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Jeremy Markovich
6NEWS Producer |
I play hockey at the Eastland Mall. Sometimes a bunch of guys show up with two things in common: they’re all from Eastern Europe and they’re all better than me.
Once, I made the mistake of wearing a jersey with my Slovakian last name on the back and they just assumed I could understand their native language. After a couple of shifts, I just assumed they were yelling at me to get off the ice.
I try to pass that bewilderment on when I explain a forecheck or a backcheck to most people I’ve met in Charlotte. I might as well be speaking Czech. My description of the box defense mystified one guy so badly that, after I finished, all he could say was “So, tell me again how many periods there are?”
Folks here know much more about camshafts than they do about Cam Ward. After all, people didn’t grow up skating on the frozen ponds of Waxhaw or waiting for the Zamboni to smooth out the ice in Mt. Holly. This is a town where rubbin’, son, is racin’; where Richard Petty and Junior Johnson feel like cousins. Ask people where Rocket Richard is on their family tree, and they might think he was adopted.
Ok, so it’s not like I grew up listening to my dad talk about the 1955 Montreal Canadiens. My career started late by Canadian (or Canadien) standards. I began watching hockey as a teenager in my home state of Ohio and started playing in high school, about the time when the Hartford Whalers moved from up north to North Carolina.
I moved myself from up north to North Carolina in September, and found many of the guys I met on the ice were, like me, carpetbaggers with sticks. We were lured by the jobs and the weather, but only moved here after we asked about the rinks. “Yeah, there’s hockey here,” we were told. “Somewhere.”
Somewhere is getting easier to find. Drive down U.S. 74 from Charlotte, turn left on Indian Trail Road, and take a look. That shell of a building under construction will hold at least two sheets of ice when the year is out. Pick-up hockey games at Eastland Mall’s rink get so crowded on some Friday nights, the sign-up sheet is full for the 8:30 game before 8 o’clock. The Charlotte Checkers set an attendance record last November when nearly 11,000 fans came to watch a win over the Florida Everblades, a team from a place I know has no natural ice. “The best parts are the fights,” a friend told me at one of the games (Casual fans are almost always disappointed when there are less than three fights per period).
The Carolinas were lucky enough to end up with an NHL team, although at first, the enthusiasm didn’t end up there with it. Now that there’s a category five level of excitement in the capital, I pray the owners will spread it around. These aren’t the Raleigh Hurricanes—they’re supposed to be our team too. The least they could do is bring the Stanley Cup to Charlotte. I’m just afraid the only people in line to see it would be me, my rec hockey team and those guys from Eastern Europe. I worry when I get to the end, somebody might tell me, “Yeah, there’s a cup here. Somewhere.”
I get it. This isn’t Canada. It’s Carolina. The success of the Hurricanes may be changing things, but I’m not anticipating a full-on conversion to the First Church of the Puck. Still, I feel encouraged by the guy I saw at the bar on Monday night in Uptown. He wore a derby made of red felt. He apparently decorated it using only a Sharpie and his personal recollection of what the Hurricanes logo might look like.
His accent betrayed him. He wasn’t a carpetbagger like me, but he cheered after every goal and almost every shot. He clapped his hands and led the chants of “Let’s go ‘Canes!” He didn’t complain about the lack of fighting or ask how many periods there were. And when somebody asked him about the road to the Stanley Cup Finals for both teams, he loudly, proudly and mistakenly said, “What, you don’t remember when the Oilers beat the Sabres? It was sweet!”
Well, it’s a start. He may not speak Check fluently, but at least he’s beginning to understand the language.
I agree with your entire message. I have been living in Charlotte all my life and started following the original Checkers from the start. The kids on my street iced over the road one year and played at night everyday for a week until the cops said we had to stop. We do have some hockey people in the area, but you really have to look hard for them. Go Canes!
Right on Jer!
Well, Jer...
