2003 Stanley Cup Finals
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The 2003 Stanley Cup Finals was a best-of-seven playoff series that determined the champion of the National Hockey League (NHL) for the 2002–03 season. As a culmination of the 2003 Stanley Cup playoffs, the second-seeded Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Devils defeated the seventh-seeded Western Conference champion Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in seven games and were awarded the Stanley Cup. It was New Jersey's first appearance since 2001 and third in four years. It was Anaheim's first-ever appearance. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks in seven games to win their third Stanley Cup in less than a decade.
The Devils' win was the last in a series of wins they, along with the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings, established in the era from 1995 to 2003. The three teams won a combined eight of nine Stanley Cups during that time. The Devils won in 1995, followed by the Avalanche in 1996, then the Red Wings in 1997 and 1998. After the Dallas Stars won in 1999, the four-year cycle repeated again as the Devils started it again in 2000, followed by Colorado in 2001 and Detroit in 2002.
Road to the Final
The New Jersey Devils were in the finals for their fourth time (third time in four years) after defeating the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning in five games, and beating the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference Finals in seven games. Strong goaltending from Martin Brodeur, and strong defense from captain Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer led the way.
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim entered their first Stanley Cup Finals in franchise history after upsetting two heavily favored teams: sweeping the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Detroit Red Wings, defeating the Dallas Stars in six games and sweeping the upstart Minnesota Wild in the Western Conference Finals largely due to the stellar goaltending of Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who only allowed one goal during the entire series. Supporting Giguere were stand-out players Paul Kariya, Petr Sykora, Adam Oates and Rob Niedermayer, brother of then-Devils star defenseman Scott Niedermayer.
This series was memorable for two brothers on different teams competing for the same prize.
The series
The 2003 Stanley Cup Finals pitted the second-seeded Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Devils against the seventh-seeded Western Conference champion Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The Devils, who finished the season with 108 points, defeated the Mighty Ducks in seven games to win the Stanley Cup. The series opened at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Game one
In game one Martin Brodeur kept the Ducks off the scoreboard while the Devils players continually dominated the Ducks. Sergei Brylin scored the winning goal in the second period and the Devils went on to shut out the Mighty Ducks 3–0.
| May 27 | New Jersey Devils | 3 – 0 | Anaheim Mighty Ducks | Continental Airlines Arena | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Brylin, Gionta) Friesen 6 – 1:45 | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Elias, Gomez) Marshall 5 – 5:34 (White, Brodeur) Friesen 7 – en – 19:38 |
Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Martin Brodeur 16 saves / 16 shots | Goalie stats | Jean-Sebastian Giguere 27 saves / 29 shots | ||||||
Game two
In a virtual repeat of game one, Patrik Elias scored the winning goal in the second period and the Devils shut out Anaheim 3–0 again.
| May 29 | New Jersey Devils | 3 – 0 | Anaheim Mighty Ducks | Continental Airlines Arena | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Tverdovsky, Gomez) Elias 3 – pp – 4:42 (Tverdovsky, Elias) Gomez 2 – 12:11 |
Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Gionta, Niedermayer) Friesen 8 – 4:22 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
Game three
Down 2–0 after two games, the series shifted to the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Southern California. Game three was remembered for the clumsy mistake from Martin Brodeur when he accidentally dropped his stick when the puck came to him; the puck deflected off his fallen stick and into the net to give the Ducks a lucky break and a 2–1 lead. The Devils would later tie the game, only to lose in overtime. Over the mistake with his stick, Brodeur later claimed, "It was just one of those once in a lifetime things."
| May 31 | Anaheim Mighty Ducks | 3 – 2 | OT | New Jersey Devils | Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim | Recap | ||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Ozolinsh) Chouinard 1 – 3:39 (Giguere) Ozolinsh 2 – 14:47 |
Second period | 14:02 – Elias 4 (Langenbrunner, Rafalski) | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | 9:11 – Gomez 3 (Marshall, Elias) | ||||||
| (Oates) Salei 2 – 6:59 | First overtime period | No scoring | ||||||
| Jean-Sebastien Giguere 29 saves / 31 shots | Goalie stats | Martin Brodeur 30 saves / 33 shots | ||||||
Game four
Game four had no scoring throughout regulation and was a battle between goaltenders Brodeur and Giguere. But Anaheim again came out on top in overtime, winning 1–0 and tying the series 2–2.
