Skate blades scraping the ice. Sticks making contact with pucks. Pucks hitting the boards, or the goal post and crossbar. Players and coaches barking instructions or simply whooping with delight. Players flying up and down the ice.
All of these are the sights and sounds of hockey, and they were on display Thursday morning at PNC Arena as the Hurricanes hit the ice for their first practice of 2021’s training camp. While things are not all the way back to normal, this training camp looks and feels as normal as hockey has since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.