head coach: Paul Maurice

roster: C - Keith Primeau, Jeff O'Neill, Sami Kapanen, Kent Manderville. LW - Gary Roberts, Geoff Sanderson, Kevin Brown, Stu Grimson. RW - Robert Kron, Kevin Dineen, Steve Rice, Chris Murray, Nelson Emerson, Steve Leach. D - Glen Wesley, Steve Chiasson, Steve Halko, Adam Burt, Curtis Leschyshyn, Kevin Haller, Jeff Brown, Enrico Ciccone. G - Sean Burke, Trevor Kidd.

injuries: Curtis Leschyshyn, d (groin, day-to-day); Jeff Brown, d (back spasms, indefinite).

transactions: None.

standings:

GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   HOME      ROAD
 3   0   3   0     0    7   11  0-1-0     0-2-0

game results:

10/01 at Tampa Bay  L  4-2
10/03 Pittsburgh    L  4-3
10/04 at Ottawa     L  3-2

team news:

by Brad Kane, Hurricanes Correspondent

New city, new state, new name, new uniforms....same results.

That most snakebitten of franchises, the Hartford Whalers, has become the Carolina Hurricanes. That much you may already know. You may also know something about the separation from the state of Connecticut that took on soap opera-like proportions. You may have even heard of THE PIG. But, here's a news flash: The management, the coaches, and the players are still the same. Let's just say it hasn't been pretty so far. A record of 0-3-0, including a home opening loss to Pittsburgh, has put the team in not necessarily a large hole, but a pretty good-sized one nonetheless. Start digging....

THE GOOD

* When training camp began, Nelson Emerson seemed to be out of a job. After all, the Hurricanes came into camp with about eight potential right wingers. Worse yet, 'Canes management had been vocal about a need to get bigger and stronger. Not good news for a guy who's 5-11, 175 pounds. Too many smallish, speedy players on the roster, management said. Well, Nellie apparently wasn't listening to all that. After finishing among the team's leading pre-season scorers, Emerson recorded three goals and two assists in the team's first three games. The five points means that Emerson has had a hand in an astounding 71% of the Hurricanes' goals. His scoring exploits have landed him on the team's top line with Keith Primeau and Gary Roberts, supplanting Sami Kapanen. However, Emerson might not want to get too comfy on the first line. He's a notoriously fast starter, slow finisher.

* After selling approximately 3,000 season tickets for the 21,000 Greensboro Coliseum, the team's temporary home for two years, disaster seemed imminent. If two hockey teams play a game and no one shows up to watch, does it count? However, the naysayers were quieted after 18,661 showed up for the home opener against Pittsburgh. Nevermind the fact that Carolina fans becoming acclimated to the game think that Tyler Wright is better than that Lemieux guy ever was. For now, it's something for the franchise to hang its collective hat on.

* Kevin Dineen. Kevin 11. The heart and soul of the franchise. Fittingly, Dineen, who scored the final goal in Whaler history, scored the first goal in Hurricane history. Ironically, both tallies came against Tampa Bay. The only difference was in how the goals were scored. The Whaler goal came during a scrum in front of the net, while the Hurricane goal was a 50-foot slapper.

THE BAD

* After coming to Carolina in a four-player deal that saw goalie-of-the-future Jean-Sebastien Giguere get traded to Calgary, Gary Roberts was expected to become the team's go-to goal scorer. But, three games into the season, Roberts has yet to hit the back of the net.

* Sean Burke may not be saying it, but he can't be happy being relegated to the bench for two of the first three games. Trevor Kidd, who also came over in the Roberts deal, got the call against Tampa Bay and Ottawa. Burke also can't be feeling too comfortable these days knowing that Carolina GM Jim Rutherford is attempting to trade him. Burke will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. For now, there are no takers, but just wait until Ron Hextall strings together three or four stinkers. And don't laugh Flyer fans, you know it's coming. Philly GM Bobby Clarke will give Burke the four million or so that he wants and all will be well.

* Chalk up one disallowed goal that should not have been. With 2:30 to go in the Tampa Bay game, Geoff Sanderson scored a goal waived off by referee Lance Roberts. Roberts claimed that Kevin Dineen was in the crease. Dineen claimed that he was pushed in by a Lightning defenseman. Replays justified Dineen's claim. The goal would have tied the game. Did someone say snakebitten?

THE UGLY

* Some say that the Hurricanes' uniforms look like Detroit's, especially the all-red road models. I prefer to compare them to the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario junior league -- the junior team of Eric Lindros, among others. (That's two Flyer references already in this article; no more, I promise.)

* What happens when you put a man inside a pig costume, stuff him inside a Zamboni, and then fill the Zamboni with dry ice? Sounds like a high school science experiment, right? Well, no, actually it's an NHL science experiment. Namely, the Carolina franchises' contribution to the betterment of humanity through science. In an effort to come up with a kickin' mascot, the geniuses in the Hurricanes PR department devised the idea of a pig; a hog, a happy-go-lucky, mud-wallowing, sometimes talkative member of the class mammalia. Quick history lesson: In June 1995 a 25-million-gallon hog waste lagoon collapsed in Onslow County, NC, polluting the New River. Hurricanes Bertha and Fran tore through the state in 1996. Anyone sensing a pattern here?

The Hurricanes decided to unveil the mascot during a pre-season game against Detroit. With a "professional" hog caller present, the Zamboni wheeled out to center ice and opened, revealing only the pig's feet, shaking uncontrollably. Phil Madren, the 32-year-old, err, guinea pig the team hired to play the pig had suffered a seizure due to a lack of oxygen; a lack of oxygen caused by the dry ice. The Zamboni retreated from the ice, pig included, and an ambulance whisked Madren away to safety. The pig was AWOL for the home opener, but the Hurricanes promise that it will be back, still played by Madren, this time with a name. No word on how may children were permanently scarred by the incident.

That'll do, pig.

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