The competition in this year’s Stanley Cup finals extends off the ice and into the owners’ suites.
Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos is a native of Detroit and still lives there. He grew up a Red Wings fan and still has season tickets. He’s in the process of having a building for his company, Compuware, constructed downtown.
Karmanos, who owned the NHL franchise when it was the Hartford Whalers, toyed in 1996 with the idea of moving it from Connecticut to the Palace of Auburn Hills, 30 miles north of the Red Wings’ rink.
He’s heavily involved in youth hockey and sponsors numerous teams. He owns a junior team called the Plymouth Whalers that used to be the Jr. Red Wings and used to play at Joe Louis Arena–until Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch evicted them.
Ilitch, the Little Caesars Pizza mogul, also calls Detroit home and also is heavily involved in youth hockey in the Detroit area.
Their rivalry might stem from their devotion to Detroit youth hockey or Karmanos’ thought of moving his team there.
Or it might come from 1998, when Karmanos’ Hurricanes signed Sergei Fedorov to an offer sheet that forced Ilitch’s Red Wings to shell out about $20 million up front to keep the talented center.
Whatever, the two likely won’t mingle much during the series.
“There isn’t any animosity between us,” Karmanos said.
But when asked if he’d talk at all to his Detroit neighbor, Karmanos said: “I will have as many conversations with him as I had with the owner of Toronto, the owner of Montreal and the owner of New Jersey [the three teams Carolina faced in the playoffs], which is zero.”
One way or another: Carolina defenseman Aaron Ward played 276 games with Detroit before being traded to the Hurricanes last summer. A matchup to watch will be Ward against his good friend Darren McCarty. Ward insists he won’t do anything different because he’s facing his friend and old team.
“If I start doing something different than in the other three series, I’ll [mess] it up,” Ward said. “I’ll puncture [McCarty’s] tires in the parking lot.”
Pronger out: St. Louis Blues defenseman Chris Pronger could be out until January after surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right knee, just two weeks after undergoing wrist surgery
Stanley Cup finals
Carolina leads Detroit 1-0
Game 1:
CAROLINA 3, Detroit 2, OT
Game 2: Thursday
at Detroit, 7 (ESPN)
Game 3: Saturday
at Carolina, 7 (WLS-Ch. 7)
Game 4: Monday
at Carolina, 7 (WLS-Ch. 7)
Game 5: Thursday, June 13
at Detroit, 7* (WLS-Ch. 7)
Game 6: Saturday, June 15
at Carolina, 7* (WLS-Ch. 7)
Game 7: Monday, June 17
at Detroit, 7* (WLS-Ch. 7)
Best-of-7 series; *- if necessary
