Forty-two Hurricanes and hopefuls gathered in Cary, North Carolina on September 5th for physicals and photos. From there they flew to Ft. Myers, Florida for the opening of Carolina Hurricanes training camp. Veterans and rookies took the ice at the TECO Arena on September 6th. Twenty-four returning Canes from 1998-1999, three NHL’ers signed over the summer, four players from juniors, two collegiate players, and nine minor leaguers practiced on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday the squad split to play an intrasquad game. The Hurricanes White team defeated the Red 2-1 in overtime. Jaroslav Svoboda and Jeff Heerema scored regulation goals, while Kent Manderville netted the winner during an overtime using the NHL’s new four on four format.
On Saturday the preseason schedule began with the Hurricanes hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning. Canes fans were treated to physical play and a Carolina 2-1 victory. Arturs Irbe played all sixty minutes. Ron Francis, Robert Kron, and Gary Roberts each tallied for the home squad. The following night, Tampa Bay hosted the Hurricanes. This time the Hurricanes came up on the short end of a 2-1 score.
Camp was set to leave Florida after a September 14th game versus the Florida Panthers. However, an uninvited hurricane, Floyd, threatened the state and the game was canceled. Before returning home, the Canes returned Jeff Heerema to Sarnia, Jaroslav Svoboda to Kootenay, and Josef Vasicek to Sault Ste. Marie in the Juniors.
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Roster:
Note: Not all tryouts are included on this list.
Goaltenders: Christian Brosnard, Tim Keyes, Alfie Michaud, Garth Snow, Kevin Swanson, Mike Valley, Kevin Weekes.
Defensemen: Chad Allan, Bryan Allen, Murray Baron, Rick Bertran, Doug Bodger, Ryan Bonni, Clint Cabana, Regan Darby, Darrell Hay, Kevin Kellett, Zenith Komarniski, Kevin Mackie, Mattias Ohlund, Chris O’Sullivan, Ryan Shannon, Brent Sopel, Jason Strudwick, Rene Vydarney, Greg Hadwood, Peter Allen.
Centers: Steward Bodtker, Andrew Cassels, Artem Chubarov, Matt Cooke, Harold Druken, Darby Hendrickson, Josh Holden, Mark Messier, Reggie Savage, Steve Shrum, Jarred Smithson, Lubomir Vaic, Harry York.
Left Wings: Todd Bertuzzi, Donald Brashear, Mike Brown, Marcus Gustaffson, Steve Kariya, Brad May, Ryan Ready, Randy Rowe, Peter Schaefer, Jonas Soling, Ryan Thorpe.
Right Wings: Paul Ferone, Martin Gendron, Pat Kavanagh, Trent Klatt, Mike Lee, Brad Leeb, Vince Malts, Alex Mogilny, Bill Muckalt, Rob Pearson, Larry Shapely, Jarkko Ruutu, Markus Naslund.
Kamloops:
Day 1
U of Maine UFA signee Steve Kariya impresses. He’s got that great speed. He was always buzzing around the puck. Looked very very tiny.
Bryan Allen and Doug Bodger were paired. Allen was pretty much invisible.
Greg Hawgood, IHL megastar, returns to the NHL to replace Adrian Aucoin to QB the VC power play.
Derek Diener, a tryout from Burnaby, got a broken arm when he crashed into the boards. Read more »
At first it looked like a good game but it turned out not to be so good. Kärpät played very well in the first period, but the 3-0 lead came too easily, and more or less Kärpät stopped playing and started to surf around the rink waiting for the final buzzer. It was much easier for Sport to get back in the game, and in second and third period, Sport was the better team on the ice.
Luckily for Kärpät, the crushing start was enough. Kärpät had a few
break-aways in the third period, but didn’t manage to score. Both teams
must improve their play as soon as the season starts.
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The Los Angeles Kings training camp has been filled with positives to date. There are some “knowns” in camp so far- the line of Palffy, Stumpel and Robitaille will give the kings their best offensive line since the Gretzky era- and some unknowns- who will fill in the last two defensive spots and when will Jere Karalahti arrive in camp?
The lines seem to be taking shape without much input from young prospects. Donald MacLean played about as quiet an exhibition game as possible against Colorado on Tuesday, and has not yet impressed the new coaching staff. Younger players like Kip Brennan and Brian McGrattan showed some spark but have already been returned to their respective teams, and none of the leftover prospects seem to have done enough to warrant their stay on the big club. The good news is that the Kings seemed prepared for this and have filled the potential voids with more savvy players who know Coach Murray’s system. Players like Brad Chartrand and Len Barrie have shown some spark and Chartrand will likely make the squad. 27-year-old winger Marko Tuomainen has shown an aggressiveness that should make him stick. He plays a sound defensive game, and has the grit needed to dominate a player on that side of the ice.
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One’s first impression upon meeting Luca Cereda is, wow!! This guy looks
like he’s 17 years old!! Then you realize, he is just 17 years old (He
turned 18 on September 7th, 1999)!! When you watch him on the ice, he
looks anything but 17 years old.
The Leafs chose Luca in the first round of the 1999 NHL entry draft with
the 24th overall selection. He was the youngest player chosen in the
entire draft, but according to former NHL coach and GM, Pierre Page, he was
the “smartest” player in the draft.
