Thoughts From My Couch

The day has finally come for 2020 first-round pick Seth Jarvis to make his NHL debut this afternoon in Raleigh. He's projected to play with Jordan Staal and Jesper Fast in the absence of Nino Niederreiter, who'll be out for a little bit of time after leaving Friday's game early. The Canes are playing an afternoon game on Halloween against a winless Coyotes team which feels like a very weird sentence to say out loud, but I guess it makes sense. Frederik Andersen will likely be getting the start this afternoon to close out what has been a great month for the team. They are looking to close out the month of October with a perfect record before hitting the road for a three-game road trip. Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho are both looking to extend their season-opening point streaks to eight games. Outside of the change in the net and Jarvis in for Nino, the lines are going to be the same as their win on Friday over Chicago. With this being an afternoon game, this feels like ...

  Five Headlines of Week 9 Little Brother Keeps Paul Bunyan-  Kenneth Walker III rushes for five touchdowns, leads #8 Michigan State to a 37-33 comeback win at home against in-state rival #6 Michigan. Pure Dominance in the Swamp- #1 Georgia runs over Florida on the road thanks to 21 points off turnovers to end the first half, strong defense in the second half.  Ohio State Holds off the Lion- #5 Buckeyes hold off #20 Penn State 33-24 to keep pace with the other teams in the hunt for the College Football Playoff. Cougars Run Past the Mustangs- After #19 SMU ties the game late, Houston returns the kickoff for a touchdown to complete the upset of the Mustangs, 44-37. Kentucky Falls in Starkville- #12 Kentucky is upset on the road. 31-17, giving #1 Georgia the SEC East title and a spot in the SEC Championship.  College Gameday's Game of the Week-  #8 Michigan St 37,  #6 Michigan 33 (Battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy, East Lansing, MI) This was the most anticipat...

The first back-to-back of the season will provide the Hurricanes an interesting opportunity. Frederik Andersen shut down the Boston Bruins last night to help himself and the team improve to 6-0-0. Tonight, the focus shifts to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks have been in the news a lot in the last few months, especially in the last 48-72 hours following Kyle Beach coming forward as the "John Doe" in the lawsuit filed against the organization. There are also quite a few players in COVID protocol for the Hawks, the most notable being Patrick Kane. Chicago is one of the two remaining teams in the league without a win and their only points have been from overtime losses, including a 3-2 overtime loss to Toronto in their last game on Wednesday night. Side note, the Canes play Arizona on Sunday, the other winless team in the league, and will then play Chicago again on Wednesday. The Canes are red-hot right now, which is why I think tonight is a dangerous game. I think Chicago has ...

The Canes put their perfect record on the line against a Boston Bruins team that has been a thorn in the Canes' side for the last few seasons. The Bruins swept the Canes in the Eastern Conference Final in 2019 and then won in five games the following season in the first round in the bubble. They possess arguably the best first line in all of hockey, dubbed "The Perfection Line", and a strong defensive core. The Bruins are on the back-end of a back-to-back after losing to the Florida Panthers 4-1 last night. The Canes beat the Toronto Maple Leafs Monday night after another strong performance from Frederik Andersen, who is set to make his sixth consecutive start tonight. The lines are going to remain the same as the end of the game Monday. Linus Ullmark took the loss last night, so the expectation is that Jeremy Swayman will be the starter for the Bruins. The Canes need to get off to a quick start because playing from behind against Boston is not a good strategy to have. Th...

The Hurricanes are putting their perfect start on the line against a Maple Leafs team that is struggling right now. Frederik Andersen is getting the start yet again tonight, facing his former team. The Leafs have been struggling to keep the puck out of the nets, losing both games of a back-to-back over the weekend to the Sharks and Penguins by a combined score of 12-4. Their top stars haven't been able to put the puck in the net, which is why tonight is a less than ideal time for that to happen. The Canes will be using the same lines as Saturday in their 5-1 win over Columbus. Whenever the Canes and Leafs get together, crazy things are bound to happen. The last two meetings were an 8-6 thriller won by Toronto in December 2019 and the David Ayres game won by the Canes in February 2020. I don't expect there to be nearly as much excitement in this one as those last two games, but I don't think this will be nearly as easy as Toronto's record would indicate. 1st Period Scori...

