I have to say the Canes looked good in the Preseason game on Sunday. They seem to be getting it back on track, Walker and Cullie were there and Leighton was very impressive. We'll see, I am very hopeful.

Hurricanes may have a hard time. If Theodore can hold the fort Capitals will be strong, that is a big if. Panthers have a much improved defense and may be tough to score against. Should be a dog fight in the South-East.

I saw Womack in front of the Court House on Fayetteville Street, between Davie and Martin, selling pencils to passersby and getting mad because he kept finding pencils with the point on the wrong end. It makes a feller bitter.

The Hurricanes Organization is putting up the money this year to fix what seems to have ailed us, and I personally think we will have a kick butt hockey team this year, we always have just a few injuries seem to screw things up for us. I am ready for hockey and the play offs. Caniacs are true and loyal to our team and we will make it this year.

lololol Womack please shut the **** up,you must have lived under a rock here in raleigh

Winning isn't everything; it is the only thing. This holds true for attendance figures in any pro sport. No offense, but I remember a time living in Detroit in the early 80s when I had no trouble getting tickets for games an hour before the opening faceoff. Then you were hard pressed to get standing room. (Obviously, the economy has impacted that some...)<br />If you win year-in and year-out, you will build a fan base. The only thing is, the longer you stay competetive, the more slack the fans will give you when you do falter. That is where markets without long hockey histories get tested.<br /><br />By the way, I lived in Anaheim and was NOT a Ducks fan but went to games because I am a NHL fan, when I could get tickets.

Spector - It will always come down to goal tending, injuries, depth, and some good bounces for any team. Playing in a improved Southeast division will make life interesting until the final week again this coming season. Have a great weekend! Stick time starts at noon - hope to see you there.

Hansel89. The outside ice is not full of middle age men? The park is full of kids and a handful of parents that care about them. I have 12 indoor ice rinks less than 5 miles from my front door. Yes, 12! Yet the park is full every night. THAT IS participation at the lowest level. THAT IS the youth participation. When you start seeing street hocky nets in the driveways of your community, then you will know there is youth participation.<br />My best friend lives in Colorado. There was a huge increase in registration after the Av's won the cup. They suddenly had too many kids and not enough ice for them all. Then those kids found out it's harder than it looks. Numbers dropped back for a while. Build your youth programs carefully. Off ice training can be just as fun if there is an ice shortage.<br />So go ahead and build those ice rinks. At least in NC you can ust them as a meat lockers when you cant sell your ice. ...or turn them into air conditioned basketball gyms.

So Hansel89, do you live in Raleigh or Durham-last time I checked they were two different cities? No one in Durham even knows a hockey teams exists in NC-ever go to Sunset Grille or Champps in Durham in the middle of a hockey season? They never show a hockey game as there's a basketball game going on in who knows where.<br />Do you change the loyalty to teams dependant on the city you live in and when you move to LA, you'll follow the Kings? Proper relocating Yankees follow their teams from their home town no matter what-real fans follow their teams no matter what and don't just pick up on some fly by night team in a city with a growing population....people who can't get a job elsewhere move to the Triangle and when that area busts in about 15 years cos no one wants to pay a school tax to give their kids a proper education (turn on the local news), there will be an exodus elsewhere and the team will move to the latest and greatest fad city which is all really Raleigh is....

I was lived in Hartford for a time when this franchise was there... lived in hockey towns like Buffalo & NYC as well. Now live in Raleigh Durham. This franchise is much stronger than the Whalers ever were, and they have a knowledgable and loyal fanbase. There are SO MANY Yankees and Canadiens moving here that an NHL team NOT being in one of the best areas of the country according to Forbes and Places Rated would be a foolish business move. Skating outside makes a true hockey fan? Please. League participation at the lowest level, & youth hockey participation has increased exponentially since I have moved here. Ice time is at a premium, even in the summer. The fan base is there - everyone is beating a dead horse by saying if they win, fans will show. OF OURSE they will! The Hurricanes are the only teanm in the area that doesn't have a split fan base - you've got Duke fans, NC State, UNC - in NFL, the Redskins are huge as well as the Panthers. And then there's the falcons... Wasington & Atlanta have NHL teams, but NO CUPS. This franchise has united a fanbase, and Karmanos is a smart businessman to tap a huge market of relocating Yankees in a sports crazy, fast groeing part of the country.

