A big bag of wind

For all the other reasons to root for or against the Hurricanes or the Oilers (even to be happy or not with the matchup), I was fortunate to know I’d be happy for someone, one way or the other. Raffi Torres, obviously, if it went the other way.

But back in another lifetime, I covered the Beast of New Haven for a year. The head coach was a guy named Kevin McCarthy. The co-captain was a guy named Jeff Daniels. Two class acts who tolerated a rookie writer just finding his way through a pro dressing room.

So I’ve got someone to be happy for tonight: Carolina’s assistant coaches.

I’ve made this rant before, but this is the first time I have this forum with which to do it, so here goes anew: They play 82 games and then up to 28 more to try to hold up an old hunk of silver. They’ve worked all their lives to do it. Doing it gets their family name on part of that hunk of silver forever. It’s their highest professional goal, if not the highest goal in their lives. And when it finally happens and they do hold up that old hunk of silver, how can you cut to the late local news before they’ve all held it up?*

(At least this year was better than years past, when they’d cut away from the real emotion — people skating the Cup — to a standup interview, where they would talk about the real emotion…)

Hockey season’s over. It’s really summer now. Draft Saturday, then contract-tender date Monday, then free agency July 1. When things get finalized with the last of those two, I’ll try to set up a free-agent signing scorecard here ASAP. The only one I know so far is Tomi Pettinen to Sweden. The rumor mill has another Sound Tiger going to Germany, but according to a recent conversation, that is still just an option. And Bridgeport doesn’t have a coach yet.

Fasten your seat belts. (No, really.)

*-Yes, I know the answer is, “because you’re the only one watching”…

Michael Fornabaio