Carolina Hurricanes

Template:NHL Team Infobox The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey team playing in the National Hockey League (NHL), and are based in Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina. They are the city's only major professional sports team.

The Hurricanes are the current Stanley Cup champions, winning in the 2005-06 NHL season.

Facts

Founded: 1972-1973 as a World Hockey Association (WHA) franchise (awarded November 1971)

Former League(s): WHA (1972-1979)

Current Arena: RBC Center located in Raleigh. Capacity 18,730. (2000-Present)

Past Arenas:

Greensboro Coliseum: temporary arena while RBC Center was being built. (1997-1999)

Uniform colors: red, black, white, silver

Logo design: a stylized hurricane symbol engulfing a hockey puck

Alternate logo: a red storm flag on a hockey stick as an impromptu flagpost which overlays a triangle representing the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill region. Interestingly enough, one red storm flag signifies a tropical storm, while two red flags on top of one another represent an actual hurricane.

Stanley Cup Championships: 1 - 2005-06

Stanley Cup Finals appearances: 2 - (2001-02; lost to Detroit, 1-4) (2005-06; defeated Edmonton, 4-3)

Conference Championships: 2 - 2001-02, 2005-06

Division Championships: 3 - 1998-99, 2001-02, 2005-06

Mascot: Stormy the Ice Hog.

Local Television: FSN South, WRAZ Fox 50 Raleigh

Play-by-Play men: John Forslund and Tripp Tracy (television), Chuck Kaiton (radio)

Rivals: Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals

Franchise history

The team now known as the Carolina Hurricanes was born in November 1971 when the World Hockey Association (WHA) awarded a franchise to begin play in Boston, Massachusetts. The team's original name was the New England Whalers, and for the first 2½ years of their existence, the club played their home games at the Boston Arena, Boston Garden, and The Big E Coliseum in West Springfield. However, sagging attendance forced the team to Connecticut. On January 11, 1975, the team played its first game in front of a sellout crowd at the Hartford Civic Center Coliseum. With the exception of a period in the late 1970s when the Whalers played at the Springfield Civic Center while the Hartford Civic Center was being renovated (due to the collapse of a portion of its roof after a blizzard), the franchise was located in Hartford.

As it was one of the most stable of the WHA teams, it was one of the four franchises admitted to the NHL when the rival leagues merged in 1979. Because the NHL already had a team in the New England area, the Boston Bruins, the former WHA team was renamed the Hartford Whalers. Unfortunately, the team was never as successful in the NHL as they had been in the WHA, only recording three winning seasons.

In March 1997, Whalers owner Peter Karmanos announced that his team would leave Connecticut after the 1996-97 season due to the team's inability to negotiate a satisfactory construction and lease package for a new arena in Hartford. In July, Karmanos announced that the Whalers would move to the Research Triangle area of North Carolina and the new Entertainment and Sports Arena in Raleigh, become the Carolina Hurricanes, and change their team colors to red and black. Due to the relatively short time frame for the move, Karmanos himself thought of and decided upon the new name for the club, rather than holding a contest as is sometimes done.

Unfortunately, the ESA wouldn't be complete for two more years, and the only other hockey building in the Triangle was Dorton Arena, a 5,100-seat, 45-year-old building completely unsuitable for NHL hockey. Thus, the Hurricanes were forced to play home games ninety minutes away at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro for their first two seasons in North Carolina, displacing the AHL's Carolina Monarchs and temporarily putting them in the highest-capacity arena in the NHL for 1997-98. This choice was disastrous for the franchise's attendance and reputation; most Triangle-area fans were unwilling to drive 90 minutes to Greensboro, while Piedmont Triad fans wouldn't support a lame-duck team, and were still upset over ticket price hikes when the Monarchs moved from the ECHL to the AHL in 1995. With attendances of fewer than 10,000 for many games, Sports Illustrated ran a story titled "Natural Disaster", and ESPN anchors mocked the "Green Acres" of empty seats; in a 2006 interview, Karmanos admitted that "[a]s it turns out, [Greensboro] was probably a mistake."^[1]

For 1998-99 the Hurricanes curtained off most of the upper deck, lowering capacity to about 12,000, but attendance continued to lag well behind league averages. On the ice, however, the 'Canes were out of the doldrums; led by the return of longtime Whalers captain Ron Francis, Keith Primeau's 30 goals and Gary Roberts's 178 penalty minutes, they won the new Southeast Division by eight points and made the playoffs for the first time since 1992. Tragedy struck when, at the end of their lost first-round playoff series with the Boston Bruins, defenseman Steve Chiasson was killed in an auto accident driving home from a players' end-of-season party.

