Brandonites hoist Stanley Cup

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This article was published 13/06/2012 (5124 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Anyone who has ever played hockey has dreamed of skating around the ice with the Stanley Cup hoisted high.

Apparently, it’s pretty great in street shoes as well.

A pair of Brandon natives got to experience that on Monday night as assistant general manager Ron Hextall and head equipment manager Darren Granger celebrated the Los Angeles Kings’ Cup-clinching 6-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

“(Lifting the Cup) was real easy,” Hextall said Tuesday from Los Angeles. “They said (the Cup weighs) 35 pounds, I’m like ‘no way.’”

“It really is surreal,” he continued. “… It had not quite sunk in at the time, but it was sure an exciting time.”

Hextall, 48, never got the chance to lift the Cup during his 13-year National Hockey League playing career, although the former Brandon Wheat Kings goaltender played in the Stanley Cup final twice, winning the Conn Smythe trophy as the playoff MVP in 1987 even though his Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Edmonton Oilers.

The five days between the Kings’ Game 3 victory that gave them a 3-0 stranglehold in the series and Monday’s clincher — which followed two New Jersey wins — is a short time in comparison, but Hextall admits the wait seemed much longer than that.

“It was hard and it seemed like it was a long time,” he said. “Everybody forgets: We were up three-zip, but the games weren’t easy. … I think it was a closer series at the time than 3-0 and everybody just thought it was a no-brainer that we were going to clinch. I don’t think we felt that way, but it is pretty hard not to get distracted.”

NHL players traditionally avoid touching the Cup before they’ve won it. Turns out the superstition is shared by equipment managers as well and one that Granger was thrilled he didn’t have to worry about anymore on Monday in Los Angeles.

“I remember there’s been times where you don’t want to touch it; you don’t even want to see it,” said Granger, 40, who cut his teeth in the Western Hockey League as a trainer for the Wheat Kings for five seasons before getting his first NHL job with the Vancouver Canucks in 1992. “So then when you finally do get the chance to touch it and lift it, it’s pretty impressive.”

Hextall and Granger have both been with the Kings for six years. As much as they enjoyed their time with the Cup, they were thrilled to share the fruits of their labour with all the members of the organization as well as their families that supported them along the way.

Although his daughters Kristin and Rebecca and son Brett were unable to be at the Staples Center, Hextall’s mother Fay, wife Diane and son Jeff were there for the celebration. Granger had his wife Cathryn, daughter Sadie and son Chase among his entourage on Monday, while his mother Levina and sister Debbie Singfat-Granger watched from back home in Brandon.

“I’ve still got aunts and uncles and a lot of people in my hockey life that got me started,” Granger said. “That’s who I thought about today, mostly.”

It’s unclear whether or not Hextall and Granger will get a day with the Cup this summer.

The Kings will hold their Stanley Cup parade Thursday.

» rhenders@brandonsun.com