Tuesday's Top Five: Summer heat

Tuesday’s Top Five returns after a two-week break to two significant, if disparate, news events: Paul Maurice’s new contract to coach the Carolina Hurricanes and the USGA’s decision to bring both the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open to Pinehurst in 2014.

The Hurricanes’ run to the Eastern Conference finals monopolized the news here in April and May, just as the two huge golf tournaments figure to monopolize the news five years from now.

On that note, here are the five biggest local summer sports stories of the past few years, Tuesday’s Top Five:

5. Redeem Team, 2008. When USA Basketball turned to Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski to revive the sagging fortunes of the men’s Olympic basketball team, this was exactly what they hoped would happen.

Krzyzewski took over the Olympic team in 2006 and oversaw a three-year cycle that culminated in a gold medal in Beijing after an embarrassing third-place finish in 2004. (The winning team included former ACC stars Carlos Boozer, Chris Paul and Chris Bosh as well.)

It was one of the proudest moments of a coaching career that also includes three NCAA titles and 10 trips to the Final Four. And Krzyzewski could have made this list in another spot as well — his lengthy flirtation with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004.

4. Steroids hit home, 2004. As a handful of local track and field stars prepared for the Athens Olympics, the Triangle became the new focus of the BALCO steroid controversy.

First, news broke that Raleigh track coach Trevor Graham was the tipster who sent a syringe containing the designer steroid THG to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in 2003, igniting the BALCO investigation.

Meanwhile, Marion Jones, a former Graham client, was accused of using steroids in testimony by her ex-husband, shot-putter and former N.C. State strength coach C.J. Hunter, and her boyfriend, sprinter Tim Montgomery, was also embroiled in the scandal.

3. U.S. Open returns to Pinehurst, 2005. It didn’t have the drama or the heartbreak of 1999, when Payne Stewart outdueled Tiger Woods, only to die in a plane crash later that summer, but the second Open at Pinehurst No. 2 tried its best to live up to stifling expectations.

Michael Campbell, the unlikely winner from New Zealand, held off a late charge from Tiger Woods during a week when No. 2 proved once again that its teeth were as sharp as ever.

The golf may not have been as memorable as Stewart’s win, but once the heat broke at midweek, fans and players alike spoke fondly of the experience — and the USGA made it clear another visit was imminent.

2. Stanley Cup, 2006. The Triangle got a taste of playoff hockey in 2002 when the Hurricanes made an unlikely run to the Cup finals before losing to the Detroit Red Wings. In their next appearance, their fans were ready as the RBC Center became known as the NHL’s loudest arena.

The Hurricanes rumbled through the playoffs, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to eliminate the Montreal Canadiens in the first round and rolling over the New Jersey Devils before winning epic seven-game series against the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers.

The Game 7 win over the Oilers, with the entire building standing for the entire game and Cam Ward stopping Fernando Pisani at point-blank range in the final moments, sparked a week of celebrations as hockey took root in the Triangle for good.

1. ACC expansion, 2003. College basketball’s most historic conference parted ways with its past forever in the summer of 2003 in search of a stronger television footprint and a football championship game.

Miami and Boston College gained early acceptance, but the third addition was the subject of lengthy debate before the politics of the Virginia statehouse became the unlikely trump card and Virginia Tech squeezed out Syracuse.

Expansion was supposed to be a boon for football at the cost of some of the league’s basketball prestige, but it could be argued that the new teams have held their own weight in basketball while the league’s football reputation has stagnated.

Think a significant summer sports story should have made the list? Post it as a comment.