Canes crush Capitals 4-1 at 2023 Stadium Series in Carter-Finley

Sam Overton Managing Editor & Ethan Bakogiannis Sports Editor

In their most highly anticipated game of the season, the Carolina Hurricanes cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals in front of nearly 60,000 fans at Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 18.

Amidst the fanfare and pregame press, the Hurricanes (37-10-8) buckled down to play extraordinarily well against the Capitals (28-24-6). Despite the hype and high expectations that come alongside a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity, the Canes didn’t let the pressure get to them.

“We got here three hours before the game, so we had time to refocus and just be ready to be dialed in,” said center Martin Neĉas. “I feel like once we stepped on the ice and went in for the national anthem, all of us had goosebumps, and we were so pumped up to go out and play.”

The pregame festivities kicked off with the Truly Hard Seltzer NHL PreGame as soon as fans were waved into parking lots at 2 p.m., six hours before puck drop. Fans had the opportunity to participate in ice hockey foosball, snap a photo with the Stanley Cup and attend a quick show from American indie pop group lovelytheband.

At 5:15 p.m. sharp, Caniacs flooded the short walkway between PNC Arena and Carter-Finley Stadium to watch the Hurricanes embark on the short trek to the outdoor ice rink. The men appeared dressed in retro golf gear — knickerbockers and all — which, apparently, was the brainchild of right wing Stefan Noesen.

The Capitals made the same trip about 20 minutes later, sporting letterman jackets and blue jeans after stepping off a school bus. Fans started to flood the concourse at Carter-Finley, hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite players before the game was officially underway. The stadium felt alive for the first time since late 2022 when the

Wolfpack played its last football game of the season under the lights at Carter-Finley.

Both rosters remained fairly stable, with the exception of Washington left wing Alex Ovechkin — the Capitals’ star player is unlikely to return for another week or so due to family matters, so head coach Peter Laviolette looked to fill the gap in his roster the best he could.

Those in attendance who had seen an NC State football game or Durham Bulls game happily recognized Ripken the Bat Dog, who commenced Saturday night’s match with a ceremonial puck drop.

Carolina made light work of the Capitals in the first frame, getting off to a strong start thanks to center Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s goahead goal. Although the match was by no means completely one-sided, Washington never really got going after falling to the Hurricanes early. Carolina killed two penalties in the first period without much incident, and Neĉas drew a penalty off of an incredible through-the-legs attempt that just barely missed the goalposts.

If the Super Bowl had Rihanna, Carter-Finley had Jake Owen. The country music star, best known for hits like “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” and “I Was Jack (You Were Diane),” played in front of the NC State student section during the first intermission. His performance, alongside lovelytheband’s set, only contributed to the infectious atmosphere. If it weren’t for the ice rink in the middle of Carter-Finley, anyone might’ve drawn comparisons to a late-season football game or an evening at the North Carolina State Fair.

The second period belonged to Carolina’s offense — center Paul Stastny, Neĉas and left wing Teuvo Teravainen all scored within six minutes, boosting the Hurricanes’ lead to 4-0 with plenty of hockey left to play. A high-energy atmosphere fed into Carolina’s performance, and while an open-air stadium doesn’t lend itself to containing noise like PNC Arena does, you can’t define a crowd 60,000 strong as anything but loud.

“We just try to play our game,” said center Sebastian Aho. “There’s no secret, we just try to play [our way] every night and especially on a night like this. You want to just do it your way and keep it simple and all that, so I think we did a really good job.”

Neĉas, who’s been arguably one of the Hurricanes’ most valuable players this season, deserved nothing less than a big play under the bright lights at Carter-Finley. He leads the team in points and logs the second-most goals and assists after finishing an underwhelming season in 2022.

“This game was pretty special,” Neĉas said. “It doesn’t really matter if I score, we got a huge win and the fans were unbelievable and really enjoyed every second of it. It was a special night, and obviously I’m happy I got a goal, too.”

Washington didn’t let the Canes have all the fun, however. The Capitals broke the 4-0 shutout midway through the third period with a goal from right wing Tom Wilson. But Carolina’s monumental second period was far too much for the visitors to overcome, rendering the score as pure consolation.

