I remember this past year at one of our games (I can’t for the life of me remember who we were playing…most games become a blur when you attend so many of them)  watching our oldest defenseman block an onslaught of shots one right after the other. He was on such a roll with it, I am guessing it was like 6 or 7 shots in a row, he got a standing ovation from the crowd of 18,000 at the RBC Center. It is a joke throughout the entire organization to say things like “Glen Wesley turned 94 today” or “Glen Wesley, who just played his 10,000th game…” but after his 13th season with the Hurricanes organization and 20th career season not seeing the #2 sweater will be sad for us all.

He kept his press conference short today when announcing it, saying that he had to in order to make it through it without tears. Understandable for a guy who spent many years of his career with a team who struggled and then ultimately relocated and basically started anew here in the Triangle. (Just as a side note, Wesley is the last of the players who relocated with the team to North Carolina.)

His hard work payed off in 2006 when he finally was able to raise the Stanley Cup above him and then in a very kind act he spent his day with the Cup at Camp Lejuene  before taking it to his church.  He said that his 2nd best memory with this organization was getting to see the fans tailgate and just seeing the development of a fanbase.

Glen WILL be staying with the Hurricanes as Director of Defenseman Development and hopefully he can pass down some of what he learned from Ray Bourque to the younger generation of defensemen.

Rutherford announced that some time during the 2008-2009 season there will be a night where Wesley will have his jersey retired and raised to join Ron Francis’ number in the RBC Center rafters. A very fitting end for a great career.

So after 1,457 and 537 points and more heart than I have seen in any other player I salute Mr. Wesley for all he has done.