The Edmonton Set/Bringing It Home

If you’d asked me after Game 2 what I wanted out of the two games in Edmonton, I’d have said… no, I’d have said I wanted a sweep and the big shiny thing taking the Canes’ charter home. Let’s not lie. But realistically, the result we got is the best I should have hoped for: a split of two tight games, with periods of Oiler superiority but where Carolina has overall looked like the better team, and a Game 5 return to Raleigh with Lord Stanley in the house.

To knock down the controversies:

• The Game 3 winner was good. Miserable way to lose a game, but it could have been 4-0 Oil after the first and not looked any different on the series scoreline.
• Officiating has been questionable, but generally even. Game 4 in particular was generally odd: anything involving full-body contact was fine, but cheesy little obstructions were called very tight. I suppose that’s not the worst way to call a game, but it would be nice to have some predictability, and this whole season has had none. No sense in starting now, I guess.
• Jussi Markkanen is the story of this series for Edmonton. Goaltending has not been an issue, and this series alone has probably ensured Markkanen another few years in the league. He’s proven himself a capable playoff backup, and those are valuable commodities at the deadline. Game 4 could have been over halfway through the second but for him, Edmonton offense or no.

All this Conn Smythe talk has me nervous, so I’m not joining in. Get win #4 first, then I’ll play. That said, if there were a series MVP as in baseball and basketball, Cory Stillman would have the lead for the Finals in my book. (And for previous series: Montreal/Wardo, NJ/Wardo, Buffalo/Brind’Amour).

Game 5, tomorrow night, Raleigh. It’s a good thing American Airlines doesn’t have a 3:00 DCA-RDU with frequent flyer seats open, or I’d be on it, and selling my soul for one miserable seat in the RBC Center rafters.

And for the closer, here’s my post to the Canes Scout.com board “Win It For…” thread, started this afternoon with the team one win away.

Win it for those of us who were scattered around the upper deck in Greensboro in ‘97. The guys on the ice deserved to have someone upstairs cheering for them instead of the Sabres, which is what turned a lonely 17-year-old Virginia Tech freshman at his first NHL game into a Caniac.

Win it for the crowd at Game 4 in ‘02, we who still remember singing Blink 182:

Say it ain’t so, I will not go
Turn the lights off, carry me home

to the team that had given us such an amazing ride, but who we wouldn’t see again.

Win it for the new Caniacs, too. We were all new Caniacs once; we were all new hockey fans once. There’s plenty of joy to spread around.

Win it for Tripp Tracy. Sure, he’s a goof, but he’s spent almost his entire career, both playing and broadcasting, with this franchise. He only got to wear the red and black once, on the bench as an emergency callup from Richmond, but this team is his home.

Win it for the South. The people who said hockey would never catch on here were the same ones that usually accused us Southerners of living in the past. Come join us in the present, folks. The tailgate’s on, and the weather may be hot, but the beer’s cold.

I love being a Caniac.