Every team has a few pop culture moments where they get a movie or TV show reference. For the Carolina Hurricanes, it’s all Stephen Colbert.
Every team has a celeb or two in their corner that hawks their games and pushes the team in their movies, music, and TV shows. It’s free advertising for the most part for the team and a way for the sport to really grow. For the Carolina Hurricanes that celebrity has been Stephen Colbert, a South Carolina native, and now the host of the tonight show.
Colbert may not be the first celeb you think of when you think Carolina Hurricanes, you might think of Rick Flair, nature boy, who’s signature “that’s a Carolina Hurricanes goal, woo, woo, woo” rings across the arena after every goal. His “woos” echo the halls of PNC after every win. But I am here to tell you he isn’t the Canes’ pop culture moment.
Nope. See the nature boy has long abandoned his loyalty to the Carolina Hurricanes. Even though the fanbase and the team are still loyal to him by keeping the “woos” and goal call. But that is now more ours than it ever was his.
Colbert on the other hand, while not the most versed in hockey has managed to stay well enough to catch the David Ayres game and invite him to the Tonight Show for some EBUG inspired fun!
Zamboni operator and emergency @canes goalie David Ayres saved the day when @StephenAtHome went down with an injury! #LSSC pic.twitter.com/TGMp1YJj6h
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) February 25, 2020
Now that is the way to greet a legendary Carolina Hurricanes player. But the legend of David Ayres wasn’t the first time that Stephen Colbert had brought the Canes to his National stage.
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Back in 2006, a different era of time when he was still doing the Colbert Report and Jon Stewart was still running the Daily Show and the two comedy central shows linked to each other consistently, Stephen Colbert made a proclamation that should forever be etched in the halls of PNC Area.
This is true. While he doesn’t know how to pronounce Stanley Cup or the difference between a ball and a puck, Stephen Colbert ensured that the world knew that the Carolina Hurricanes do in fact, rule. While sure, it was only at the end of one show on a budding cable channel, he carried that with him all the way to 2020 and made sure to give David Ayres all the love a Canes Legend deserves.
After all, who can ask for more than a Zamboni driver in net to save the day and put another team into the halls of shame until the end of time?
Question for CC Readers: Ric Flair vs Stephen Colbert. Who do you think is the bigger Caniac in your opinion?