Hometown hockey hopefuls hoping to hoist Stanley Cup
Welland’s Clutterbuck, Thorold’s Timmins competing in NHL post-season
There is no shortage of regional rooting interest for hometown — and adopted hometown — hopefuls in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
New York Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck, a Welland native, and Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Conor Timmins, from Thorold, are seeking to hoist the National Hockey League’s championship trophy for the first time.
Peter Deboer, a Dunnville native and head coach of the Dallas Stars, is also hoping his team will be the only one to win 16 games this postseason.
If they do, it will be two more wins than the New Jersey Devils earned under Deboer when they lost the 2012 final in six games to the Los Angeles Kings and two more than his San Jose Sharks won four years later against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Clutterbuck, 36, and Timmins, 25, are among 100 Ontario Hockey League graduates competing in the National Hockey League playoffs currently underway. Clutterbuck spent parts of two seasons with the then Toronto St. Michael’s Majors before being traded to the Oshawa Generals; Timmins played three years with the Soo Greyhounds after splitting the 2014-15 junior-b season between the former Thorold Blackhawks and the St. Catharines Falcons.
One-time Niagara Icedogs in contention for a Stanley Cup this year include Vegas Golden Knights defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, 34, and Florida Panthers centre Carter Verhaeghe, 28, who are seeking to win the championship for the third and second time, respectively.
Before winning it all with the Knights last season, Pietrangelo captained the St. Louis Blues to their first NHL title in 2019. Verhaeghe was a member of the 2020 Tampa Bay Lightning championship-winning squad.
Dallas left-winger Jason Robertson, 24, led the OHL in scoring in 2018-19 when he split his final season in major junior with the Kingston Frontenacs and the Icedogs.
His younger brother, Nick Robertson, 22, also a left-winger, appeared in 15 regular-season games for the Maple Leafs and is listed on Toronto’s playoff roster. All of his three seasons in the OHL were with the Peterborough Petes.
Deboer, 55, who was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 12th round of the 1988 NHL draft after a four-year career in the Ontario Hockey League playing centre for the Windsor Spitfires, has also served as head coach of the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights.
In 2003, he coached the OHL champion Kitchener Rangers to a Memorial Cup title and lost to the Spokane Chiefs in the final played in Kitchener five years later.
The Edmonton Oilers have the most OHL graduates on their playoff roster with 11, followed by the Winnipeg Jets, Dallas, Tampa Bay and Toronto, who have nine each. Florida has eight, and the Washington Capitals have seven, as do the Islanders.