It is beginning to feel like hockey season!
Yesterday Canes and Coffee cranked out 3 articles including 1 from new writer Cory Fogg who analyzed Sebastian Aho’s play in Finland’s World Cup of Hockey exhibition game. The day also featured Peterborough Petes player and Hurricanes prospect Steven Lorentz as the next entry in the ongoing ‘back to school’ series covering Canes prospects below the AHL level. And maybe most telling that hockey season is nearly upon us was the Daily Cup of Joe post that detailed Hurricanes-ish hockey every day from Friday through Tuesday between the World Cup and the Traverse City prospects tourney.
Carolina Hurricanes at Traverse City NHL prospects tournament
Today’s Daily Cup of Joe will borrow a bit from some other great sources to help build a guide for the Traverse City games which start on Friday and end on Tuesday.
From a Hurricanes perspective, I offered a short ‘what I’m watching’ style preview for Traverse City earlier this week.
From a broader tourney perspective, Kevin LeBlanc from Dobber Prospects wrote a Traverse City preview that profiled each team including the Hurricanes.
And from the rink at practice in Traverse City today, Michael Smith from the team web site offered a preview that even includes (wait for it and just try to contain yourself!) LINE COMBINATIONS.
Short (additional) Carolina Hurricanes Traverse City pre-tourney notes
The link to my preview is already included above, so I will be brief in adding a few extra thoughts before the tourney starts:
1-Winning does matter. While the primary objective is individual prospect evaluation, when you are 9 years removed from the playoffs, winning even at an early fall prospect tourney sets expectation and tone for both the organization and the fan base.
2-History of being a launching pad. These early fall prospect tourneys have been a launching pad for all of Josef Vasicek, Eric Staal and Victor Rask to propel themselves into the NHL training camp with momentum and make the NHL roster a few weeks later.
3-The goat. He is arguably the player with the most needed skill set at the NHL level as a power forward who can create havoc around the crease and score in close. He is near the top of my list of young players to watch both in Traverse City and then in preseason.
Who is ready for live hockey? What are you watching for in Traverse City? Do you agree that winning means more than exhibition type tourney would indicate?
Go Canes!
Tolchinsky just made a great move in OT to win it for Canes.
Looked like Fluery skated off ice at end of first OT shift with a injury.
Great win!! They outshot Rangers by 12 in regulation and outshot them in OT. Canes won almost every face off in 3 vs 3 OT
Hopefully just a “Charlie horse” for Fleury. Prospects looked a bit quicker and stronger on the puck than NYR, with the exception of a handful of so-so minutes in the 2nd that led to some goals against. Overall solid start.
A lot of fun to be watching hockey again. While the Canes won a bunch of faceoffs in OT, they didn’t seem to win the majority during regulation. Was impressed with Wallmark the entire game. Wonder if they flip-flopped Elynuik and Tolchinski how that would work out. Add net front presence to Wallmark’s line and add a little extra skill to Roy’s line.