Hurricanes give 2006 Stanley Cup champs something to cheer in win over Blue Jackets
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Hurricanes reunited 2006 champions in Raleigh to mark 20th anniversary.
- Canes honored alumni before a 4-1 win as Jarvis, Staal and Martinook scored.
- 2006 title cited as catalyst for local hockey growth and franchise identity.
Carolina Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal has a different perspective on the team’s 2006 Stanley Cup championship than almost anyone else.
Staal’s oldest brother, Eric, was a 21-year-old center for the Canes in 2005-06. He was a 100-point scorer in the NHL’s regular season and led all scorers in the playoffs.
Jordan was 17, soon on his way to the NHL, attending some of the playoff games, hoping to see his brother lift the Cup and then bring it home for a day to Thunder Bay, Ontario.
“You could tell they had a spark right from the start of the year, that they had a belief in what they were doing,” Jordan Staal said Tuesday. “They added some good veteran guys who found their role and played well, and everyone joined in on all the fun.
“It looked like they were having fun out there. They obviously were playing a great confidence game, a quick game, a fast game. From what I saw, they looked different than most teams in the league that year and carried that into the playoffs and had a great run.”
With the 2006 champs celebrating the 20th anniversary of that great run, many of the members of that team were back in Raleigh the past few days and were recognized and honored Tuesday before the Canes’ 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Lenovo Center.
‘The stories just keep getting better and better’
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour was the captain of the 2006 champions, the first to lift the Cup after Game 7. He put No. 17 on Tuesday to join his former teammates on the red carpet before the game, and defenseman Glen Wesley carried out the Cup, but Brind’Amour was soon back in his suit, back behind the bench to coach.
“These whole couple of days, I don’t know if I can say I needed it, but it refreshed me in the sense of, I remember why we do this,” he said. “It was just awesome to be around the guys. Walking out there, seeing Wes carry the Cup, was really cool. I know how much it meant to him. He deserved that.
“God willing, we’ll always have those kind of memories. It’s really what life’s about, creating those. You have a good life, you have a bunch of good memories.”
As for the game, the Canes (18-9-2) overcame a listless first period to build a game and give the “old guys” a good sendoff. Seth Jarvis tied the score 1-1 in the second period with his 17th of the season, and Eric Robinson gave the Canes a 2-1 lead off a well-executed rush.
Jordan Staal, who always seems to play well with his brother in the building, then scored a power-play goal for the second straight game off a tip. Jordan Martinook finished it off with an empty netter late that was a shorthanded goal after the Blue Jackets (13-11-6) emptied their net and then had a 6-on-4 power play.
Canes goalie Brandon Bussi continued one of the league’s best feel-good stories, winning his seventh straight game with 23 saves. He became one of five goalies in NHL history to win nine of his first 10 career games.
Several of the ‘06 players laced up the skates Monday night as the Hurricanes alumni team took a 6-3 win over N.C. State Icepack club team at the Lenovo Center. A good time was had by all, although some aging hamstrings had to be a little sore Tuesday morning.
“I hadn’t taken a hard stride in a year, but that was a lot of fun,” Brind’Amour said Tuesday.
Brind’Amour grinned when asked if any lies about the old days were being told with the guys back together.
“Oh, yeah, all the time,” he said. “The stories just keep getting better and better.”
‘A lot of good feels’
The Hurricanes’ story from 2006 has been retold often. Carolina easily won the Southeast Division with 112 points in 2005-06.
Eric Staal had been taken by Carolina with the No. 2 pick in the 2003 NHL draft, and was playing his second NHL season. With 45 goals and 55 assists, he topped the Canes in scoring — Justin Williams and Cory Stillman each had 76 points — and was one of seven NHL players with 100 or more points that season.
“I remember seeing Eric at the top of the (Canes) list in points, and I was in shock,” Jordan Staal said Tuesday. “I’m just finishing math in grade 10 in high school, and you see your brother among the leaders in the NHL, and it was, ‘Wow, this is pretty crazy.’
“It happened pretty quick, and then from there it was like everything was rolling, especially for Eric. Just a lot of good feels.”
The Hurricanes recovered from an 0-2 series start at home to beat the Montreal Canadiens in six games in the opening round of the playoffs, rolled past the New Jersey Devils in five, then survived a gritty, seven-game series with the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference final.
The Edmonton Oilers pushed the Canes to the limit in the Cup final, winning Games 5 and 6 to force a Game 7 in Raleigh. With the sellout crowd on its feet all game and the arena in bedlam, the Canes took a 3-1 victory that had Brind’Amour all but snatch the Cup away from commissioner Gary Bettman.
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“Everyone had a common goal, and we also had a lot of older guys that had never won and you just had that sense that they weren’t going to let it slip through our hands,” Brind’Amour said.
Eric Staal finally had his turn with the Cup, lifting it high, skating around the ice, his smile as wide as Thunder Bay.
Staal would say he had the feeling the Canes might win a few more Cups, later realizing, “I should have known better and known how fortunate I was.”
Staal brought the Cup home for a day. Jordan Staal, honoring hockey tradition and superstition, did not touch it then. He did bring it back himself in 2009 after winning the Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“The (2006) Cup obviously was big for the franchise and for how hockey has grown here,” Jordan Staal said.
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
