Carolina Hurricanes

PNC Arena holds about 18,680 for hockey and sits near downtown Raleigh in a cluster with NC State's campus. The Hurricanes have become one of the more entertaining organizations in the NHL partly for on-ice success and partly for the Storm Surge - the team's post-win on-ice celebration that rotates between dodgeball, relay races, soccer shootouts, and whatever they dream up next. The league-wide debate about whether it's good for hockey did not slow the Canes down.

The "Bunch of Jerks" era - a nickname the team embraced after a columnist used it as a slur - crystallized the fan base's identity. The Canes won the Stanley Cup in 2006 and have been competitive again since 2018, making the playoffs consistently and building a genuine hockey culture in a market that was skeptical of NHL hockey when the team relocated from Hartford in 1997. Glenwood South in Raleigh has become the go-to pregame destination - the bars along Glenwood between Peace Street and Peace fill up on game nights and the neighborhood has enough options that you can make an evening of it before puck drop.

The arena is accessible by rideshare from most of Raleigh-Durham and the parking situation is manageable with advance planning. Downtown bars closer to the arena have multiplied as the Canes have gotten better.

Check Hurricanes tickets on Evil Tickets and see what's on the home schedule at PNC Arena this season.