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The Calgary Flames have announced that Lane MacDermid who was recently acquired from the Dallas Stars has been suspended for not reporting to the Abbotsford Heat after the AHL All-star break.
MacDermid, 24, was acquired by the Flames in November of 2013 from the Stars in exchange for a 2014 6th round draft pick. Since being acquired, Lane has played one NHL game with Calgary and 25 AHL games with the Heat.
Given that acting GM Brian Burke’s desire to be a bigger and stronger team to play against, MacDermid was brought in for depth in that department, but seemed to have lost his spot on the roster when the Flames also acquired Kevin Westgarth from the Caroline Hurricanes in December of 2013. Westgarth has played 18 games with the Flames since being acquired, and it would only stand to reason that MacDermid no longer felt that he had a place within the organization, beyond playing limited minutes for the Heat.
In 25 games this season, Lane registered two points, held a -2, and raked up 24PIM. Still only used as an enforcer in the AHL, it is likely that MacDermid is frustrated for having played a total of 21 NHL games since turning Pro in 2009.
With respect to the rest of the team, the Flames resumed practice yesterday in which former Calgary drafted goaltender Brent Krahn took part given that Reto Berra remains in Sochi, and Karri Ramo is still out with a knee injury.
Krahn was drafted by the Flames in 2000 but retired early due to reoccurring injuries. The team put him through a tough work out he says, but from the sounds of his recent interview, he enjoyed every moment of it.
That said, the team may need to call up a netminder to fill in for injured Ramo once the season resumes. As things stand, coach Hartley says Ramo’s injury is not serious but isn’t as close to returning as they hoped for before the Olympic break. However, and as I expected, it appears that they are taking a cautious approach with the netminder as the team is in no particular rush to have him back on the ice, anyways.
“Karri’s in the gym,” Hartley said. “He’s getting better but not close to being on the ice.”
As the title mentions, the Flames are just as excited as any of us for the Canada – USA matchup tomorrow given the number of Canadians(22) to Americans(4) on the roster. I think we all have a good idea of which team will have the most support!
“We’ll be in the minority, but it’s great,” Stempniak said. “It’s a huge rivalry now, and we’ll see what happens, I guess.”
That said, the players shared their views on what to expect from that game, and for the most part I agree. Chris Breen was one of the most vocal players during a recent interview, and he discussed how this game will be much different than most Canada games which we’ve watched so far. Given that both teams are North American and filled with NHLers, it should be much closer to a fast paced style that we are accustomed to here.
That said, this won’t be an All-star type game as each team will be playing the body hard and, unlike an All-star game, back-checking as if it were to save their lives. This is expected to be a big rivalry between the two countries, even more so when you consider that these guys all play together or against one another in the NHL.
“The U.S. looks pretty good — you have to admit it,” Giordano said. “They’ve been playing really well, but it’s something I think everyone’s looking forward to in North America. I just hope the guys can pull it out and get a win and go try and repeat. I watched a bit of the U.S. game (Wednesday), and they look like they’re a team with a lot of confidence, and they’re rolling pretty good.”
As Giordano also points out, the Americans have been playing very well and have registered 19 goals during their wins, while the Canadians have registered 13. Though I don’t imagine that scoring will be a challenge for Canada, their defense will need to be very strong tomorrow to keep the Americans from taking any leads.
Provided that Canada sticks to playing a fast paced game and their forwards get rolling, tomorrow is expected to be a very close game, but we all know who will reign supreme!
Thanks for reading!
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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