1999 Second Round vs Colorado

Lore & Background

The franchise was formed in 1971 as the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association (WHA). The Whalers saw success immediately, winning the Eastern Division in the WHA's first three seasons and becoming the inaugural Avco World Trophy champions at the end of the 1972–73 season. The Whalers again competed for the World Trophy in 1978, this time falling short to the Winnipeg Jets in a rematch of the 1973 Avco Cup Final. The franchise joined the NHL in 1979 as part of the NHL–WHA merger, renaming themselves the Hartford Whalers. The team relocated to North Carolina in 1997, rebranding themselves as the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes have won the Stanley Cup Final twice in 2006 and in 2026. They are the only professional team from North Carolina to have won a major sports championship.

In Their Own Story

The arena is half-empty in the third period, the kind of silence that isn't quiet but held—thousands of people breathing in unison, eyes locked on the ice. The puck sits in the neutral zone, a small black disc that suddenly carries the weight of a whole season. A Carolina forward skates through the zone, stick tight to his shin, and for a moment the crowd forgets to breathe. The boards are scarred with tape and old paint; the glass is fogged at the corners. Somewhere in the rafters, a hand-drawn banner reads a number and a name, the lettering slightly crooked, made by someone who drove three hours to be here. The puck crosses the blue line. The roar that follows isn't loud. It's deep. It's the sound of a city that finally believes.

Reader's Guide

The Hurricanes play home games at the Lenovo Center. The team's history includes a move from Hartford, Connecticut, to Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1997. For their first two seasons after the move, the Hurricanes played home games in Greensboro, North Carolina, before moving to their newly completed arena in Raleigh in 1999. The team's first playoff appearance after the move came in 1998–99, when they won the Southeast Division but were eliminated in the first round by the Boston Bruins.

Did You Know?

• The Hurricanes inherited the Whalers' place in the Northeast Division upon moving to North Carolina.
• The old goal horn from the Hartford Civic Center remains in use at Lenovo Center.
• The Hurricanes introduced the 'Storm Squad', the first cheerleaders for professional ice hockey in North America, in 1999.