The Carolina Hurricanes are showing Charlotte’s pro sports teams how it’s done
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What’s happening in Raleigh and Las Vegas right now is exactly what you want out of sports.
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This Stanley Cup final is twisty, torturous and absolutely exhilarating. And as it stretches on at least through Sunday, the Carolina Hurricanes are showing Charlotte’s three major pro sports teams how it looks and feels when you are on the precipice of a championship.
I’m not a hockey guy by nature, having grown up in the South and never completely learned how to ice skate. But I’ve found myself glued to the TV for every one of the first four games of this breathtaking best-of-7 series, now tied at 2-2 and headed back to Raleigh for Game 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night.
It’s cool to see, this fierce ballet on ice. The Hurricanes have been the best pro sports team in the Carolinas for a long time. But over the past decade or so that fact has been tinged with disappointment as they invariably faltered at some point in the NHL playoffs.
Not this time.
These Canes are exactly what the Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Hornets and Charlotte FC should aspire to.
You don’t just make the playoffs and lose immediately (as the Panthers and Charlotte FC did in their most recent seasons). You don’t just qualify for the play-in tournament and then lose by 31 points (the Hornets, in April). You win and scrap and win some more, meeting one moment after another with plays that will be talked about for years (Jordan Staal’s falling-down, game-wining goal on Tuesday being only the latest example).
Now I find myself trying to talk to friends about why Staal can be so good at faceoffs at age 37 and the gumption of Rod Brind’Amour subbing in backup goalie Brandon Bussi midway through the series and having it work out beautifully.
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Am I jumping on this bandwagon late?
Oh, there’s no doubt about it. Really late. Forgive me, Canes junkies. I’ve followed the Canes on a casual basis for years. I’ve been to a handful of games in Raleigh and vaguely remember the Hurricanes’ championship 20 years ago, in 2006.
But like a lot of people in Charlotte and around the country — just check the skyrocketing TV ratings if you want proof — I’ve been enraptured by this series. This has happened partly because of its North Carolina flavor but mostly because of its drama. It doesn’t just feel like a sports series; it feels like the best kind of TV series. It’s the “Breaking Bad” or “Succession” of TV right now —just when you think it can’t get better, it takes another wild turn and it does.
Will the Hurricanes win the thing?
At this point, I have little doubt. They outshoot Vegas, they usually outhustle them and in my layman’s view, the Canes just seem a little more talented top to bottom. It might take six games and might take seven, but this feels like the Stanley Cup is headed to Raleigh.
In the meantime, as the Panthers, Hornets and Charlotte FC attempt to climb their own mountains?
They would all like to get out of the first round of their respective postseasons over the next 12 months. And maybe they will.
If they need an example to follow, they just need to look 165 miles northeast, where the Canes are showing exactly how it’s done.
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