RALEIGH, NC -- I’d like for anyone who’s said that Raleigh isn’t a hockey city, or that the fans don’t care, or that this team would suck without Jeff Skinner/Elias Lindholm/Cam Ward/Noah Hanifin, to sit down. This team has taken hit after hit (literally and figuratively) this season but kept getting back up. They stuck with it even when they were sitting at the bottom of the league, they stuck with it when the critics rained all kinds of crap down on them. This team has battled through adversity and I could not be any prouder. No one thought they’d be here, but they said, “Us? Of course we’d be here.” It’s been so fun and so rewarding to watch this team come into its own and land a playoff spot. I know they weren’t happy with just getting into the playoffs, but I was. I was going to be proud of them no matter what they did in the first round, and even the second round, and I’ll be proud of them no matter the outcome of the third round. These guys have worked their asse