Hurricanes parade shows hockey's rise in North Carolina
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The parade drew thousands to downtown Raleigh. Photo: Jaylynn Nash/Getty Images
A parade celebrating the Carolina Hurricanes' Stanley Cup win brought tens of thousands of fans to downtown Raleigh on Saturday.
Why it matters: The celebration underscored how deeply the Hurricanes have embedded themselves in a fast-growing Southern hockey market.
- This is the second NHL championship for the Canes in franchise history, and their first in 20 years.
What they're saying: "I still can't believe it. It's impressive," head coach Rod Brind'Amour told reporters when asked about the city's embrace over the past three decades.
- North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein called it a "playoff run for the ages."
Zoom in: Many of the players went "tarps off" (shirtless) on the cloudless 85-degree day, which ended with drunken speeches and hoists of the Stanley Cup onstage to Queen's "We are the Champions."
- The crowd chanted "Freddie" for veteran goalie Frederik Andersen. These playoffs, Andersen steered the Canes to their first 13 wins, even as he grieved the death of mentor Claude Lemieux.
- First-year goalie Brandon Bussi also had the crowd screaming his name. Bussi ended his first-ever NHL season with three Stanley Cup Final victories, an improbable feat for a player who, at 27, is too old to be considered a rookie.
- And when Olympic gold medalist Jaccob Slavin took the stage, it was "U-S-A! U-S-A!"
Fun fact: Perhaps nobody was more lubricated than longtime Canes player Jordan Martinook, who shouted at the DJ mid-"Wagon Wheel" to instead play "Jamaican (Bam Bam)." The latter, he said, had become the team's victory song.
State of play: The city was expecting around 100,000 people.
- "There's way more than a hundred thousand f------ people here, right?" player Taylor Hall said when he was handed the mic.
- It was actually 150,000, according to The News & Observer.
Some things continued unimpeded through the fanfare. A bride walking into a church along the parade route for her 11am wedding received thunderous cheers from Canes fans.
What's next: Brind'Amour said this team could go down in history as the "greatest team that's ever won."
- Only time will tell.
