Banner-Raising Opening Night Brings Record-Breaking Crowd

RALEIGH, N.C. - Tuesday night at Lenovo Center, the moment superseded the score.

Sure, a win would have been the cherry on top, but the majority of those in attendance at 1400 Edwards Mill Road purchased their tickets to say they were there for the moment.

That moment, of course, was when the team stood on the ice and watched the franchise's second Stanley Cup Championship banner rise to the rafters.

It was a moment not for the players, and not for the staff, but for them.

Rod Brind'Amour reiterated as much post-game when he reminded the media that the fans, who pack the home building on a nightly basis, couldn't be a part of the celebration on June 14 when the team reached the mountaintop at T-Mobile Arena.

There was the parade that brought over 192,000 to downtown Raleigh a week later, of course, but this was the Stanley Cup. Inside Lenovo Center, where the team puts it all on the line, in front of the Caniacs, every time they touch the ice.

"It was great. To me, it was more for the fans. They didn't get to see us celebrate it on home ice, so it was kind of nice to do a little victory lap," Brind'Amour reflected following the contest. "They need to enjoy that stuff. They're a big part of the success we've had over the years, so I thought that was really cool."

Roaring to Jordan Staal stepping onto the ice with the 34.5-lb. silver trophy and putting a bow on the interactive celebrations with a Storm Surge that included players circling "the mug" at the championship-centered logo, it was a very fitting last hurrah to an incredible summer.

Then, standing with arms wrapped around one another, applause rained down as the new look banner was lifted.

"You have so much emotion, trying to start a game and start a season, and you obviously want to still enjoy those moments," the captain said. "(It was) pretty special. I wish we kind of had more time to give it to everyone and to get the crowd going."

Almost impossible to imagine the crowd more "going", it was revealed to be a standing-room-only mob of 19,250, representing the largest attendance for a regular-season home game at Lenovo Center.

Only two regular-season home games in franchise history have drawn more fans: the team’s Stadium Series outdoor game against the Washington Capitals at Carter-Finley Stadium on Feb. 18, 2023 (56,961) and a game at the Greensboro Coliseum against the New York Rangers on Nov. 21, 1997 (19,358).

"It was a cool experience. I think I'll be able to appreciate it more than I do right now, but our fans deserve it," Brandon Bussi offered. "They deserved to have a moment like that."

Here's to doing it again this time next year.