And with that, it was over — Carolina clinched a 4-1 victory, much to the chagrin of the Capitals fans who made the trek to Raleigh (or, at the very least, Wade Avenue). The Hurricanes’ most enthusiastically awaited game came to a close, and Caniacs prepared to sit in traffic for what seemed like hours as tens of thousands of fans left the stadium in one fell swoop.

That being said, the experience — for fans and players alike — will remain legendary for years to come. For several players, it was their first outdoor game, and something like this doesn’t come around all that often. It’ll likely be a while before the Hurricanes see another outdoor rink, but one thing’s for certain: this game will be hard to top.

“It’s special,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “It’s a special community and a special relationship between the players and the people that support this team, and hopefully other people got to see that tonight.”

The Canes will return to the ice this Friday, Feb. 24 for a matchup against the Ottawa Senators back inside PNC Arena. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.

Jenna Cuniowski Assistant Sports Editor

Highlighted by ACC championship victories by the men’s swim and dive team and the wrestling team, NC State Athletics has completed another successful week of competition.

Ever since its impressive 11-1 start to the season, NC State women’s basketball has had immense difficulty stringing together multiple victories, particularly against ACC opponents. This week was no different as the Pack executed an awe-inspiring comeback win on Thursday, Feb. 16 against the North Carolina Tar Heels but then proceeded to lose to the Virginia Tech Hokies on Sunday, Feb. 19 for the second time this month.

NC State track and field traveled to compete in two meets this past weekend: the JDL Invitational and the VT Challenge. The women’s DMR team, composed of junior Katelyn Tuohy, senior Sam Bush and graduate students Savannah Shaw and Timara Chapman, traveled to the JDL DMR Invite in Winston-Salem, where they broke the NC State and the facility record for the event. In Blacksburg, a number of NC State’s talented sprinters and throwers competed in the VT Challenge. On Friday, Feb. 17, the throwing squad captured three podium finishes.

NC State gymnastics competed in two meets this week, hosting the New Hampshire Wildcats in a dual-meet on Friday, Feb. 17 before traveling to Philadelphia on Sunday, Feb. 19 to compete against Temple, George Washington and Penn in a quad-meet. In both meets, the Pack emerged victorious.

NC State wrestling had no trouble taking down its rival North Carolina in the last meet of the regular season on Friday, Feb. 17. The Pack won the match 28-6 and clinched its 10th consecutive win over the Tar Heels in the process. Despite the meet being held in Chapel Hill, the majority of the crowd was made up of Wolfpack fans, making it even easier for a very talented red-and-white team to win eight of its 10 bouts.

To say the least, it was an eventful weekend for the NC State swim and dive teams as both the men’s and women’s squads finished in the top-2 at the ACC Championships. For the second year in the row, the men’s team captured the ACC title, beating the second-place team by over 600 points. The women’s team lost to a very skilled Virginia squad but still collected an impressive second place finish.

Men’s basketball loses on the road, defeats rival UNC at home

NC State men’s basketball had a rough start to the week, coming up just short against Syracuse on the road by a score of 75-72. On Sunday, in what was arguably its most highly anticipated game of the regular season, the Pack bounced back to defeat North Carolina at home, 77-69.

After a disheartening string of losses at the Candrea Classic last weekend, NC State softball won two of its four games against Big Ten opponents in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge that took place in Raleigh this past weekend. The Pack played two games each against the Purdue Boilermakers and the Iowa Hawkeyes. Against the Boilermakers, the Wolfpack won 4-0 and lost 4-3. Against the Hawkeyes, the red-and-white won 3-1 and lost 11-2.

NC State women’s tennis went on the road this week to compete against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in its ACC-opener. The No. 10 Pack coasted through the match, winning every possible point to claim a 7-0 victory. A couple of the singles matches concluded with a tiebreaker, but the Wolfpack held strong and pulled out the win each time.

NC State baseball hosted the Wagner Seahawks in a three-game series this week, only letting up three runs the entire weekend to get off to a strong 3-0 start to the season. The No. 21 Pack beat the Seahawks 14-1, 3-2 and 9-0.