PR - Hurricanes

CALGARY HURRICANES ARE BACK FOR THEIR 12TH CONSECUTIVE PLAYOFF APPEARANCE

The Calgary Hurricanes' GM Derek Major is in comfortable territory again
this year. This will be the teams 12th consecutive playoff appearance
and as it usually goes, its against divisional rivals, the Saints. "It
sure seems like we play them a heck of a lot doesn't it? I mean they
are a great team and we're looking forward to the challenge like every
year. We plan to built upon our success from last year and hopefully we
can move deep into the playoffs." said the Veteran GM.

The Hurricanes will be looking for a new hero in these playoffs. In the
past there's been a Markus Naslund, a Sean Burke, or a Chris Pronger.
This year it is all about the youngsters who will be led by the only guy
with TFHL cup experience Shawn Bates. "We have a great team I think. I
don't think we've ever had such depth to our team as we do now. Brian
Boucher took us to the finals last year and again this year we have him
as insurance for Ilya Brryzgalov. We have a heck of a goaltending
tandem back there. Bryzzy reminds me a lot of how Sean Burke played for
us several seasons ago." said Bates.

The Hurricanes are all healthy and they are ready for the big battle.
The team has continued to build through its youth movement without
sacrificing any post-season appearances. "Everyone pegged us to be in
re-building mode this year. We do have a lot of young guys but I like
the way the some of the top teams built themselves up. They don't go
out and trade players and make too many impulse changes. They focus on
development. We've done that and we're bearing the fruits of guys like
Alex Svitov, Jason King and Alex Sundstrom who have been with us since
we both drafted them. We have other younger guys on our pro roster like
Michael Grabner, Kenneth McArdle and Kim Johansson. This team has a
great blend of veteran and youngsters and its going to be exciting to
see their speed out there." said GM Major.

The Hurricanes will be kicking it off tomorrow in Saskatoon. Coach
Crawford has confirmed that Ilya Bryzgalov will get the nod as the
starter goaltender for the Hurricanes. Crawford confirmed his starting
line up for Game 1:

Alexander Svitov - Alexander Sundstrom - Jason King
Ryan Getzlaf - Shawn Bates - Maxim Afinogenov
Justin Williams - Martin Cibak - Kenneth McArdle
Extra Skaters: Michael Grabner, Kim Johansson

Wade Redden - Bryan Mccabe
Brian Campbell - Robert Schnabel
Brian Leetch - Derian Hatcher

SHAWN BATES IS THE ALKA SELTZER AWARD WINNER
A member of the Hurricanes received the seasonal Alka Seltzer award for
best plus/minus in the TFHL with a +39. Congratulations to Shawn Bates
in one of his best seasons as a Hurricane and leader of the 'Canes.


Calgary Sun 2007