The “Triple H” factor is in play with the Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup, Hockey is now the current talk of the town, and the Hoppers are on break for the SAL All-Star game. The Hurricanes, Hockey, and the Hoppers. We can easily throw in a few more “H” factors like Hot, Hedican, Hardin, Hemsky, Hit and Hurry. The fans wanted the clock to hurry up and run out so they could celebrate. The Hurricanes out-Hit the Oilers in game #7, although I think the Oilers were a better skating team, but what does it matter when the Oilers are getting their brains beat out by the Hurricanes. Smart approach by the Canes at home.
Ed Hardin was all over the Stanley Cup Final for the News and Record and he should have been down in Raleigh covering the games because EH was the writer on the scene for the N&R back when the Greensboro Monarchs were tearing up the building back in the days of the old Greensboro Coliseum. Hardin still knows Hockey.
It’s even kind of a Cup Crazy idea to think that the locals are talking Hockey when it is flat out Hot outside with the temps reaching above 90 degrees and the Humidity kicking in at rear-smacking levels. The Hurricanes did their job and as mentioned earlier they out-Hit and beat the Oilers into 10W 30 pulp.
The win will be good for the state of NC for a few days since it will put a positive spin on the State’s attitiude while the lottery suffers and education continues to tank in our Guilford County Schools. These Hockey players were not lazy and they took full advantage of the Home Ice opportunity and put away the Oilers to claim their Cup.
I was driving down East Market Street today and I looked over at Sprinkle Gas #1, 2918 East Market and they had Hurricanes’ jerseys hanging up around their place of business and the winners colors were flying in the wind. Tim Rich the Sprinkle #1 owner had Hurricanes season tickets for his entire family until his business burned to the ground last summer. Having to rebuild Sprinkle Gas #1 took a financial toll on Tim and his family( 5 season tickets per season plus playoffs since the beginning) but Tim and his son TJ never wavered in their support of the Canes. TJ is a member of the Junior Hurricane team that traveled to Canada and represented the Canes in a Multi-Nation tournament back in February.
You know ole’ Bruce Bullington(or Bill Bullington as he was once refered to by former WPET radio staff announcer Ray Jones), is on cloud nine or maybe cloud 7 right after the Monday night Cane victory. Bruce(Bill) has earned himself a chance to celebrate because he is a big-time fan of the Hurricanes and has traveled to Raleigh to see nearly every Cane home contest since the team got started. Bruce was also a regular when the Canes called Greensboro their home ice. You have to say congrats to people like Tim,TJ,(and family) and to guys like BB, because Bruce’s teams have always come up short in the big games and even though Bruce never played the game he has always stuck by his team and let’s face it(or face off) the kid(Bill) needs a break.
On the other hand the guy over at 790 the Ball, I believe his name is Bill Kimm or Kim Bill, he thinks he can come in and jump on every band-wagon that comes rolling through the Triad/Triangle, and Kim will jump on anything that goes bang-bang down in Charlotte too. The other fellow that I have heard on 790, (Drew Davis) this guy knows his Hockey and he has a passion for the game and it comes through in the way he presents his information. BK or KB acts like he knows all the players and that the tradition of kissing the Cup has been a big thing and well known around these parts for many years.
I don’t know the players that were kissing the Stanley Cup on TV Monday night and I didn’t even know that it was a big deal that the players had waited their entire lives to Kiss the Cup. These Cane players are a team that was transported in here and put together to go after that Cup and I bet a majority of the Tar Heel population had never heard of these Canes before the Quest for the Cup. To me watching a bunch of men standing around kissing a cup is bit nutty. If I had just won the Title of any sport, I wouldn’t have to have a cup or trophy to kiss to make it official, just winning and knowing you are the champ is satisfying to the soul. Cups and Trophies are not big deals, when you know you have the victory, you are on the Mountain and you don’t need material items to verify your success.
The Cup Kissing deal has never really been a tradition that has been shown or driven home around here and that makes it something new to our people. They may show events like this on ESPN constantly but how many of us have time to spend 20-25 years of our life watching ESPN. Bill Kimm or Kim Bill watches TV quite often and BK or KB better keep an eye on Triad Jobs Today on TV48 because you never know when the job market will be changing, just ask Big Mo, Mark Amazon, Tom Jorgenson, or Matt Pencola. Pencola was the best on- air local sports radio man we have had in this town. Pencola was entertaining and he knew the sports info.
These Hockey players for the Hurricanes are not house-hold names so it is hard for the average person to identify with these guys but maybe all that will change now. We will see more of the winners than we ever did in the past. How long will the Hockey-Fever epidemic last? It is up to the youth. Kids and young adults will have to carry the game to the next level around the state and I’m talking kids and young adults(ages 18-30), the older people age 30 and above will be harder to lock in because of their habits that have already been established.
Congrats to Champions, even though I don’t know any of the imports and to be honest that is what they did. They imported a team to win the Title. Canadians and outsiders, but maybe, just maybe that’s the way it has to be done these days. Rent a Title or Rent a Cup, Buy a Title or Buy a Cup, and then when the feeling wears off, go to another town or state and start the process all over again.
Celebrate and enjoy, but let me tell you and most of you know this already, Professional Sports is a rugged game. I wish all the players and their families well and I hope the fans have fun at the parties and celebrations but let’s keep this thing in perspective, Greensborosports.com has given a good amount of our time to covering this event once it got Hot, and now it is time move on.
We are hoping the Hoppers can get their players back and healthy and that the Greensboro Grasshoppers can make some kind of run and create some noise in the second half of the South Atlantic League season. The attendance has been great with over 212,000 fans coming out to watch the Hoppers during the first half games. The team will need better starting pitching and over-all team consistancy to be contenders the rest of the way. The Hoppers need a steady lineup and if Harvey, Hayes, and Septimo are all back early in half number 2 the GSO Hoppers will have a chance, overwise the team will be fighting to stay above .500.
As Mick Foley would say “Have a Nice Day”, and don’t forget the Comment Box at the bottom of the page and thanks to Don Moore, the WebMaster at Greensborosports.com.