Sadly, not for the Canes.

Good afternoon!

Muller said he wanted the team to go out with a 3-0 record, which will completely obliterate the Canes’ chances of getting a decent draft pick in a year when everyone is talking about how shallow the draft is. Am I super happy about this? Not really. It would be nice if the Canes could draft an elite winger to play with Eric Staal. But there are a couple reasons to still have hope (she said, in Chicago on Cubs opening day). Here they are.

1) Rutherford is swearing he’ll go after a big name this summer. Hope is a double-edged sword, obviously, and Rutherford’s said he’ll chase a big winger if the price is right. I very much doubt he can lure, for example, Parise down to Carolina. But I’m not going to put my foot down and say he absolutely can’t get a big name to come down to Raleigh. Someone to play with Eric Staal could completely turn the team around.

2) Muller is focusing on long-term morale and a strong start next year. Remember the end of last year? Completely demoralizing, humiliating loss, shame heaped on the team, and everyone in the media and the organization swearing up and down they’d kill themselves to make the playoffs next year? Yeah, in retrospect that might not have been the most positive way to begin a season. A huge amount of pressure was resting on Eric Staal’s shoulders, which undoubtedly contributed to his own problems and overall morale issues with the team. In the end, I think that pressure is a huge part of why Maurice lost the room.

3) Prospects in Charlotte will be coming up. Dalpe should be ready next year, and there are some other kids down there too (more to come on that later).

Those are the big ones. I’ll talk more about Muller’s coaching and what he could make of the team next year when I finally post about how he’s done with the team this year. But the world ain’t over; just the season, almost.

And hey; sitting three blocks from Wrigley Field, with Cubs fans everywhere, I feel pretty confident in saying there’s always next year.

Home sweet home.

This weekend I drove down to Raleigh with some friends to go to my first Canes home game (I’m from the area but live in Chicago)! The game itself was terrible and I failed at taking pictures because I’m an idiot, but I thought I’d write a bit about my time there.

My experience with hockey in Carolina was nothing but positive. The first night we were in NC, we went to Carolina Alehouse, a bar & grill chain in the South, for dinner. They had the Canes game on, and people were watching it. When the Canes lost, they turned it to the NHL network – and there were four other hockey games on, on different screens. And, again, people were watching the games.

When we went to the game, the first thing we saw in the parking lot was a huge lawn full of people in Canes gear grilling and hanging out. Our parking space was a few spaces away from more tailgaters, and kids playing street hockey. The air smelled like barbecue and there were at least 50 tailgaters hanging out in our section of the parking lot. I thought, oh, hey, this is super cool, look at all these kids playing street hockey (cornhole was also popular), but didn’t think there was anyone else.

NOPE. when we got to the arena doors, we were right next to a section of the parking lot that had been blocked off for a festival-type thing, with booths and a stage where a band was playing. There were at least 100 people milling around and hanging out. It was completely awesome.

The arena wasn’t full, but it was far from empty. They had what I’d say is usual attendance for a Canes game that’s not a special occasion. This is impressive to me because they’d been eliminated from the playoffs the day before, and the game really didn’t matter at all. This was on top of the fact that the Canes had a terrible season.

There were a lot of people of color at the game, and a huge mix of people whose accents tagged them as Southern and people who sounded distinctly not-from-here, which was awesome. Also, when we went to Waffle House the next day, our waiter said, “Oh, so you came to see our Canes win, huh?” and we laughed about how bad they are.

In general, the South is a very divided place. Tradition matters A LOT. So I think it’s really cool that the Hurricanes bring so many different kinds of people together, because hockey is new-ish to everyone in the area, and it gives people something to talk about and a community that they’re all a part of. I feel very strongly about the importance of growing hockey, and of reaching out to new fans. The Hurricanes have done extraordinarily well building a fanbase and creating a community in Carolina. The tailgating, the mix of people, the way the Alehouse had hockey games on – it’s all so awesome to see, because 15 years ago, hockey wasn’t important down in Carolina. At all. And as the years pass, there’s more interest, not less.

And that’s something to be proud of.

Thank you.

Admittedly I’m a million years in internet time late on this, but I wanted to talk about the You Can Play project. I almost think posting late is better, because I don’t want this to be a flash in the pan issue. Time moves quickly on the internet, but as much as people talked about this last week, I want them to keep talking. I’m excited by this being a sustained, long-term effort on the part of YCP. They’ve got my enthusiastic thumbs up.

