Hurricanes part ways with Cole … tear
July 1st, 2008, 11:02 am · Post a Comment · posted by Alex Kreitman
It seems like just yesterday that I witnessed Erik Cole return from a fractured vertebra in the Stanley Cup Finals, an injury that was supposed to keep him out for the season.
Now Cole is leaving Raleigh.
I remember chatting with Cole from time to time during the 2005-06 season in the RBC Center press area. Our brief chats usually came while grabbing a hot dog or a soda or a bag of popcorn, standard snack items in Raleigh. Cole was always a friendly guy, growing out a thick beard while watching his teammates win the Southeast Division and run through the playoffs.
Cole was a nonfactor for most of the playoffs, actually just about all of them, but while watching Game 6 of the finals in Edmonton against the Oilers, I was stunned to see Cole skating on the ice during warmups. Doctors had cleared him to play, determining that he couldn’t do any more damage to his vertebra and that it would never really heal any more than it already had. And seeing him watch from upstairs all those games, Cole jumped at the chance to get his name on the Stanley Cup.
The Canes lost that game 4-0 and Cole took just two shots in 18 minutes on the ice, but his presence seemed huge at the time and became a story within the story. Because with the Game 6 loss, Carolina was headed back to Raleigh for Game 7.
Cole played even less in Game 7, just 12 minutes, and took only one shot, but the Canes won 3-1 and Cole joined his teammates in hoisting the Cup and skating around the RBC Center in victory. That night was by far the coolest day on the job I’ve ever had.
But now, more than two years after that day, the Canes have traded Cole, sending him to Stanley Cup rival Oilers for defenseman Joni Pitkanen.
The Canes were in need of defenseman, but it’s still a sad day. It’s probably more sad for me because I miss covering sports and getting to go to big games like I did back then. Sports are my passion and I often find myself missing those times.
Monday I wrote about the Tampa Bay Rays needing to step things up if they wanted to stay in first place. For anyone that read the paper today or checked online knows that the Rays beat the Red Sox 5-4. I kind of wish I didn’t light a fire under Tampa Bay’s ass. Oh well, it’s a long season.
