Last year was an eventful year for the Carolina Hurricanes. A deep playoff run, coupled by the return of a familiar face at head coach means that this year, the Hurricanes expect to go all the way.
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Carolina Hurricanes Tickets Information
The Carolina Hurricanes have been one of the more successful hockey franchises since the millennium. Along with their Stanley Cup finals win in 2005-06, the Canes won the Eastern Conference Championship in 2001-02 (losing the Cup to the Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 1) and the Southeast Division Championships in 1998-99.
Like their torrential team name implies, the Hurricanes have really gotten around. Founded as a WHA team in Boston, Massachusetts at the end of 1971 and called the New England Whalers where after they moved to Connecticut to become the Hartford Whalers in 1979 when the rival NHL and WHA merged into one league (and since Boston already had an NHL team, the Boston Bruins). At that time, the Edmonton Oilers, the Quebec Nordiques, and the Winnipeg Jets were also admitted to the newly merged league.
It was because of a problem negotiating a contract for a new home arena in Hartford that the team ultimately moved to Raleigh, North Carolina in 1997 and took up home in their new Entertainment and Sports Arena (aka the RBC) - this after a short 2-year stint displacing the Carolina Monarchs from the Greensboro Coliseum as the RBC wasn't finished being built yet.
One of the 'Canes best moves, however, was drafting centre Eric Staal (elder brother of Marc Staal of the New York Rangers, Jordan Staal of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Jared Staal of the OHL) in 2003. Staal has contributed to the success of the team, and looks to have another big season this year.
After a slow start to the 2008-09 season, former Canes coach Peter Laviolette was replaced by his predecessor Paul Maurice. Maurice led the team to the Eastern Conference finals before losing in four games to the eventual champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Erik Cole and Aaron Ward, two pivotal forces in the 2006 Stanley Cup run, have returned to the Hurricanes in the offseason. With these two pieces in place, and a formidable core of players including the aforementioned Eric Staal, Joe Corvo, Sergei Samsonov and goaltender Cam Ward, the Hurricanes will be a team that no one will want to face this season.
Get your Carolina Hurricanes tickets for the 2009-10 season ASAP, as everyone in the NHL is waiting to see whether they can make another run at the title.