Diamond Heels, Hurricanes Chasing Titles, Immortality
By David Glenn
“Win today, and we walk together forever.”
Immortality.
That’s what the North Carolina baseball team is chasing over the next two weeks at the College World Series.
That’s what the Carolina Hurricanes hockey squad is pursuing over the next seven days in the Stanley Cup championship series.
More than 300 colleges and universities play NCAA baseball at the Division One level. Only UNC and seven others earned their way to Omaha.
Thirty-two teams compete in the National Hockey League. Only Carolina and Vegas are still playing for the sport’s ultimate prize.
Many great things already have been accomplished by the Tar Heels and the Hurricanes this season.
“Forever” status, though, typically is reserved only for champions.
“Nobody remembers who comes in second,” Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour said recently. “You gotta finish this race. If you’re gonna lose, you might as well lose in the first round. It doesn’t really make a difference to me. It’s all about winning (the Stanley Cup). We haven’t done that yet.”
The quote above — “win today, and we walk together forever” — comes from the hockey world.
In 1974, Philadelphia Flyers coach Fred Shero wrote those words, and only those words, on the chalkboard in the team’s locker room prior to Game Six of the Stanley Cup championship series against the Boston Bruins. The Flyers needed just one more victory in the best-of-seven series to clinch the franchise’s first Cup. They had lost Game Five in Boston, 5-1, and didn’t want to go back on the road for Game Seven.
The Flyers beat the Bruins on home ice in Game Six, 1-0, and Shero’s prophecy ultimately proved true.
More than 50 years later, the group — known as the “Broad Street Bullies” — remains the most celebrated in franchise history and among the most famous (or infamous) in hockey history.
The 1974 Flyers still “walk together” in countless ways, even more than a half-century later.
Many players and coaches stayed in or near the Philadelphia area after retirement. Dozens of reunions and special events have brought the group back together on a regular basis. Various books and documentaries, together with the memories of millions of fans, have cemented the story’s “forever” feeling.
Like the 1974 Flyers, the 2026 UNC baseball team is seeking an unprecedented accomplishment. The College World Series has been around in various forms since 1947, and the Tar Heels have earned their way there 12 previous times, but they have never claimed the national crown.
image via Chapel Hill Media Group/Chance Bragg
UNC coach Scott Forbes has said he sees many parallels between his program and that of former Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett, a man whose “foundational pillars” (i.e., humility, passion, servanthood, thankfulness, unity) were incorporated into Carolina’s philosophy under Forbes years ago.
Under Bennett, UVa initially became well-known for some highly unpleasant reasons. Amidst years of criticism about the Cavaliers’ extremely slow tempo and low-scoring games, they became the first #1 seed ever to lose to a #16 seed in an NCAA Tournament game.
That unforgettable postseason loss (to UMBC) came in 2018.
In 2019, Virginia won the school’s first NCAA championship in men’s basketball.
“Failure is the best teacher,” said Forbes, whose last two UNC teams fell in the CWS and the Super Regionals, respectively. “I’ve learned as a coach to not let it take a loss to be focused on what I need to be focused on. (Losing) can set you up for greater things.
“I remember Tony Bennett talking about it with Virginia. I’m a big fan of Tony Bennett; I have his pillars up in here, stole them straight from him. But he said that was a first-round loss, they won the national championship the next year, and it just set you up for that.
“Because you can handle in-game adversity, you can handle punches, you can handle a first loss like (UNC suffered in its recent best-of-three Super Regional against USC). You figure, if you get there enough times, you can knock that door down. And that’s what these guys did.”
Whereas the Virginia basketball story involved a dramatic one-year reversal, and UNC’s comeback against USC happened over the course of just three days, Brind’Amour’s fondest NHL memory didn’t come until after a 36-year journey.
Born and raised in hockey-crazed Canada, Brind’Amour played his first NHL game in 1989 but didn’t win his first and only Stanley Cup until 2006. As the Carolina Hurricanes’ team captain that year, he was the first to raise the sport’s revered trophy during an emotional post-Game Seven celebration in Raleigh.
Now, as a coach, Brind’Amour wants others — especially his players, his staff and the team’s loyal fans — to have an unforgettable experience of their own.
“When I was a player, all I dreamt about was winning the Stanley Cup,” Brind’Amour said. “As a kid, growing up, from the time I remember first putting skates on, that was the motivation. And I was pushing for it, pushing for it, and we finally got it done. You always want more — I wish I had 100 of them, but I know how hard it is to get one — but after you get one, after you fulfill a life-long dream, it’s just a bit different.
“Now, number one, I want it for the people of this city, because they’ve supported this team unbelievably well for a long time. And now I want it for the guys, especially the guys who haven’t done it. Even (37-year-old team captain Jordan Staal), he’s won it, but he won the Cup as a teenager, This is way different. This is his team now, and I want him to be able to experience that.
“Hopefully, we can pull this off. We know it’s going to be tough, but I know our guys are gonna give everything they have.”
Regardless of what happens in the coming days, the 2026 Tar Heels and 2026 Hurricanes should be remembered as truly exceptional teams.
Only with a championship, though, will they be able to walk together forever.
image via Chapel Hill Media Group/Chance Bragg
David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com, @DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.
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