Carolina Hurricanes' Trevor van Riemsdyk dunks a basketball during a celebration after the team's win over the Minnesota Wild, in Raleigh, N.C., on March 23, 2019.Karl B DeBlaker/The Associated Press
The “Storm Surge” is coming to an end in Carolina.
Hurricanes forward Justin Williams posted on Twitter that the NHL club will be ending its elaborate postgame celebrations as they prepare for their final playoff push. The ritual was popular with fans, though it irked Hockey Night in Canada commentator Don Cherry, who called the Hurricanes a “bunch of jerks.”
Carolina entered its game against visiting Washington on Thursday evening holding down the top wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference by one point over the Montreal Canadiens.
“Regardless of the outcome tonight, this will be our last ‘Storm Surge’ of the season,” Williams said. “It has been an absolute treat celebrating victories with our fans and muddying up the waters a little bit.
“We’ve created a buzz again in Carolina but we know ultimately we’ve done that by winning games and playing for each other. Huge games are coming up for us.”
Carolina’s postgame celebrations have gone viral on social media. The antic have taken many forms, with players jumping into the glass, paddling imaginary kayaks, playing games of ‘Duck Duck Goose,’ and even running a limbo line.
Along with the Hurricanes’ playoff possibilities, the “Storm Surge” created buzz in a hockey market that desperately needed a jolt. The team plays in the North Carolina capital, Raleigh, which is not a traditional hockey market. And buzz around the team had dissipated since the Hurricanes followed their 2006 Stanley Cup with a series of mediocre results, including missing the playoffs for the past nine seasons.
While fans enjoyed the imaginative celebrations, they did not sit well with Cherry, a known hockey traditionalist.
“This is a joke,” Cherry said on an episode of “Coaches Corner.”
“Young men expressing themselves for joy and winning. You don’t do this in professional hockey. What are these guys, jerks or something?" he said. "That is absolutely ridiculous, they’re jerks doing it … . You never do anything like that, they’re still not drawing [fans] and they’re a bunch of jerks as far as I’m concerned.”
The Hurricanes responded by selling “Bunch of Jerks” T-shirts with the team logo.