The team plays in the same building as NC State, across the street from their football stadium. They have the same colors. Their band helped them introduce their new jersey as well as march in this past weekend’s parade. The Carolina Hurricanes home crowd has even taken to yelling “red” during the national anthem much like the fans of NC State. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour married into the NC State family and wore their hat during the parade.
These are things that some UNC fans point to as a reason
why they can’t get behind the Carolina Hurricanes, despite their success in recent years which includes winning the Stanley Cup last week in Las Vegas. It doesn’t help that college hockey really isn’t established at the same level in the area to where someone who played at UNC would end up on the squad. It’s frustrating to both Hurricanes fans that don’t have any sort of collegiate affiliation, as well as UNC fans that have grabbed the banner and rooted for the Canes.
It does speak to just how wonderfully unique this area is. In just about ever other market when that team wins a title, the only reason a section of the area wouldn’t celebrate would be if there just happens to be another pro team that also competes in the same sport. For instance, New York Jets fans have likely sourly looked on as the New York Giants have won multiple Super Bowls since they won their lone title decades ago. However, with the Hurricanes being the lone hockey team between Washington and Tampa, it does say just how strong the animosity is between fans of the school that they will look at something like that and automatically associate it with the rival.
All that said, there are reasons that UNC was a very important part of this Stanley Cup win.
A quick look at the staff of the Hurricanes will find that while they share the same building with NC State, they in fact wouldn’t have won without help from UNC as well. There are people that are major parts of the organization with diplomas from UNC, and they all were up on stage this past Saturday as Carolina celebrated their accomplishment. It helps show they aren’t “just” one school’s team but the area’s team.
Mallory Wilmoth
We’ll start with one that readers of this site were introduced to before the ACC Tournament. Mallory Wilmoth has a pretty basic title of “Teams Operations Assistant” that really doesn’t encompass all that she does. Put simply–she’s the person that players lean on when they need something outside of the game of hockey. If their family needs something, if a player needs to be in a different spot quickly, or if they want to go to an event–it’s up to Mallory to arrange it.
That link above will reference a conversation I had with Wilmoth when several members of the Hurricanes appeared in the stands for the UNC-Louisville game and showed up on multiple places on social media. It’s because Wilmoth used her connections as a former UNC Basketball Student Manager to make the arrangements to get them in. Wilmoth was a freshman when the Tar Heels won the title in 2017, and then took the path all managers take by being with the JV team and then joining the varsity for the 2019-20 season.
How much does Wilmoth mean to the players in the locker room? When she didn’t get a shoutout as everyone was being introduced, Alternate Captain Jordan Martinook made sure she got her moment in the sun.
Mike Sundheim
Someone who’s been with the Hurricanes since before they were permanently in Raleigh, “Sunny” as the members of the media call him, Mike Sundheim has been with the Hurricanes in some capacity for 28 years. Sundheim graduated from UNC in 2000, meaning his start with the Hurricanes was while he was still attending Chapel Hill. He’s now got the title of Vice President of Communications for Hurricanes Holdings, which means he is now the main person who handles anything related to the Hurricanes.
Sundheim typically is in the background and is someone you don’t think about a lot, but to members of the media he’s always there. He was the one trying to direct traffic of all the players and coaches between the parade and rally, and the one who coordinates who the media speaks to in the locker room after the game to coordinate players on the postseason podium. He’s also going to be busy soon answering questions about the construction that will be going on around the Lenovo Center as it expands and the landscape around it changes.
Doug Bennett
In terms of the on-ice product, there is someone the Canes cannot function without who is with the players and the coaches on the bench–the head athletic trainer. Bennett graduated with a masters from UNC in 2007, and during that time worked in the UNC Athletic Department to refine his craft. From there he ended up with the Hurricanes starting in 2010 and took over the job as the head trainer in 2017.
The trainer is the one the team relies on during the game for any sort of nicks, cuts, dings–basically any sort of pain or injury that comes from the rigors of playing hockey, Bennett is there. He’s also the man to help with the recovery from one of the toughest Strength and Conditioning programs in the NHL. Bennett got a lot of screen time during the Stanley Cup Finals as he would be seen attending to players that hopped off the ice in pain, or running out to the ice for a player that was slow to get up.
These folks are a small piece of a staff that works hard to truly unite the area in a way that rivals have trouble doing otherwise. Soon the college sports season will be back in full force and we will all go to taking barbs at each other again, but for a few sweet months we have an example of team that is taking the best of everything and uniting to win the sport’s ultimate title. It’s nice to know that there’s just a little Carolina Blue in there, too.
