Bednar brings Stanley Cup to South Carolina after winning with Avalanche

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. --Jared Bednar fidgeted while he stood outside Carolina Ice Palace awaiting the arrival of Stanley Cup.

The Colorado Avalanche coach was eager to start his day with the Cup and jumped into action when Phil Pritchard and Mike Bolt from the Hockey Hall of Fame pulled up in their white minivan, lifting the trophy from its crate in the trunk and carrying it into the rink.
"I was anxious to see it again," Bednar said.
The 50-year-old celebrated with the Cup with the Avalanche after they defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final in Tampa on June 26 and at the parade in Denver four days later. But Tuesday was his chance to enjoy it with family and friends in Charleston, the city that became his home after 15 seasons as a player and a coach with the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL from 1995-2009.
The Carolina Ice Palace, South Carolina's practice rink, is where Bednar's coaching journey began in 2002.
"We practiced here and obviously you're involved in minor hockey trying to grow the game here in Charleston," Bednar said. "So, my first thought was to try to get it here and share it a little bit with the minor hockey community here in Charleston."

Bednar spent nearly three hours posing for photos with youth players, their families and fans from the area, who waited patiently in line for their up-close look at the Cup. He took his time chatting with each group, asking some which NHL team they rooted for and pointing to where those teams had their names engraved on the Cup's rings.
Duane Jones, an Avalanche fan stationed at Joint Base Charleston with the United States Navy, came with his wife Jenna and their three sons wearing his Cale Makar jersey.
"To be stationed here in Charleston with my family, we're just lucky to get this unique opportunity to be here," Jones said. "The Cup is the most prestigious award there is and for people here to get this unique opportunity, it's an awesome thing that Jared is doing for everybody. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

The Cup was also here in 2018 after Jason Fitzsimmons, another former Stingrays player and coach, won it as a pro scout and director of minor League operations with the Washington Capitals. Fitzsimmons gave Bednar his start in coaching as a South Carolina assistant in 2002 when he convinced his former teammate to retire after playing nine pro seasons as a rugged, stay-at-home defenseman, including Kelly Cup championships with South Carolina in 1997 and 2001.
When Fitzsimmons joined the Capitals' scouting staff in 2007, Bednar succeed him as coach and directed South Carolina to another Kelly Cup championship in 2009 before jumping to the American Hockey League with Abbotsford (assistant), Peoria (coach), Springfield (assistant, head coach) and Lake Erie (coach).
A 2016 Calder Cup championship with Lake Erie, the Columbus Blue Jackets' AHL affiliate, led to Bednar's chance with Colorado after Patrick Roy unexpectedly resigned as its coach in August 2016.
But winning the Cup had Bednar reflecting on his days with South Carolina.
"I think about it a lot," he said. "It's a long journey to try to get to the NHL and even tougher journey to try to win the Cup. We've been able to do that in Colorado, and it's been an amazing ride. That doesn't happen for me without my time here in Charleston."

Bednar estimated that 20-30 of his former South Carolina teammates and players he coached would attend a reception on the Isle of Palms on the Charleston coast Tuesday night. That group included Fitzsimmons and Rob Concannon, a former South Carolina forward who is now team president.
"We've just always remained very, very close throughout the years and it's pretty special," Concannon said. "Hockey, I think, is a unique community, and there's a lot of different guys who have played and didn't play for the Stingrays who now call Charleston home. … We're all very, very excited like little kids, 52 years old, 51 years old, that the Stanley Cup is coming."
Fitzsimmons said his one regret from his day with the Cup was not spending more quiet time with it and family and friends to take photos with it and simply look at it. So, Bednar did that at his beach house on the Isle of Palms on Tuesday afternoon and also took the Cup on his boat for some photos on the water.
Bednar said he planned to spend some quality time with the Cup with his wife Susan, their son Kruz, 22, and daughter, Savega, 17. For Bednar, this day was as much for them as him. When he left South Carolina for Abbotsford 13 years ago, they remained in Charleston.
"We were like seven or eight years apart," Bednar said, his cracking voice and welling eyes demonstrating his emotions. "I went up as an assistant coach with the goal to be a head coach, so we didn't want to move everyone. I had been moving my whole life and the kids had kind of put down roots and had activities and sports. … My wife did all the heavy lifting in raising the kids with help from her parents.
"You're seeing each other on holidays and road trips that are close, but you spend a lot of time away and this kind of makes it all worth it."

The Cup heads to Europe next for visits to the Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden and Finland, but Bednar will have another day with it for the Humboldt Broncos Memorial Golf Tournament in Humboldt, Saskatchewan on Aug. 6. The 2018 bus crash that killed 16 players and staff members and injured 13 others from the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League hit home for Bednar, who spent most of his grade school and high school years in Humboldt while his father, Wally, was an officer for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
This will be Bednar's fifth year co-hosting the charity golf tournament. He said having the Cup there will make it more special and will also give him a chance to enjoy some Cup time with his parents, brother and sister, and other family and friends in the Humboldt area.
"We started the charity golf tournament to help give back to the community in conjunction with the Broncos and that's been growing and that's been a great weekend for the families to come out," Bednar said. "So, I'll get some time with it with my family. We're going to spend some time with it with the community at the golf tournament and then those families will get to spend some time with it and the Broncos players …
"Then, the Hall of Fame banquet for the SJHL is that night too, so it's a perfect day to get it up in Western Canada for everyone in the Humboldt community and area to enjoy it."