Hard times hit two sports powers

At the RBC Center tonight, the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens will renew a rivalry that stems from two hard-fought playoff series and started when the Hurricanes, as the Hartford Whalers, were in the same division as the Canadiens.

Down the road in Chapel Hill, North Carolina hosts Kentucky in a meeting of two of college basketball's traditional powerhouses, although only one qualifies for that distinction this season -- or recently.

Two proud traditions, among the most revered in their particular sports, visit the Triangle tonight, both desperately attempting to recapture past glory, although their recent performance can be deemed subpar only by their own lofty standards.

It has been 15 years, and counting, since the Canadiens last won the Stanley Cup. That's the longest drought since they won it for the first time in 1916.

It has been 10 years, and counting, since Kentucky's last NCAA title. While they've gone longer without a championship, the Wildcats have never gone a decade without a Final Four appearance.

And in the interim? The Hurricanes have won the Cup once and been to the finals twice. The Tar Heels have won one championship and been to three Final Fours.

These are dark days in Montreal, where the passion for hockey is unmatched, even in Canada, and in Kentucky, where basketball has been the unofficial state religion since Adolph Rupp arrived in 1930.

In both places, the team is as much a cultural phenomenon as an athletic one. The Canadiens unify a city -- a province -- that speaks two languages, French and English, but where everyone is fluent in hockey. In Kentucky, the Wildcats serve as lingua franca between the humblest coal miner and the richest horse-farm bluegrass blue-blood.

Anything but complete success is met with disdain, which is why Tubby Smith was run out of Lexington in 2007 despite a 263-83 record and a national title and Montreal fired Alain Vigneault 20 games into the 2000-01 season a year after he was a finalist for coach-of-the-year honors.

The Canadiens played in the famed Forum, a cramped, smoky temple to the game of hockey, before moving to the raucous, polished Bell Centre in 1996. No college basketball team draws more fans than the Wildcats do to Rupp Arena. Kentucky has Ashley Judd, Montreal has St Catherine Street; Kentucky had Rupp and Rick Pitino; Montreal had Toe Blake and Dick Irvin and dozens of Hall of Fame players.

They are linked in tradition, in stature and in success. No NHL team has won more Stanley Cups than the Canadiens; no NCAA team has won more NCAA tournament games than Kentucky, although UCLA has more national titles.

Of the two, Montreal is closer to meeting its traditional standards this season, with sights set on a trip to the finals and a chance to win a 25th Stanley Cup. Kentucky would happily settle for an 18th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, and anything beyond that would be gravy.

Going into Monday night's games, the Canadiens are fifth in the Eastern Conference with 22 points, cooling off after a hot 8-1-1 start that included a 3-2 (OT) home win over Carolina Oct. 28.

Kentucky couldn't have gotten off to a worse start, opening its season with a 111-103 home loss to Virginia Military on Friday. Kentucky fans expected more when they brought Billy Gillespie in from Texas A&M to replace Smith, but then again they always do.

This has been a difficult decade for both the Canadiens and the Wildcats, with both facing a long road back to the position they both expect to occupy in their respective sports.

Dynasties rise and dynasties fall. No one doubts that these dynasties will rise again. For the moment, they remain in the shadow of their own history.