Playa
10-04-06, 05:12 PM
http://images.tsn.ca/images/stories/20060620/rod_11252.jpg
And the division banner.
And the Conference title banner.
7pm on Versus (formerly OLN)
BRISTOL, Connecticut (Ticker) - A banner Opening Night is on tap when the NHL season gets underway on Wednesday.
The Carolina Hurricanes will kick off the league's 89th season in style when they raise their Stanley Cup championship banner prior to squaring off against the Buffalo Sabres. It is a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference finals, which the Hurricanes won at home in Game Seven before dispatching of surprising Edmonton in another seven-game series to capture the Cup.
Two other games will be played on Wednesday, with the Ottawa Senators visiting the rival Toronto Maple Leafs and the Colorado Avalanche hosting the Dallas Stars.
The season opens on a decidedly more upbeat note than a year ago, when the league was coming off a missed season due to the lockout of 2004-05. It also has given teams a full year to adjust to the rule changes aimed at eradicating clutching and grabbing and emphasizing skating and scoring.
Carolina got off to a fast start last season and ran away with the Southeast Division crown, posting a 52-22-8 mark and amassing 112 points to outdistance second-place Tampa Bay by 20 points. But the team hasn't had much first-game success, going just 6-15-5 in season openers.
And the division banner.
And the Conference title banner.
7pm on Versus (formerly OLN)
BRISTOL, Connecticut (Ticker) - A banner Opening Night is on tap when the NHL season gets underway on Wednesday.
The Carolina Hurricanes will kick off the league's 89th season in style when they raise their Stanley Cup championship banner prior to squaring off against the Buffalo Sabres. It is a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference finals, which the Hurricanes won at home in Game Seven before dispatching of surprising Edmonton in another seven-game series to capture the Cup.
Two other games will be played on Wednesday, with the Ottawa Senators visiting the rival Toronto Maple Leafs and the Colorado Avalanche hosting the Dallas Stars.
The season opens on a decidedly more upbeat note than a year ago, when the league was coming off a missed season due to the lockout of 2004-05. It also has given teams a full year to adjust to the rule changes aimed at eradicating clutching and grabbing and emphasizing skating and scoring.
Carolina got off to a fast start last season and ran away with the Southeast Division crown, posting a 52-22-8 mark and amassing 112 points to outdistance second-place Tampa Bay by 20 points. But the team hasn't had much first-game success, going just 6-15-5 in season openers.