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\u2014but still look behind.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve been online in any capacity you\u2019ve 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\u2019ve seen some of the heartwarming places it\u2019s gone. This week alone there have been two huge places where the Canes have helped connect the Cup to Hockey as whole.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Cup is now back in North Carolina. Jaccob Slavin will get his day this weekend<\/a>, and Andrei Svechnikov had a bit of a less public day with it as he brought it to UNC Hospitals on Friday:<\/p>\n If fans haven\u2019t gotten a chance to see it locally, you\u2019ll have a chance to in Durham on Tuesday with the Bulls. You\u2019ll need a ticket to the game\u2014which is where the link takes you\u2014but it\u2019ll be on display from 5:30 to 9 PM, and it\u2019ll be the Triangle\u2019s first real chance to see it newly embossed with the names of the 2026 Champions.<\/p>\n Meanwhile we\u2019re 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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019ll be announced at a time when the sports calendar has the NFL, college football, MLB\u2019s postseason, and the approaching NBA season.<\/p>\n Anyway, while designs are leaking like a sieve, it looks like we\u2019ll have to wait more than a month here to get the actual program. We\u2019ll see what the NHL has in store for its fans.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2014mostly because that would require them to modify boxes and entrances whereas modifying the entrance to the Priority Lounge areas isn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n Finally, as much as forces are pushing us to look ahead\u2014the Hurricanes have been making sure to look back and still soak in the Championship. If you go to the Hurricanes\u2019 You Tube Channel<\/a>, you\u2019ll see a bunch of \u201cbest of\u201d 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:<\/p>\n To me this goal is made by the wonderful call by Sean McDonough. Accurately pointing out fans\u2019 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 \u201cSETH JARVIS! QUIETS THE CRITICS! AND IGNITES THE CROWD!\u201d 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.<\/p>\n Anyway, speaking of announcers, on Saturday the Hurricanes dropped perhaps the best video of their \u201cBest of\u201d series: eleven minutes of the Mike and Tripp Booth Cam. You\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n With the Canes now effectively owning their own broadcasts <\/a>now, it wouldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n