Harrison Fence

“Even hockey has six letters”

I have lived in the South long enough to know there are two kinds of people in this world.

Folks who think everything is a coincidence.

And folks who have watched enough sports to know better.

Lately, North Carolina seems to be speaking in one number.

Six.

Now, I don't know if the hockey gods pay attention to arithmetic, but if they do, they're laying it on thicker than Duke's on a tomato sandwich.

The Carolina Hurricanes won their first Stanley Cup in 2006.

This year is 2026.

Twenty years later.

The kind of round number that makes a sports fan start looking for signs in places he normally wouldn't.

Dale Earnhardt drove the No. 3 car. Double it and you get 6. And if there's one thing North Carolinians know, it's that you don't ignore The Intimidator.

North Carolina was the 12th state to ratify the Constitution. Split 12 in half and what do you get?

Six.

Our state flower, the dogwood, usually shows off six bracts, those white petals everybody calls flowers even though botanists will politely tell you otherwise.

A snowflake has six sides. Seems fitting for a sport played on ice.

A hockey team takes the ice with six players, goalie included.

June is the sixth month. That's when championships are won and grown men suddenly become amateur cardiologists.

Even "hockey" has six letters.

Now am I saying any of this guarantees anything?

Of course not.

I'm simply saying North Carolina has waited twenty years for another Stanley Cup.

And sometimes, when enough little things line up just right, folks around here call that a sign.

Canes in 6.

Let's go Canes!!!!! The Carolina Hurricanes showed up last night to tie the fight for the Stanley Cup 2-2!