Despite their move to the brand-new ESA, the Canes played lackluster hockey in 1999-00, failing to make the playoffs. In 2000-01, though, they claimed an eighth seed in the playoffs and landed a first-round date with New Jersey. Although the Hurricanes were bounced in the first round by the Devils in six games, the series is seen as the real "arrival" of hockey in Carolina. The Hurricanes in this series became the tenth team to stretch a series to six games after going down 3-0, leading to a Game 6 in Raleigh that featured their best playoff crowd that year and its noisiest^[2]. Despite the 5-1 loss, Carolina was given a standing ovation by the crowd as the game ended, erasing many of the doubts that the city wouldn't warm up to the 'Canes^[3].

The Canes made national waves for the first time in the 2002 playoffs. They survived a late charge from the Washington Capitals to win the division, but expectations were low entering the first round against the defending Eastern Conference champion Devils. However, Arturs Irbe and Kevin Weekes were solid in goal, and two games were won by the Canes in overtime as they put away the Devils in six games. The second round matchup was against the Canadiens, who were riding a wave of emotion after Saku Koivu's return from cancer treatment. In the third period of game 4 in Montreal, the Hurricanes were down 2-1 in games and 3-0 in score, before the Hurricanes rebounded to win 4-3 on Niclas Wallin's overtime winner. The game became known to Hurricanes fans as the 'Miracle at Molson'; Carolina easily won the next two games over the dejected Habs to win the series.

The conference final was against the heavily-favored Toronto Maple Leafs. In game 6 in Toronto, the Leafs' Mats Sundin tied the game with 22 seconds remaining to send it to overtime, but Carolina's Martin Gélinas scored in overtime to send them to their first Stanley Cup final, against the Detroit Red Wings, thought to be the prohibitive favorite all year. Though the Canes stunned the Wings in Game 1, when Ron Francis scored in the first minute of overtime, Detroit stormed back to win the next four games in a row to win the Stanley Cup. Game 3 in Raleigh featured a triple-overtime thriller (won by the Red Wings 3-2 on a goal by Igor Larionov), which sportscasters called one of the best Stanley Cup Finals games in history. Despite the 4-1 finals loss, it was by far the most successful season in franchise history.

The momentum didn't last, however, and the next two seasons saw the Canes drop into the cellar of the NHL rankings; many of the new fans attracted to the team (and to hockey itself) during the 2002 playoff run lost interest and attendance declined. One of the few positive results of these losing years was the team's drafting rising star Eric Staal in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. In December 2003, the team fired Paul Maurice, who had been their coach since their next-to-last season in Hartford, replacing him with former New York Islanders bench boss Peter Laviolette.

The outcome of the 2004-05 NHL lockout led to the shrinking of the payroll to $26 million; many fans were not optimistic about the 2005-06 season. However, the Canes turned out to be one of NHL's biggest surprises, turning in the best season in the franchise's 34-year history. They finished with a 52-22-8 record and 112 points, winning the Southeast Division for the third time and shattering the previous franchise record set by the 1986-87 Whalers. It was the first time ever that the franchise had passed the 50-win and 100-point plateaus, and the 112-point figure tied Dallas for third-highest in the league. Attendance increased over the 2003-04 doldrums, averaging just under 15,600 per game^[4], and the team made a profit for the first time since the move.

