RALEIGH, N.C. — Henry Staal, proud as can be, stared at eight of his grandchildren, including five tossing a red Nerf football back and forth, in the parking lot in front of the north gate of Lenovo Center on Tuesday. The father of four squeezed the right shoulder of his oldest son, Eric, whose No. 12 hangs from the rafters atop that arena, where he won a Stanley Cup 20 years ago.Eric was a bright-eyed 21-year-old star back when he led the Carolina Hurricanes in scoring during that epic postseason ride.“This is surreal,” Henry said with a smile two hours before puck drop of Game 1 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final, and you could see his eyes welling up, even covered by his black shades. “Twenty years ago, Eric was preparing for Game 1 of the Final right in there, and Jordan and I were right out here in this same spot tailgating. He was 17.”“His draft year,” Eric said of Jordan, his now-37-year-old brother, who would be drafted No. 2 by the Pittsburgh Penguins 19 days after that first 2006 tailgate and five days after watching Eric hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup high over his head a couple hundred feet away.Now? With 1,403 regular-season games and 176 playoff games under his belt — not to mention a Stanley Cup with the Penguins at 21 — Jordan is trying to captain the Hurricanes to their second Stanley Cup.“It is really unique,” Eric said. “It just goes to show how quickly time goes by when you look at it in a snippet. It’s 20 years ago. Twenty years is a long time. But it doesn’t feel that long in some ways. It’s super cool. I’m pumped for the area. I’m pumped for this team because us 2006 guys get the flashback. We get to remember that. But this is new. This is the next chance, an opportunity to make it happen again, and I hope really badly that they can.”Two hours later, Eric was standing in the 200 level in front of a Canes backdrop with red lights above his head. Behind him was the youngest of his three sons, Finley, plus four nieces and nephews: Abigail, Lilah and Henry — Jordan’s three children — and Hudson, the son of the youngest of the four hockey-playing Staal brothers, Jared.Wearing a tight black T-shirt and blue jeans, Eric attacked the Hurricanes’ tradition of sounding the storm siren with the enthusiasm and rigor of a man trying to supercharge an arena full of nearly 19,000 fans and wake up all of “The Triangle.”He then wildly began waving his rally towel, unaware that the kid running the show was trying to tell him that the cue he was given was mistimed and Eric was actually not live on the center-ice scoreboard.A false alarm.Luckily, only three years removed from a 1,469-game playing career, Eric is still in playing shape. With sweat dripping down his forehead from the first attempt, he got the go-ahead to sound the siren for real. Fired up, he nearly yanked the siren out of the ground, looking like he was trying to summon the ghosts of the 2006 Canes.After he was done, at the elevator, Eric’s nieces and nephews were chirping him, and Finley piped up: “That was a total airball the first time.”