Eckenrode and his fiancé, Karoline Briggs, adopted Hamilton two years ago from a farm in Laurinburg, North Carolina and he lives with them and their nine chickens on a small farm in Raleigh, about a mile from PNC Arena.
Although Eckenrode's brother has Hurricanes season tickets and he sometimes goes to games with him, he can't bring Hamilton into PNC Arena. So, for Games 3 and 4, he brought Hamilton to mingle and take some photos with the tailgaters before the game, then went home to watch on television.
"He's great," Eckenrode said. "He sleeps inside. He likes to lay on the couch, so we put him on the couch when we watch the Canes games now and it's been our good luck charm."