Zach Horner
Last summer, the Carolina Hurricanes won it all.
Now, before you call me crazy and predictably say I am wrong and the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, I will tell you that you are right in saying that. If you allow me to clarify, I will tell you that they won the Traverse City Tournament in Detroit last year — a tournament that has eight teams of prospects from the NHL.
The ‘Canes took home the championship last year, defeating the Minnesota Wild in the final game with goals from current Carolina forwards Brandon Sutter and Zach Boychuk, both of whom made significant impacts the following season in the NHL. Sutter was called up in the first few weeks of the season and scored 21 goals. Boychuk played 31 games, often getting power-play minutes and time on the top two lines.
Other prospects such as Jamie McBain and Mike Murphy impressed the coaches. McBain was called up to the big club March 16 of last year, picked up 10 points in 14 games and is a big part of the ‘Canes defensive corps this year. Murphy is now the starting goaltender for Carolina’s AHL minor league affiliate in Charlotte and helped the Hurricanes feel comfortable with Justin Peters as the backup for the Hurricanes.
So, obviously, this was a big deal. Playing well in Traverse City could mean a greater shot at the NHL.
The Hurricanes sent another team to Michigan this year with hopes of defending their title. Murphy was back after going 3-0-0 last year and defenseman Michal Jordan (yep) and forward Matt Kennedy return as well.
Other notable players going in were 2008 second-round pick Zac Dalpe, recent trade acquisition Riley Nash, captain Eric Staal’s brother Jared and 2010 first-round pick Jeff Skinner.
There were high expectations for Dalpe, Nash and Skinner, as those three are currently fighting for one or two forward spots open on Carolina’s roster. On Thursday night, it was reported that the Hurricanes were on the verge of signing Winston-Salem native center Patrick O’Sullivan. Via Twitter, Carolina general manger Jim Rutherford said, “He will be in Raleigh for a physical, and we are trying to finalize a deal.” I will have more on this battle for the last couple of spots next week.
There are two divisions in the tournament, the Eastern and the Western. Carolina is in the Eastern, joined by the Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets. The Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning are in the Western Division. The teams in each division play three games, each in a round-robin format, and then the top team in each division play for the championship.
GAME 1: The Hurricanes faced off against the Wild in a rematch of last year’s championship game. Carolina lost 2-1 with Murphy making 20 saves and free agent invitee Mike McKenzie (son of The Sports Network’s Bob McKenzie, for those of you from Canada or in the know about TSN) scoring the lone goal.
GAME 2: Murphy pitched a shutout, stopping all 33 of the New York Rangers’ shots as the ‘Canes won 1-0. Dalpe scored the clincher with 56.8 seconds left in regulation on assists from Jordan and 2005 draft pick defenseman Kyle Lawson.
GAME 3: The ‘Canes took down the Columbus Blue Jackets’ prospects 8-1. Kennedy had 2 goals and 3 assists and Skinner had a goal and 4 assists. Carolina advanced to the third-place game. Matt Pistilli, Rasumus Rissanen, Derek Claffey and Michal Jordan scored the other goals.
GAME 4: Carolina defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning prospects 4-3 in overtime on a goal from Skinner assisted by Dalpe. Jared Staal, Justin Shugg and Kennedy scored the other goals while goalie Troy Passingham made 24 saves to help the Hurricanes to a third place finish in the tourney.
Now, you may be wondering why I took the time to write all of these things. Training camp started yesterday. Check out the story on the Hurricanes’ website that has a PDF of the roster.
I already related to you how important last year’s Traverse City Tournament was to certain players. If you take a gander at the training camp roster, you see names like Mike McKenzie (2 points and +4 in 4 games) and Rasmus Rissanen (1 goal and +2) getting invites where they might not have before.
It will undoubtedly be a very competitive training camp for the Hurricanes. But I’ll delve more into that next time.