All In

Last night the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-1 at home to clinched the seventh spot in the East for the Stanley Cup playoffs!  Three things make last night extremely special:

First:
All four professional teams in the state have qualified for the post-season.  From Fayetteville to Raleigh to Charlotte to Winston-Salem you will have playoff hockey.  Even if you can't make it out to PNC Arena to see the Canes you can still go see three other teams compete for their respective league titles. 

Second:
Every team in the Hurricanes organization (Hurricanes, AHL's Checkers, and the ECHL's Florida Everblades) is qualified for their respective leagues playoffs.  The Checkers are the Atlantic Division Champs in the American Hockey League with a chance of winning the Macgrogor Kilpatrick Trophy if they finish ahead of the rest of the league when the regular season is over.  The Florida Everblades of the ECHL are the South Division Champions.  This is the strongest the organization has been in almost two decades.

Third:
This is the first time the Hurricanes have qualified for the playoffs in TEN YEARS.  It's been a long wait for everyone; fans, players, and the organization.  Regardless of it the playoff run last four games or twenty-four games, this is a massive accomplishment that took years of moves both on-and-off the ice to get to last night night.

This has been one amazing year for hockey fans in North Carolina.  Go out and see a post season game, somewhere, anywhere.  Just go!