Hurricanes fans upset at mockery

By LANCE HORNBY -- Toronto Sun
The Maple Leafs won't play their first game in Raleigh until tonight, but they already have fans in the North Carolina city ticked off at them.

It stems from the Hurricanes' Oct. 20 game at the Air Canada Centre, when the Leafs put one of their light-entertainment, in-house cheerleading productions on the video board.

The skits, which usually end with club mascot Carlton the Bear body-slamming someone wearing an opposition uniform, have been a hit with the home crowd. During Saturday's win over Calgary -- just in time for Halloween -- the skit had Carlton pounding a masked ghoul in Flames colours, using a clever pastiche with the horror movie Scream.

But in the video for the Carolina game, the Hurricanes "fan" was depicted as a Gomer Pyle-type lame brain with an exaggerated Southern drawl, who spoke of his team winning "the Stanley Trophy" and watching "the halftime shows" in hockey games.

When the Raleigh News And Observer reported the video antics, several calls and e-mails from insulted North Carolinans were fielded. The team was not impressed either, although no retaliatory production was in the works, a Canes spokesman said.

This will be the Canes' second game in their new 18,700-seat home, after a 4-2 loss in Friday's opener to the Devils. The Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena cost $154 million US, more than twice its original price-tag, because of a design change, and was dogged by delays. The Canes will share the building with the North Carolina State basketball team.

The opener marks the end of a difficult two-year period for the team, which had moved from Hartford to temporary quarters at the Greensboro Coliseum before the 1997-98 season. It required players and fans to make a 270-kilometre round trip from Raleigh and the team played in a near empty building.

BATTLE ON

Now, with a 5-3-3 start despite a nine-game trip to open the season, the club is turning the corner, fighting for the Southeast Division lead.

"These guys, they really feel like they paid a price to be here," coach Paul Maurice told the Charlotte Observer. "The majority of guys in that room made the drive. They suffered through the two years, so there is a real sense of homecoming."

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