Raleigh, N.C. – It was a sight the NHL went without for two years.
Through a lockout and dueling intransigence that led to a dark NHL season, and then through a 2005-06 regular-season renaissance, Lord Stanley’s parting gift to the Dominion of Canada went about its business as an ornamental touring act, posing with kids at malls and making intermittent homestands at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
Finally, on Monday night, the Stanley Cup was back where it belonged – raised over heads in triumph by those who earned the right to do it.
This time, after Carolina’s 3-1, Game 7 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at the raucous RBC Center on Monday night, the Cup went from Hurricanes captain Rod Brind’Amour to teammates Glen Wesley, Bret Hedican and Ray Whitney – relay exchanges involving veterans all well into their 30s who hadn’t been on an NHL championship team.
The uniforms and names on them change, but the sight – and what certainly seems to be a feeling that can’t be explained – is remarkably similar, yet not boringly redundant.
Defensemen Aaron Ward and Frantisek Kaberle scored the goals that got the Hurricanes out to a 2-0 lead, and Edmonton’s Fernando Pisani got the Oilers within one in the third period with his 14th goal of the postseason. Justin Williams tallied an empty-netter for Carolina with 61 seconds remaining to clinch the franchise’s first championship. At that point, Brind’Amour bent over in both relief and exhaustion.
“This has been a big weight on everyone’s shoulders,” said Brind’Amour, the 35-year-old center. “I realized that was it, we were going to win….We’ve been through a lot. There were so many guys on this team who have been through years and years and the aches.”
He talked about sitting next to Wesley on the return flight from Edmonton following the 4-0 loss in Game 6, then added: “I just kept thinking, ‘There’s just no way we can let this go. There are too many guys who deserve this.”‘
Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward had 22 saves (matching his age) in Game 7 and became the first rookie goalie to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs since Patrick Roy did it with the Montreal Canadiens in 1986.
“To tell you the truth, it’s completely irrelevant,” said Ward, raised in the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park. “The trophy that matters most is the Stanley Cup.”
Was there any part of him that felt bad about doing this to his hometown team, the one he worshipfully followed as a kid?
“I don’t feel bad at all,” said Ward, the ‘Canes No. 2 playoff goalie until he stepped in for Martin Gerber during a first-round, comeback victory over the Canadiens.
“I have been blessed with tremendous support through my family and friends, back in Sherwood Park. I know they were a little torn before the series, being hard-core Oilers fans, but they stayed loyal and supported me all along. I’m excited to go back and share it with them.”
During Game 7, the most ridiculous statement in the arena would have been, “Down in front,” primarily because the fans rarely sat down.
The Hurricanes’ victory continued a Game 7 dominance by the home team. The 2006 series was the 14th time a Finals had gone to a Game 7, and Carolina was the 12th team to win the Cup on home ice when the series went the distance. (The Avalanche did it in 2001, as did New Jersey in 2003 and Tampa Bay in 2004.)
It also enabled the ‘Canes to avoid the notoriety of becoming the second NHL team to lose in the Finals after taking a 3-1 series lead.
Staff writer Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
