LAS VEGAS — Jordan Staal sat at the podium Sunday night, squeezed between his three young kids and the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Dad’s smile and the silvery hardware made for a delightful scene.
But it was the oldest of the two little blonde girls in the championship hats who stole the show.
As Staal rose from the podium in full gear, ready to rejoin the Stanley Cup celebration unfolding in the dressing room, 11-year-old Abigail raised her hand and grabbed the microphone.
“I have a question — can we go back to the first game?” she asked.
Her father smiled, curious.
“Why did you punch that guy?”
The room erupted in laughter — dad included — as the adorable question perfectly captured the journey.
Two months earlier, before anyone knew the Carolina Hurricanes were about to author one of the most dominant playoff runs in modern history, Staal dropped the gloves with Brady Tkachuk off the opening draw of Game 1.
It sent a message we only now understand: this is finally Carolina’s year.
The Hurricanes won that night, then seven more in a row, eventually finishing a remarkable 16-3 on their way to the Stanley Cup Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena.
During the run, Staal did everything except offer to courier John Tortorella’s t-shirts and toiletries back to Vegas.
He scored in each of the first five games of the Final, becoming only the fourth player in NHL history to pull off that feat.
He scored six goals in the championship series, joining Wayne Gretzky as the only captains in the last 105 years to score at least six goals in a Stanley Cup Final.
His primary assignments throughout the four playoff rounds were Tkachuk, Travis Konecny, Nick Suzuki and Jack Eichel.
Not one scored a goal against Carolina while being matched against Staal.
After all, what he’s always done best is dominate defensively and in the faceoff circle.
He finished with eight goals and four assists in 19 games, tied for fifth on the Hurricanes in scoring.
Normally, those numbers don’t sniff a Conn Smythe.
But there was no other choice.
Sunday was his captain’s reward.
“It’s an unbelievable ending. Great story, right?” said coach Rod Brind’Amour, who spent 14 years watching Staal drag this franchise toward legitimacy, relevance and eventually greatness.
“I’m so proud of him. Just proud that he was able to do that in front of the whole hockey world. Everyone got to see what I’ve known forever, what kind of player he is.
“A leader. We’re not hoisting that without him. It’s just not even close.
“I’m glad for him, because I’ve seen this guy grind it out for 14 years and never wavered. It doesn’t always work out, as we know, but it’s nice to see the good guys get one.”
Nobody understands that grind better than Eric Staal.
Twenty years after helping deliver Carolina’s first Stanley Cup, he watched his younger brother do the same.
“There’s a lot of people that have grown up in the Carolinas and don’t know a team without a Staal on it,” said Eric, shortly after he and his two other brothers mobbed baby bro on the ice in a touching scene.
“So it’s kind of funny that this has kind of happened again 20 years later. And with Jordo at the front of it is super unbelievable. Storybook kind of thing.
“He was a horse the whole year and all the years he’s been there. He deserves it.”
At 37, the oldest Conn Smythe winner, his first major individual trophy of a 20-year NHL career.
The family celebration mirrored the culture he helped build inside Carolina’s dressing room.
“You can’t care for each other unless you get to know each other and become a family,” said Staal, known league-wide as a leader amongst leaders.
“I think our group cares so much because we became a family.
“I wanted to win that thing so bad, but I wanted to win it so much more for everyone else in that room, and how much they deserved it, and how hard they’ve all worked, and it just gives me chills that we were able to pull it off for each other.”
Earlier, Staal admitted he and Eric had once dreamed of winning another Cup together.
“The plan was to do it together,” he said.
“Obviously, it didn’t work out, but I’m happy I stuck around. I believed in the culture, I believed in what we were trying to build in Carolina, and it’s just an amazing feeling to be able to build something like that, and then top it all off with this.”
Which brings us back to Abigail.
Why did you punch that guy?
Because sometimes championships begin with a fight.
And sometimes, if you’re Jordan Staal, they end with a Stanley Cup in your hands, a Conn Smythe at your side, and three kids reminding the hockey world what matters most.
