Cue opening music (preferably Brass Bonanza)

It doesn't feel like three months since I sat in the upper deck for Game 7 and watched the Carolina Hurricanes win hockey's Stanley Cup. It was a strange feeling for me. Here I am, four years removed from Connecticut watching a team whose owner I hate win hockey's holy grail. Yet I couldn't root against them.

I'm from New York, a huge Rangers fan who semi-adopted the Hartford Whalers in the nearly 20 years I lived there as a 'second' team to root for. Then their new owner, Peter Karmanos, leaves a sweetheart deal from Connecticut for a new arena on the table and bolts for a sweetheart deal here in North Carolina (my former paper wrote extensively on the issue; you'll have to trust me when I tell you that the Connecticut sweetheart deal was slightly better than the North Carolina sweetheart deal). My son, who was 9 at the time and a youth hockey player, was heartbroken. I was not surprised.

So here we were, nine years later, both watching the game, me pulling for the Hurricanes and my son screaming for Edmonton amid the sea of red 'Canes jerseys. We both wore Hartford Whalers hats. Sports allegiance is a funny thing.

Now a new hockey season is upon us, and I think the 'Canes will be hard-pressed to repeat. Few have in recent years, other than my co-blogger's team, the Red Wings, back in '97 and '98. I'm pulling hard that last year was not a fluke for my Rangers, and that they've got a shot at getting better this year. I know I like one thing the Rangers did this off-season - steal two veteran 'Canes, Matt Cullen and Aaron Ward, as free agents.