Sometimes, silence is golden — and other times, it’s heartbreaking.
It’s not always easy to watch players who were a few games away from winning the most coveted trophy in sports conduct their post-loss interviews, and this was most definitely the case for Stars captain Jamie Benn Monday evening.
It was the Tampa Bay Lightning who took the 2-0 Stanley Cup Final win over the Dallas Stars, and following the game Benn took to the podium to answer — or not answer — a few questions from the media.
When asked what his feelings were immediately following the loss, Jamie Benn simply replied, “Uh, it sucks. I go through a lot with that group, and …” which was punctuated by long bouts of silence afterwards.
Jamie Benn, as well as his brother Jordie, both hail from Victoria and in the early stages of their hockey careers played for the well-know Victoria Grizzlies.
Jamie played one season with the Grizzlies before he went onto two seasons in the major-junior Western Hockey League with the Kelowna Rockets, and eventually won a gold medal with Canada in the 2009 world junior championship.
Benn made the Stars’ roster for the 2009–10 season and scored his first NHL goal on October 11, 2009, against Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks.
This year’s Stanley Cup final series also has another local tie, though more positive; Victoria Royals former Assistant General Manager and Player Personnel Grant Armstrong is a current scout for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and marks the first former member of the Royals organization to become a Stanley Cup champion.
Tampa Bay’s Stanley Cup win last night came after a 4-2 triumph in the best-of-seven series, and hoisted the cup in a nearly empty Rogers Place in Edmonton, bringing an end to a very different 2020 season of hockey.
Games were played with no fans during the bubbled playoff run, with players isolated between each bout to in an effort to prevent against COVID-19.
