to get 200 dates open in Newark come Fall.
-SFM-
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