'Blue Collar Presses': How The Canes Unknowingly Prepared For Cup Lift For Years

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Carolina Hurricanes' culture, established by Rod Brind'Amour, is built upon hard work.

On the ice, it's an aggressive, pressure-heavy game that wears opponents down night in and night out.

Off the ice, it requires the same approach, including, but not limited to, their preparation and use of time when not on the frozen sheet.

Many examples of the work ethic are visible. Fans see the product during games.

Others are a bit more behind the scenes.

In the aftermath of the team's Stanley Cup victory on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena, Sebastian Aho shared a story of one of those little-known examples of their work, one, the true meaning of, was unbeknownst to the players until just days before reaching the mountain top.

Rod Brind'Amour corroborated the story on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday.

"Five years ago, my (Strength & Conditioning Coach), and I have the best (Strength & Conditioning Coach) in the league, Bill Burniston, and our (Head Athletic Trainer), Doug Bennett, went into Home Depot. They were trying to figure out how to finish off your day with a lift," the head coach explained. "They put (a cinder block) on the scale, and it ended up being 35 pounds. It just hit them that it was the same weight as a Stanley Cup. So they sent me a picture of it, and I'm like, 'You've got to bring that in.'"

Implemented as a "blue collar press", Burniston mildly misled the players about its meaning, saying, "I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood. Maybe one of the most important blue collar jobs is the mason. The mason builds the foundation of buildings, your homes, what have you," he said in a 'Behind The Scenes' docu-series with the NHL during the postseason.

"Basically, what we ask the guys to do is one press and think of those blue-collar moments that got them here and someone that helped you get here," he continued.

So, every day, after their workout and before exiting the weight room, players were required to pick up the cinder block and lift it over their head.

"We're a big detail team, too. " Like, everything is details, everything matters, and we prepare for everything," Brind'Amour continued of the back story. "We didn't tell the guys for five years we had this thing sitting there."

"(During the Final) Billy comes to me, and he says, 'You've got to tell them the real reason.' That was going to wait until after we won. But we hadn't won, so we've got to throw the chips on the table here. So, I told the boys the real reason that we have this is because we prepare for everything."

And sure enough, when each player had their time with the 34.5-pound silver mug, they were prepared. Thanks to a cinder block.