We are now less than one month away from the Hurricanes retaking the ice in actual, competitive hockey against another NHL team. Players are starting to work their way back to Raleigh, as is the Stanely Cup, and we can start to look ahead more—but still look behind.
If you’ve been online in any capacity you’ve no doubt caught that the Stanley Cup has made its way back to the United States and is winding down. By following the Keeper of the Cup on Twitter or Instagram you’ve seen some of the heartwarming
places it’s gone. This week alone there have been two huge places where the Canes have helped connect the Cup to Hockey as whole.
You may recall that part of the controversy of the Tom Dundon putting his family tree on the Cup was that longtime employee Bob Gorman didn’t appear on it for a second time. The good news is that Gorman still got a day with the Cup and brought it back to where the Hurricanes Franchise began in Hartford, specifically to the minor league stadium that adopted the Whalers colors. It was a good reminder that the roots of this team still run deep.
Following this, Eric Robinson made sure that the Gaudreaus were still remembered. Robinson played with both the late Johnny and Matthew in High School, and took the opportunity to bring the Cup to Hollydell Ice Arena that houses the Gaudreau Rink and celebrated with the folks that helped him get to where he was. It included the ability for Guy Gaudreau to hoist the Cup for the first time. While he had hoped it would be with one of his sons, the move by Robinson showed just how special Guy and the whole Gaudreau hockey family is.
The Cup is now back in North Carolina. Jaccob Slavin will get his day this weekend, and Andrei Svechnikov had a bit of a less public day with it as he brought it to UNC Hospitals on Friday:
If fans haven’t gotten a chance to see it locally, you’ll have a chance to in Durham on Tuesday with the Bulls. You’ll need a ticket to the game—which is where the link takes you—but it’ll be on display from 5:30 to 9 PM, and it’ll be the Triangle’s first real chance to see it newly embossed with the names of the 2026 Champions.
Meanwhile we’re one step closer to having an official reveal of the worst kept jersey secret in the NHL. This week, Fanatics and the NHL officially announced the Hometown Remix program that everyone knew was coming. The kicker here is that while one would think that the announcement of the actual jerseys would happen before the season, it appears that we may not see these new threads until after the season starts.
Who would have thought an operation run by the NHL and Fanatics would mess up the launch of alternate jerseys? You know, you could announce the jerseys in late summer to build up hype for the season but instead it’ll be announced at a time when the sports calendar has the NFL, college football, MLB’s postseason, and the approaching NBA season.
Anyway, while designs are leaking like a sieve, it looks like we’ll have to wait more than a month here to get the actual program. We’ll see what the NHL has in store for its fans.
Speaking of getting close to the start, Lenovo Center is in the midst of its renovations to get ready for the new season. As a way to let folks know things are progressing on time and to put pictures to the work, on the same day tickets went on sale for the upcoming season reporters were able to go inside the arena to see the progress of the seating bowl as well as the new $1.3 million dollar speakers that are set to blow out your ear drums.
Lenovo Center also released a look at the new seating maps so that you can have a better idea of what the lower bowl will look like. For regular visitors, the sections that are covered by the Priority Lounges have been modified. Aisles have been removed making larger sections, and ultimately adding 700 seats to the lower level. The end zone sections are staying the same size—mostly because that would require them to modify boxes and entrances whereas modifying the entrance to the Priority Lounge areas isn’t necessary. If you sit in either of those areas you may be going from having an aisle seat to one in the middle of the section, so be aware when choosing your seat for the year.
Finally, as much as forces are pushing us to look ahead—the Hurricanes have been making sure to look back and still soak in the Championship. If you go to the Hurricanes’ You Tube Channel, you’ll see a bunch of “best of” videos staring players. The Captain, Logan Stankoven, Seth Jarvis, and more have their own highlight reels. All of these reminders have allowed me to rewatch perhaps my favorite goal of the Stanley Cup Final:
To me this goal is made by the wonderful call by Sean McDonough. Accurately pointing out fans’ frustrations with the Carolina Power Play that had grown to other NHL observers, and literally calling that right before this blast by Jarvis. Topping that out with the iconic “SETH JARVIS! QUIETS THE CRITICS! AND IGNITES THE CROWD!” We can quibble about how good of a hockey announcer he is, but there are few who have this mastery of summarizing a huge moment in sports.
Anyway, speaking of announcers, on Saturday the Hurricanes dropped perhaps the best video of their “Best of” series: eleven minutes of the Mike and Tripp Booth Cam. You’ll get the see the escalating violence between the two, the one camera man who clearly had enough of these two, how Tripp had his jacket ripped, and the raw emotion of when the Canes won the Cup.
With the Canes now effectively owning their own broadcastsnow, it wouldn’t be shocking if this becomes more of a staple of broadcasts and social media. You just wonder when these two will start wearing pads and helmets during the broadcasts.
Speaking of those broadcasts, we are still waiting for word on what the non-streaming—or even the streaming—options will be for fans this season. That said, last year the NHL announced the national schedule right about now, and with the earlier start of the season one would expect a similar announcement this week. It’s possible to tie it into the announcement of national games, the Canes will follow up how the non-national games will be shown.
Hockey is close folks.
