EDMONTON -- It's been a dozen years since the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup Final, ending
more than 50 years of frustration for that franchise and its fans. The emotional seven-game triumph in 1994,
clinched at home before an adoring crowd, was one of the true feel-good stories in sports during the closing
decade of the 20th Century.
Bret Hedican never felt good about it, however. Today, he is veteran part of the Carolina Hurricanes team
hoping to win its first Stanley Cup this spring against the Edmonton Oilers. But, back in 1994, he was a
fresh-faced youngster, imported to Vancouver near the trade deadline to shore up that team's defense for a
run at the Stanley Cup -- a run that ended that fateful June day at MSG.
The iconic picture of Ranger captain Mark Messier leaping for joy after present-day Edmonton coach Craig
MacTavish -- then a center with the Rangers -- won a last-second faceoff in Game 7 to seal the taut, 3-2, Cup-clinching victory still haunts Hedican these many years later.
"I mean 1994, seventh game against the Rangers, I mean losing that game, I'll never forget it," said
Hedican, now 35. "Obviously because of how awesome it was to be in that situation, in New York, in Madison
Square Garden and in the seventh game Of the Stanley Cup.
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Schedule / Links:
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| Gm. 1: CAR 5, EDM 4 | Photos |
| Gm. 2: CAR 5, EDM 0 | Photos |
| Gm. 3: EDM 2, CAR 1 | Photos |
| Gm. 4: CAR 2, EDM 1 | Photos |
Gm. 5: June 14, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Carolina (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
*Gm. 6: June 17, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Edmonton (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
*Gm. 7: June 19, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Carolina (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
| *if necessary |
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"That always drove me in the summers to get back and maybe win a Stanley Cup someday. Those are the things
that drive me, not the money, not the prestige, it's more the opportunity to have the opportunity to win an
(Olympic) medal or, for sure, to win the Stanley Cup. Those are the things that keep me going."
That 1994 heartbreak must be quite the motivator, because, by most accounts, Hedican should not be playing
in this 2006 Final series -- certainly not contributing at the elite level he has for the Hurricanes. He is
playing near 23 minutes per game, the highest total among his team's defenseman, and has nine points and a
plus-6 rating in 22 postseason games.
Even Hedican admits that he was never more unsure of his status as a hockey player when this year's
training camp rolled around this fall.
Simply, his body had taken too much punishment. He had undergone surgeries on both knees and also suffered
from a balky back. He finished the 2004 campaign in near-constant pain, taking pain-killing shots just to get
on the ice in many instances. One of the best skaters of his generation, Hedican could no longer rely on his
explosive attacking speed or breathtaking powers of recovery on the backcheck to define his game.
Playing 794 regular-season games and 83 more playoff games, like Hedican had by the end of the 2003-04
season, has a way of wreaking havoc with a man's body, said Hedican.
"Ultimately, it was the grind of the 82-game season and the playoffs and not really understanding what I
could do to help combat, or really to solve the problems I had going on," said Hedican.
Hockey, for him, had devolved from the ultimate in pleasure to an unmitigated chore on most nights.
The long layoff before this year's training camp, because of the work stoppage that scuttled the 2005
season, left Hedican with a lot of time to think about his future. He admits that hanging up the skates was a
major part of that thought process. He even began taking college courses to finish a business degree.
"I was going to retire," Hedican said. "I had had enough. My body was pretty banged up. My knees, I
probably couldn't stand up on a stair without pain going through both my knees. I had just had enough of the
grind and my body couldn't take it anymore."
For the most part, he suffered silently in pain. In fact, Carolina GM Jim Rutherford admitted he was taken
by surprise when Hedican informed team doctors he was undergoing off-season surgery.
"I really didn't know about it," Rutherford admitted. "In his exit physical prior to the work stoppage,
everything checked out fine, so it came as a surprise to us when we heard about it.
"So, what we did is we added a lot of depth on defense. As you know, we played seven defenseman this year.
We were kind of preparing if somebody couldn't play, including him. But, you know, he came back and he's been
a great player for us this year."
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Hedican's play this season is proof that a lot of hard work has paid off.
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How could such a rehabilitation happen so quickly? Like most good fortune, Hedican stumbled across some
people in native Minnesota that had the right answers. In this case, it was Denis Thompson, the developer of the ARP Protocols and the inventor of the ARP trainer.
Thompson is among the nation's foremost authorities on neurological muscle stimulation. His ARP Program features the ARP Protocols, the most comprehensive array of techniques and methodologies specifically designed to stimulate the nervous system to prevent injury, target injury at the source, accelerate recovery from all injury and surgery, keep athletes fresh and improve human performance.
Central to this process is the use of a machine that delivers DC electrical current into the affected muscle tissue and locates the problem area so specific corrective action can be taken.
"It solved my knee problems and my back problems," Hedican said. "Now, I can go out and skate with no pain
in my knees and do the things I have been doing -- the things I could do 10 to 15 years ago.
"Right now, I feel better than I've ever felt and it puts a smile on my face to say that because if you
could see me a year, a year and a half ago and then going through the therapy I went through.
"My poor wife, having to listen to me most days when I got out of bed. I really just kept focused and
believed I could get through it. A lot of hard work paid off."
Not only has the hard work paid off personally for Hedican, who earned a berth on the 2006 United States
Olympic Team; but it has also paid off in spades for the Hurricanes.
From an uncertain proposition at training camp, Hedican has arguably emerged as the team's best two-way
defenseman. He plays on a the first defensive pairing with the physical Mike Commodore and sees time on both
the power-play and penalty-killing units. Coach Peter Laviolette, the coach of Team USA at the Olympics, has
developed an implicit trust in the veteran defenseman.
"He ended up being at training camp in great shape and has had maybe one of his best years," Laviolette
said. "I didn't work with him for a long time in the past, but certainly right now he's at the top of his
game. He's been there all year.
"He has been very consistent with his game and a valuable contributor to where we're at right now with the
way he plays the game, his leadership on the ice, his experience, he's been to the Final. I think one of his
biggest assets, especially the way the game is being played right now, is his speed and his ability to skate,
get the puck, move it up to the forwards, contribute offensively and then, conversely, to be able to skate,
to play defense and take away time and space.
In other word, Hedican is now playing like he did a dozen years ago when he fell a game short of claiming
the Stanley Cup.
"He's another big reason why we're sitting where we are today," Laviolette said.
Now, however, Hedican hopes he is a big part of the Carolina Hurricanes sitting with the Stanley Cup in
their possession come sometime next week.
