2006 First Round vs Washington
From Whalers to Hurricanes: Carolina's Stanley Cup champions.
The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Hurricanes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at the Lenovo Center.
Quick Facts
- Series result
- Carolina Hurricanes won 4 games to 2
- Season context
- 2005-06, first full season after the 2004-05 NHL lockout
- Key carolina players
- Eric Staal, Cam Ward
- Washington star
- Alex Ovechkin (second NHL season)
- Conference
- Eastern Conference, First Round
- Series format
- Best of seven
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 once, in 2006. They are the only professional team from North Carolina to have won a major sports championship.
Reader's Guide
The Hurricanes play home games at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. The team's history includes a move from Hartford, Connecticut, in 1997, and a two-year stint playing in Greensboro while their new arena was completed. The franchise has maintained connections to its Whalers roots, including the old goal horn from the Hartford Civic Center still in use at Lenovo Center.
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