Washington Capitals 3, Carolina Hurricanes 0

Carolina Hurricanes Eric Staal
“We thought we were going to break through with one and get this crowd going. But it was unfortunate that it didn’t happen.”

The Sports Network
“Washington took a 1-0 lead just after the midway point of the first period. A John Erskine left-point shot hit David Steckel at the edge of the crease, causing him to fall into (Cam) Ward. While on the ice, Steckel dished over to Hendricks for a successful backhander, despite protests of illegal contact.”

Carolina Hurricanes Coach Paul Maurice
“I didn’t feel (the officials’) argument that Cam was expanding out into the player—in which case the player has the right to his own ice. For me, he didn’t. Cam was focused on the shot and their player came into him. So I didn’t agree with the call at all. I didn’t agree with the interpretation. I think he was absolutely wrong.”

Joe Beninati, Capitals Play-By-Play Announcer
“The Hurricanes were trying to put on a good show for their home crowd in their home opener, but the Capitals would not cooperate. The team discipline in the neutral zone had to be frustrating for the Canes. There wasn’t must room and as a result very little skating flow over large pockets of play.”

Corey Masisak of CSNwashington.com
“(Capitals’ coach) Bruce Boudreau said he felt this was the team’s most complete effort of the season, and the statistics agree. The Capitals thwarted five Carolina power plays, won 58.6 percent of the faceoffs, blocked 16 shots and held the Hurricanes to only 10 attempts on goal in the final period despite a spirited comeback effort.”

Luke DeCock, News & Observer sportswriter
“If there’s one area in which this franchise indisputably leads the NHL, it’s the ability to grill and chill before a game. What the Hurricanes may occasionally lack on the ice, their fans make up for on the asphalt.”

Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes, tonight at 7 p.m.

Carolina Hurricanes Coach Paul Maurice:
“I don’t think we’re going to fight trying to keep that emotion or that energy down tonight. I think tonight you want to try to use the home crowd. We are ready to get caught up a little bit in the home opener and put a bit of a show on, as long as you don’t take it to extremes and don’t try to do things with the puck that you shouldn’t because you’re at home. That’s the real danger here against Washington, is if you try to get real fancy on them they’ll burn you.”

Washington Capitals Defenseman Mike Green:
“I don’t know what it is. It’s not quite a rivalry ,but our games are always interesting against those guys. They play hard, they’ve got some great players and I don’t know what it is against that team, but it’s always a nailbiter, that’s for sure. There’s not a second where you can take a break with these guys. They work their bags off and we know that and expect that from them.”

Associated Press Sportswriter Joedy McCreary
“The young Carolina Hurricanes have proven those skeptics wrong who predicted they might be eliminated from the playoff chase before their home opener. They wound up emerging from a daunting season-opening seven-game road trip with a winning record while showing signs that they could be very much a factor in the Southeast Division.”

Carolina Hurricanes Defenseman Jamie McBain
“One of the big things following a big road trip like that is camaraderie between the guys and just being able to gel with them and get to know them, espeically with the young group we have and getting to know the older guys. Obviously having the success on the ice, getting to come back with a winning record, that’s huge after a tough trip like that.”

Betus.com writer Dave Bond
“The Washington Capitals are sleeping giants ready to awaken but the Hurricanes have Cam Ward who is 7-1-1 with a 1.99 goals against average at home versus the Washington Capitals in his last nine games. The youngsters in Carolina should continue to surprise. If Washington wins it will be a close game guaranteed!”

N.C. State’s offensive production this season is amazing when you consider that it started the season with real questions on the offensive line and huge doubts about its running back situation. 

It’s a given that Russell Wilson is one of the ACC’s best players, but even with Wilson, you can’t help but be impressed by State’s output so far. The Wolfpack leads the ACC in total offense at 448.9 yards per game, a number that would ranks second all-time in Pack history. The only team with better production – the Philip Rivers attack of 2003.

Here’s a breakdown of N.C. State’s best seasons for total offense per game:

1, 453.2 (2003) … Philip Rivers at quarterback
2, 448.9 (2010) … Russell Wilson at quarterback
3, 442.8 (1998) … Torry Holt at receiver
4, 432.5 (1972) … First year of Lou Holtz and split-back veer
5, 409.9 (1973) … Second year under Holtz

That’s essentially what happened to Wilson against Virginia Tech. The game plan called for State to challenge the Hokies down the field, and Virginia Tech grabbed three interceptions – and a win. It was a bold approach, but State never would have run the ball against Tech and won.

NEWS RELEASE – The Duke women’s basketball team has been predicted to finish atop of the 2010-11 ACC Women’s Basketball standings for the first time since 2005. The predictions, announced today, were made by a vote of the Blue Ribbon Panel, consisting of national and local media, as well as school representatives.

The Blue Devils, who earned 24 of a possible 33 first-place votes, are coming off a 2009-10 campaign in which they were regular season ACC co-champions and won their sixth league Tournament title. Duke posted an 8-4 record against ranked opponents last season and was listed in the Top 25 of the AP Poll for 206-straight weeks, which marks the longest current streak in the ACC and is third nationally.

Following Duke is North Carolina with six first-place votes, 2009-10 regular season ACC co-champion Florida State, which received two first-place votes, and Maryland. Georgia Tech was picked to finish fifth, followed by NC State in sixth, which received one first-place vote. Boston College, Miami, Wake Forest, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Clemson rounded out the selection order.

