I'm dieing tomorrow. Did I do it right? *

Just finished Garth Ennis's run on The Punisher.  Recently I've been a little disappointed with Ennis offerings.  Crossed was not my cup of tea and I dropped The Boys after about ten issues.  Maybe it is my own prudish nature but I just lost my taste for this months sick twist.  That being said I loved his run on the Punisher and really enjoyed his Dan Dare series from Virgin.  While his last issue on the Punisher did not affect me as Peter David's last issue of the Hulk did, it was still a good end to a great run.

The Hurricanes woke up over the last three games.  Wins over the Phoenix, Montreal, and Tampa Bay had some bright spots for sure.

The Good:

• Samsanov finally scored and it was pretty.
• Staal dropped three on the desert dogs.  That was nice.
• Lost in it all was Wards exceptional goal tending.

The Bad:

• Babchuck and Pitkanen make eerily similar mistakes (The kind I make when I play).
• Teams get real quality chances against our Swiss cheese Defense.

Stats of interest.

• The Hurricanes have 24 points of a possible 40 for around 60% of the possible points they could have attained.
• The maximum number of points the Hurricanes can obtain now is 148.
• The total number of goals allowed this season is 58 which yields an average of 2.9 goals a night.  Below three goals and dropping.
• The total number of goals scored is 56 which yields an average of 2.8 goals a night. I would really like this to be higher than the goals against average.
• The Hurricanes are in second place in the South East Division behind the Washington Capitals by one point and ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning by six points.
• The Hurricanes are in 6Th place in the conference one point behind Montreal and two points ahead of New Jersey.

Last but not least.  NC State beat UNC Chapel Hill yesterday 41 - 10. In a football season that started so questionably the pack is really starting to take on the characteristics of the coach.  It is a nice thing to see this time.   This year the state title belongs tothe Pack.  I think my quote to Ed that afternoon said it all. "Did that just happen"?

Go Pack! - Rich

I'm dieing tomorrow. Did I do it right? *

When you try your best but you don't succeed. *

Not a good three game stretch for the canes. Not much I can say, they look slow and old. They look a lot like last years version.

The Good:

• Ruutu for Ladd is looking pretty good so far.
• The canes showed life at the end of the Atlanta game.

The Bad:

• Pitkaanen pinch's at the wrong times.
• Helmanen got sent down
• No scoring from Staal or Samsanov.

I guess it is the time of year to start thinking about where the team is on the playoff list. I will start looking at stats of teams close to where they are in the conference and division races. Without further adieu.

Stats of interest.

• The Hurricanes have 18 points of a possible 34 for around 52% of the possible points they could have attained.
• The maximum number of points the Hurricanes can obtain now is 148.
• The total number of goals allowed this season is 53 which yields an average of 3.1 goals a night. This is getting worse every game.
• The total number of goals scored is 46 which yields an average of 2.7 goals a night. This is also getting worse every game.
• The Hurricanes are in second place in the South East Division behind the Washington Capitals by four points and ahead of the Atlanta Thrashers by two points.
• The Hurricanes are in 7th place in the conference two points behind Montreal and tied with the Toronto.

* "Fix You" by Cold Play

When you try your best but you don't succeed. *

Your a Heartbreaker. *

Lots of hockey to talk about this post.

I got to play for the first time in about a month the Thursday before last. I played D again. Not where I wanted to but hey it is what it is. I was able to carry the puck a little bit this time which was fun and I'm glad to be attempting that a little more. I got an assist on a goal midway through the game but your DC Gladiators could not pull it out and we lost by a pair of late goals. Fun game though.

And now on to the hurricanes. It was a weeks worth of ups and downs topping off with me visiting the unfriendly confines of the Verizon Center. To take in a hurricanes capitals game. It was a fun game to watch until about three minutes from the end of the game. In three minutes the hurricanes went from winning a tough hockey game to losing and I was there to witness it all. Seimen is having an excellent start and he brought them back on his shoulders alone. I was really worried that the canes would take that loss hard but they bounced back with a close win over Ottawa on Friday.

Stats of interest.

• The hurricanes have 18 points of a possible 28 for around 64% of the possible points they could have attained.
• The maximum number of points the Hurricanes can obtain now is 154.
• The total number of goals allowed this season is 40 which yields an average of 2.8 goals a night. This is getting better.
• The total number of goals scored is 41 which yields an average of 2.9 goals a night. They are very close to kissing their sisters.

OK, Some comics now. I just had the displeasure of reading Crossed written by Garth Ennis. I'm starting to realize that Ennis's stories basically involve sex and violence mixed together in the most deplorable way possible. In Preacher and the Punisher, that seemed to fit but this underlying story element is in every yarn he cooks up, no matter the back drop or characters. It is getting old. Really old. I won't be buying the next issues. I really did like preacher and his run on The Punisher but as survival horror fiction goes I think you can do better by taking a look at Kirkmans "The Walking Dead."

* "Heartbreaker" - Pat Benatar

Your a Heartbreaker. *