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Tuesday, 27 June 2006 16:02 |
| Erik Rhyne
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Sports Opinion
BOONE ?? The Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup, the team??s first-ever championship, on June 22.
It was also the first championship in one of the four major pro sports in North Carolina.
The one thing I??m wondering is, did anyone even notice?
Hockey,
as everyone knows, just finished its first season after a season-long
strike. While play did become exciting, it seemed as if people just
were not ready to watch.
ESPN regularly showed games at night during the season. Fox Sports South was the place to go to watch the Hurricanes.
This
past season, the place to find games was the Outdoor Life Network. Why
would an outdoor channel cover something that does not relate to
outdoors at all?
I
guess it was just because people weren??t ready to accept hockey back,
even though it was not that popular before, as other sports.
What a time to win a championship!
I
can guarantee that most of the TVs in North Carolina were tuned into
NBC on June 22. Many in Hartford, Conn., were as well. (In case you did
not know, that??s where the Hurricanes were before they moved to
Carolina.)
The
ratings were not even that great for a game 7, which, in any sport, is
one of the most enjoyable and thrilling games to witness ?? two teams
battle each other for six games and reach the end of the road. After
that game is over, the season is done, the title is won and everyone
has to wait for next year.
One
thing that really helped keep the ratings low for the whole series was
that the Hurricanes are a small-market team from the South. Hockey is a
sport that is related to the colder climates, not the South, as I have
heard before, which is more attuned to NASCAR.
It??s
a shame, too. Hockey players go through a demanding 82-game schedule.
These guys put themselves through nonstop physical demand.
It??s not like football, where they stop after each play. In hockey, they play continuously for 20 minutes.
There may be a few brief stoppages for penalties, but they do not fully stop until the end of a period.
Everyone
that plays hockey puts their heart into every game. If you watched
after game 7 was over, you would see the tears of heartbreak and
enjoyment on the faces of the Hurricanes and their opponents, the
Edmonton Oilers.
There are also the stories of players that make you appreciate how hard these guys worked just to win the Stanley Cup.
For
example, Glen Wesley played more than 1,000 NHL games before winning
his first title. His streak was the longest active, and ranked third
all-time among players.
Then there is Rob Brind??Amour, the team??s captain, who played 18 seasons before lifting the cup.
On
the other end of the spectrum is Cam Ward, a rookie goaltender who came
in during the playoffs to help lead Carolina. He won the Conn Smythe
Trophy, awarded to the MVP of the playoffs.
Ward said that you never know when you will be back, so it is best to cherish every moment of it now.
He??s right. There really is no time to know when another professional team in North Carolina will win a championship.
So, we should all just take a few minutes and enjoy what happened on June 22.
Still, there is one big question: Did anyone even notice that the Hurricanes won?
?ΓΏ
Erik
Rhyne, who writes a weekly column for the Daily Planet, is the sports
editor of The Appalachian, the twice-weekly student newspaper at
Appalachian State University.
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