Hurricanes Fandom Origin Stories From The Staff Of Cardiac Canes
By Chris Baker
We all have an origin story for our fandom of the Carolina Hurricanes. Our Cardiac Canes tell their stories about how and when they became Hurricanes fans.
Harvey Ashner- Growing up my neighbors played hockey and used to play the Hurricanes games on tv when I would come over. I remember in 2006 ( I was only 8) watching their games and being happy that a team from our area made it to the Stanley cup finals and won. I grew up playing/watching basketball so throughout the years I didn’t keep up with it and was more focused on basketball. I had the chance to be a basketball trainer after highschool at Chris Paul’s CP3 Sports academy and that took up some time. I started playing actual hockey in 2018 and started following the Hurricanes to really learn the game. This was before the rebuild and I could see the potential but would get frustrated how they played. When Brind’amour became head coach there was a visible difference and turnaround in the team dynamics that became unmatched in the league. When they made it to the playoffs, that gave a glimpse of the future and hope for the organization.
Keith Preston- My first ever Canes game was Game 2 of the Montreal series in 2006. My mom’s work had a group outing and reserved one of the boxes for all of us to sit in. 8-year-old me was so excited. Maybe the playoff environment added to it, but I was woefully unaware of most of what was going on in the moment. I went to several more games during that playoff run and my love for the team and the sport of hockey grew from there. I went from knowing nothing about hockey to being obsessed with it in one night.
Avery Thomas-My biological dad, who is from Philadelphia, introduced my mom to hockey and the Flyers. I’m actually named after Bobby Clarke as my middle name is Clarke. I got my mom’s love for hockey and didn’t start closely following the sport until I was a preteen, so I was mainly keeping up with the Flyers. I officially became a Carolina Hurricanes fan after watching the 2019 playoffs with my nana. If I remember correctly I asked if she wanted to watch the playoff games, and she was enthusiastic about it. My mom had gotten Nana into hockey prior to, and Nana proclaimed herself as a Canes fan. After that, we would watch games together and that became something special that we shared. I was living at home and attending Durham Tech for my associates at the time, so come game nights Nana and I were ready. That and being born and raised in North Carolina, it just makes sense to me if I’m a Canes fan.
Chris Baker- My fandom comes a lot later than you might think. I am from Tennessee. No one knows hockey there. I’ve never lived anywhere that had hockey. When I first moved to North Carolina, my best friends moved here to Raleigh. They’d hit games before, but I had not. It became a thing that I would leave the parking lot on two wheels Friday afternoon, come out to Raleigh, and we’d go to the games. This was in ’13 through ’16. Dark years and cheap tickets. I was not into hockey as much as I was hanging out with buddies. I moved to Raleigh the first time and took a little more notice. Moving back to Raleigh in ’21, I got hooked with the Nashville playoff series. That next season I went to some games. Someone in the STM office noticed, hit me up with a good seat for a game. Next thing you know I am 11 game STM holder two years running.
Let us hear your fandom origin stories! We love hearing how folks came to the Hurricanes.