A foundation player for the Canes

Last night at PNC Arena, the Hurricanes honored Cam Ward, somebody I talked to briefly earlier this week to sort of help me put it in perspective, was Eric Cole. And Cole contributed a lot. He helped me out, you know, thought about Cam. We saw a lot of that last night.

And Eric Cole joins us on The Adam Gold Show. And here's what, to me, last night was as much about Cam. And I think you helped me get to this point, that last night was as much about Cam Ward as it was, or as much about the organization kind of arriving.

Because we do have history, we do have culture, we do have legends here. To me, it's always half about the organization and half about Cam. Do you see it that way?

Or did I just interpret some of your thoughts that way? No, it's, I mean, I mean, certainly it's, you know, the night is for Cam, and it's a great honor for him. But at the same time, it's a really big moment for our organization and for our team and the community.

You know, it's with the outdoor game coming, the stadium series game coming, sorry. I think that it's, you know, it's these big moments that our organization is having and that our community is able to take part in and see. And I just think we've got a wonderful thing going here. Do you recognize your role in helping build this?

I don't, I mean, I think I don't think I look at it in that regard. You know, I think for me is, you know, I always, I always think back to the 2002 Cup run and just how crazy it got around here and just how much fun that was. And it was just, I mean, it was great to see and to see, you know, how the building is night in, night out, you know, this season in comparison to 20 and 25 years ago. And when I was first coming here, it's changed significantly. And the support from the fans has been amazing.

Eric Cole is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. We don't have to go back that far, you know, six or seven years where nobody was coming to games. And we had a couple of games each year where there might be, might be a sellout.

And then we were pretty happy if you can get over 15,000. This year, basically every game but one was over 18,000. They're in the top 10 in the NHL in attendance.

What strikes you about this? Is it just about the team's success, which obviously has been good the last five years? Well, winning shares a lot of, a lot of that attendance issues. And, you know, and being in the playoffs. But I think it also, you know, it's the head coach, it's the management and the owner. And it's the fan experience at the arena now is tremendous.

So, you know, all those things have been improved. And it, you know, going to a hurricane's game is a great night out. You know, it's the team's winning, they're playing well. And it's a great atmosphere and, you know, a great way to spend a, you know, Friday, Saturday, or even a Tuesday night. And Tuesday nights have not been a problem for this team. The only game that was under 18,000 was Halloween, although I don't remember what night of the week that was.

But Halloween was the only night it was under 18,000. That was a game against the Capitals. I bet they have more than 18,000 tomorrow when they take on the Capitals over at Carter-Finley Stadium. What is getting this game to you say about where this franchise is? Well, I just think it shows, I mean, and again, you know, I touched on how, you know, when we had the draft, and then we get the all-star game, and now we get this stadium series game. And, you know, I think it just goes to show how the organization is solidified here in this market. And I think it's, you know, going to continue and to put on events like this for the NHL to come in here and do this. And then for them to be excited about the venue and the vibe that's going, the buzz around town.

I just think it's, you know, more and more of these types of events are going to come our way just due to the fact that our fans, you know, really come out for these events, and our community really rallies behind these great events that we're able to host. Eric Cole is with us just a couple more minutes before we have to let him go. You mentioned the head coach. Obviously, Rod, he's always been a smart hockey player. He's always been a hard worker. It kind of obscured, I think, how talented he really was as a player. He scored a lot of goals as a player, and you don't just get that because you have great endurance.

I mean, he obviously can score or could score at the time. What do you think separates him as a head coach? What unique skill does he have in that regard that has helped him get really the most out of just about all of his players? Oh, I think it's all the same qualities and characteristics that made him such a great leader and captain of our team. For me, it's fun to watch his post-game speeches and things like that. I think that Roddy's energy has always been infectious to the guys around him and just doing your training with him and things like that. When it was game time, it was serious. It was like, okay, time to button it down. For me, he's able now to see his emotions and his speeches and everything. I just love how now it's kind of out in the open and it's not just the conversation in the bike room with a guy or in the weight room and all these little conversations. You're seeing it now just on a bigger stage. Do you think it says something about this culture that he has developed here that so many former players, teammates, want to be a part of it?

Well, yeah. I mean, it starts obviously with the community and the area and the guys that call this home. But then you put Roddy in the head coaching position and yeah, everybody's excited about it. I think with the success that they've had, it's obviously been with good reason. Guys, you want to be around that. We got to get out and play golf with Roddy over the All-Star break.

The guys that have settled here post-career, yeah, we all want to be a part of the team and the tradition around here because this is where we loved playing and this is where we've raised our families. We've got a really good thing going here. Is he any good at golf? He's pretty good, yeah. I mean, it's a little embarrassing the amount of strokes that he gets, but it's a typical kind of quote-unquote sandbagger moment with Roddy sometimes.

Very nice. I still can't get over the fact that you let Jesse Bolaris in a sport coat beat you at a tricycle race last night. I blame Rosie.

I was all over the place. It's like he didn't even know there was a track out there. He insists that he won. Of course he does.

I have to show him that clip today from Talladega Nights where he can't get out of your car and cross the finish line. Thank you very much for your time, for your help, your guidance, all of that. Eric Cole, hope to have one of these days for you in the near future. I appreciate everything. Anytime, my friend.

You got it. Eric Cole here on the Adam Gold Show. I told this to Cam when we had Cam on the first time after the announcement that he was going to go in, that Eric was my nominee this year for a lot of reasons. Part of it is purely biased because I've known Eric since he was a rookie and we've kept in touch all these years. But I feel like we were cheated out of seeing the best Eric Cole was, was a monster.

An absolute monster. Andrei Svechnikov, right? Very similar. Really similar players. Svech and Eric Cole, just really on opposite sides. Oh no, actually, Cole was a lefty playing on the right side. That's really where Andrei may end up over time. But the Hurricanes have a, I think, pretty good core going forward.