Carolina Hurricanes Roast Bud Light After Brand Offers Free Beer To Rangers Fans

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• The Carolina Hurricanes hit Bud Light with a solid chirp after the brand offered to cover the tab for Rangers fans who bought their beer at PNC Arena
• The feud can be traced back to a controversial ticket policy the Hurricanes put in place in an attempt to maintain home-ice advantage
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On Wednesday night, the Hurricanes and the Rangers took to the ice in Carolina for the first game of their Stanley Cup Playoff showdown, which ended with the home team pulling out to a 1-0 series lead after Sebastian Aho tied the game in the closing minutes of the third period before Ian Cole secured the victory in overtime.

The franchise prides itself on the home-ice advantage it has in Raleigh thanks to the boisterous crowd that routinely packs PNC Arena, and it remains undefeated in its barn during this year’s playoffs thanks to that comeback win.

However, plenty of people took issue with a strategy Carolina deployed ahead of the series in the hopes of cementing that edge. Earlier this week, the team announced ticket sales for games would be “restricted to residents of North Carolina/South Carolina and Southern Virginia” in a fairly shameless attempt to keep Rangers fans out of the building.

However, it’s worth noting the Canes are far from the first team to deploy a similar approach.

This year, the Rams mounted an ultimately unsuccessful ploy to stop 49ers supporters from invading SoFi Stadium during the NFC Championship, and Texas Tech basketball fans quickly foiled the plan Texas dreamed up to stop them from invading a rivalry game (you could also argue Carolina didn’t really need to institute the policy in the first place when you consider Raleigh is a nine-hour drive from New York City).

Regardless, Bud Light used the policy as an excuse to hop on Twitter a few hours before the puck dropped to offer to cover the beer tab for any Rangers fans who manage to infiltrate enemy territory over the course of the series.

It didn’t take long for the Hurricanes to respond, as the team quickly fired back with a fairly amusing (albeit overdone) dig at the brand’s beer.

What a Bunch of Jerks.