NHL Fans, Jump on Bandwagon: Why It’s OK to Root for the Hurricanes This Postseason | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

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The Carolina Hurricanes and their fans have been in a strange situation for the past five years.

There’s a lot of whiplash for everyone involved when a small-market team goes from owning the league’s longest playoff drought to being everyone’s favorite happy-go-lucky Cinderella story for five straight. -next year’s playoff battle.

Since owner Tom Dundon, GM Don Waddell, and head coach Rod Brind’Amour took over, Carolina has gone from irrelevant, to a tongue-in-cheek “Bunch of Jerks” that put in an unconventional way. postgame celebration called the Storm Surge, of a team that sells out every game in the regular season and is always related to the ice.

The thing is, when you’re in a small market, that chip-on-the-shoulder feeling doesn’t go away easily. The Canes did it their way, rejecting tradition unapologetically. They go on about things like revenge offer pagessocial media pranks, and Surge iterations.

Refusing to “act as usual,” if you will, has earned them some enemies along the way. Most recently, Bally Sports’ Pete Blackburn has been on a mission to point out just how defensive some Canes fans can be.

As someone who covers the Hurricanes for The Athletic During the four years during their rise to relevancy, I personally believe that many people on the outside were wrong when it came to the Canes and their fans. Yes, they can be annoying online sometimes. Yes, they tend to exaggerate some of the all-encompassing prejudice against them. But they’re annoying because they care, and because for the longest time, you didn’t. In addition, lack of attendance and relocation jokes you can also be defensive.

I’ve fallen in love with many things about this team and the people around it during my four years at Raleighwood, and despite some of the internet crap that has taken off and concerns, this is a team worth supporting.

And it’s about to get worse. The Canes are headed to the Eastern Conference Finals after defeating the Devils with a Game 5 overtime victory on Thursday.

If you haven’t yet, here are the reasons to jump on the bandwagon, in no particular order.

The forecheck, the system, and the role of the defense

It’s strange that a system that revolves largely around shot-stopping is also fun when it comes to defense, but here we are.

If you’re into the evolving concept of positionless hockey, this Hurricanes team is for you. There’s a reason so many defenses go to Carolina and have career seasons. Of course, playing next to Jaccob Slavin can give anyone a boost, but more than that—it’s the system and the attitude.

The easiest way to explain it? Canes coaches encourage all players on the ice including defensemen to jump in a hurry, and players are rarely penalized for committing a foul while doing so. It’s something that can take some getting used to when coming to defenses from tighter schemes, but once they let go you’ll see them fly.

Game 5 regulation alone saw 17 of Carolina’s 31 shots come from defensemen. Brent Burns made that big equalizer with less than 40 seconds left in the second, and he has two goals and eight points in 11 games this postseason. More on Burns later, but Slavin and Brett Pesce both have two goals and six points in 11 playoff games. Everything is a factor, and it’s a big reason the Canes are staying afloat despite the absence of Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen.

Then there’s the forecheck, and the best way to explain that is “No one wants to drive coach Brind’Amour crazy.” It’s relentless and comes in waves, with hard-working forwards constantly putting pressure on the opposing team.

Color commentator Tripp Tracy

To know longtime Hurricanes broadcaster Tripp Tracy is to love him, which is why many consider him the Frank Sinatra of the NHL. He has been with the Canes since 1998, through the height of the 2006 Stanley Cup Championship and the bottom of the playoff drought.

Tracy has provided so many laughs over the years with his trademark humor that we sometimes overlook his great insight and eye for the game.

But this time, Tracy seemed brave shared his sobriety journey, we see him at the top of his game. He’s still funny, but he’s sharper than ever and you can tell he’s found the confidence he’s always deserved. How special for the Hurricanes to win the Cup to cap off a special year for someone who has always been one of their best ambassadors.

The friends, family, and fan vibes

Stay long enough after Hurricanes practices, and you’ll find Brind’Amour there shooting pucks with his youngest son, Brooks. He told me a few months ago that he coaches Brooks, Burns’ son, and Justin Williams’ daughter on his days off.

The famous tailgates start early and last all day in Raleighwood. Everyone is welcome.

A former NHL GM of another team once told me that PNC Arena is the loudest arena in the playoffs, and after experiencing a dozen NHL arenas during the postseason, no one has proven him wrong.

There’s a mutual admiration and a kind of closeness between a team and its fans when you’re in a small market that’s just gotten better. No one can capture that magic on Twitter, you just have to come to Raleigh and see it for yourself — and I highly recommend doing that.

First of all, Brind’Amour’s entire playing career contained what it takes to succeed in a traditional market that doesn’t always bring the league’s best players. He’s hardworking, he doesn’t take shortcuts, and we all know he captained a Hurricanes team that won the Cup in 2006.

The Hurricanes have not missed the playoffs since he took over behind the bench. He broke all kinds of “fastest X wins in franchise history” records. He already has Jack Adams.

Rod Brind’Amour has become one of the best coaches in the NHL.AP Photo/Adam Hunger

You can see flashes of who he was as a player in the contemporary Hurricanes—the emphasis on shot suppression, the respect for conditioning by Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Bill Burniston, the stars who logged enough TOI , and the death penalty.

He does things the right way, the way they should be done if a team without a Connor McDavid or an Andrei Vasilevskiy is going to win the Cup. I can’t imagine a current NHL coach building more with less and who wouldn’t get behind that?

Most of all, the Hurricanes are fun. And isn’t that what sports are? Having fun watching a sport we enjoy. The Canes and their fans are having fun. We can all join in too.