2005-06 Championship

Main article: 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs

In the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Carolina lost the first two Eastern Conference Quarterfinal games at home against the Montreal Canadiens, and there was a strong possibility that the Hurricanes' excellent season would come to a sudden end. Coach Laviolette made what would prove to be a fateful decision, lifting goalkeeper Martin Gerber in favor of rookie Cam Ward. A potential turning point of the series occurred in Game 3, as Carolina forward Justin Williams inadvertently hit Montreal captain Saku Koivu in the eye with his stick from behind as both players lunged for the puck. Koivu's eye was severely injured, causing him to miss the remainder of the series; Williams escaped a potential high-sticking penalty. The Hurricanes went on to win both games in Montreal, tying up the playoff series and turn the momentum around. They returned home and took Game 5 to take a 3-2 advantage in the series, and finished the series in Montreal with a 2-1 overtime victory on a goal by Cory Stillman.

The Hurricanes then played the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. This was expected to be a close series, but proved surprisingly one-sided. Carolina shut out the Devils 6-0 at home to lead the series 1-0. This was goaltender Cam Ward's first playoff shutout, as well as veteran New Jersey netminder Martin Brodeur's 34th birthday. The Hurricanes won Game 2 in dramatic fashion, Eric Staal scoring with just 3 seconds left in the third period to send the game into overtime. Niclas Wallin was the hero once again, as he lifted the Canes to a 3-2 win. In Game 3, the Hurricanes took a stranglehold on the series with a 3-2 win in New Jersey. However, in a penalty-filled game 4, the Devils rallied back with a 5-1 win in New Jersey. Game 5 was exactly opposite: Carolina won 4 to 1, New Jersey scoring their only goal in the first period.

In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Hurricanes faced the Buffalo Sabres, who had finished just one spot behind the Canes in the overall standings. The Sabres squad was devasted by injuries in the series, at one point in the series playing without their top four defensemen in good health. The Hurricanes were defeated in the first game, as Buffalo took a 3-2 victory and the early lead in the series. In the second game, however, the Hurricanes recovered, defeating Buffalo 4-3. Buffalo won Game 3 by a score of 4-3 to take back the series lead, but Carolina tied it up again in Game 4 with a 4-0 shutout, in which Gerber, who had relieved Ward late in Game 3, started in goal for the first time since Game 2 of the Montreal series. Gerber's good luck would not extend to Game 5, as after a shaky start, Ward was brought back into the nets to stay. Carolina took a 3-2 series lead by rallying and winning Game 5, as Cory Stillman scored an overtime goal to give the Canes the 4-3 win. In Game 6 of the contentious series (both Ruff and Laviolette took public verbal shots at each others' teams), the Hurricanes lost 2-1 to the Sabres in overtime, forcing a 7th game in the series. In Game 7 the Hurricanes fell behind 2-1 in the second period but rallied with 3 goals in the third to win by a score of 4-2, due somewhat to Buffalo complacency. Rod Brind'Amour scored the game winner as the Hurricanes reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in team history. The 2006 Hurricanes were the third major professional team based in North Carolina to reach the championship round in their league.

The Finals commenced on June 5, 2006 as the Hurricanes hosted the Edmonton Oilers in Raleigh, marking the first time in NHL history that two former WHA franchises had played in the Finals. The Canes rallied from a 3-0 deficit in Game 1 to win 5-4 after Rod Brind'Amour scored with 30 seconds left on a turnover, a critical stickhandling error by Oilers backup goalie Ty Conklin, who had replaced the injured starter Dwayne Roloson with five minutes to play. In Game 2, the other Edmonton reserve goaltender, Jussi Markkanen was brought in and played for the remainder of the series, the first time a team had used three goalies in the Finals since the St. Louis Blues in 1970. The Canes shelled Markkanen and the Oilers 5-0 in Game 2, with each goal coming from a different player, and the series threatened to turn into a romp. However, the series would eventually prove to be a classic nail-bitter, as Markkanen and the Oilers made adjustments.

