The NHL announced that it has set new attendance records for October.  Read the story here.

To summarize, they've attracted 16,820 fans per game, filling arenas to 91.2% capacity on average.  That's a good thing.  And it's only going to go up from here.

Hockey is more exciting than it ever was before.  The days of the 1-0 win are (for the most part) gone.  For those of us who were hockey fans before, we appreciated the action and the "great" goaltending in the games that led to those 1-0 games.  But I think the casual fan is going to find the 5-3 games a lot more interesting.

A perfect example was the Canes 8-6 come-from-behind victory over the Philadelphia Flyers last saturday.  Goals are exciting, and that game was a huge rollercoaster of emotion, filled with ups and downs.  Down 2-0.  Tied 2-2.  Down 3-2.  Tied 3-3.  Down 5-3.  Tied 5-5.  Up 6-5.  Tied 6-6.  Win 8-6.  It was CRAZY in the arena that night!

Even the Penguins, who only won a single game in October, saw attendance increased by 31% over the previous opening month.

I'm glad i've got my season tickets, because as the season goes on, Canes tickets are going to get harder to come by.

GO CANES!