The Preseason All-ACC Team is highlighted by Duke guard Jasmine Thomas, who enters her senior season having started 60 consecutive contests. Thomas earned All-America honors as a junior and has been named a preseason candidate for the John R. Wooden Award and has been chosen for the State Farm Wade Trophy Watch List. She has connected on 115 three-pointers and has averaged 2.0 steals per game in her career. Last season, Thomas became just the eighth player in Duke history to register over 1,000 points, 300 rebounds, 300 assists, and 200 steals. She is one of two Blue Devils to notch 100 or more steals in a single season.

Joining Thomas on the Preseason All-ACC team are Boston College senior center Carolyn Swords, Florida State senior guard Courtney Ward, Miami junior guard Shenise Johnson, and North Carolina senior forward Jessica Breland.

NEWS RELEASE – University of North Carolina senior cornerback Kendric Burney has been cleared to play and will make his 2010 debut Saturday against William & Mary.

A native of Jacksonville, N.C., Burney missed the previous seven games. He was suspended six games for violations of NCAA agent benefits and preferential treatment rules and was held out of the Miami game while the University worked with the NCAA to determine his eligibility status.

Raleigh native Josh Hamilton has gone from phenom to junkie to MVP of the American League Championship Series and probably of the American League. At least one reporter has followed Hamilton’s entire career and has a unique perspective on the timeline of his life.

In today’s News & Observer, Tim Stevens writes, “Writing about the career of Josh Hamilton has been joyous and sad. From baseball phenom derailed by substance abuse to major league star and playoff MVP, his life has been filled with moments of candor and deception.”

To read more, please click here.

To check out a photo gallery, please click here.

North Carolina State will need a brilliant game from Russell Wilson to win Thursday night, and the Wolfpack leader has not played brilliantly in the past three games.

Wilson loathes throwing interceptions, but he has been more aggressive this season, pitching to experienced receivers, and that has cost him at times. Virginia Tech snatched three balls as Wilson challenged the Hokies deep, and those turnovers led to the Wolfpack loss. Boston College interecepted Wilson twice, although State won, and East Carolina did it three times in a Pirates win.

“We’re being aggressive in the passing game which is good for us,” Wilson said Monday, according to WRAL.com. “We’ve had to take a few shots at the end of games and the end of the half. It’s going to happen, sometimes you win some sometimes you lose some,” Wilson said. “But I’m the type of guy that’s going to keep working every week whether it’s balance, getting the ball on time. Whatever it is I’m going to find it.”

Wilson has to play brilliantly Thursday, and the hunch here is he will. State can not play conservatively against a Seminoles defense that leads the ACC in fewest points allowed at just 16.1 points per game. One interesting note about FSU this season – the Noles have only six picks in seven games.

If its Thursday and it’s in October, Florida State must be coming to North Carolina for a football game.

This week, the Seminoles are at N.C. State Thursday night in the biggest game of Tom O’Brien’s Wolfpack tenure. O’Brien’s previous State teams have started 1-5, 2-6 and 3-5, so Carter-Finley hasn’t seen an important game this deep into the season in a while.

Throw in the fact that its a nationally televised game, and you have high stakes for the Pack. For FSU, though, this is standard fare. The Seminoles have played a Thursday night game in the state of North Carolina the previous four seasons. And this marks the fourth straight time the FSU game at N.C. State has been on Thursday night.

“It is weird how it always works out,” Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday. “It always stinks for us, because Thursday games are always away. But it’s something we’ve got to deal with … I guess whenever we go to North Carolina, it’s a Thursday night.”

For some unknown reason, Fox Sports has had former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman doing color commentary on Washington Redskins games this year… and Redskins fans aren’t happy about it.

In Sunday’s 17-14 victory over the Bears, Aikman several times lobbied for calls that would help Chicago. For instance, he kept saying that DeAngelo Hall should have been penalized for excessive celebration for going down to both knees after a 92-yard interception return for a TD (which ultimately was the game winner). See the accompanying photo.

A guy makes a one-handed catch and runs 92 yards with it for a score and he wants to talk about his going to his knees. With all the jerk celebrations that go on around the league, he says it would have been ok had he gone down on one knee but not two. “Going to two knees there, I think that should have been a flag,” he said.

A couple of years ago, Boomer Esiason called out Aikman for being pro Cowboys. “You would have thought the Arizona Cardinals weren’t even in the building,” Esiason said. “The bias that was coming from him yesterday was stunning. I couldn’t believe some of the things he was saying.”

He particularly blasted him for propping up Dallas QB Tony Romo.

One Redskins fan from Greensboro had this to say online. “He is a forever a Cowboy, We are the Redskins. I would hate to think I had to commentate a Cowboys game. I would totally suck. Hate would prevail.”

Others say the play-by-play guy Joe Buck is even more anti-Redskin than Aikman and that Daryl Johnston, another former Cowboy who covered a lot of Redskins games in past years, is the worst of the three. I suspect a lot of announcers, even if they aren’t ex-Cowboys, don’t like the Redskins because of controversial owner Dan Synder.

I actually like Aikman as a person but he does seem to be rooting for the other team sometimes when calling Redskins games. I understand that Buck, Aikman and Pam Oliver are considered the top announcing crew and the Redskins have been in some big games against good opponents. Other than that, I’m not really sure why Fox insists on having ex-Cowboys doing Redskins games. I doubt very seriously that Cowboys fans would put up with Joe Theismann doing their games every week.