Playing outside on the ice is how fans are made....<br />FYI-not a Blackhawks fan and so to the angered Canes fan, your post kinda doesn't make any point now.....great assumption though....

There is the curiosity of a new sport in town. Once the curiosity is gone the only thing that will consistently sell tickets is WINNING! That is why the Hawks don't draw. They have not retained they're young talent. That may change now that Dad has passed away and Son is spending some money.<br />I was watching a replay of the 1990-91 Blackhawks/North Stars series last weekend. Roenick, Chelios, Savard, Eddy the Eagle with the Dominator as his backup ...and Wilson without his helmet (made my kids laugh). That was a good team and a great series. They never had a problem selling out then. But the owner was too cheap to keep them all. A lot of those guy's have they're names on the cup with other teams.<br />As far as Southern teams... At one point LA had two NHL teams, Florida had two, Dallas one and Minnesota none. Yeah... that makes marketing sense. I still skate outside in the winter How about you?

I normally don't post, but I can't take anymore. I am a season ticketholder of the 2006 Stanley Cup Champions. When is the last time the Blackhawks won the Cup. Yes, College BB is strong here, but so are the Canes. The fans come and go just like most teams that have only been in existence for 10 years. And they weren't really in town for the first couple years. Their ticket-holder base has increased each year and will continue as they become more consistent from year to year. And they WILL. What also plays a part is all the transplant people that have moved here from other states. That is why there are so many fans of other teams. I grew up in MI, but never watched Hockey until I moved here. Once they become more consistent, the fan base will grow bigger, and create their own history in Raleigh. It is not like that had a great history in Hartford.

They have an quasi-ok fan base for a south east division teams.....which shouldn't even exist (get rid of it except the Caps-like the Caps)....99 percent of their fans can't even name the other teams in their division.....I am just saying this from my experience living there....

Don't flatter myself? Did you not read my post? I included the Hawks... (We're in Chicago, remember?) Anyways, all I'm saying is this: The 'Canes have a good fan base compared to many other teams, and if they don't go to games it is just like any other fanbase. THEY DON'T GO IF THEY SUCK. (Just like Chicago briwebrus....pay attention here.)

dshult3....trust me, i've seen broadcasts from your barn in the last ten years. without the enthusiasm toews and kane generated last year, the hawks would STILL be getting consistently outdrawn by the ahl wolves. don't flatter yourself!

if they dont get a shut down defender to stop the first line of teams like the caps , pens and lightning they will watch the playoffs from the same place this year , a golf course

No the arguement's not dead....probably never will be.<br />Their fans are a bunch of whiners-only time the arena ever sold out was due to opposing fans coming to the games (surrounding areas are just littered with NYer's)-only game I recollect being sold out last year was a Rangers game-if it wasn't for the opposing fans and the basketball team pumping money into that arena, it wouldn't survive there just likeAtlanta and Florida (which, I must admit-getting the basketball team to share the arena was a financially smart move on the NHL's behalf). That place is ruled by the basketball team and the hockey team is a distant second-why do you think their colors are red?

You have got to be kidding me. I thought this argument was long dead. People don't go to games up north when their team is bad. I went to a few games when the Hurricanes were mediocre, and sure the house wasn't full, but the fans were there. I was saddened to see the minute fan base in Atlanta and Florida, but what I saw in Raleigh was far better than games in St. Louis, New York, or even Chicago for that matter. Fans don't like going to a bad show--no matter what city they are in. This has nothing to do with the ?importance of history.?

dschult3-fan base? Are you sure there wasn't an NC State or other ACC basketball game going on that day? <br />I lived right around the corner from the RBC Arena for three years and the best thing about that was I could get tickets to any hockey game I wanted even 5 minutes before a game-even the eastern conference finals and stanley cup games.....great experience for me but seriously, they lack in fan base. They only come out when they are good, which is a shame......glad to be back north where people actually know and understand how hockey is played and it's history.....the importance is in it's history.....they will never understand that......