Alumni Fantasy Game brings back memories of Canes’ Stanley Cup win

Vance Pope said he was 17 years old and in PNC Arena, then called the RBC Center, when the Carolina Hurricanes won the 2006 Stanley Cup.

Pope cheered as Rod Brind’Amour, the Canes’ captain, raised the Cup after the Game 7 win over the Edmonton Oilers. He watched as Doug Weight, who had injured a shoulder in the Stanley Cup finals, gamely gave the Cup a lift.

Ten years later, as the Canes again celebrated the Stanley Cup championship, Pope was on the ice with Brind’Amour at PNC Arena to participate in the Hurricanes’ Alumni Fantasy Game. He took a pass from Weight and buried a shot to help the Red Team to an 11-8 win Sunday over the White.

“Pretty incredible, isn’t it?” said Pope, an Apex native who played club hockey at UNC Wilmington. “A great pass from Doug Weight? Being in the locker room with these guys after watching them win the Cup 10 years ago? Incredible.”

Close by in the room was Aaron Ward, the defenseman whose goal gave the Canes a critical 1-0 lead in Games 7 against the Oilers. A few feet away sat defenseman Bret Hedican and across the room were such 2006 stars as Brind’Amour and winger Ray Whitney.

The Alumni game ended a three-day run of activities that included a Champions Tailgate on Friday and a stirring pregame ceremony Saturday that gave the 2006 players another chance to get their hands on the Stanley Cup again.

“For me, coming back means seeing these guys again but also knowing there were so many big moments that year,” said Hedican, a radio analyst for the San Jose Sharks. “The way this group pushed each other and the respect and the trust that we had in one another, you’ll have that forever. Coming back, knowing the wars you went through together, it’s always going to be special.”

Hedican’s wife, Kristi Yamaguchi, and their two daughters came back for the 10-year Cup reunion. That was fitting, Hedican said, in that the Canes had such a strong feeling of family in the championship season.

“The wives, the management, the coaching staff, the trainers. ... Every guy in the organization was committed to making the people around him better,” Hedican said.

Forward Chad LaRose was a part of that Canes family. So were forwards Craig Adams and Kevyn Adams, who each scored Sunday, and defensemen Nic Wallin, Mike Commodore and Andrew Hutchinson.

Also playing Sunday was defenseman Glen Wesley, who has remained in the Carolina organization as the Canes’ director of defenseman development.

Late in the second period, the Canes’ alumni skaters briefly had the ice to themselves and the pace quickened. Ward scored, blasting a shot from the slot off a Craig Adams pass.

Cole missed a big chunk of the regular season and nearly all of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2006 after a serious neck injury. He returned for Game 6 against the Oilers and was able to be a part of the Game 7 excitement, when Canes fans stood from start to finish in a 3-1 victory that clinched the Cup.

Returning to Raleigh for the 10-year anniversary, Cole said, “Stirs up a lot of emotion. It was a great weekend. We all had a blast.”

This story was originally published February 14, 2016 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Alumni Fantasy Game brings back memories of Canes’ Stanley Cup win."