He certainly had a whirlwind tour last season, playing on 4 different teams
in his native Switzerland. Luca played for his country in the World Read more »
The New York Rangers began the 1999 Exhibition season splitting their first two games. In Game one, Free Agent Signee Steve Duchesne broke a 1-1 tie early in the second period to guide Detroit to a 3-1 win over the Rangers. The loss did not overshadow Theoren Fleury, as he scored his first goal in a Rangers jersey at 3:54 of the first period off a pass from Valeri Kamensky. The Rangers however managed just one shot in the third period.
Game 2 featured some offense from more of the Rangers newly signed players. Stephan Quintal scored two goals and Valeri Kamensky added a goal and an assist. Mike Knuble sent a pass to Quintal, whom one timed his first goal in a Rangers jersey. Valeri Kamensky tipped a shot by defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre for his first goal as a Ranger. Quintal made it 4-1 with his second goal and Adam Graves added his first 1:12 later to ice the game for the Blue Shirts. Goalies Milan Hnilinka and J.F.Labbe played superb hockey combining for 20 saves and the win. Kim Johnsson again played tremendous hockey adding two assists. The Swedish import is moving closer to securing the no.5 or 6 spot.
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Week one of camp has come and gone. Veterans rehearsed and rookies auditioned and the atmosphere was competitive. Yes, this Blues assortment was like no other. Never has there been such talent present nor emotion visible in camps prior to this one. Chris Pronger, not exactly what one would call happy-go-lucky, displayed his temper on many occasions. And Geoff Courtnall expressed his displeasure with one such rookie’s idea of a “good” check. Then there are the invitees, wide eyed and raring to go. They’ll do anything and everything to capture the eyes of the coaches and scouts. Yes, even dropping the gloves with Prongs. At which Joel Quenneville must have been holding his breath and saying, just turtle Chris. Now that week one has come to a close, let’s evaluate the Blues young players of the future.
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This is the first season Hockey’s Future will cover the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) in depth. For those of you that haven’t followed the ECHL we feel a little background information is in order.
The ECHL is the largest developmental professional hockey league in North America. Formed in 1988, the league had five teams. The original five were the Erie Panthers, Johnstown Chiefs, Knoxville Cherokees and the Virginia Lancers. Only the Johnstown Chiefs remain in their original city. The Erie Panthers are now known as the Baton Rouge King Fish. The Knoxville Cherokees relocated to Florence, South Carolina in 1997 and are known as the Pee Dee Pride. The Virginia Lancers are the most traveled team. They made stops in Roanoke, VA as the Rebels 1990-1992 and the Rampage, 1992-93 as well as Huntsville AL in 1993-94 and finally settled in Tallahassee FL as the Tiger Sharks.
During the 1998-1999 season, paid attendance was over 4.8 million fans. The ECHL will have twenty-seven teams, spread out over fourteen states playing this season. Twenty-three of the Twenty-seven NHL teams last season had ECHL affilliates.
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Ok, so he played regularly in the NHL last season and is in no way a prospect, but he is only a little over one year removed from being the number one overall draft pick. Although he didn’t put up big numbers, mostly because he was handled very carefully by the team and he didnt exactly have a lot around him, he did show signs of why he is one of, if not the, most talented players drafted in the last several years. He has added another 15 pounds of solid muscle, taking him up to between 205 and 210. I will address that in the interview. After seeing him in the first two days of workouts, I’d have to say that the extra size has definitely helped him, without slowing him down a bit. Look for him to have a very good season. Well, enough of my blabber, let’s hear what Vinny has to say.
RH – What is your overall impression of the NHL after your first season?
VL – The speed and the size of the players. It’s a much tighter game up here. There’s not as much room so you have to learn how to get to where you want to be on the ice.
RH – Do you think you learned that?
VL – Yes. By the end of the season I was pretty comfortable with things. I got a lot of help from some teamates with that type of stuff.
RH – Who helped you learn the ropes so to speak? Read more »
Tonight’s exhibition pitted lines centered by two centres picked within two spots of each other in the first round of the 1998 Draft. In fact the Maple Leafs traded down, out of the #8 slot, where the Blackhawks took Mark Bell, because the Leafs management knew that Nikolai Antropov was a project and would be there at #10. .
They both won about the same amount of face-offs. Antropov was bigger but was less able to maneuver in the jammed spaces that occur during the game. In the open ice he moved easily and passed the puck quickly, always looking to set up scoring opportunities for his linemates. In the first period, Bell was behind the Leaf’s net moving out.. Antropov attempted to take control, but Bell maneuvered back and forth behind the net, gaining room on Antropov. But as he started out, Glen Healy poke checked the puck away in what looked to surprise Bell.
In the third period Bell came in on defenseman D.J. Smith and Jimmy Waite, and was able to let off a lightning quick snap shot which Jimmy waite stopped chest high. On the way back up the ice Smith checked Bell. Then att the end of the shift Bell lost it and cross-checked Smith, and continued after the whistle to let Smith know his displeasure. He saw an early dressing room.
Another Hawk prospect who obviously came to play was Geoff Peters. When Leaf centre Kevyn Adams tried to get the puck loose from Thibault, Peters followed him to the corner and dropped the gloves. Peters put him to the ice with a solid left hand.
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