| June 2 | New Jersey Devils | 0 – 1 | OT | Anaheim Mighty Ducks | Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim | Recap | ||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| No scoring | First overtime period | (Pahlsson, Ozolinsh) Thomas 3 – 0:39 | ||||||
| Martin Brodeur 25 saves / 26 shots | Goalie stats | Jean-Sebastien Giguere 26 saves / 26 shots | ||||||
Game five
Game five, returning to the Meadowlands, saw a continual battle for the first half of the game. With the game tied 3–3 in the second period, the Devils took the lead with a deflection goal by Jay Pandolfo that was initially waved off by referees due to an apparent kicking motion with the skates. Video replays, however, showed that there was no distinct kicking motion from the skates, and thus the referees' call was reversed, resulting in a goal. This would prove to deflate the Ducks for the rest of the game, as Jamie Langenbrunner scored two more goals for the Devils to give New Jersey a 6–3 win and a three games to two series lead.
| June 5 | New Jersey Devils | 6 – 3 | Anaheim Mighty Ducks | Continental Airlines Arena | Recap | |||
| (Stevenson, Brylin) Rheaume 1 – 3:35 (Rafalski, Gomez) Elias 5 – pp – 7:45 |
First period | 0:42 – Sykora 3 (Oates) 12:50 – Rucchin 5 (Sykora, Kariya) | ||||||
| (Pandolfo, Niedermayer) Gionta 1 – 3:12 (Gionta, Stevens) Pandolfo 5 – 9:02 |
Second period | 6:35 – Pahlsson 2 (Niedermayer, Carney) | ||||||
| (Rupp, Niedermayer) Langenbrunner 10 – 5:39 (Gionta) Langenbrunner 11 – 12:52 |
Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Martin Brodeur 20 saves / 23 shots | Goalie stats | Jean-Sebastien Giguere 31 saves / 37 shots | ||||||
Game six
With New Jersey looking to clinch the series, game six in Anaheim saw the Mighty Ducks return the favor of game five to the Devils with complete dominance throughout the game. Quite possibly the most remembered moment of the entire series came when the Ducks were winning 3–1 in the second period. Ducks captain Paul Kariya failed to see Devils captain Scott Stevens approaching after he passed the puck, and he was subsequently checked by the defensemen in a hit similar to the check that knocked out Eric Lindros during the 2000 playoffs and caused Lindros to miss the next season. Kariya was lying motionless for a few minutes, where he was then escorted to the locker room. Kariya, however, unexpectedly returned to the bench minutes later. About 11 minutes after the hit, Kariya fired a slap shot that found the back of the net. This helped the Ducks win the game 5–2 and sent the series to a seventh and final game.
| June 7 | New Jersey Devils | 2 – 5 | Anaheim Mighty Ducks | Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | (Kariya, Sykora) Rucchin 6 – 4:26 (Leclerc, Niedermayer) Rucchin 7 – 13:42 (Kariya, Carney) Thomas 4 – pp – 15:59 | ||||||
| 2:18 – Pandolfo 6 (Madden, Gionta) | Second period | (Sykora, Oates) Kariya 6 – 17:15 | ||||||
| 10:46 – pp – Marshall 6 (Rafalski, Elias) | Third period | (Chistov, Havelid) Sykora 4 – pp – 3:57 | ||||||
| Martin Brodeur 17 saves / 22 shots Corey Schwab 2 saves / 2 shots |
Goalie stats | Jean-Sebastien Giguere 26 saves / 28 shots | ||||||
Game seven
Game seven in New Jersey saw the Devils once more completely dominate the Ducks. The game-winning goal was scored by Michael Rupp. Rupp became the first player in Stanley Cup history to have his first playoff goal be the Stanley Cup winner. Additionally, Jeff Friesen dominated his former Mighty Duck teammates, scoring the game's final two goals to solidify the victory. The 3–0 win gave the Devils their third Stanley Cup victory, as Anaheim could not complete their Cinderella run. The Mighty Ducks, however, wouldn't leave empty-handed; for his stellar play throughout the playoffs and Finals, goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player (MVP) of the playoffs. He became only the fifth player, and fourth goaltender, in NHL history to have won the trophy as a member of the losing team, joining Detroit's Roger Crozier (1966), the St. Louis Blues' Glenn Hall (1968), and the Philadelphia Flyers' Reggie Leach (1976, a right winger) and Ron Hextall (1987). He is also the most recent such Smythe winner to date.
This was only the third time in NHL history, after 1955 and 1965, that the home team won every Finals game.[1]
| June 9 | New Jersey Devils | 3 – 0 | Anaheim Mighty Ducks | Continental Airlines Arena | Recap | |||
| No scoring | First period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Niedermayer, White) Rupp 1 – 2:22 (Rupp, Niedermayer) Friesen 9 – 12:18 |
Second period | No scoring | ||||||
| (Rupp, Stevens) Friesen 10 – 16:16 | Third period | No scoring | ||||||
| Martin Brodeur 24 saves / 24 shots | Goalie stats | Jean-Sebastien Giguere 22 saves / 25 shots | ||||||
| New Jersey won series 4–3 | |
Broadcasting
In the United States, ESPN on ABC covered all of the games in the finals with Gary Thorne and John Davidson being in the broadcast.
