With NHL suspended, Rod Brind’Amour has time to reflect on Canes’ 2006 Stanley Cup run
Rod Brind’Amour rarely discusses the details of the Carolina Hurricanes’ 2006 Stanley Cup run. As the Canes’ coach hasn’t had the time to sit back and watch replays of old playoff games.
Until now. With the coronavirus pandemic suspending the the NHL season and everything on hold, Brind’Amour will finally watch and reflect.
Starting Monday, Fox Sports Carolinas will air the four Carolina victories from the ‘06 Stanley Cup final against the Edmonton Oilers. John Forslund, the Canes’ longtime television broadcaster, and analyst Tripp Tracy will offer commentary before each telecast, and Brind’Amour and Forslund also will reminisce.
“The one thing I wanted was to see these guys be validated for their season,” Forslund said Friday. “They won 52 games in the regular season. I was hoping their (playoff) run would prove to the National Hockey League, in the big-picture aspect of things, that not only was the team legitimate but the market was legitimate and the fans legitimate. And all of that came to fruition. That was important.”
No one will forget Game 7. Canes fans stood start to finish on that June night which ended with a 3-1 victory, with Brind’Amour, the Canes’ captain at the time, raising the Cup. But Game 1 in Raleigh was a wild affair and likely the most entertaining game in the series.
The Canes won 5-4 but only after falling behind 3-0 in the second period.
“I had to jar my memory,” Brind’Amour said Friday. “I don’t remember getting down three. I thought it was a couple.”
Nope, 3-0. Fernando Pisani scored first for the Oilers, then defenseman Chris Pronger on the first penalty-shot goal in finals history. Ethan Moreau’s goal late in the second made it 3-0 but the Canes finally countered 54 seconds later — on a Brind’Amour goal.
“We always had a group that year that felt we could come back, because we had done it a lot during the regular season,” Brind’Amour said. “It wasn’t out of the question to come back in any game. That was a real ace in the hole that we had.”
After Brind’Amour’s goal, Ray Whitney scored twice and one of Brind’Amour’s linemates, winger Justin Williams, gave the Canes a 4-3 lead midway through the third period — with a shorthanded breakaway. The decibel level was full-tilt in the building.
Ales Hemsky’s power-play goal tied the score 4-4 and the game appeared headed to overtime. But Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson had been injured in the third period. In came Ty Conklin. With a half-minute remaining in regulation, Conklin misplayed the puck behind the net, Brind’Amour snatched it and scored the winner as the arena — then called the RBC Center — rumbled.
The Oilers had three good looks at a tying goal in the final seconds, but rookie goaltender Cam Ward made the stops, making a sprawling glove save on a Shawn Horcoff shot with 3.8 seconds left. Brind’Amour won a final faceoff and that was that.
Even Don Cherry, who was in the house that night for the CBC broadcast, had to be impressed.
“Being a veteran group and knowing how we were playing, we knew we could come back,” Brind’Amour said. “It was true again that game. It wasn’t a big deal.”
Brind’Amour and Williams each played almost 24 minutes in Game 1. Even after three increasingly intense series leading up to the Cup Final, Canes coach Peter Laviolette relied heavily on Brind’Amour’s line and those two — Brind’Amour, who was 35-years old in 2006, and Williams, 24.
“That year, Peter used me quite a bit and any player would want that,” Brind’Amour said. “It was something I had trained for and I wanted to be out there. I felt like I played better the more minutes I was able to get. ‘Willy’ was a young kid at the time and he could handle it for sure.
“I don’t know if we looked at the minutes back then, at that stat. It certainly wasn’t as important as it seems to be today. When you’re ready to go, you put your best guys out there. That’s how Peter ran it. Fortunately for me and Willy, we were playing pretty good hockey.”
Roloson would play no more hockey that series for the Oilers after his knee injury in the opener. Conklin’s turn was brief. Jussi Markkanen, a Finn, would take over in net for the Oilers in Game 2.
The Canes soared to a 5-0 win in Game 2, then went to Edmonton and took a 3-1 series lead with a 2-1 victory in Game 4 at Rexall Place. But the Oilers staged their own comeback, stunning the Canes 4-3 in overtime on Pisani’s shorthanded goal in Game 5, and won 4-0 in Edmonton to force a Game 7.
“What I liked about this series was the speed it was played at,” Forslund said. “It was incredible. The Oilers were flying, the Canes were flying.
“They were coming off the (lockout) season and had adjusted all the rules and it was the first year of freedom for the players on the ice. The season was unbridled, the season was wide open, and this series played out like it.”
It was a long flight back to Raleigh after Game 6 for the Hurricanes. So much was on their minds, especially the older players. Brind’Amour, Glen Wesley, Bret Hedican and others had not won a Stanley Cup and sensed this might be their last, best chance.
“I remember how quiet it was on that flight, remember Rod’s demeanor, Glen Wesley’s demeanor,” Forslund said.
Was there any doubt the Canes would win?
“There’s always doubt,” Brind’Amour said. “I think more than anything there was the fear of losing. You just knew how big the stakes were. We had so many veteran guys who had been doing this their whole life to get to this point. We weren’t going to let it slip through our hands.
“I think that was comforting. I do remember a big lump in my chest for Game 5 and Game 6. In Game 7, it was gone because you just knew there was no tomorrow. This is it. The weight was off our shoulders. We were home in front of our crowd and it gave us that little edge we needed.”
It’s as if nothing was going to stop the Canes in the final game. Defenseman Aaron Ward scored the always-important first goal, defenseman Frantisek Kaberle made it 2-0 with a power-play score and Williams’ empty netter at the end finished it off. But there was incredible tension, and the Canes needed another clutch game from Ward in net to win.
Ward, burned on the Pisani shorthanded goal in Game 5, denied the Oilers winger on a rebound late in regulation and was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoffs MVP.
Time to raise the Cup. Brind’Amour all but snatched it out of the hands of commissioner Gary Bettman.
“They validated how good they were,” Forslund said. “They became champions but I thought they played like champions all season.”
FOX Sports Carolinas “Canes Classics”
Monday, April 20, 7 p.m.: 2006 NHL Stanley Cup Finals, Game 1.
Tuesday, April 21, 7 p.m: Game 2.
Wednesday, April 22, 7 p.m.: Game 4
Thursday:, April 23, 7 p.m.: Game 7.
