Hurricanes 2006 Stanley Cup champ drops truth bomb ahead of East Final

The Carolina Hurricanes have been dominant in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Hurricanes have started 8-0 in the playoffs so far, reaching the Eastern Conference Finals. Still, the Hurricanes have struggled to get past the conference finals.

The Hurricanes have reached the conference final in two of the past three seasons, but have won just one game between the two seasons. They have not won in the conference finals since 2006, when the Hurricanes would go on to win the Cup. Now, one of the 2006 Hurricanes, Erik Cole, is talking about the atmosphere around the team right now, according to Tracey Myers of NHL.com.

“The atmosphere in the building and how loud the crowd gets, it brings back a lot of memories,” said Cole, who still lives in the area. “I think it’s just the best time of year around here because all the colleges (in the area), all of that’s winding down. Whether you cheer for UNC (the University of North Carolina), North Carolina State or Duke, you’re all Hurricanes fans.”

Home fans will be hoping for a better experience than last year in this round. The Canes lost the first two games of the series, both at home, by a combined score of 10-2. The only win of the series for the Hurricanes against the Florida Panthers came on the road, as the team lost Game 5 at home 5-3 to be eliminated. Another member of the 2006 squad who is currently an adviser to GM Eric Tulsky, Justin Williams, believes that experience could help them here.

“There aren’t many teams that can go through and not have disappointment on the way to championships,” said Williams. “You look at Florida. They made it to Cup Final, they lost (in 2023) and then they won two in a row (in 2024 and 2025). There’s usually a lot of disappointment behind winners’ faces. We have a lot of that in Carolina. We have winning playoff rounds and going home before we want to be. There are three other excellent teams that have earned the way to get here (the Montreal Canadiens, Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights), but I have to say, obviously I’m speaking very biased, I really do think this is the year for these guys. They’ve had a lot of time together and I expect this is the year.”

Game 1 between the Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens is set for Wednesday night, with puck drop at 8 pm ET.

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