In Canada, Bob Cole and Harry Neale were in the broadcast booth for CBC.
For the radio coverage, Devils team broadcaster John Hennessy called the series on WABC–AM 770 in New York City.
New Jersey Devils – 2003 Stanley Cup Champions
Roster
- 11 John Madden
- 18 Sergei Brylin
- 21 Pascal Rheaume
- 25 Joe Nieuwendyk
- 26 Patrik Elias(A)
- 9 Jiri Bicek
- 12 Jeff Friesen
- 14 Brian Gionta
- 15 Jamie Langenbrunner
- 16 Michael Rupp
- 19 Jim McKenzie
- 20 Jay Pandolfo
- 23 Scott Gomez
- 24 Turner Stevenson
- 29 Grant Marshall
- 4 Scott Stevens (Captain)
- 2 Richard Smehlik
- 3 Ken Daneyko
- 5 Colin White
- 6 Tommy Albelin
- 10 Oleg Tverdovsky
- 27 Scott Niedermayer(A)
- 28 Brian Rafalski
- Coaching and administrative staff
- Ray Chambers (Owner/Governor), Lewis Katz (Owner), Peter Simon (Chairman), Lou Lamoriello (Chief Executive Officer/President/General Manager)
- Pat Burns (Head Coach), Bobby Carpenter Jr. (Assistant Coach), John MacLean (Assistant Coach), Jacques Caron (Goaltending Coach), Larry Robinson (Special Assignment Coach)
- David Conte (Director-Scouting), Claude Carrier (Assistant Director-Scouting), Chris Lamoriello (Scout/AHL GM), Milt Fisher (Scout), Dan Labraaten (Scout)
- Marcel Pronovost (Scout), Bob Hoffmeyer (Scout), Jan Ludvig (Scout), Dr. Barry Fisher (Head Team Physician)
- Chris Modrzynski (Vice President), Terry Farmer (Vice President-Ticket Operations), Vladimir Bure (Fitness Consultant), Taran Singleton (Director-Hockey Operations/Video Coordinator),
- Bill Murray (Medical Trainer), Michael Vasalani (Strength-Conditioning Coordinator), Rich Matthews (Equipment Manager),
- Juergen Merz (Massage Therapists), Alex Abasto (Asst. Equipment), Joe Murray (Equipment asst.)
Stanley Cup engraving
- Marcel Pronovost won his eighth Stanley Cup – five as a player with Detroit in 1950, 1952, 1954–55 and Toronto in 1967, as well as three championships as a scout for New Jersey in 1995, 2000 and 2003. He set the record for years between his first and last Stanley Cup wins with 53 years.
- Christian Berglund played 38 games for New Jersey. His name was left off the Cup because he was sent to the minors before the trade deadline.
- Jeff Friesen was first player engraved on the Stanley Cup with full middle name, as "JEFF DARYL FRIESEN." Some players in the past had their middle initial included along with their first name on the Stanley Cup. The 2003 New Jersey team included nine other players who were listed with a middle initial.
Won all three Stanley Cup championships with New Jersey
Martin Brodeur, Sergei Brylin, Ken Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens, Bobby Carpenter Jr. (one as a player, two as an assistant coach), Lou Lamoriello, Larry Robinson, Jacques Caron, Claude Carrier, David Conte, Milt Fisher, Dan Labraaten, Marcel Provonost, Mike Vasalani, Peter McMullen (left Cup in 2003).
Aftermath
Longtime Devil, Ken Daneyko retired after the series. The Devils lost in the first round to the Philadelphia Flyers the following year after they won the Stanley Cup. The Ducks, on the other hand, missed the playoffs the following year after they went to the Finals.
Notes
- ↑ Allen, Kevin (June 10, 2003). "Devils down Ducks for third Cup". USA Today. p. 1C.
This series marked the first time since...1965 that the home team has won all seven games of a Stanley Cup Finals.
References
- Diamond, Dan (2008). Total Stanley Cup (PDF). Dan Diamond & Associates, Inc.
- Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. pp. 12, 50. ISBN 1-55168-261-3.
| Preceded by Detroit Red Wings 2002 |
New Jersey Devils Stanley Cup Champions 2003 |
Succeeded by Tampa Bay Lightning 2004 |
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