By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The Stanley Cup belongs to the Carolina Hurricanes for the next couple of months.
When that was the case in 2006 the revered trophy that goes to the champion of the NHL made it to Alamance County for a morning as part of the offseason celebrations.
There’s no guarantee that will happen this summer.
Each player and coach will have the opportunity to spend a day with the Stanley Cup. That means it will travel to some faraway places if European players opt to take it to their homelands.
Other key staff members also have access to time with the Stanley Cup, and that’s how 20 years ago it ended up in Burlington. Brian Tatum was team services manager for the Hurricanes, a role that involved overseeing team travel and assisting players in various off-ice activities.
Tatum’s grandfather, Ray Tatum, lived on Engleman Drive in Burlington. His brother, Mike Tatum, operated Tatum Optical on South Main Street in Burlington and his uncle, Paul Tatum, owned Wings To Go on South Church Street in Bur-lington.
So on a Saturday morning (July 8, 2006) the Stanley Cup came to Burlington. Photos were taken in front of the Engleman Drive residence. Soon it was off to Wings To Go, where Paul Tatum had invited people through word of mouth.
The word spread.
Fans, families and curiosity seekers arrived to view the trophy and take photographs beside it. Some even kissed the Stanley Cup, which was accompanied by a representative of the Hockey Hall of Fame staff.
Many of the visitors, who were from Bur-lington, Graham, Meb-ane, and other locales, told stories about their connections to the hockey team and how they became devoted fans or ticket holders.
In following years, Brian Tatum moved to other roles with the Hurricanes, including vice president of team operations, and later from 2014-19 was an assistant general manager. He’s no longer with the organization.
The Hurricanes captured their second championship Sunday night, winning Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final with a 3-0 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights in Las Vegas. A championship parade begins at 11:00 a.m. Saturday in downtown Raleigh.
