They sold 18,978 seats at a hockey rink in Raleigh, and almost no one used them. For three hours, from the first strains of the Canadian and U.S. national anthems until the last Carolina Hurricanes player had taken a twirl with the most fabled trophy in sports, a crowd stood as it might have for a tip-off between Duke and North Carolina and then forgot to sit, roaring in witness of a well-traveled franchise bringing another kind of championship to Tobacco Road. It was the first NHL title for a franchise, the erstwhile Hartford Whalers, that merged into the league from the defunct WHA in 1979. The Hurricanes found a wellspring of energy and emotion-and a couple of goals from the oddest sources-in Game 7 to win the Stanley Cup 3-1
Carolina was led by a 22-year-old rookie goalie, Cam Ward, who didn't even start the first two games of the playoffs; a winger, Erik Cole, playing with a broken neck that hadn't completely healed; and a pair of workmanlike defensemen, Aaron Ward and Frantisek Kaberle, who beat estimable Edmonton goalie Jussi Markkanen. Even though the NHL went to a lengthy replay and denied Carolina an apparent goal in the first period (with this league, it's always something), the Hurricanes, and their indomitable shot-blocking defense, fended off a team that mounted a furious charge in the third period. Goalie Ward finished with 22 saves and was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner.
For Cole, who had dreamed of winning the Cup since childhood, that was all the medical clearance he needed. The power forward had been a 30-goal scorer and a dynamo with linemates Staal and Cory Stillman. Even if he drew only power-play duty after a 15-week absence, Cole figured to give Carolina a lift.
Yet in Game 6 the Hurricanes fell meekly, 4-0. They were outshot 21-3 with six minutes left in the second period. They took a pair of too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties, the kind that announce to the world that the players' minds were elsewhere. Cole played 18:31, in all situations, and on his second shift withstood a robust check by Moreau that Cole later said smacked of head-hunting.
Indeed, on a sweltering night in what is now officially hockey country, the Hurricanes took their courage from Cole. For a franchise that was launched 34 years ago as the New England Whalers, has been a member of two leagues (the WHA and NHL) and has played its home games in five cities (Boston; Springfield, Mass.; Hartford; Greensboro, N.C.; and Raleigh), maybe the coolest trophy in the world can serve as an anchor for the team and for big league hockey in the South.
