Respect Thine Enemy: 10 Things to Like About the Canes

10) Hartford connections
Let's get this one out of the way early. While the Hurricanes will never be completely forgiven for breaking the heart of Hartford, they deserve credit for embracing their history instead of wiping it away. Many Whalers personnel, from the broadcast team to the equipment managers, are still with the Canes. The Hurricanes have honored Ron Francis and Glen Wesley with emotional number-retirement ceremonies, and the goal horn from the Hartford Civic Center is still in use at Canes games. As far as possible, they've given longtime Whalers fans an opportunity to remain connected with "their" team.

No. Just... no.

9) Paul Maurice
You have to respect this guy, considering how much crap he took in Toronto. Hard as it is to believe, Maurice is now the 6th most experienced active coach in the NHL. Along the way he has always been civil and low-key, in spite of virtually-nonstop speculation about his job security.

8) Ray Whitney
When "Jonesy" is considered a book-title-worthy nickname, you know the NHL is getting short on high-quality handles. So when you come across a guy who goes by "The Wizard", it's worth keeping an eye on him. What you find with Whitney is perhaps the league's most underrated clutch scorer. Since the lockout, he has 15 points in 15 games against Boston.

If McFarlane ever makes a Brind'Amour figure...

7) Rod Brind'Amour
Rod the Bod is a piece of the NHL circa 1950, time-warped to the present. Big, mean, and ugly as sin, he's exactly the guy you want in your foxhole. He's probably the best faceoff guy in the league, has captained a Cup team and is frequently cited as the hardest-working player on ice.

6) Cam Ward
Everything that Carey Price was supposed to be, Cam Ward has already become. It takes a huge amount of strength and character to win the Conn Smythe as a rookie goalie, but even more to be an NHL star without an ego problem. Ward is intense, yet unflappable in big games. The last time he played, he proved more stable in a 7th game than Martin Brodeur.

5) Ronnie Franchise
He's only the classiest player you'll ever live to see. And also a two-time Cup winner, Hall of Famer and the 4th highest scorer in league history... 4th! He's now behind the bench in Carolina, and the heir apparent to the head coaching position. That's the equivalent of Ray Bourque being groomed to take over the Bruins bench.

That's more like it!

4) The RBC Center
Gameday in Raleigh is unique. They tailgate college-football style at the arena. They play Ric Flair clips on the Jumbotron. Their mascot is a pig. And it's loud as hell in the arena. Given some time to become more sophisticated about the sport, the Hurricanes fanbase will become the Sun Belt equivalent to Calgary's Sea of Red.



Bring earplugs.

3) Eric Staal
People who like hockey usually like Eric Staal. He's big, fast, skilled, and aggressive. He makes big plays in big games, including a last-minute Game 7 winner against Brodeur this season. He's shown that he can lead a Cup run. He was the NHL '08 cover star, and the All-Star Game MVP. Oh, and he's 24. Twenty-four.

2) Teamwork
Carolina is not a team of superstars. They win because they outwork and outhustle their opponents. Guys like Staal and Whitney and Brind'Amour have practically zero mainstream media presence, yet they come up huge again and again when it counts. Though they don't roll 4 lines like Detroit and Boston, the Canes expect every player to contribute to the final outcome -- witness Paul Maurice taking a leap of faith and putting grinder Chad LaRose on the first line late in their series against New Jersey. That's what it means to be a hockey team.

1) They're clutch.
For some reason, this team is charmed when it comes to the playoffs. In 2001 they bounced Montreal and Toronto in successive playoff rounds to make the Finals. In 2006 they won two consecutive 7-game series to take the Cup. This month they upset the Devils and are now considered a dark horse to take out the Bruins. They are money from the goal crease outward. And let's be honest -- once all the NASCAR jokes are set aside, this team generates some serious envy from "traditional" fanbases with their tendency to win through sheer force of will.

Round 2: Hurricane Season

Ah, the playoffs. When damn near anything can happen in the blink of an eye -- such as a division winner led by the greatest goalie of all time blowing a lead to lose Game 7 in the final minute and a half.

