Carolina Hurricanes: Breaking Down The Rivalries
Since coming to Raleigh in ’97 the Carolina Hurricanes have developed some heated rivalries due to fan, team, and organizational interaction.
Nothing makes sports more interesting and fun than a good, heated rivalry. The more historic, and the more hate; the better. Fans bickering, players fighting, and general bad blood gives the players a sort of rush to play like never before.
Most rivalries tend to come from history; such as Pittsburgh and Philly, or Montreal and Boston. So with the Canes starting in 1997, only 22 years ago, how do they create rivalries of new? Most teams will simply say; “you aren’t our rival, so and so is.” That quote in itself, means the other team and fans think about us, and dislike us, which is by definition a rivalry.
So let’s break it down, Who are the Canes biggest rivals?
1. The Montreal Canadiens
Rivalries are most often started by bad blood between players or fans of two opposing teams. Every now and then there is another cause, such as a a bold move by an organization as a whole. Which brings us to the Canes first rival, a rather new one.
Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon on Canadiens giving offer sheet to Sebastian Aho: pic.twitter.com/2KqP4F2U7M
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) July 2, 2019
Let’s take a trip down memory lane to July 1st 2019. All unsigned free agents can be offered by any club that is allowed to offer them. On this day in history, the entire city of Montreal made their worst mistake ever; giving Sebastian Aho an offer sheet to play for them.
For the next couple of months, and even still today, Montreal fans have wrecked havoc on Canes twitter. Saying things like Aho doesn’t want to be a Hurricane, Dundon is cheap, and he wasn’t even worth it any way. The actual quotes were to laughable to even directly quote.
This is totally the face of someone who does not want to play for the Carolina Hurricanes (insert sarcasm here). Aho never for a second wanted to leave Carolina. He loves his teammates, his coaches and us fans down here. Don’t believe the hype?
https://twitter.com/SebastianAho/status/1147928380521799680
This entire situation caused such a ruckus on social media that many arguments between Habs and Canes fans ensued the offer sheet. Even after the deal was done, Habs fans began to loom to the fact that they could still spoil our opening night. The way this game went was what etched this rivalry into the books.
109. Final. 3. 152. 4
Mind you this was in shootout. Had the Canes, or even the Habs destroyed the other, possibly all of the hullabaloo would have been but aside. But the Canes just had to wreck the nerves of everyone in Raleigh and take this in to Shout out where Dougie Hamilton sealed the deal. While Aho didn’t net a goal himself, this was the beginning to a new and exciting rivalry for the Canes.
2. The Boston Bruins
This rivalry is a great example of “you aren’t our rival.” With Boston being one of the original six NHL teams, Boston has historic rivalries with Montreal, Toronto, and others. Some of you might even be thinking, Boston?? Really??
Yes really. True Caniacs that have stuck with our boys through thick and thin will agree with this take. 06′ was a magical year, and the Canes were still hot for years after than going into the 09′ playoff run. Then when the world needed them most, they vanished. Putting together 10 years of sub par hockey records before finally finding the playoffs last season.
Those 10 years were not only rough on the records but on the fans at PNC arena. During that time span we saw our beloved home arena, once voted loudest house in the NHL, turn into a home game for the visiting team. It seemed every game there were chants for the visiting team, and no team had more loud and proud fans in PNC than the Bruins. As a fan base at that point there wasn’t any leverage to silence the noise.
Until 2019. The underdog Canes made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals against non other than the Bruins. Only to get swept.
109. Final. 4. 70. 0
A very bitter taste indeed, especially getting shut out at home in the final game of the series sweep. All the while when visiting Boston, or beloved Canes blue liner Dougie Hamilton was boo’ed often, as he used to play for the Bruins. Nobody messes with Svechnikov’s big brother!
This loss still hurts, and you better bet it hurts the guys as well. December third felt like a playoff game, and while the guys couldn’t find the Bruins number this last go round, they want it. It was a hard fought and very physical game. Expect this from now on in this rivalry.
3. the washington capitals
Yes there was meant to be no capital letters in the header for this section. Just like we don’t drink Dunkin’ Doughnuts when we play Boston, we don’t ever capitalize washington capitals. Out of spite.
This rivalry is a no brainer, but by far the biggest one for the Canes. While caps fans were easily the second most loud and annoying fans during the drought, there is more to this.
The capitals have always been a good game for the Canes. And with being one of if not the closest NHL teams to Raleigh, it’s rather obvious to make them a rival. There have always been hard fought games, battling from both sides, and banter from both fan bases. But the playoffs of 2018-2019 changed the level of the rivalry.
It started with Tom Wilson simply being, Tom Wilson. He has always been a rather aggressive player but seemed to get a little too carried away, dirty if you will, that series. Then Ferland got ejected for a check that was 10 times less of a hit than Ovechkin had in game two.
And then, Ovechkin picked a fight with Andrei Svechnikov in game three. Easily Alex was worried that one day Andrei would be better than him, and we can’t blame him for assuming the truth.
https://twitter.com/NHLonNBCSports/status/1121464993998868480
But then, we got them. Mr. Game 7, AKA Justin Williams, gave the puck to Brock McGinn to score the game winner. This not only haunted the defending champs playoff run, but catapulted the Canes in to round two. And while it may still seem rather one sided on this rivalry, let’s recap why all of DC hates McGinn.
https://twitter.com/timandsid/status/1121235986631938048
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That’s right, the caps were inches away from taking the series. Brock Mcginn steps in to make the save and then seal the deal. So now, not only is there a bad taste in our mouths from the many years of being talked down to by caps fans (even after the Canes won a cup first) McGinn leaves them with the same taste.
Even now, the Canes and caps games are very highly anticipated with two more around the new year. The Canes are up 1-0 on the regular season series with the caps as of now. How will they respond to their biggest rivalry games coming up? Wins, that’s how.
Question for CC readers: What other big rivals do the Canes have?
dark. Next. The Carolina Hurricanes Hit the Jets with Heavy Turbulence