-Tara Hun-Dorris –

My first post here was going to be about the 2023 yard sale, but now that will be my second – shopping is a great joy of mine and I am excited to write about it, but this is a sad day for Parrotheads and writers the world over, including this ‘Canes fan.

My son Gabriel and co-blogger says, “what does Jimmy Buffett have to do with ‘Canes hockey?” Fair question. He probably he has little to do with our ‘Canes, although I suspect he would have appreciated our team name and logo. Buffett was a friend of hockey legend (I know Gabriel, he wasn’t a Whaler or Hurricane – bear with me here) Derek Sanderson. Apparently they were drunks together in a bar Sanderson owned back in the day called Daisy Buchanan’s. Escapades at said bar inspired Boat Drinks. And on this day everything indeed seems to be wrong.

Buffett sings “20 degrees and the hockey game’s on, nobody cares they are way to far gone” – a sentiment more true for Boston than here, where the only 20ish degree hockey game in the last season happened to be the outdoor one. We are a climatically blessed hockey town. Still we can all relate – sadly – to “visitors scored on the home rink – everything seems to be wrong” – Last year’s Eastern conference finals memories light up with those lyrics.

I hate winter, even in Carolina. I hate the mild chill and the occasional cold. I hate the short days and long nights. I despise the endless gray days and 38-degree rain. What ‘Canes hockey has given me is a light in this sadness. With the cold and the gray now comes 82 hours of ‘Canes hockey, half of it at PNC. The noise, the crowd, the energy, the light in my son’s eyes when we win or do something spectacular, the ritual of it all makes for something steady to look forward to in dreary trudge of winter. And that more than anything, except possibly my son’s love for the game, is what made me renew our season tickets.

This blog is dedicated to all things ‘Canes – Gabriel has a statistician’s brain and a hockey fan’s heart and will post the in-depth hockey stuff. I’ll write more on hockey and life and the aesthetics and shopping and eating and experience around the Caniac culture. I’m sad that the inaugural post aligns with the death of an American icon, but at least he had the good sense to write about hockey. And life.

Hopefully this is our season to win it all, but if we take all this talent and disappoint, remember Buffett’s words, “If a Hurricane doesn’t leave you dead, it will make you strong. Don’t try to explain it, just nod your head. Breathe in, breathe out, move on.”

RIP Jimmy Buffett and GO CANES. Let’s raise our margarita glasses and toast a stellar 2023-24 season!