The most amazing story so far as the NHL All-Star Game approaches is Luke DeCock’s read on Chopper Harrison in Tuesday’s News and Observer. Harrison, as longtime Canes fans remember, was a Triangle radio personality who became an unrelenting fan of the team when it first arrived in the state.  Harrison, 59, is now battling cancer.

He was known for his wild hair and effusive personality, and the Canes loved being on his show and talking hockey. In 2001, he even slept in a sleeping bag on top of the RBC Center, DeCock recalls, in an effort to promote the market’s push for an All-Star Game.

Harrison could be abrasive, but as DeCock points out, “Whatever one thought of his antics at the time, he cared about the Hurricanes when no one else did, a lone voice in a market all too willing to ignore the team.”

Harrison will even be on 96 Rock once again this week as the game approaches. He’s no longer trying to be a radio personality and but is glad to go by his given name, David Martin, and grateful to be remembered as the game approaches.

“I’m not Chopper Harrison anymore,” he told DeCock. “I’m David Martin. I was so into myself when I was doing radio. God has blessed me. He really has. I may have this stupid disease, but he’s blessed me, he’s made me appreciate – it’s like he opened up a door and said, ‘You did it your way, now let me show you what life is all about.’ “