Obviously I’m gay, like I said in the SI article on Friday; I’m also a hockey and college basketball fan, and back in the day I used to play soccer. I was pretty decent at it, or as decent as any elementary/middle schooler can be, and I really enjoyed it.

But then I got to eighth grade. I was going to school in North Carolina, which tends to have thriving girls’ and women’s soccer programs, and my school had a decent program, so I decided to try out for the team. On the second day of try-outs, though, one girl said to another, “What are you looking at? Are you like, a dyke or something?”

I’d known I was gay for a good five years at that point. I half-tried during try-outs that day, and once I went home, I never went back. I figured if people were paying attention like that, then they’d find out about me. They’d somehow know. So I removed myself from sports almost altogether, until college, when I was in a more accepting environment and I felt comfortable becoming a sports fan.

My relationship with hockey, as a gay fan, has been interesting. Overall, the internet world – bloggers, sportscasters, etc – are supportive of gay fans and hope for an NHL player to come out soon. As I became more aware of sports in general, I enjoyed other sports’ positivity as well – particularly the NBA, who put out this anti-homophobic slurs PSA, along with fining Kobe harshly for his gay slur. Sir Charles’ rant helped too. But hockey is my sports home, and I keep a sharp eye on people’s reactions to talk of gay players and gay fans.

I was somewhat disheartened after the Wayne Simmonds incident, because there were a lot of people insisting that f***** (nope, not spelling it out) was a totally fine thing to say on the ice. I’ve done some trash-talking in my day – just ask my family during Uno tournaments – but I’m of the opinion that some things should be off-limits. And a slur that kids kill themselves over should be one of those things. My response to the arguments that it’s said in the heat of the moment, it’s not meant to be demeaning, it’s not about the player, it’s just a harmless insult, etc., was mostly to put my head in my hands and ignore it all, because sometimes, as a gay person in a homophobic world, you just get tired of dealing with people.

Obviously I know about the Burkes. I was in Chicago when Brent Sopel took the Cup to the Pride parade, and while I didn’t go, I did have queer friends who went, and were very touched by it (I was too busy fighting off the death flu in my apartment a block away from the parade). It was a big deal for an athlete in the NHL to take the Cup to Pride. It was an even bigger deal that the Burkes approved of Sopel taking it in honor of Brendan Burke.

When I first heard about the You Can Play initiative, I was excited. The first video just increased my excitement. Here are actual NHL players supporting gay players, encouraging them to keep playing. Would I have become a soccer star if I’d had something like this? Probably not. But I might have had a hell of a time playing soccer through high school.

YCP is important for a couple reasons. One, they support all athletes – lesbian, gay, and bisexual – which is great, because female queer types often get ignored in stuff like this. But two, because of the legitimacy gained by NHL management and players standing up and supporting gay athletes. Where I grew up, the only time you heard about anyone being gay was when someone was slurring someone else. My mother was one of the more accepting people in my community; she told me being gay wasn’t a good thing, but that some people did it and it was important not to hate them. I was the subject of plenty of homophobia growing up, as were many people I knew. Homophobia is a reality, not a punchline or something to split hairs over. And combating it is vital.

Visibility is incredibly important. High-profile actions of acceptance will help whichever athlete finally comes out to do so. There’s never been an out gay player in the NHL, MLB, NBA, or NFL. Hockey’s got a fighting chance, because of the liberal nature of the sport, and I think it would be absolutely wonderful for hockey to get this kind of visibility and be an agent of such tangible change.

In many ways, being gay is about when, and how, and how much, you choose to hide. And that sucks. So much of our lives are spent navigating the tricky waters of homophobia – at home, at school, and in the workplace. YCP won’t change everything. It might not even change most things. But for me, it’s a sign of hope, and a huge one at that. They’re doing good work, reaching out to young, gay athletes, and I applaud them for that. I can only hope that hockey keeps stepping forward: players, team management, media figures, and fans, all together.

How dare these girls enjoy themselves? Back to the kitchen with you!

Man, things I don’t want to wake up to on a Friday morning: a Sports Illustrated slideshow calling women who enjoy themselves at hockey games “puck bunnies”.

