We're cup crazy

Will hockey mania last?

If anyone out there still thinks the Stanley Cup would be out of place in the Triangle, think again.

"At one time, L.A. was looked at as an oddity in the NHL, and they overcame that, as did San Jose, Anaheim,'' said Barry Melrose, a hockey analyst for ESPN. "... It's not about where you're located, it's about success.

"A team that goes to the finals two of [five] years, that's almost a dynasty."

Nobody could have imagined 15 years ago that an NHL franchise would be in the middle of a warm-weather college basketball mecca -- or be playing for the Stanley Cup.

Nonetheless, the Carolina Hurricanes, the team that lost in the finals in 2002, will face the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 on Monday at the RBC Center.

When the Hartford Whalers moved to North Carolina in 1997, some Northern fans had visions of the TV Mayberry on ice. And in the beginning, it did not look promising.

The team's captain, Rod Brind'Amour, said he estimates 6,000 fans showed up to watch his first game in Raleigh in 2000.

"But it's just been steadily growing,'' Brind'Amour said during a conference call Friday. "Obviously we started a new thing down here. Hockey didn't exist. It's taken a little time, but really in a relatively short period this organization has had a tremendous amount of success and the people here now have embraced the team and the game."

Winning the Stanley Cup would make local fans embrace hockey even more, said Dan Mason, who teaches a "Business of Hockey" course at the University of Alberta. That's partly because it's the Hurricanes' second chance in such a short period, he said.

It could also help the NHL extend its marketing footprint, he said, especially if the Hurricanes hold on to their new fans.

Even though the Canes would not be the first Southern team to win a Cup -- the Tampa Bay Lightning won it in 2004 -- there are still fans of the sport who have trouble accepting the Triangle as a true "hockey town."

"Canadians are so possessive of their sport," Mason said, explaining that there was some favoritism among his countrymen toward Buffalo in the Eastern Conference finals because it was a kindred city, with a fan base in Ontario. Some probably will consider Raleigh a hockey haven only when they see consistent fan support, win or lose, he said.

It could be coming.

When Pierre McGuire, an analyst for Canadian sports network TSN, was on a plane flying home to Montreal on Friday, he said two Caniacs asked him what the hockey world thinks of Carolina getting back to the finals.

"I think it's great,'' McGuire said. "I think it's a phenomenal community with a lot of enthusiasm, and they need to bottle all that energy up and keep it going."

Continuing that enthusiasm after this season, he said, will be crucial.

"Now they've got the building blocks,'' he said. "They've got a star in Eric Staal, a great young goalie in Cam Ward. ... It's a favorite spot for people in the league to go to down there."