The Freedom Forum's daily collection of front pages allows for some interesting comparisions on the play of a big story. Here in the Triangle, the Carolina Hurricanes are the big story today. They won the Stanley Cup on Monday night, beating Edmonton 3-1 in an exciting Game 7. Here's how the story played in various papers:


The News & Observer of Raleigh devoted the bulk of its front page to the win, with promos to other stories strung along the bottom. The "jubilation" image is a given: Rod Brind'Amour hoisting the Cup in triumph. Some may find fault with the "homer" headline and the exclamation mark, but on occasions like this, why not allow the newspaper to become part of the community and join in the cheers? The drophead highlights the significance of the event and serves to justify the story play: This is the first major championship by a professional team in North Carolina, and it will likely be the only one — until the Canes win another or the state lands a MLB team.
The News & Record in Greensboro also gave prominent play to the Canes' win. After moving from Hartford, the team played its first seasons in Greensboro while an arena was under construction in Raleigh. Carolina still has fans in there, as reflected in the secondary image. (News & Record editor John Robinson discusses the paper's thinking on this story here.) The News & Record's competitors in Winston-Salem used a similar fan-based feel, as did The Charlotte Observer. In the eastern part of the state, the Greenville paper relegated the game to a small promo — a bit of a surprise given the city's relative proximity to the Triangle.


Hockey coverage was more subdued in South Carolina and points beyond. The Myrtle Beach and Columbia papers made mention of the game in promos at the top of their pages. The Greenville News and a few others ignored the game, as did The Augusta Chronicle, just across the state line. Farther south, the Tampa and St. Petersburg papers gave the Canes a nod in the promos. (The previous Cup winners were the Tampa Bay Lightning.)

NORTH OF THE BORDER

Fans in the North and other hockey havens probably aren't thrilled that North Carolina has the Cup for the next year, but many of them gave the Canes their due. The Hartford Courant, apparently shedding any bitterness about losing the team to the South, used a standalone photo as its display image. The Detroit Free-Press in "Hockeytown" recognized the victory on its front, and The New York Times offered a text-only promo at the bottom of the page. The news hit hardest in the Great White North, where the puck rules and the Cup is seen as a distinctly Canadian artifact. The Toronto paper went with a classic dejection photo and ran a headline playing to the national pride: "The Cup eludes Canada yet again."

Maybe next year.