Edmundson basking in joy of Stanley Cup championship

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This article was published 15/06/2019 (2485 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It turns out that winning the Stanley Cup a thousand times playing road hockey doesn’t adequately prepare you for the real thing.

Joel Edmundson admits that he and his St. Louis Blues teammates, none of whom had won sports’ most famous trophy before, weren’t sure what came next on Wednesday evening after the final horn sounded in Boston in their 4-1 victory over the Bruins in Game 7 of the National Hockey League’s championship series.

“None of us knew what to do, to be honest,” Edmundson said. “For myself, I didn’t win in the WHL, I didn’t win in the AHL so it was a first-time thing for me. It was just pure excitement for everyone. Whoever I saw, I just wanted to grab them and give them a hug. I just couldn’t wait for my parents to come on the ice and enjoy it with me.”

His folks, Bob and Lois, came to virtually every playoff game as the Blues defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-2, the Dallas Stars 4-3 and the San Jose Sharks 4-2 to book a spot in the final, where they defeated Boston 4-3.

“It was great,” Edmundson said. “I was just talking to them and I think they missed five or six games out of our whole playoff run. They came to Winnipeg, they came to Dallas, they were in San Jose and they were in Boston. My mom is recently retired and enjoying her life now and they came on the road with us. They were there for the whole playoff run and to see them and to hoist the Cup with my parents tearing up was obviously a tough moment. I wouldn’t be holding that Cup if it wasn’t for them.”

There was one other thing he quickly noticed as the Cup came to him and he hoisted it over his head for a skate in one of the game’s most hallowed traditions.

“It’s a lot heavier than I thought it would be, I’ll tell you that,” Edmundson chuckled. “It hasn’t really sunk in. Every time I see it … we’re at a team party right now and it’s just sitting there. Every time I look at it I get excited. I just can’t wait for the parade (today in St. Louis) so that we can celebrate the Cup with all of the Blues fans. They were with us through the whole year, and through the tough times, and they’ve been waiting for a really long time.”

It was certainly a roller-coaster ride for the club, which sat in last place in the NHL on Jan. 3.

They replaced head coach Mike Yeo with Craig Berube on Nov. 19, but it took a while for the team to come together.

“We had a lot of new faces on our team at training camp,” Edmundson said. “To win in this league, you have to be a tight-knit group so it kind of took us a while to figure each other out and once we did we just wanted to play for each other and would do anything to win. Once we finally got some good team bonding away from the rink, I think we kind of came together as a team. A new coach helped, and he pushed us to our limits and we wanted to win for him. Everything came together.

“It took us a while to get going, but once we got going, we were a hard team to stop.”

The NHL all-star break came in late January, and the Blues were virtually unbeatable after it ended, winning 11 games in a row. They finished with a record of 45-28-9, good for 99 points and the third best mark in the Western Conference’s Central Division.

“Everyone went away for the all-star break and came back refreshed and with a new mindset,” Edmundson said. “Ever since the all-star break, we kind of turned things around. Once we went on that 11-game winning streak, we knew there was something special here. When you win 11 games, you have a chance of going the distance, so we just believed in it and kept on playing our hearts out.”

That was certainly true of the playoffs as well. The Blues built up a 4-0 lead in Game 7 against Boston, with the third goal coming off the stick of former Brandon Wheat Kings star Brayden Schenn. Despite the commanding lead and how close they were to winning the Stanley Cup, Edmundson said the Blues kept their composure.

“Honestly, we were pretty calm on the bench,” Edmundson said. “I’d say the last couple of minutes of the game everyone started to get pretty excited but throughout the third period we were just trying to keep our cool and focus on our next shift. I didn’t play too much in the third so I got to just sit there and enjoy it.”

It’s a journey that began in the Wheat City.

Edmundson came up through the Hockey Brandon system, playing with the Brandon midget AAA Wheat Kings for two seasons from 2008 to 2010 before moving on to the Moose Jaw Warriors and Kamloops Blazers in the Western Hockey League.

He turned pro in the 2013-14 season, spending two full seasons with the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves prior to playing most of the 2015-16 season with the Blues.

Edmundson has been a full-time NHL player ever since, and also represented Canada at the world championship in 2018.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Edmundson said. “It’s been a short four years but it’s been a fun four years.”

He isn’t sure when he’ll be bringing the Stanley Cup to Brandon, but can’t wait to share it with the city.

“That was one of the first things I thought of throughout the whole playoff drama,” Edmundson said. “I knew if I won the Cup I was bringing it home. I think the city of Brandon deserves it. When I was a young kid, I would have loved to have a parade or see the Cup in Brandon. I’m just so excited to get it home.”

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