Hockey fans come in all shapes and sizes, buy few are as passionate as the league’s female fans (aka – Puck Bunnies). Whether it’s proposing to a player through the boards or painting their stomachs with the name of their favorite team, these ladies are not shy about expressing their devotion. In this gallery, SI pays tribute to the NHL’s Puck Bunnies.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1203/nhl.female.fans/content.1.html#ixzz1odWuC1FL

It’s not news that the sports world has issues with women playing and enjoying sports. From fans to athletes, the notion that women are somehow inferior persists. Female athletes get less coverage than their male counterparts; female fans are frequently mocked, called superficial, accused of not knowing much about the game, and yes, in hockey, called “puck bunnies”.

Now, to be upfront with you, I’m not attracted to male hockey players, because I’m gay as God made me. But I do tend to follow, and love, certain players more than others. When I go to a Canes game at the end of March, we’ll be in the 100-level and I’ll be dying over Eric Staal. I’ll probably look like those girls losing their minds at Hall and Eberle hugging. And you know what? That’s okay. It’s also okay to be attracted to hockey players. Dying over how great a hockey player is, whether it’s because you love how dumb the guy’s face is or because you think he’s attractive, doesn’t mean you know less about the game.

I can quote Eric Staal’s stats. I can tell you what constitutes an offside play. I can break down the team’s record since Muller took over. I can analyze a game. I love hockey, and I love being a fan of hockey. But honestly, sometimes I don’t want to talk about faceoff percentages or the Canes’ tragic inability to win in OT. Sometimes I just want to talk with my friends about how dumb Eric Staal’s face is (for the record, it can be very dumb).

It interests me that for the most part, criticizing female fans because they also happen to be attracted to players happens from both serious, stats-oriented male fans, and casual male fans. I don’t know if these guys realize that some of these women they’re mocking see more games than your average casual male fan. There are casual female fans too, obviously, but you never see men being scrutinized and asked if they’re real fans of a team. Why do guys who watch every fifth hockey game their team plays get passes, but every female fan, whether casual or not, gets accused of being a “puck bunny”?

Which brings me to, yes, yet another point. Dear dudes everywhere: why do you care if a female fan wants to have sex with hockey players? Level with me here. Does it make you cry in your soul that a female fan has marginally more of a chance with Ryan Kesler (you know, if he weren’t married) than you do? Do you die every night thinking about how Jeff Carter probably doesn’t want to get with you? Last I checked, what every person on this planet does with his or her genitals was their business. Why does society insist on policing who women have sex with, and how often, and for what purpose? I can think of way stupider reasons to have sex with someone than because they play hockey. And let me tell you, if a member of the USA women’s hockey team came up to me, I would be swooning in a New York minute. And there is nothing wrong with that. “Puck bunny” is a term used to degrade women who enjoy themselves and are interested in hockey players. That’s ridiculous.

I’m very fortunate in that I don’t really have any guys in my immediate circle who treat me like my delicate female brain can’t learn sports. But as a computer science major and a hockey fan, you’d better believe I’ve gotten my fair share of “oh you poor thing you don’t know what icing is do you” from guys I don’t know very well. And you’d better believe I hate that nonsense. My integrity as a fan shouldn’t be questioned because of my gender. Do guys get called derisive names when they paint their chests for their favorite football team? No; on the contrary, they get commercials celebrating it, like this Bud Light campaign.

I’ll probably never paint my stomach, hold up a sign proposing marriage, or wear stilettos to a hockey game. I’ll continue to yell, and heckle, and be comfortable in my jeans and boots. I also, though, won’t be putting down women who choose to dress and act differently from me. They have their ways of enjoying the game, and I have mine. And when I go to a Canes game, you can count on the fact that part of my way of enjoying the game will be squealing over Eric Staal.

So if you need me, I’ll be the one tugging my friend’s arm and saying “HIS FACE, THOUGH”. Oh, and I’ll also be the one rushing back to my sister’s place to post a blog about the game. Where, you know, I talk about little things like zone entry and scoring chances.

And if you want to judge me, my friend, that’s your business. But you’re making yourself look ignorant.

Edit: Angelica Rodriguez has another great post about this issue. It’s a lot more eloquent than my post, so you should check it out: “Girls” And Sports.

Don't knock hockey in the South. NC road maintenance, on the other hand, is fair game.

Ouch, Hockey Night In Canada. Ouch.

It’s no secret that Winnipeg is trying to turn around the underperforming team they acquired at the beginning of the summer. They fired most of Atlanta’s staff and spent the summer rebranding the team completely as the Winnipeg Jets, even marking each preseason first as history on Twitter. Winnipeg’s mayor said he was glad to see hockey back “where it belongs”, dust-ups about whether or not the former Jets’ – now the Coyotes’ – retired numbers should be retired for the Thrashers/new Jets occurred, and arrangements were made for Winnipeg to be heavily featured on Hockey Night In Canada. The ghosts of the Thrashers slowly faded as the new Jets’ staff made every effort to distance themselves from the specter of a failed southern market team.

