RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes are making another deep playoff push in the Stanley Cup championship. The excitement isn’t just building inside the arena — it’s spilling into nearby small businesses.

One custom jersey maker is trying to keep up with demand.

What You Need To Know

Matt Goldman says he’s been receiving new order requests every day for custom hockey jerseys since the NHL playoffs started

Goldman says orders increase any time there are big hockey events 

Goldman says what makes his jersey customization unique is that he uses the same color fabric the Hurricanes use for their official jerseys

“I typically do about 300 jerseys a year. So right now I’m sitting at around a 6- to 8-month backlog of work,” said Matt Goldman, owner of Liberty Bell Jerseys.

Goldman says he’s been receiving new order requests every day for custom hockey jerseys since the NHL playoffs started.

“Lots and lots of Hurricanes stuff. The new away jerseys I’ve done some modifications to, and I’ve done some quirky, quirky things to it that people have really liked,” he said.

He got into making custom jerseys as a hobby during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s now turned into a lucrative side business, outside of his nine to five as an engineer.

“Enjoyable — it’s fun — so I like this part. I love making the kits. I like seeing all the letters come together,” Goldman said. “I like seeing people get, you know, good-quality jersey customization.” 

He’s currently making letter and number kits for new orders he’s received to place on jerseys that take a couple of hours to make, but a whole jersey he can get out to a customer in a week.

“The Hurricanes kit has a lot of curves, so it does take a little bit longer because you got to be precise with the curves. Whereas something like a Toronto kit is all straight lines, so it goes a little faster,” he said.

Goldman’s love for the Hurricanes started with one player.

“So I grew up a Flyers fan, and I grew up watching Rod Brind’Amour in Philly,” he said. “So I moved here about 20 years ago, and when I moved here, it was the Stanley Cup run year. And we’re like, Rod Brind’Amour is on the team.”

Carolina, led by Brind’Amour, won the Stanley Cup in 2006. 

“Of course we’re going to root for the Hurricanes,” Goldman said.

The Hurricanes on Saturday night beat the Flyers to complete their second series sweep of these playoffs and advance to the Eastern Conference finals, where they will face the Montreal-Buffalo winner.  

Goldman sees Carolina going all the way.

“They looked fantastic against the Flyers. They really came out swinging,” he said. “You know, whoever comes out of Buffalo and Montreal, I think they’re going to have, I think it’ll be fine. I’m not going to say they’re going to, like, destroy them or anything, but I think they’re going to have, I think it’ll be Hurricanes coming out of the East.” 

Goldman says what makes his jersey customization unique is that he uses the same color fabric the Hurricanes use for their official jerseys.

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