  Five Headlines of Week 8 9 OT "Thriller"- Illinois finally completes the upset in a test of wills against #7 Penn State college football's first-ever nine overtime game. Shocker in the Mountains-  Field goal as time expires propels Appalachian State to a win over #14 Coastal Carolina to end their bid for a perfect season, a berth in the College Football Playoff. Cyclones Wrangle the Cowboys- Brock Purdy leads the charge as Iowa State earns a huge win over division rival #8 Oklahoma State, 24-21. New Kings of the ACC?- #16 Wake Forest wins a wild shoot-out with Army, while #23 Pittsburgh handles business against Clemson to position themselves at the top of their divisions. #2 and #3 Survive Close Tests- #2 Cincinnati and #3 Oklahoma escape with road wins against unranked opponents Navy and Kansas, respectively. College Gameday's Game of the Week- #10 Oregon 34, UCLA 31 (Los Angeles, CA) Early on, it felt like UCLA was going to put a hurting on #10 Oregon, jumping out...

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" appears to be the thinking for the Canes so far this season. Frederik Andersen is set to make his fourth consecutive start to open the season and the lineup will remain the same from the Montreal game on Thursday night as the Canes head into Columbus for a Metro Division matchup with the Blue Jackets. The Canes beat the Canadiens on Thursday night behind a three-point effort from Sebastian Aho and a huge goal from Jesperi Kotkaniemi in his return to Montreal to improve to 3-0-0. Columbus has been hot themselves, beating the Islanders Thursday night in overtime to move to 3-1-0. Joonas Korpisalo is expected to be standing opposite Andersen in the Columbus net. This will be the first time former Hurricanes defenseman Jake Bean will play against his former team after being traded during the offseason. I expect this Columbus group to be extremely hungry and feisty and give the Canes a tough game from the jump.  1st Period Scoring (CAR) 7:...

To the casual fan, this is just another game on the schedule. For the diehard Hurricanes or Canadiens fans, this game is something far bigger. All the back-and-forth from these two fanbases and the front offices of each team has made this a potentially exciting spectacle. Stemming from Montreal's offer sheet of Sebastian Aho in the offseason of 2019 and continuing through the successful offer sheet of Jesperi Kotkaniemi and other offseason antics, this could be fun. The Canes haven't played since their 3-2 win Saturday in Nashville, while Montreal is yet to earn a point, starting the season 0-4-0. This is the homecoming game for the aforementioned Kotkaniemi, who has yet to make a major splash in the team's first two games, but this would be the perfect night to see that change as he plays with fellow Finns Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen. Frederick Andersen looks to be making his third straight start for the Canes with his counterpart likely to be Jake Allen. I'm su...

  Five Headlines of Week 7 Hawkeyes Rolled Over- Unranked Purdue stuns #2 Iowa at home 24-7, forcing four interceptions and allowing just 271 yards of offense. Rebels Rule Rocky Top-  #13 Ole Miss stops late comeback attempt from Tennessee in Knoxville with the end of the game delayed by unruly fans throwing things on the field. LSU Swamps the Gators- Baton Rouge was rocking as the unranked Tigers win a shootout against #20 Florida, 49-42. Cowboys Shoot Down the Longhorns- #12 Oklahoma State remains perfect, beating #25 Texas 32-24 in Austin. #1 Georgia Continues SEC Dominance-  The Bulldogs win another SEC game against a ranked SEC team, beating #11 Kentucky 30-13. College Gameday's Game of the Week- #1 Georgia 30, #11 Kentucky 13 (Athens, GA) The Georgia defense had only allowed two defensive touchdowns going into this game. Kentucky managed to double that by scoring twice. That's about as good as it got for the Wildcats in Athens on Saturday. Georgia won their fourth g...

For the 17th time this calendar year, and 15th time when it counts for something, the Hurricanes and Predators are set to do battle in the Hurricanes' first road game of the season. The two teams have become very familiar with each other after spending last season as division rivals before engaging in a hard-fought six-game series in the first round of the postseason, ultimately won by the Canes. The two teams met twice in the preseason as well, both games won by the Predators. The Canes will be at full strength, unlike the preseason, and will be sending the exact same lineup as they did Thursday night during their 6-3 season-opening win against the Islanders, meaning Frederik Andersen will be getting the start in the net. Nashville is coming off a loss to the Seattle Kraken and will be starting a goalie I love to watch except when he's playing the Canes, Juuse Saros. They have a top line that underperformed last season but is out to prove everyone wrong this season. This is bo...

