By admin 
RALEIGH, (WNCN) — Lord Stanley’s Cup spent Monday in Raleigh, and the Hurricanes hope they can keep it for a lot longer.
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Monday’s Media Day at Lenovo Center marked the beginning of festivities around the Stanley Cup Final, which starts Tuesday night with an 8 p.m. face off between the Canes and the Vegas Golden Knights.
Hurricanes players spent the day soaking in the NHL’s biggest stage, a level they’ve fought to get to for years — sometimes with heartbreaking results — before this year’s Eastern Conference Final win over Montreal.
“This is wild. A lot of people!” exclaimed Seth Jarvis from one of the podiums at Media Day. “This is something fun to experience, and it’s been great so far. We’ve been knocking on the door of this for a while, and to be in this moment now, I think everyone’s extremely grateful to be here, and super excited for the opportunity.”
The path to the Stanley Cup Final goes back several years. The Canes built a young, talented core of players, several of whom endured a few tough seasons and some recent playoff heartbreak before finally breaking through to the Stanley Cup Final this season.
“We still have four to five guys that, I’ve been here with them for eight years, but they’ve been here longer,” said Andrei Svechnikov. “We started building our identity — how we wanted to play the game, and approach the game. We just want to show everyone that we’re capable to do this.”
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Sebastian Aho added, “We’ve had some ups and downs with this core, and now we have a chance to finally play for the Cup. It’s super exciting, but at the same time, but we want to make the most of it, and hopefully play our best game and win it all.”
The Final appearance is even more special for Rod Brind’amour, who was a player on the 2006 Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes and is back as head coach for the 2026 run.
“I have way more respect now, being a coach, than I did as a player … there’s a huge difference there. The time commitment is doubled [as a coach],” Brind’amour said. “It’s a big change, but I’ve learned a lot from the coaches I’ve had. All of them.”
Game 1 is Tuesday night at 8 p.m. at Lenovo Center. Carolina has home ice advantage in the best-of-seven series.
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