A champion at last: it took Dave Andreychuk 22 seasons, but Lightning captain's name will finally be etched onto the Cup

GARY BETTMAN STOOD AT THE microphone at the St. Pete Times Forum, saying the words Dave Andreychuk had waited 1,759 games and 22 years to hear:

"Dave Andreychuk, come on down."

The Tampa Bay captain eased his way across the ice. He took the Stanley Cup from Bettman after the Lightning's 2-1 victory against Calgary in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, thus ending a quest that has seen him score 634 regular-season goals and 1,320 points--but never get as far as the Cup Finals.

No one had taken the ice more limes without winning a Cup than Andreychuk, who played 1,597 regular-season games and another 161 postseason contests before the night of June 7.

"It was a moment that has gone through my head lots of times," he says of the thrill of winning the Cup after so many years of watching somebody else hoist it. "Finally, it happened."

Andreychuk has had a career that should earn him a plaque in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Now he'll have a ring to go with it.

"This is what we play for. This is the pinnacle," Andreychuk says. "You dream about this day for a long time. It's taken me a while to get there. It's hard to put into words--the years you got knocked out of the playoffs, the years you didn't make the playoffs, all the players you've played with."

One of those players was Ray Bourque, who, like Andreychuk, waited more than two decades for a career-crowning championship. The two were teammates in Boston and were traded to Colorado together in 2000. But Andreychuk left that summer to sign with Buffalo, where he'd spent his first 10 NHL seasons--and missed the Avalanche's run to the Cup championship in 2001. That summer, he signed with Tampa Bay, a franchise that had made the playoffs just once since joining the NHL in 1992, and accepted a new role--as a checking forward, penalty killer and power-play specialist, and gray eminence.

Bourque and Andreychuk also remained friends, and the newly elected Hall of Famer talked to Andreychuk before Game 6, in which the Lightning faced a win-or-go-home scenario in Calgary--similar to the one Bourque faced three years earlier with the Avalanche. "I learned a lot from watching Ray in the playoffs," Andreychuk says. "I learned about not what happens on the ice, but the way he handled himself."

The Lightning didn't benefit from that information right away--they missed the playoffs in 2001-02--but Andreychuk made a fateful decision that spring: He opted to stay put.

"I was on the 12th hole at Hunter's Green making a birdie putt and the phone rang," Andreychuk says of a call he received from Lightning GM Jay Feaster. "He offered me a chance to go somewhere else. He didn't want to make the deal. I agreed with him--I said my job here wasn't done after one year. Obviously, I'm glad I stuck around."

So is the Lightning. Andreychuk's scoring touch isn't what it was in his prime, when he scored as many as 53 goals in a season, but his leadership skills and mentoring have been more important than his offensive ability. In the two seasons since he was named captain, the Lightning has gone from NHL laughingstock to Stanley Cup champions--partly because of the way young players like Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, and Brad Richards have grown up since his arrival.

"Our core young people started maturing," Lightning coach John Tortorella says. "And Dave and Tan [Taylor] came in and really gave them the lay of the land as far as how the locker room is supposed to act and prepare."

Unlike Bourque, who was on the ice when the final horn sounded, Andreychuk had to sit and watch. He found himself with a little extra time to prepare for his first chance to carry the Cup after being called for a tripping penalty with 22 seconds left in regulation. He raced out of the box when the game was over and joined in the celebration behind the net.

"I was disappointed that I couldn't be on the other side with my teammates, savoring the moment," he says. "I clock-watched a lot more than normal, especially after they scored their first goal."

Defenseman Darryl Sydor, who won a Cup title with Dallas in 1999 before joining the Lightning in midseason, says it was easy to see how much winning a Cup after more than two decades in the NHL meant to Andreychuk.

"It almost brought tears to my eyes. That guy has been here so long and hasn't been to the finals," Sydor said after the victory. "This is for Dave Andreychuk. This is for the guys that have been here."

Adds Tortorella, who won the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year for leading the Lightning to the Eastern Conference title during the regular season on the way to the Cup: "This guy wanted it so bad. He didn't need this to validate his career--he's a Hall of Famer. For him to get this--what a sight to see."

The question for Andreychuk now is whether he wants to come back for an encore. Bourque caned it a career after winning his Cup. Will Andreychuk decide to come back for a repeat, or--especially with the looming possibility of a lockout--will he skate off into the sunset?

For the moment, he's content to simply enjoy the moment.

"This is going to last a while," he says. "Then I'll make a decision."

COPYRIGHT 2004 Century Publishing
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group