The season kicks off and it's starting to feel like it's all normal again. The fans are back in the building from the start and the team has a bunch of fresh faces. Kotkaniemi, Stepan, Bear, Cole, DeAngelo, and Andersen are all making their team debut and the energy could be felt in the build-up. The Islanders advanced to the Conference Finals last season and are a defensively strong team. Ilya Sorokin starting opposite Frederik Andersen should prove to be a major matchup. It's good to have hockey back in October. 1st Period Scoring (NYI) 7:23- Matthew Barzal (1) (assisted by Kyle Palmieri (1)) (CAR) 9:15- Andrei Svechnikov (1) (assisted by Teuvo Teravainen (1) and Ethan Bear (1)) (CAR) 13:57- Jesper Fast (1) (assisted by Jaccob Slavin (1) and Jordan Staal (1)) Thoughts The Canes were the better team for the first 20 minutes and the scoreboard will show that. The power play set the pace early, especially the first unit, even though they didn't score. The Islanders' ...

  Five Headlines of Week 6 Tide Get Rolled- Field goal as time expires propels Texas A&M over #1 Alabama in College Station in back and forth battle, 41-38.  Red River Rally- #6 Oklahoma, on the shoulders of back-up QB Caleb Williams, completes an exciting comeback over hated rival, #21 Texas, with a touchdown with three seconds remaining. Hogs and Rebels Go Down to the Wire- #17 Ole Miss stops potential game-winning 2-point conversion by #13 Arkansas to win an epic shootout between Matt Corral and KJ Jefferson, 52-51. Hawkeyes Get the Best of Penn State- #3 Iowa wins the battle of top five teams, forcing four interceptions, beating #4 Penn State, 23-20. Broncos Upset the Cougars in Provo- #10 BYU takes a major hit, losing at home to unranked Boise State, 26-17. College Gameday's Game of the Week- #6 Oklahoma 55, #21 Texas 48 (Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl, Dallas, TX) The Red River Rivalry already has a lot of history behind it. On the heels of a four-overtime, rec...

Coming off a sloppy 8-5 loss against Tampa Bay, the Canes are looking to get their regulars going while still seeing how some of the young guys play when playing alongside the big stars. Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho are among the regulars to make their preseason debuts in what is going to be the closest thing to a tune-up before the regular season starts next week. Nashville will also be playing some of their stars with Ryan Johansen, Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene, Roman Josi, and Mattias Ekholm getting some time while Juuse Saros is expected to get the start in the net opposite Antti Raanta for the Canes. With this being the first televised game, I figured this would be a good game to watch to get my style for this season perfect. It's good to have some hockey back, especially Hurricanes hockey. 1st Period Scoring (NSH) :27- Ryan Johansen, assisted by Matt Duchene and Filip Forsberg (CAR) 2:28- Steven Lorentz, assisted by Jesper Fast Thoughts The game certainly didn't st...

  Five Headlines of Week 5 Dawgs Dominate the Hogs- #2 Georgia and their stellar defense pitch a shut-out in their top ten matchup with #8 Arkansas, 37-0.  Tide Rolls over the Rebels- Led by Brian Robinson, Jr.'s 4 TDs, #1 Alabama, bully #12 Ole Miss in Tuscaloosa, 42-21.  Cincy Makes a Major Statement- #7 Cincinnati makes the Group of 5 proud, take out #9 Notre Dame on the road.  Down Go the Ducks- Stanford scores late after blowing a ten-point lead, stops #3 Oregon in OT to earn a major upset win, 31-24.  An Evening of Upsets- Post 6pm kickoffs feature four unranked over ranked upsets with #10 Florida, #15 Texas A&M, #18 Fresno State, and #20 UCLA all falling.  College Gameday's Game of the Week- #2 Georgia 37, #8 Arkansas 0 (Athens, GA) The appeal of having two top ten SEC teams go at it, especially with Arkansas coming off a win over Texas A&M last week, is certainly not lost on me. The game we got was a one-sided affair that showed that Georgia...