Raleigh, N.C. — Of the more than 18,000 people who attended the Carolina Hurricanes’ season opener Friday night, some said the game provided a distraction from the uncertain economy.

“We’re coming here to have a good time. This is a break from all of that. Monday morning - it’s back to reality,” hockey fan Carl Turnage said.

Hard economic times have some families scaling back their entertainment budgets.

Fan Steve Yauch said his family has been being careful about what they spend their money on.

“We may not go to quite as many games as we normally do. We plan to cut back a little bit. The Canes are a fun way to forget about the hard times,” Yauch said.

Yauch attended the game with wife, Chris, and daughter Alexis.

“We’re careful, but we got season tickets. So we kind of paid in advance before everything hit the tank. We have to support the Canes,” Chris Yauch said.

With many people watching their budgets, RBC Center officials are finding new ways to get fans to come back. This year the facility underwent $4 million in upgrades, including a new sound system.

“If you’re not going to travel because of gas and those kinds of things, they’re going to spend that money locally and hopefully we bring enough entertainment value that they’re going to want to spend it here,” RBC Center General Manager and Vice President Dave Olsen said.