Ah, the playoffs. When damn near anything can happen in the blink of an eye -- such as a division winner led by the greatest goalie of all time blowing a lead to lose Game 7 in the final minute and a half.
Now that the first round is finally in the books, we look forward to our next victim: the Carolina Hurricanes. I have a feeling that a lot of Bruins fans are going to be surprised by this team. They get almost no media coverage, and to be honest I probably wouldn't know much about them if I didn't live in SouthLeast Division territory.
But mark my words: this team is money. They're old-school, they're clutch, they play as a team, and they aren't far removed from a Cup run. It's an easier matchup than the Pens (which would have been brutal as a second-round opponent) but this will not be a cakewalk. The Bruins could lose.
Fun facts about the Hurricanes:
1) Hey, did you know they used to be the Whalers? This is definitely something we should talk about every single time we play the Hurricanes. We should also act really bitter about it, regardless of whether we gave a crap about the Whalers when they were in Hartford.
2) They don't actually play in the city of Raleigh-Durham. In fact, there is no such city. Raleigh-Durham is an airport. If you want to really piss off a resident of the area, continuously call their hometown "Raleigh-Durham" as a sign that you know nothing about it and have probably only been there on a layover.
3) Prior to this season, the Hurricanes were the last team Boston had defeated in a playoff series. In 1999.
4) Their mascot is a pig. No kidding.
5) In the past 45 years, the Hurricanes won more Cups than the Maple Leafs. In the past 35 years, they've won more Cups than the Bruins (getting angry yet?). In the past 25 years, they've won more Cups than the Flyers. In the past 15 years, they've been in more Finals than the Penguins.
Believe it or not, the Canes also have a respectable presence in the blogosphere. Below are the most relevant, up-to-date blogs I've been able to find. If you know of any others, post them in the comments and I'll add to the list.
Canes Country
Carolina On Ice
Let's Go Canes
Life and Times of a Caniac
Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer
Study of Sports
Sweet Tea, Barbecue & Bodychecks
4 comments:
Kindly discard the "SouthLeast" tag. Doesn't fit this year; look at the numbers, all divisions in the East performed comparably against the other divisions. The Atlantic actually garnered the fewest points in that regard. If you want to label them the "Titlantic" or "Mattlantic" I would not be opposed however. Which division is best represented in the semis?
I say the name stays... takes more than one decent season to remove such a label. Have similar results next season and then the discussion can be had.
I agree, the label is probably going to stick until the deadweight teams (especially Atlanta) get their act together enough to be taken seriously from one season to the next.
1) Have to agree with The Bastahd(great name LOL)The SE gets a bum rap. have had 2 recent Cup champs from the SE. When/who was the last Cup winner from the NE division? yes, Montreal, and its now been 16 years.
2) Also agree with Tom that this won't/shouldn't be a cake walk for Boston(although we do see them prevailing)
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