Hnidy’s dream comes true

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/06/2011 (5413 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Young hockey players grow up dreaming of hoisting the Stanley Cup one day, but only a select few ever get that chance.

On Wednesday night in Vancouver, Neepawa native Shane Hnidy lived the dream and earned the opportunity to bring the Stanley Cup back home to Westman where it all began for him.

Hnidy became part of the fraternity of Stanley Cup champions when the Boston Bruins blanked the Vancouver Canucks 4-0 in the seventh and deciding game of the championship final. It was Boston’s first Cup since 1972 and the first of Hnidy’s career.

"It’s pretty tough to put it into words right now," Hnidy said via cellphone from Boston while celebrating with his teammates yesterday. "I’ve been doing this for a long time and it was a lot of hard work and sacrifice, not just by me but by my family, and it’s a special feeling. It’s pretty incredible and it’s starting to sink in that your name is going on that Cup and you are getting that long sought-after ring that we all dream about."

While he was a healthy scratch for Game 7, the 35-year-old Bruins defenceman took to the ice and got his turn to carry the Cup in the post-game celebrations. Hnidy will also get an opportunity to spend a day with the Cup this summer back home in Neepawa.

"Definitely, I am a small-town boy at heart and that town means a lot to me and that’s where it belongs," said Hnidy, who had his wife, mother, brother and sister-in-law in the stands in Vancouver on Wednesday.

"It was pretty special for them to come down on the ice and enjoy the experience and the dressing room and it was great."

Earlier this season, Hnidy wondered if his NHL career was over after suffering a severe shoulder injury in a free-agent tryout with the Phoenix Coyotes in training camp. He spent months rehabilitating the injury back in Winnipeg and waiting for a call from an NHL club, which finally came in February from his former team.

"I remember speaking with my wife about it and friends and family about it, that it was possibly time for the ‘R’ word — retirement," Hnidy said. "But everybody kind of made me realize that you are going to regret it if I didn’t at least give it a chance.

"It was a major injury. I was out for three, four months when I couldn’t touch the ice. But my wife (Michaella) said in December, she said you are going to come back, you are going (to go back) to the Bruins and win the Cup and it was a pretty good prediction."

The Bruins brought Hnidy in for a tryout and later signed him to add veteran depth to the blue-line for what they hoped would be a lengthy playoff run. It proved to be exactly that. While he did not get a chance to suit up in the final, the former WHLer did play in three regular-season games and three playoff games for the Bruins.

The Cup is the crowning achievement in a 15-year-old professional career for Hnidy that took him from the ECHL to the IHL to the AHL to 11 seasons in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators, Nashville Predators, Atlanta Thrashers, Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild and the Boston Bruins, where he played from 2007-09 before rejoining the club for its Cup run this season. While he is on a one-year contract, Hnidy hopes to return next season.

"I’ve still got a couple of years left in me, I think," Hnidy said. "So, this isn’t the end … We will see where we go from here."

While one Westman player celebrated, it was a heartbreaking end to a fine season for Nesbitt native Aaron Rome of the Canucks, who was suspended for the final four games of the final after his open-ice hit on Bruins forward Nathan Horton in Game 3.

After becoming a regular in the Canucks’ lineup in 56 regular-season games, the 27-year-old defenceman played in 14 playoff games, scoring one goal and racking up 37 penalty minutes.

Rome, who spends his off-seasons in Brandon, was with Anaheim when it won the Stanley Cup in 2007.