They play hockey for a living, and golf for fun. Golf season begins when hockey season is done.
"Unfortunately for us last year we got a little to much golf this summer, because we didn't make the playoffs," Hurricane center Jeff O'Neill said.
The Carolina Hurricanes love hockey, but they also love golf.
"Probably the easiest switch for a hockey player to another sports is to play golf," Hurricane right wing Ray Sheppard said. "Shooting a puck is very similar to hitting a golf ball."
Indeed, hockey players pick up the golf swing faster than athletes of any other pro sport according to one noted golf pro. The players agree, the swings are similar.
"The weight transfer between the hockey slap shot and the golf swing are pretty similar, just the bringing the club back and swinging through it," O'Neill said.
"There is definitely a relationship between the two shots with shifting the weight, and the way your hands have to be," Sheppard said.
The Canes brandished their golf swings at a recent outing. O'Neill hit one drive almost 300 yards. But, the Hurricanes golf shots are over for this year, and they wouldn't mind leaving the clubs in storage for awhile.
For the next nine months the golf shots is gone, and the slap shot rules.
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