Hurricanes - PR

HURRICANES DIGGING THEIR WAY OUT OF THE BASEMENT

The Calgary Hurricanes, and much of the pre-season favourites in the Eastern Conference, have all been spinning around in the bottom of the standings in the league. The Hurricanes currently are sitting with 33 points, and only 2 points out of a playoff position, are starting to come around. "This is the first time this season that we've actually won 3 games in a row, it's a good feeling." Said Captain Chris Pronger.

The Hurricanes made many significant moves to improve their roster. The biggest was the youngster Pascal LeClaire, a flop with many other teams, couldn't handle the pressure of playing for one of the leagues powerhouses. The Hurricanes, once renowned for their defensive game as well as their offensive game have been simply relegated to offense only. The tandem of Chris
Pronger and Bryan Mccabe wasn't enough. GM Derek Major, after a fury outburst a weeks ago, acquired several key players.

Defensively, Calgary moved Bill Guerin to the Wheat Kings in exchange for Martin Cibak. Cibak has been a force on a line with super sniper Jason King and the playmaking Brendan Morrison. Cibak has amassed 12-points in 14 games for the 'Canes.

Following this move, Calgary traded goaltender Pascal LeClaire to the Flames in exchange for veteran Brian Boucher and forward Shane Endicott, who was previously traded earlier this season out of Calgary. Brian Boucher has become a staple-mark on the Hurricanes roster boasting an 18-9-2 record, which has proved to be much valuable as a Hurricane. "This team has a lot of great players. They have veterans like Naslund, Pronger and McCabe. This team is deep and I think we are seeing stability now." Said the new starting goaltender Brian Boucher.

The Hurricanes then flipped Shane Endicott to division rival the Bobcats in exchange for defenseman Brian Campbell. "We need a guy that was young. Our top two guys are 2 years away from unrestricted free agency, we need to have someone in here that can grow with the organization. Campbell is the guy, and at 26 years of age, we'll have him for quite
some time." Said GM Major.

Finally, during all of this fury of activity, Coach Marc Crawford was let go. After a TFHL Championship, and 3 and a half seasons as the Hurricanes coach, he was replaced by Craig MacTavish. MacT has had an immediate impact on the club as the team begins to climb the standings again.

"We have a lot of work to do. But I'll tell you this much, we'll be in the playoffs. We'll be back." MacTavish was quoted as saying.


Calgary Sun 2005