Now that the first round is finally in the books, we look forward to our next victim: the Carolina Hurricanes. I have a feeling that a lot of Bruins fans are going to be surprised by this team. They get almost no media coverage, and to be honest I probably wouldn't know much about them if I didn't live in SouthLeast Division territory.

But mark my words: this team is money. They're old-school, they're clutch, they play as a team, and they aren't far removed from a Cup run. It's an easier matchup than the Pens (which would have been brutal as a second-round opponent) but this will not be a cakewalk. The Bruins could lose.

This could get ugly.

Fun facts about the Hurricanes:

1) Hey, did you know they used to be the Whalers? This is definitely something we should talk about every single time we play the Hurricanes. We should also act really bitter about it, regardless of whether we gave a crap about the Whalers when they were in Hartford.

2) They don't actually play in the city of Raleigh-Durham. In fact, there is no such city. Raleigh-Durham is an airport. If you want to really piss off a resident of the area, continuously call their hometown "Raleigh-Durham" as a sign that you know nothing about it and have probably only been there on a layover.

3) Prior to this season, the Hurricanes were the last team Boston had defeated in a playoff series. In 1999.

4) Their mascot is a pig. No kidding.

5) In the past 45 years, the Hurricanes won more Cups than the Maple Leafs. In the past 35 years, they've won more Cups than the Bruins (getting angry yet?). In the past 25 years, they've won more Cups than the Flyers. In the past 15 years, they've been in more Finals than the Penguins.


Believe it or not, the Canes also have a respectable presence in the blogosphere. Below are the most relevant, up-to-date blogs I've been able to find. If you know of any others, post them in the comments and I'll add to the list.

Canes Country
Carolina On Ice
Let's Go Canes
Life and Times of a Caniac
Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer
Study of Sports
Sweet Tea, Barbecue & Bodychecks

Let's Get It On.

Admit it: you were hoping this would happen.

A year ago, when the Bruins fell one game short of a miracle...

Back in November, when they broke an interminable regular-season losing streak...

When Blake Wheeler spoiled Patrick Roy Night...

When Lucic/Komisarek got personal, and then got even MORE personal...

Last week, when the Habs used a charity point to open the back door....

... you were hoping this would happen. Because it's the only right ending for this saga. Scores need to be settled. Legends need to be written. And at the end, a lot of hearts are going to be broken.

Whether either fanbase admits it or not, both were pumped about this series before it was even official. The Habs have one last shot at redemption after one of the most trying seasons in their history. The Bruins have a shot at redemption for the past 3 playoff seasons. Both teams will face an offseason of being raked through the coals if they fail.

With the Game 1 still half a week in the making, the opening salvos are already being fired.

• It started some time after the last game, when I questioned the character of a Canadiens franchise that has made a habit of bending the rules to try and steal victories.


• A certain Habs blogger took the criticism to heart, and responded by calling Bruins fans "cocky". Of course, he had spent the previous week launching no fewer than five taunts in the Bruins' direction. It involved monkeys and toilet paper. Winters are long in Montreal.


• Laughably, what began as a bunch of trash-talking at Four Habs Fans quickly degenerated into Habs fans speculating that either Jacques Lemaire, Denis Savard or Patrick Roy will be their next coach.


• That's when it started in earnest over at Habs Inside Out. The chest-thumping sounds a little too loud from a fanbase clearly insecure in its identity and not entirely confident about their prospects in this series.


• Stanley Cup of Chowder jumps into the fray with a gentle tweak of Quebec stereotypes, followed by some bad advice about staying "classy". I disagree; we should definitely burn some cop cars if we manage to dispatch of the Habs in 7 games or fewer.


• In a well-written and eerily convincing farce, All Habs says that Price will have to be "consistently very good" in order to win this series. For the first time ever, a Google search of the phrase "Carey Price" and the word "consistent" will now return a result.

We wanted it, now we've got it. Thursday can't come fast enough.