The Oilers won Game 3, 2-1, as Ryan Smyth scored the game winning goal with 2:47 left to play in the third period. In the same game, the Oilers' Shawn Horcoff, who had scored the first goal in that game, was penalized for using a broken stick. Carolina rebounded in Game 4 with a 2-1 victory, and came home with a chance to win the Cup on home ice. However, in Game 5, the Oilers came back with a stunning 4-3 overtime win on a shorthanded breakaway by Fernando Pisani early in sudden death OT. Suddenly the momentum started to turn the Oilers' way. In Game 6, Carolina was soundly defeated 4-0, and the possibility loomed of a team surrendering a 3-1 advantage in the Finals for the first time since 1942. The ace in the deck for the Hurricanes was their home ice advantage in Game 7, and one last chance to regroup.

In Game 7, before the second-largest home crowd in franchise history (18,978), the Hurricanes jumped to an early 1-0 lead on an Aaron Ward blast from the right circle at 1:26. They nearly made it 2-0 in the waning minutes of the first period, when Craig Adams corraled a rebound and drove it toward the net. Defenseman Steve Staios jumped on the puck to keep it from going over the line after a mistimed tip by Ales Hemsky. Referee Brad Watson initially signaled for a penalty shot, but it was washed out by a delayed penalty on Ethan Moreau. Later video replays showed that the puck was actually in the net, and therefore should have been a goal for the Hurricanes. Instead, the Hurricanes began the second period on a power play. The Oilers managed to kill it off, but weren't so lucky when Jaroslav Spacek drew a holding penalty later in the period. At 4:18, defenseman Frantisek Kaberle blasted one in from the left circle. Edmonton finally got on the board early in the third period on a Pasani goal. The game remained in doubt until the Oilers pulled Markkanen in hopes of sending the game into overtime. However, at 18:59 of the period, an errant centering pass wound up on the stick of Bret Hedican, who dumped it to Eric Staal, who tipped it to Justin Williams. Williams tapped it into the net, sealing the Hurricanes' first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history.

Cam Ward was honored with the Conn Smythe Trophy for the playoffs' most valuable player. He became just the 4th rookie to be honored with the award, along with Patrick Roy, Ron Hextall, and Ken Dryden. Rod Brind'Amour and Bret Hedican had both waited over 15 years to raise Lord Stanley's cup, while Glen Wesley - the last remaining Hartford Whaler on the Hurricanes' roster - had waited 18 seasons. Brind'Amour could hardly contain his joy, doing a little jig as he kissed and hoisted the Cup over his head.

The Hurricanes' Stanley Cup Championship marked the first professional major league sports title for a team from the Carolinas. They are the second consecutive Southeast Division team to do so, after the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003-2004 who, like the Hurricanes, defeated a team from the Northwest Division.

Storm Squad

The Storm Squad is the official name of the cheerleaders for the Carolina Hurricanes, who were the first NHL team to employ a cheerleading team.^{[citation needed]}

The Storm Squad, also known as the Carolina Hurricanes Fan Development Team, are seen in the RBC Center during every home game leading the cheers for the fans, dancing to the arenas music, and throwing t-shirts to the crowd. The Storm Squad also attends promotional events and official Hurricanes events such as viewing parties at the Carolina Ale House and parades.

The 2005-06 Storm Squad captain is Ron the Ref. He and Big Mike are the only males on the team. Ron dresses as a referee; hence his name.[1]

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
1997-98	82	33	41	8	--	74	200	219	1455	6th in Northeast	Out of Playoffs
1998-99	82	34	30	18	--	86	210	202	1158	1st in Southeast	Conf QF, 2-4 (Bruins)
1999-00	82	37	35	10	--	84	217	216	799	3rd in Southeast	Out of Playoffs
2000-01	82	38	32	9	3	88	212	225	1083	2nd in Southeast	Conf QF, 2-4 (Devils)
2001-02	82	35	26	16	5	91	217	217	1022	1st in Southeast	Final, 1-4 (Red Wings)
2002-03	82	22	43	11	6	61	171	240	1208	5th in Southeast	Out of Playoffs
2003-04	82	28	34	14	6	76	172	209	1102	3rd in Southeast	Out of Playoffs
2004-05¹	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
2005-06	82	52	22	--	8	112	294	260	1107	1st in Southeast	Won Stanley Cup (Oilers)
Grand Totals	656	279	263	86	28	672	1693	1788	8934