And then, tonight, the Jets debuted, losing 5-1 to the Canadiens. The HNIC announcers’ decided to spend a significant portion of the game discussing the enthusiasm of the fans in Winnipeg, the support for the game in the region, and the likelihood that the Jets would find themselves playing for an adoring crowd every night. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, all of this discussion was speckled with sutble and not-so-subtle swipes at Atlanta in particular and Southern markets in general. Hockey, according to those announcers, doesn’t belong in the South. They don’t appreciate it there; the Thrashers had to scrimp to sell tickets, and players didn’t like playing for the dwindling crowd. The Jets will perform better in Winnipeg, because people care about hockey there. Hockey belongs in Canada. Hockey is Canada’s game.

I wonder at the attitude so many people hold that hockey has no place in the Southern United States. It’s no secret that when the Canes moved to Raleigh in 1997 (or rather, Raleigh by way of Greensboro), the game didn’t have a foothold in that part of the US at all. People in Raleigh eat, breathe, and sleep basketball. Who needs hockey when you’ve got Duke, UNC, and NC State? Not to mention the Durham Bulls, the Tarheels women’s soccer team, NASCAR, and the Carolina Panthers. Well, okay, maybe we shouldn’t mention the Panthers. Regardless, the Raleigh area was full up with people from all walks of life, who were attached to all different sports.

It took several years for hockey to catch on in Raleigh. I distinctly remember, in 2002, the Hurricanes going to the Cup final for the first time, and many people in the Raleigh area being surprised to find out that the state even had a hockey team. The News & Observer all but said, “Hey, you know there’s a team here, right? And they’re doing okay? There’s this Cup thing, it’s kind of a big deal, and they might get it!”

But in no small part because Raleigh’s such a sports town, hockey grew. Traditions unique to the South were established; you can’t exactly tailgate a January game in Winnipeg. The team got better, even winning the Cup. Post-Cup, as the team struggled, fans stuck by them, many of them identifying as diehards. By the time the All-Star game was hosted by Raleigh last year, it was no secret that Raleigh had become a hockey town. Maybe not exclusively, but enough that the Hurricanes have a steady supply of season ticket holders, a solid core of fans, and a set of traditions all their own. There are kids growing up right now who’ve watched the Hurricanes for their entire 14-year history in Raleigh. Some of them are going on to learn to play hockey.

And Raleigh’s not unique in that. Seth Jones, one of the top prospects for the 2013 draft, grew up watching Modano and the Stars. Nashville’s got its share of hockey fans, too, or so I here. And the Lightning saw a huge jump in season ticket sales this year.

The story in Atlanta is different, obviously. The Thrashers aren’t the first hockey team to fail in Atlanta, but they may very well be the last. From the perspective of a Canes fan, though, I see that as an individual failure, not a failure of a region. There’s no shortage of Hurricanes fans who love the game, understand it, and were born and raised in the South. At my sister’s tiny wedding in Marion, North Carolina, there were three people in Hurricanes gear, and the season hadn’t even started yet.

I think Canada has every right to be proud of hockey, and I’m happy for Winnipeg that they have a team again. But when I look at the diversity of sports in the United States, and the various ways each sport has grown and gotten a foothold in different areas of the country, I can’t help but question HNIC’s attitude towards Southern markets. Sure, we’re smaller and newer. Absolutely, many of us don’t live for hockey the way some Canadian fans do. But that doesn’t mean all Southern markets are apathetic and don’t know the game. It doesn’t meant Atlanta fans deserved to lose their team. It doesn’t mean the sport can’t grow and thrive in all kinds of different markets.

No place will ever be home for me the way Raleigh was, growing up. Let me tell you a secret: I’m not from Raleigh. I was born in Naperville and moved to Raleigh from Maryland when I was 7, the same year the Hurricanes moved from Hartford to Raleigh. But I love Raleigh more than any other region in the country, and I am proud to have the accent and the memories that I have.

Hockey may not have been born in the South, but a lot of those of us in and from the South love it all the same. Speaking as a Southern hockey fan, I’d love if our neighbors to the North embraced that, rather than belittling their sport’s growth.

And hey, come down and tailgate with us sometime. You’d be surprised by how much we have in common.