The Blue Devils placed second in this year's event, with a tough 7-6 overtime loss to NC State on Friday night followed by a 12-5 win over North Carolina on Saturday night and a 5-2 triumph over Virginia Tech on Sunday afternoon.

Duke entered the event knowing that its game against NC State could decide the Cup, and the Blue Devils came out firing, taking a 2-0 lead against the Wolfpack. However, a questionable penalty call led to an NC State tally. The Wolfpack seized the momentum from there and scored the game's next three goals.

Down 4-2 after the first period, Duke netted two goals in the early stages of the second to tie the score. NC State regained the lead with around five minutes left in the second but a Steve Lake tally sent the teams to the locker room knotted at five.

Each team scored once in the third, with Duke taking a 6-5 lead and then NC State responding to tie the score. Both squads had several chances to win late in the game and in overtime before NC State veteran Nick Sabo netted the game winner in overtime.

After falling to NC State, Duke responded with easy wins over North Carolina and Virginia Tech. All Canes Cup games counted as ACCHL league games so it was important for the Blue Devils to bounce back after the tough loss to NC State. Duke will take a week off before taking on Kentucky in two non-league games on January 30th and 31st.

TOURNAMENT NOTES
Duke has finished second (2004), second (2003) and first (2002) in the last three Canes Cups... About 600 fans attended the Duke-NC State game, with the fans split fairly evenly among the two squads. The team thanks everyone who made the trip to Raleigh to support us... Only five penalties were called in the Duke-North Carolina game while 15 were called in the Duke-NC State game and 28 were whistled in the Duke-Virginia Tech contest... Joe Freimuth netted Duke's third hat trick of the season in the Duke-North Carolina matchup.