¹ Season was cancelled due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

Notable players

Current squad

As of July 2, 2006 [2]

Goaltenders
Number	Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
30	Cam Ward	L	2002	Sherwood Park, Alberta
-	John Grahame	L	2006	Denver, Colorado

Defensemen
Number	Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
2	Glen Wesley - A	L	2003	Red Deer, Alberta
5	Frantisek Kaberle	L	2004	Kladno, Czechoslovakia
6	Bret Hedican	L	2002	St. Paul, Minnesota
7	Niclas Wallin	L	2000	Boden, Sweden
22	Mike Commodore	R	2005	Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta
24	Andrew Hutchinson	R	2005	Evanston, Illinois
48	Anton Babchuk	L	2006	Kiev, U.S.S.R.
70	Oleg Tverdovsky	L	2005	Donetsk, U.S.S.R.

Forwards
Number	Player	Shoots	Position	Acquired	Place of Birth
11	Justin Williams	R	RW	2004	Cobourg, Ontario
12	Eric Staal	L	C	2003	Thunder Bay, Ontario
13	Ray Whitney	R	LW/RW	2005	Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta
14	Kevyn Adams - A	R	C	2002	Washington, District of Columbia
16	Andrew Ladd	L	LW	2004	Maple Ridge, British Columbia
17	Rod Brind'Amour - C	L	C	2000	Ottawa, Ontario
18	Mark Recchi	L	RW	2006	Kamloops, British Columbia
26	Erik Cole	L	LW	1998	Oswego, New York
27	Craig Adams	R	RW	2005	Seria, Brunei
59	Chad Larose	R	LW/RW	2003	Fraser, Michigan
61	Cory Stillman - A	L	LW	2005	Peterborough, Ontario
63	Josef Vasicek	L	C	1998	Havlíčkův Brod, Czechoslovakia
-	Trevor Letowski	R	RW	2006	Thunder Bay, Ontario

Hall of Famers

Note: The Hurricanes' predecessor franchise, the Hartford Whalers have two Hall of Famers, Gordie Howe and Dave Keon.

none

Team captains

Note: This list of team captains does not include captains from the Hartford Whalers (NHL) and New England Whalers (WHA).

Kevin Dineen 1997-98
Keith Primeau 1998-99
Keith Primeau & Ron Francis 1999-00
Ron Francis 2000-04
no captain 2004-05 (Lockout)
Rod Brind'Amour 2005-present

Retired numbers

3 Steve Chiasson, D, 1996-99, including 1996-97 in Hartford (unofficially retired following Chiasson's death)
9 Gordie Howe, RW, 1977-80 (retired by Whalers; the Hurricanes honor the retirement unofficially, but no banner hangs in the RBC Center)
10 Ron Francis, C, 1982-91 (Hartford) & 1998-2004
99 Wayne Gretzky (retired league-wide by the NHL)

The Whalers also retired the number 2 of Rick Ley (D, 1972-81) and the number 19 of John McKenzie (RW, 1977-79), but these numbers have been restored to circulation by the Hurricanes.

First round draft picks

Note: This list does not include selections as the Hartford Whalers.

1997: none
1998: Jeff Heerema (11th overall)
1999: David Tanabe (16th overall)
2000: none
2001: Igor Knyazev (15th overall)
2002: Cam Ward (25th overall)
2003: Eric Staal (2nd overall)
2004: Andrew Ladd (4th overall)
2005: Jack Johnson (3rd overall)
2006: none

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in the history of the Carolina Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers franchise in the NHL. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season. Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Player	POS	GP	G	A	Pts
Ron Francis	C	1186	382	793	1175
Kevin Dineen	RW	708	250	294	544
Jeff O'Neill	C/RW	673	198	218	416
Pat Verbeek	RW	433	192	211	403
Blaine Stoughton	RW	357	219	158	377
Geoff Sanderson	LW	479	196	173	369
Ray Ferraro	C	442	157	194	351
Andrew Cassels	C	438	97	253	350
Sami Kapanen	LW/RW	520	145	203	348
Sylvain Turgeon	LW	370	178	150	328