Stanley Cup Finals Start – 10 Local Connections
Posted May 30, 2012 05:55:30 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Its decision day for Kitchener Rangers fans, the Stanley Cup Finals get started Wednesday night, but are you cheering for the New Jersey Devils or the Los Angeles Kings?
Regardless of who wins, there’s a good chance the Cup could be coming to our area this summer.
On one hand the Kings have former Rangers captain Mike Richards, but the Devils have former head coach Pete DeBoer and Rangers alumnus David Clarkson. Also, Devils assistant coach Larry Robinson played 61 games with the Rangers back in the 1970-71 seasons.
DeBoer was behind the bench for 7 seasons at the Aud and won a Memorial Cup with both those players in the Rangers lineup in 2003.
Clarkson has 3 goals and 7 assists in 18 playoff games, including the series-clinching goal against the Philadelphia Flyers. He tells 570 News after winning the Memorial Cup with the Rangers, the Stanley Cup is next on the bucket list of things to win. He says he’s excited for the series to get underway after 7 days off since toppling the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final.
Clarkson also tells 570 news he’s looking forward to battling Richards. Saying while he remains on good terms with his long time friend, there probably wont be too much said between them on the ice until after the series has been decided.
Here are the other local connections in the Final:
New Jersey Devils – Cam Janssen (Guelph Storm), Assistant coach Dave Barr – (former Guelph Storm head coach) and special assignment coach Scott Stevens (Kitchener Rangers).
L-A Kings – Dustin Brown and Drew Doughty (Guelph Storm) and Kyle Clifford (from Ayr – played minor hockey in Cambridge – played junior with Barrie Colts).
May the best team win, because locally we’ve already won.
Email: neil@570news.com
