By Tara Hun-Dorris

I’ve been thinking of this Stanley Cup Final series in terms of good versus evil. That’s probably not nuanced enough. It’s more the world I want versus the world we have. Maybe I’m just trying to take my mind off Carolina being down 2-1 and the economic and international realities of our current time and mixing it all together in my tired mind.

The Las Vegas Golden Knights seem the perfect team for this Trumpian 2.0 Era. New, glitzy, brash, careless, controversial, obsessed with winning at all costs. Small market hockey puffed up to be the NHL’s version of the 1980s-90s LA Lakers.

Contrast that with our small market Carolina Hurricanes. While not an original 6 franchise, the ‘Canes began as the Hartford Whalers franchise in 1971. The Whalers entered the NHL in 1979-80 and relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina, as the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997. This is the third cup final for both teams, with Carolina’s appearances spaced out between 2002 (L), 2006 (W), and the current series and the VGK’s appearances in their first year (!) 2018 (L), 2023 (W), and the current series. As a recent expansion franchise, the VGK have managed to do what other expansion teams, like the Seattle Kraken, have not, win, win win. This is a team that has made the playoffs ever year of its existence! The ‘Canes are no playoff slouch either, as they’ve made consecutive appearances in the Rod Brind’Amour (Rod) era since 2019 following a 10 year gap preceded by playoff appearances in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, and 2009.

Vegas was able to build their franchise quickly using favorable protection rules for new franchises but also by bringing on controversial players (most notably current goalie Carter Hart) and showing zero loyalty or compassion, moving or trying to move (looking at you Evgenii Dadonov) original players and those beloved by fans to make (salary cap) room for the next shiny thing (looking at you here Mitch Marner). They are also willing to dispatch coaches. Just this season VGK fired Bruce Cassidy (32-26-16) when the team went through a 3-5-2 slump (his efforts over 4 years brought the VGK their first Stanley Cup and an overall 178-99-43 record).

Cassidy was replaced by John Tortorella (Torts), who seems to share some of Trump’s more toxic characteristics. While Torts can’t just willy-nilly fire players, he has a history of benching stars and engaging in public feuds with those players. Torts seems to say what is on his mind, even if would be considered by most to be a private team matter. Also like Trump, he has a history of calling reporters names. Torts was fined $100,000 by the NHL and the team lost a second round draft pick for refusing to speak with the media and locking them out of the VGK locker room following the Game 6 of this season’s Western Conference Semi-finals.

Contrast this with the ‘Canes, where Rod, the team captain for the team’s only Stanley Cup in 2006 retired as a player and became part of the Canes organization. Since becoming head coach, he has been building a unique NHL “culture” in Carolina.

This culture emphasizes winning, yes, but not at the cost of building a family. Sebastian Aho (who has struggled in the playoffs but was the point leader in the regular season) has been the face of this franchise. Aho is a quiet, relatively humble guy with a calming demeanor. Last year, he published a letter to fans about wanting to win here in Carolina. For us. He seems committed to the franchise long term. Other players who seem a good cultural (and hockey) fit have also been quick signed to longer-term deals (e.g., Logan Stankoven). Players struggling on other teams have been carefully selected by GM Eric Tulsky, an analytics guy, and staff, and many do seem to thrive here. Notably K’Andre Miller was traded from the New York Rangers and seems to have found a true home in Carolina. After winning the Eastern Conference Finals, photos and video of Miller went viral. He was seen sitting alone on the ‘Canes bench holding his newborn child, with a look of wonder and tears of joy/gratitude. How much his life has changed for the better in just 1 year. And he has been good for Carolina, coming alive in the playoffs with +12 rating and 9 points, despite being notably banged up in SCF Game 3.

Rod has built up this culture in Raleigh and the players feel like part of the community. They often make themselves accessible to fans and stop for autographs after practices and games. Many are involved in local charities. For example, Jacob Slavin is currently part of ‘Canes Goal to End Hunger Challenge for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Alternate Captain and #1 Nickelback fan Jordan Martinook launched “Marty Party” beer with R&D Brewing (makers of the obliquitous Storm Brew, cheapest beer in Lenovo Arena) a few years ago. While I thought the beer (akin to a Mexican lager) was not great, the launch party was lovely, with Martinook was generous with his time and beer. Other players have had ice cream made after their favorite flavors and helped design local restaurant menu items.

The team in slow to trade its players, and when it does, fans often grieve. Martin Necas was traded to Colorado Avalanche as part of the Mikko Rantanen fiasco, which ended well enough with the ‘Canes acquisition of Stankoven and Hall. While this seemed like a disaster at the time, Stanky and Hall have thrived on the ‘Canes potent second line, despite Hall making his way about the NHL not really finding a home in years prior and Stanky playing center and encompassing all of 5 foot 8 inches.

