We interrupt the regular blogging on the impending NHL trade deadline to bring you memories from better time in Canes history...

And for once it is nice to write a player tribute that is not under the circumstances of him being gone either to a trade or retirement.

Tonight in Raleigh, Cam Ward played his 500th game. How time flies. When a rebuilding Canes team decided to go with unproven 21-year-old rookie Cam Ward as their opening day backup, who would have guessed how quickly he would rise to stardom and then become a foundation of the team for the next decade.

For most Canes fans, I would imagine that their greatest memories of Cam Ward are his 2005-06 playoff run and his Conn Smythe award. But my favorite Cam Ward memory and what I think is underestimated in the Canes Stanley Cup win in 2006 happened much earlier.

The background coming into the 2005-06 season was this. After consecutive playoff appearances in 2001 and 2002, the Canes collapsed. They were absolutely horrible in both 2002-03 and 2003-04. This was followed by the full season lockout of 2004-05. When hockey returned for the 2005-06 season, the experts unanimously declared the Canes a cinch to finish bottom 5 in the entire league. Based on the previous 2 seasons that happened, that seemed reasonable. The wild card was how different the NHL was. The league committed to eliminating obstruction-type penalties therefore opening up the game. And the lineups were significantly shuffled with not 1 but 2 offseasons followed by a massive reshuffling driven by a newly implemented salary cap. Newcomers to the Canes included Martin Gerber, Cory Stillman, Ray Whitney, Matt Cullen, Mike Commodore, Frantisek Kaberle, Oleg Tverdovsky and also Chad LaRose and Andrew Ladd who played their way into the mix. It was not so clear when it started, but the result was a league reset and a fresh start for an ailing Canes franchise. But it got off to a horrible start when the Canes lost the season-opener and starting goalie Martin Gerber to injury in that game. Only 1 game into the season, the Canes were looking at a 21-year-old starter with 1 period of NHL experience and very possibly the start of another long season. Game 2 of the season was against a Penguins team that featured a great from the past in Mario Lemieux and a great from the future in Sidney Crosby. Cam Ward played well in the game giving up 2 goals on 30 shots and getting the Canes into and through overtime. He then stoned Mario Lemieux, Ziggy Palffy and Sidney Crosby in the shootout to give the Canes a win. I think more important than the win was the feel-good vibe. I think Cam Ward's quiet calm and confidence were exactly what the team needed to keep their feet under them early and get off to a good start that they would use for a platform from which to build a magical season. Ward went on to go 5-1-1 in an October that set the tone for the entire season. Coach Laviolette's skating and attacking style of play was a masterful fit for the new non-obstruction NHL. And Ward's calm and confidence played a huge role in the Canes playing with a swagger and expectation to win even before it became noticeable to the fan base and later the rest of the NHL world.

So I can name many favorite Cam Ward achievements and moments:

--His 4 consecutive game 7 playoff wins (Buffalo ECF and Edmonton SCF in 2006 and New Jersey in 1st round and Boston in 2nd round in 2009) will forever be a symbol of Cam Ward's uncanny ability to elevate his game when the lights were the brightest.

--The couple huge saves that he made in the 3rd period against Edmonton in game 7 in 2006 before Justin Williams sent the then RBC Center in hysterics with his empty-net clincher will always be amongst the most memorable saves in Canes history.

--His 2008-09 season from beginning to end stakes a strong claim to the greatest season in Canes goalie history. His heavy workload and 39 wins were arguably the single biggest contribution to a return to the playoffs. And then in the playoffs, he was again potentially the MVP in 2 surreal game 7 road wins to clinch series upsets.

--His classy and humble attitude off the ice will always stand out to me in a time when too many news clips and personalities in professional sports are not something that young fans should model themselves after.

But with a great collection of memories to choose from in Cam Ward's 500 games (plus 41 more in the playoffs) my favorite Cam Ward memory will always be my first.

I remember going into the Pittsburgh game on October 7, 2005 with really no idea of Cam Ward even. I obviously knew he was a recent highly touted draft pick and that the team had decided to go with him as the backup. And I guess I had seen him in preseason games a few weeks earlier. But with his jump to the AHL during the lockout season from juniors, I really had no idea what to expect entering that game, and going into it the game really did not have any kind of special billing to it. Best guess beforehand would have been that a talented Pittsburgh offense would tag Ward with a loss and see him gradually trying to work his way into the NHL. But instead Canes fans were rewarded with the memory of this precocious kid coming out of nowhere, seeming undaunted by the situation and acting like he was right where he was supposed to be. This fine moment in Canes history came unscheduled and out of nowhere - kind of like when you find a $10 bill in the laundry except times 100. And it is exactly this collection of special games that swing my overall experience as a Canes fan to overwhelmingly positive despite the rollercoaster of success and failure and mixed results you would assume from more logical 'fan joy index math' like playoff berths, overall records, etc.

So with that congratulations to Cam Ward on game #500 all in a Canes uniform and for the win tonight. And thanks for the wonderful memory from October 7, 2005 and the many more since then.

Twitter=@CarolinaMatt63

Go Canes!

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