North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: NC State Shares in Hurricanes Celebration
6/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
June 21, 2006
BY Tim Peeler
RALEIGH -- When major league hockey came to North Carolina nearly a decade ago, there were skeptics who didn't believe an NHL franchise and a major university could be successful - or happy - with a shared existence.
But after watching the Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup on Monday night, and the celebration in and around the RBC Center over the last two days, NC State officials are certainly pretty excited about the success of the school's arena partner.
"We're so proud of the Hurricanes for winning the Stanley Cup," said NC State athletics director Lee Fowler. "We are glad to have a major league championship in Raleigh."
NC State chancellor James Oblinger, who attended several playoff games during the Hurricanes' quest for the Stanley Cup, was also got caught up in the excitement.
"Congratulations to the Carolina Hurricanes for bring our state's first major-league championship to Raleigh," Oblinger said Tuesday. "Seeing the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup in the RBC Center was a landmark achievement that brings great pride to our community and our state.
"The Hurricanes and Gale Force Holdings have been exceptional partners with NC State for nearly a decade, and we share much more than just a home at the RBC Center. We celebrate this championship with the Hurricanes and applaud the talent, spirit and effort that made it possible."
 The Carolina Hurricanes moved to North Carolina in 1997 and to Raleigh in 1999 when the RBC Center opened.  |
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But the Chancellor deemed the Hurricanes' victory a worthy achievement, and the Bell Tower was lit in red Tuesday night in honor of the Stanley Cup.
NC State and the Hurricanes have shared the RBC Center since it opened in the fall of 1999. The Hurricanes maintain and operate the arena, playing 42 regular-season home games as well as attracting other shows. NC State plays its home men's basketball games at the RBC and holds commencement exercises there.
"We have a great working relationship with the Hurricanes," Fowler said. "They always seem to support us when we are doing well and we have certainly supported them during their run in the playoffs."
Over the last two months, the RBC Center has earned a reputation as the loudest, most difficult place to play in all of professional hockey, an atmosphere that spills over to Wolfpack basketball.
And the basketball atmosphere spills over into hockey, as Monday night's Game 7 crowd showed during the decisive 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. NBC's television commentators had to explain to a national audience why everyone was standing up throughout the game, a tradition that is second-nature to most college basketball fans in the area.
Tuesday's crowd of some 30,000 fans who gathered for a victory lap around the Carter-Finley/RBC Center complex also was reminiscent of the celebration held at Reynolds Coliseum in April, 1983, when NC State won the school's second NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
On that day, senior point guard Sidney Lowe stood out by wearing a 10-gallon cowboy hat he picked up in Albuquerque, N.M., the site of the Final Four. Tuesday, Hurricanes captain Rod Brind'Amour, as he often does, wore an NC State baseball hat as he addressed the crowd gathered on the east side of the RBC Center to honor the Hurricanes.
"That's my team (NC State)," Brind'Amour said often seen sporting Wolfpack gear. "They play in the same arena as I do. They are the only team I've gone to watch. These guys, I call them up and they get me in. And I've said from day one you are my team."
"I love it cause the people are so passionate about NC State. They are kind of nutty about it. I love college sports. I'm not against the other guys, its just NC State wears the same colors I do, and my little guy loves to see the Wolfpack play."
And that's plenty reason to share in the success of the of the Hurricanes.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