I grew up in Boston and I had Boston Bruins season tickets for 6 yrs from 1989-1994 in the old Boston Garden and I remember the Stanley Cup finals when the Edmonton Oilers beat the Boston Bruins in the finals in 1990 - when Glen Wesley (Boston Bruin #26 and Carolina Hurricane #2) was a rookie. I also remember the likes of #4 Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito and many others from the 1970's. (I was born in 1968!!) All I can say is that hockey is definitely an exciting sport and I'm finally glad that I have the chance to watch my NEW hometown team compete for the cup against a team that for so many years was my original hometown nemisis!!! It's sweet!!! But the one piece of advise I'd give is that if you are trying to catch on to the concept of hockey - talk to someone who's very educated about the sport and who can offer definitions of hockey lingo and situations in "laymens terms" - I would be more than happy to help out any one that needs an explanation of what's going on on the ice. Just let me know. GO 'CANES!!!
Location, Location, Location! I've been hopping back and forth between Raleigh and Charlotte all season going to the home games but I find myself "on the wrong end of the pond" for tommorrow nights final game. Where is the most hockey friendly place to watch hockey in this town????? Everytime I go into a sports bar, there's a Yankees or Redsox game on or basketball game on but no love for the HOME TEAM. At least in Raleigh they have "Cool Bars" - locations geared and frequented by the hockey fan. Its Cup time, I want to cheer and yell and frighten other spectators like I did for all the games, but I've not yet found a "sports bar" here that has the volumn turned up on the game... HELP! -Missplaced Caniac
I caught you a delicious bass.
I have been a hockey fan since the late 60s which is probably before you were born. I also am a Native of Charlotte and have lived here my whole life. There is a stong base of hockey fans here that have never lived north of the Mason Dixon line and they do know what is going on.
But I have to agree that most folks here don't know much about hockey. Ice hockey came to Charlotte in the 1950's and was only absent for a few years. Just check out the ECHL and see how many teams in the south.
I have been glued to the TV for the Canes play off games and though the second period of the Wednesday game was one of the best and fastest.
GO CANES!
Hockey rules! Ok, Im from Fla originally and learned hockey from the Fl Panthers inagural season and then of course, The Year of the Rat. I love the 'Canes and Hockey, and am glad we're chasing the cup. But, the kids and I may be the only hockey fans in Hickory!
There were a lot of us watching game 6 out at Dave and Buster's near Concord Mills last night. This very news channel came out there as well.
Finaly, people are talking about hockey in Charlotte!
I moved here over a year ago only to find out from my family in Canada (where I'm originally from) that we have a NHL team somewhere in the Carolinas named the Hurricanes. The first thing I did was to do a search on Google for the official website (http://www.carolinahurricanes.com/ for those who might be interested). It took me a few clicks to find out where they were located and how far they were from Charlotte. But how often do we hear about hockey in Charlotte?
We do now, only because they've made it to the finals. Other than that, the only way we can find out their rank throughout the season is probably online. People here in Charlotte, they only thing they talk about is Racing & Football. When you mention hockey, the first thing they say is: "Where are you from?" When you tell them that you used to skate on frozen ponds or lakes or that every house had a net in the backyard and all the kids owned a few hockey sticks, they can't help but to look at you funny!
Hopefully, once the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup tonight (If they can beat a Canadian team!!!), we'll hear more about hockey!
Jeremy:
great "conversational" prose on the Hurricanes macrh to the cup. I oved the way you weaved personal experiences into the hockey theme. hockey has lost so much of its luster that we need fans to come out of hiding in the south and admit this is a fast and fun sport to watch.
i am pulling for the Canes tonight and for young boys and girls in the carolinas to take up ice skating. afterall, ACC hoops isn't a 12 month a year on court venture...and besides, who can get ahold of ACC tickets? i am guessing only the privlidged few.
thanks for this neat article,
tony
P.S. do you still play goalie?
Can anyone add some information about the new rinks in Indian Trail? I play at Pineville Icehouse now, but would like better ice which may come with newer equipment.