If you hopped straight to here and want a bit more of an introduction to ‘how it all works’, you can find that HERE.
Our Canes and Coffee summer bracket event is intended to be a jaunt down memory lane, so its starting place is appropriate – back in the very beginning of the franchise including the Greensboro years and stretching through the first magical playoff run.
You can find bios for each of the players competing in the first round of the Founding Fathers bracket here:
Ron Francis (1) (coming in 2nd round)
Kevin Weekes (8) / Jeff Daniels (9)
Kevin Dineen (4) / Sean Hill (13)
Keith Primeau (5) / Gary Roberts (12)
Arturs Irbe (3) (coming in 2nd round)
Martin Gelinas (6) / Josef Vasicek (11)
Sami Kapanen (7) / Bates Battaglia (10)
Jeff O’Neill (2) (coming in 2nd round)
VOTING AND THE SCOREBOARD IS HERE.
The list of 13 players included in this Founding Fathers region is a who’s who of the team putting itself on the map in North Carolina, climbing into the hearts of fans and generating the type of feel-good moments that made fans for life. I became a Caniac for life during the 2001 and 2002 playoffs and am sure that is true for many others as well.
The Founding Fathers bracket includes:
–The team’s first three captains. (The team has only had five.)
–A who’s who from the magical 2001-02 playoff run that put the team on the map and in fans’ hearts in Raleigh. 10 of the 20 players on that roster are amongst the 14 players competing in the Founding Fathers regional. (8 more are sprinkled elsewhere in the tourney.)
–Key players who were instrumental in getting NHL hockey off to a good start during challenging conditions in the Greensboro years.
–The owner of this writer’s choice for “the greatest save in Canes history” and “the most important goal in Canes history.”
We would love for others’ to share their memories of this great bunch of players from Canes yesteryear either on the site or on Twitter. (We will be using #CandCSummer a bit to help people easily find stuff.)
Go Canes!
