Thoughts From My Couch

We're getting a little bit back to normal after the weird, condensed 2020-21 season. The 56-game season saw the Hurricanes in a new division with a new set of teams that they'd face off with eight times each. That was last season though and we're back to where we started. Carolina will return to their crop of familiar foes in the Metropolitan Division and we'll see games against everyone in the league, including two meetings with the Seattle Kraken in their inaugural season. The race to finish in the top three in the division will begin on October 14 against the New York Islanders. I want to spend some time talking about the team, the new additions, and the expectations for this season.  2020-21 in 100 words The Hurricanes completed one of their most successful regular seasons in team history on the backs of brilliant performances from its stars. The team received contributions all through the lineup and the goaltending was amongst the best in the league, all culminatin...

Five Headlines of Week 4 Kelly Sets New School Record- #12 Notre Dame scores 31 points in the 4th quarter to secure the record-breaking win for Brian Kelly in Chicago, 41-13 over #18 Wisconsin Fear the Wolfpack- NC State overcomes missed FG at the end of regulation, upset #9 Clemson in 2 OT, 27-21, to turn the ACC on its head Razor Sharp in Arlington- #16 Arkansas holds #7 Texas A&M to 10 points, secure a huge conference win to move to 4-0 Tar Heels Stung Hard- Jeff Sims, Georgia Tech throttle #21 North Carolina 45-22 with strong ground attack Sooners Survive West Virginia- Late drive by Spencer Rattler sets up GW FG as time expires as #4 Oklahoma avoids the up 16-13 to West Virginia College Gameday's Game of the Week- #12 Notre Dame 41 #18 Wisconsin 13 (Soldier Field, Chicago, IL) Billed as the Jack Coan Revenge Game, Notre Dame's starting quarterback was getting to play against his old teammates in a ranked matchup in an NFL stadium. The final score doesn't indicate h...

The 2020-21 NHL season was unprecedented. The league, to make travel easier during the pandemic, re-aligned their divisions and condensed the schedule. This allowed for some new matchups to be played seven to nine times that we might not see but twice during a normal season. Games were played within their own divisions and didn't get to play outside of them until the conference finals. One of these new divisions was an all-Canadian division that served to decide who the supreme team in the North would be. Though there were some surprises, most of the teams that emerged were the familiar faces. Vegas and Colorado fought it out in the West Division for the Presidents Trophy. Carolina, Florida, and Tampa Bay renewed an old Southeast rivalry. The East Division was neck-in-neck with some extremely familiar postseason powerhouses. Toronto and Edmonton proved they were the top regular season teams in Canada.  Even with some of the same matchups we'd seen in the regular season, the pos...