All that to say when Necas was traded, many of us fans grieved. After all, we get attached to players here, and the saying was you can’t spell ‘Canes without Necas (until it wasn’t). And maybe Necas grieved a little too even though he likely wanted out. When he saw my son in his namesake ‘Canes jersey in a blizzard of Avs fans in Denver last season, he skated over and tossed him a puck.

The downside of this culture of family and loyalty is sometimes maybe emotions get in the way. Brent Burns was a perfect cultural fit in Carolina. He loved us (and our tailgating) and we loved him. But Rod would not break Burns’ ironman streak (understandably) or take him off of the first pairing or penalty kill as he aged. Ultimately, he was traded to Colorado to join former ‘Canes teammates Necas and Jack Drury, where he just finished a 1 year contract.

Rod appears to have special affinity for his aging players. This has been noticeable not just with Burns but also with goalie Frederick Anderson. Anderson is another great cultural fit at Carolina – he seems like a genuinely solid, humble guy, beloved by his teammates. And he’s been through lot. Time on the Toronto Maple Leafs, a frightening episode of deep vein thrombosis, and recently the loss of his beloved agent Claude Lemieux. But Freddie has limitations as a goalie. He has always been easily injured. He has a good eye but at 36 lacks flexibility. He performed gangbusters in the first two rounds of this playoff series then sort of fell apart. We fans always knew it would go bad if the defense let up at all. And winning 16 games is a long drag. Players fatigue.

Rod has a great second goalie in Brandon Bussi (and even a third colder goalie coming off of injured reserve in Pyotr Kochetkov). Yet Rod repeatedly failed to give Bussi a shot in net, even as it became more apparent Andersen has been struggling and we were starting to lose games. When he finally let Bussi in during the third period of Game 3, the ‘Canes erased a 4 goal deficit to force overtime (and in true ‘Canes fashion lost on an own goal). The team played more confidently, and Bussi stopped hard shots (including a penalty shot by Marner) than Anderson is capable of right now. Yet, there is serious doubt that Rod – due to loyalty or whatever – will start Bussi in game 4. We fans have watched some version of this in multiple playoff runs. My suspicion is that Torts would never put up with this shit.

Which brings us back to some of the contrasts between the two teams:

• One (VGK) has Ice Knights pretty much in golden lingerie; the other (‘Canes) has unnoticeable Window World sweepers in full-coverage black.
• One emphasizes winning as fast as possible while the other builds to win the Cup and win long-term on culture.
• One coach is cold with crazy eyes; the other warm with kind eyes.
• One coach visibly hates the press, the other is patient when faced with a lot of really stupid questions. Both can curse up a storm. Pretty sure Rod could bench press Torts, but I’m not sure he can beat him in this SCF series.
• Both teams having starting goalies coming out of Ontario looking for redemption, but for very different reasons (sexual assault case and the trauma of being a goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs, respectively).
• While Hart is portrayed as somewhat evil (not saying he is, just stating the narrative) with ‘Canes crowds chanting “no means no” coming off a controversial acquittal, our back-up goalie Bussi seems his opposite. He’s of similar age but engaged to his college sweetheart. He plays for his autistic brother Dylan and spends his off-the-ice time fundraising for the poorly understood condition.
• Bussi’s helmet is a tribute to autism awareness and features a jigsaw puzzle and rainbow colored butterflies with his brother’s initials. Hart’s helmet features the cast of Tombstone (a fabulous movie with themes of death) and the iconic line I’m your Huckleberry. Different vibes for sure.
• One team relies on star power like Marner while the other relies on depth across all four lines.
• Carolina has “redneck” tailgaters of all ages removing their shirts and exposing their beer or Cheerwine bellies to bring on good karma, while the VGK fans are polished and many women show some T&A while staying fully clothed. So one team is selling sex and the other maybe barbeque?
• Which brings us to mascots – while it’s not quite the snake of the old testament or the fire breathing dragons of the Book of Revelation, the VGK do have a reptilian mascot in Chance the Gila Monster. And in case you didn’t know, Gila monsters are one of two venomous lizards. The Canes have Stormy, an occasionally cross-dressing, probably misunderstood, silly, and very much alive BBQ pig.

When I think about all this, it does seem that the two teams if not engaged in a metaphorical battle of good versus evil, at least represent very different ways of approaching things.

Having been in the corporate world much of my career, I am familiar with organizations promising that you will be treated like family in your job. My personal experience has been that at the end of the day money wins out and corporations do what is best for corporations. Vegas doesn’t hide this, and so far Carolina Culture has been good for the ‘Canes morale and pocketbooks. Winning this year’s cup would certainly help the cause. It will be curious to see how this all plays out in the future. For now, it feels good to be a fan of a team, not just because it’s in my city, but also because I respect the the team’s values (with the exception of the jacked up arena parking and concession prices during the playoffs – there it is money over morale all day).