A Win!

The Canes did something last night that they have not done in a while, well a few things.




First off, they beat a team who is below them in the standings. That hasn't happened in a bit. They also scored a shorty. The first all season. Yep, we were the last team in the league to score a short-handed goal this year. Of course it would come at the hands of Chad "The Chuck Norris of Hockey" LaRose. Here he is in celebration after the game.

Whilst at the game, I took a few pics from the warm up:

Someone should tell Brandon Sutter he may score more if he shoots with his eyes open.

Even Eric Staal was in amazement of Chad LaRose.

And here's one for the Leaf Fans out there.

Tampa Bay vs. The Canes

We'll try a new format for how I preview an upcoming game.



Malts to add:



3.3 pounds of a Tampa Bay team that is on somewhat of an upswing lately. They've won the past 3 in a row, 7 out of the last ten, some of them against some good teams. Their team seem to be finally gelling into form, but will it be early enough to make a push for the playoffs?



3.3 pounds of a Hurricanes team that streaky at best lately. Every time they start a win streak they almost immediately negate it by a losing streak of equal negative value.



Hops(Who's Hot):



Lightining: Just about everyone right now. St. Louis has 21 points in 14 games. Wow. Vinny has 7 in 4. There are 9 other lightning players who have at least a 2 game streak running.



Canes: Amazingly Roddie has 3 points in 3 games. Ruutu has 2 in 2. And the Camster isn't doing too bad. He's .960 in the last 3 games played, with a record of 2-1-0.



Trub(Who's Cold):



Tampa: Not really anyone. Not even Stamkos.



Carolina: Ugh, so many. Eaves (please trade him!) has 0 in 12. Samsonov has 1 in 7, and Staal has 1 in 4. Not good statistics.



Tampa has more injuries than the Canes do, but it hasn't seemed to matter much lately. However, I'm feeling somewhat optimistic for this game, as the Canes normally do fairly well against Tampa. 3-2 Canes in OT.







In beer news, I'm going to try one of my Porters tomorrow evening!! Yeah, it's a bit early. Only 13 days of bottle conditioning, but I want to see how a kind "green" beer tastes and how it gets better with more aging.

Audience Participation!

Earlier in the week my good friend Mike sent me a picture on the Blackberry for me to post on the blog, and it got me thinking. This would be a great way for all the millions (hehe) of you to help with the blog.



Anytime anyone wants to, if you're out at a bar or pub take a picture of a tap, all the taps, or just the tap you used while at the bar. Take it with a cell phone, or a regular camera, however, then send it to me here on the blog and I'll post about it. Just let me know where you took it.



So starting off with number one, here is Mike's from the Leesville Tap Room in North Raleigh.

The Next Batch!

The third batch is brewed and a'bubblin! Yesterday, soon to be married Tyler came over to help brew his Bachelor Party Ale. Brewing an ale to his tastes are a bit difficult. He likes pilsners, but since those are lagers, we didn't really have the time it takes to produce a good lager. I have the cold required, just not the time.

So to start out the pilsner wannabe, we have our ingredients:

• 6.6 pounds of Light Malt Extract
• 1 oz. Glacier Hops
• 1 oz. Saaz Hops (The same hops used in Pilsner Urquell)
• 1/2 pound Crystal Malt 10 Lovibond Grains
• 1 pack Windsor Ale Yeast (My LHBS was out of Nottingham, which would have been better for a more lager flavored ale.)

We steeped the grains at 150 degrees for 30 minutes and then brought the wort to a boil. We added our malt and the Glacier Hops and then boiled for 45 minutes. With 10 minutes left in the boil we added our Saaz Hops for some "Noble" flavor and aroma.

Cooling the wort however took forever. Almost an hour with tons of ice and water. It makes me really want a wort chiller for future brews.

With a starting gravity of about 1.045, we're looking at roughly a maximum yield of 6.25% abv. However, since the yeast we used is not as attenuitive as Nottingham, the final gravity may be a bit higher, so less alcohol. It'll just be a bit sweeter.

With 7 weeks left until Tyler's Bachelor Party, his brew will be ready just in time.

Changing Winds

So the Canes shutout the Leafs last night 2-0. I'm just glad they ended their losing streak before they meet the Pens tonight.



But the bigger story (at least it's big in these parts), is the snow we received last night and today. About five inches fell on us in total. That's a lot for Raleigh, especially since we haven't had any snow in about four years. It did provide me with some great opportunities to take some good pictures. Let's check some out.





























And lastly, here's an update on the brews. The Amber is in the secondary fermenter, and the Porter is in bottles, actually looking very clear, much more so than I expected.

For the Birds

The Canes (Can'ts?) lost to Buffalo yesterday, to no one's surprise. However Sabres' goaltender Ryan Miller did stand on his head for most of the 3rd period Saturday. It's good that the Hurricanes on are a roadtrip this week. It means they have that much more time to win before I show up at their next home game with a bag over my head.


The last time Carolina had a 5-game losing streak was way back with our old coach. I mean new coach. Our current coach. Back in 2002-03, we had two 5-game losing streaks and one 6-game losing streak to end the season on. It seems like Mo is well on his way back into form.


On a brighter note, I bottled my Porter yesterday. Now, in just 3 weeks I'll have some nice home brew to keep my mind distracted from the Canes. Bottling my Porter made room in the Secondary for my Amber Ale. It's beautimous. Check it out.



I'll leave with some pics of some birds. We got a new bird feeder the other day, mainly just so I can take some pictures around the house if nothing else.

The Case against Buffaloonians

I hate Buffalo, NY. Well, I don't really have anything against the city, but I can't stand the people that hail from that part of the Rust Belt. I am speaking totally from personal experience here. In every single one of my encounters with a person from Buffalo at a Hurricanes game, I have yet to see anything remotely close to a person who is good-natured. This aversion all started in 2006 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Canes fans embrace the Southern Hospitality Mantra of the South. We are nice to the opposing teams' fans. We offer them a beer when we tailgate. We look the other way when their team scores and they yell in joy. However, you will never see a Canes fan act the way the Buffalo Sabres fans did (and still do) when some of them came to town for Game 1 of the ECF in '06.

This was 2hours before the game started:

And this was directly after the game:

Notice the little girl trying to take care of her dad after he was jumped and beat up by two Buffalo fans. We actually called 911 for this incident. And this was after the Buffalo Sabres WON the game. This scene was repeated all around the RBC Center parking lot that afternoon.

Here is an article stating that half the number of people arrested for the entire previous season, were arrested during this one game.

My own group almost got into a fight because two Buffalo fans thought they were tough and and started poking and shoving my fiance'. All she had said was for them to just "get out of here." Those words do not demand a reaction of physicality on a woman.

Ever since that one game, the Raleigh PD has had to increase their force at any Buffalo game by a degree of magnitude. Instead of having 3 cops for the entire 3rd level, when the Buffalo Sabres come to town, there are 2 officers for every entrance to the 3rd level!

That's over 40 cops.

Just for the 3rd level.

This happens for no other team that comes to Raleigh.

If you are a Buffalo Sabres fan and are reading this, I challenge you to change my mind. Show me that you are decent folk. I challenge you all collectively to act like civilized people. There is not a fine line between being passionate about your team and being completely classless jackasses.

Related, the Canes play the Slugs tonight, in Buffalo. I fear for the safety of any Canes fan being there.

My only prediction for this game is that it could swing either way for the Canes. They will either snap out of their funk and kill the Sabres 4-1, or they continue with their current ways and lose 5-2.

The Canes got an earful from Mo yesterday in practice, let's see if it helps.