The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL), and play their home games at the 18,680-seat PNC Arena. They are the only major league professional sports team in North Carolina to play in Raleigh; the state's other two major franchises, the NFL's Carolina Panthers and the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, are based in Charlotte.

The Hurricanes were formed in 1971 as the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association (WHA), and joined the NHL in 1979 as part of the NHL-WHA merger, renaming themselves the Hartford Whalers. The team relocated to North Carolina in 1997 and won its first Stanley Cup during the 2005–06 season, beating the Edmonton Oilers four games to three.

The New England Whalers were established in November 1971 when the WHA awarded a franchise to begin play in Boston, Massachusetts. For the first two years of their existence, the club played their home games at the Boston Arena and Boston Garden. With the increasing difficulty of scheduling games at Boston Garden (owned by the NHL rival Boston Bruins), the owners decided to move the team to Hartford, Connecticut beginning with the 1974-75 season. While waiting for the completion of a new arena in Hartford, the Whalers played the first part of the season at The Big E Coliseum in West Springfield, Massachusetts. On January 11, 1975, the team played its first game in front of a sellout crowd at the Hartford Civic Center Coliseum, and would maintain its home there through 1997.

Cameron Kenneth Ward (born February 29, 1984) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, he was raised in Sherwood Park, Alberta. During his three-year junior career in the Western Hockey League (WHL), he was selected 25th overall by the Hurricanes in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. After a season with the Hurricanes' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Lowell Lock Monsters, he won the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006. He became the first starting goaltender to win the NHL championship as a rookie since Patrick Roy in 1986.

Ward spent his junior career with the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League. After appearing in one game for the Rebels in 2000–01, Ward played three full seasons with the team from 2001–2004, leading them to the WHL finals twice. Ward was drafted 25th overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. Upon graduating from the WHL, Ward signed a multi-year, entry-level contract with the Hurricanes on May 13, 2004. Due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, he was assigned to Carolina's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Lowell Lock Monsters, for the season.

Alexander Valerevich Siomin (Russian: Александр Валерьевич Сёмин, Russian pronunciation: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr sʲɵˈmʲin]; born March 3, 1984) is a Russian professional ice hockey player currently a under contract with the Washington Capitals until June 30, 2012 when he becomes a Free Agent in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Semin was trained in the Traktor Chelyabinsk hockey school and made his professional debut in Russia's second-tier Russian Major League in 2001–02. After scoring 21 goals and eight assists with Chelyabinsk that season, the Washington Capitals selected Semin with their second pick, 13th overall (they selected Steve Eminger with their first pick, 12th overall) in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. Remaining in Russia for the subsequent season, he joined Lada Togliatti of the first-tier Russian Superleague (RSL) in 2002–03 and scored 10 goals and seven assists in 47 games.

Semin made his NHL debut in the 2003–04 season, scoring 10 goals and 12 assists in 52 games. However, he missed his team's flight to Pittsburgh when the Capitals closed out their season against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Semin then reported to Maine to play for the American Hockey League's Portland Pirates, where he collected 15 points in four regular season and seven playoff games.

Tuomo Iisakki Ruutu (born February 16, 1983) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward who plays for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. He is the brother of Jarkko Ruutu, a former NHL player currently playing for Jokerit, and retired player Mikko Ruutu.

Ruutu started out playing for HIFK in the Finnish SM-liiga in the 1999–00 season, and moved to Jokerit for the next two seasons. In 2002 he returned to HIFK for one more season. He was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, as their first-round pick, #9 overall. He crossed the Atlantic in 2003, playing a full 82 games with the Blackhawks in the 2003–04 NHL season.

He did not play during the NHL lockout, as he was recovering from injuries, but provided commentary on Finnish television during the ice hockey world championships, along with fellow NHL player Ville Nieminen. Ruutu returned to the NHL after the lockout, but his 2005–06 NHL season was cut short, first by a back injury that kept him out of the game for most of the fall, and in January an ankle injury requiring surgery ended his season.

Jeffrey Skinner (born May 16, 1992) is a Canadian ice hockey player for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). Selected seventh overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Skinner was the youngest player in the NHL during the 2010–11 season and is the youngest player ever to play in the NHL All Star Game.

Skinner was born to lawyers Andrew Skinner and Elisabeth Campin. He is the second-youngest of six siblings, with four sisters, Jennifer (a former Harvard Crimson forward), Andrea (a former Cornell Big Red forward and lawyer at Bay Street law firm Aird & Berlis), Erica (current Carleton Ravens defence) and Jillian (a high school student). He has one brother, Benjamin, who was in the Kitchener Rangers system, but now plays for the Golden Hawks at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo.

Skinner attended William Armstrong Public School and then Markham District High School. Involved in both ice hockey and figure skating growing up, he won a bronze medal in the juvenile division at the 2004 Canadian Junior National Figure Skating Championships. Soon after, he made the decision to focus solely on hockey. Skinner played his minor hockey with the Toronto Jr. Canadians and Toronto Young Nationals of the GTHL and the Markham Waxers of the OMHA. He grew up cheering for the Toronto Maple Leafs.